Fish Compatibility And General Questions

[Lanzuis]

Hello everyone! I have set up a tank that is 100L (26 US Gallons) - It is slightly overstocked for the time being as it is a temporary tank and the fish are still young.
 
I am moving these fish into a 90 Gallon tank that is 5ft Long. The question I have is that I am wondering if the tank is 1) Large enough to accommodate these fish. 2) How long the tank will need to be cycled for. 3) How Compatible are these fish? And 4) What sort of setup should I have in the tank?
 
The fish I have (in a community tank) are:
 

• 4 Plattys
• 5 Tiger Barbs (looking to have 5 more)
• 2 Swordtails
• 2 Kribensis
• 2 Silver Sharks (Very young currently 2 inches)
• 1 Bulldog Pleco
• 1 Synodontis Decorus Catfish
• 1 Albino Red Tailed Shark

Now, I have been told that by the time the catfish (which is currently small) has grown - the platty's will not be around so compatibility between these is less of an issue.
 
On the other hand I do not know if the Silver Sharks will go with the Platy's or the Albino shark.
 
For cycling the tank, I am going to be filling it (25%) with water from an established tank and then filling the rest with dechlorinated tap water. How long will this tank take to cycle? I have been told from the pet store to run a fishless cycle for 1-2 Weeks and then add fish in whilst monitoring the ammonia levels - I was just wondering what everyone else though about this!
 
Thanks for answering!

 

[paradiddle]

Only point I will share is sharks get big! One of those is suitable for a 5ft, 2 in my opinion is too much.

On cycling a tank, it has no certain time measure, can be 2 weeks can be 2 months,
Generally I'd say 3weeks is normal.
I'm also fully against the method you were told to use, if your committed to the hobby and the health of fish you would do a full fishless cycle, there's a page on this site about fishless cycling that I recommend you use.
Once it's fully cycled you then empty as much water as you can, then refil with dechlorinated water, get it to temperature and fully stock your tank. Partially stocking once cycled will set you backwards as bacteria will die off.

 

[Lanzuis]

Only point I will share is sharks get big! One of those is suitable for a 5ft, 2 in my opinion is too much.

On cycling a tank, it has no certain time measure, can be 2 weeks can be 2 months,
Generally I'd say 3weeks is normal.
I'm also fully against the method you were told to use, if your committed to the hobby and the health of fish you would do a full fishless cycle, there's a page on this site about fishless cycling that I recommend you use.
Once it's fully cycled you then empty as much water as you can, then refil with dechlorinated water, get it to temperature and fully stock your tank. Partially stocking once cycled will set you backwards as bacteria will die off.

 
Thanks for the advice! I also thought the sharks were slightly big but I thought that having one would make it a little aggressive due to their nature to school. But thanks again

 

[TrickySpot]

I'd take the sharks back to the LFS now and swap them, they are terrible fish to keep. Way too skittish, way too big, jump like crazy......never again for me, I donated three 15cm silver sharks to my LFS just last week because I was sick of them hitting the top of the tank every time I walked by! I was also sick of reminding friends to not 'move too quickly' near the tank in case they got spooked!
 
From what I understand, the bacteria needed for cycling don't live in the water, so I don't think using tank water for water changes will speed up the cycling, though somebody correct me if I'm wrong. If it was me, I'd remove one sponge from your existing 100L filter, replace it with a new one and keep an eye on that tank while the new sponge gets populated...this is assuming you have multiple sponges in the filter. Then cut the cycled sponge to size (if needed) and squeeze it in somewhere into your new filter, you may need to take out a sponge to make room, preferably make it fit somehow so it can help seed the sponges around it. This has worked wonders for me, and I've cycled tanks with fish very quickly (3 weeks), though even if you are donating sponge, still better to cycle without fish - but it will be quicker than starting from scratch. Of course if you move substrate across as well, cycling will get even faster!

 

[Ninjouzata]

1) I believe so except the silver sharks. They need a minimum of an 8x2ft and groups of 6+, HERE is more info on them.
 
2) As has been answered above, the time will vary. You want it to process 3ppm of ammonia (ammonia to nitrite to nitrate) in 24 hours. Have a read of THIS if you havn't already. You'll need a liquid test kit & some ammonia.
 
3) Not the best choices IMO. The kribensis stay close to the bottom and when the RTS gets bigger it will get territorial so they could get beat up.
The tiger barbs may nip at the swordtails and the syno. What gender are the swords btw? The synodontis might be able to eat some of the smaller fish since it gets around a foot.
 
4) What do you mean by this? As in lots of rock work or lots of plants or both? I personally like planted tanks. The tigers may nibble on the plants but if you give them fresh veggies you may be okay.
The pleco would appreciate some driftwood. You'll want hiding places for the syno and shark.
 
Using water from an established tank isn't going to do anything as the bacteria live on hard surfaces such as the decorations, walls of the tank, substrate, and mainly in your filter media..leaving it for 2 weeks won't do anything unless you're adding ammonia.
 
Do not add fish unless you want to do a fish-in cycle (which is NOT recommended as it can leave them permanently damaged and requires you to have a very good understanding of the toxicity of ammonia & nitrite).
 
I recommend researching all of your fish if you havn't already..seriouslyfish is a good resource for this.
 

to TFF btw! Hope you enjoy it here.

 

[Lanzuis]

Firstly, thanks for the advice everyone! Now, to clarify why I made the choices I did (so I don't sound unresearched xD) is that I chose the swords with the barbs as they are generally quite quick and as of yet the barbs aren't really showing much aggression towards other fish. I was also told that because of the krib's territorial aspect, keep a flowerpot or a cave in the tank and they shouldn't be bothered soo mich (what my lfs told me).

The silver sharks - whew I did not expect them to hit 35cm! I knew they would get big (25-30) but not quite that big - although I did intentionally go for the smallest ones in the tank to help compensate. So - should I take these back or rehome them in 2 years? (Which by that time I am aiming to do). Would they hold out for that time?

The swords are one male and one female although I was thinking about getting another 2 females. Only concern is the synodintis - will it look towards the tiger barbs and how fast do they grow?

 

[the_lock_man]

Adding to the tiger barbs usually keeps the bickering between themselves, rather than having a pop at any of the other species, so your plan to eventually get 10 is a good one.
 
The problem that I see is the RTBS and the kribs. Both are bottom dwellers. As the RTBS matures, it is know to become increasingly territorial, to the extent that it will attack any other fish in "its" territory - which will include the kribs, the plec and the syno. On the other hand, the kribs will become very aggressive when breeding (which is likely to happen, they are quite easy fish to breed) and will attack anything in "their" territory - which will include the plec, the syno and the RBTS.
 
The bulldog plec (chaetostoma sp) ideally prefers much cooler water, they come from fast moving mountain streams, which are quite a few degrees cooler than "standard" tropical. I'm not saying "don't do it", I am saying that they ideally need strong current and cooler water, keeping them outside these parameters will shorten their lifespan.
 
Platies and swordtails will interbreed, so you would be best off ensuring you only buy male fish.
 
I would also suggest ditching the silver sharks. Maybe increase the shoal of tiger barbs still further, it really is a case of "the more, the merrier" with that species.

 

[Lanzuis]

Thanks! The only fish I didn't really do research on was the pleco - would it be a good idea to make the whole tank one degree colder and would the other fish deal with it?

 

[fm1978]

Having looked at a few references for the Bulldog, s/he should be fine at the 'standard' aquarium temp of about 24, but TLM is right, it's not ideal as these guys prefer temperate climes.
 
If you intend to keep the bulldog I'd suggest putting extra effort to keep the water super clean and also very well oxygenated for him/her.

 

[Lanzuis]

I have got a new filter that will cycle the water about 4 times per hour - so it's fairly fast and I am going to invest in something extra to keep the tank oxygenated.
 
Thanks for the information.
 
Here's a picture of the tank - will this be of the right size for silver sharks? Because I really like them xD
 
It has got quite a large curve on the front so it is slightly bigger than I said.
 

 

[TrickySpot]

Silver sharks need 1000L+ (at 15cm)...if not a lot more. I personally feel they shouldn't be sold at all in shops. Even if you keep them until they grow up and then donate them back to your LFS (like I did), they are just going to sell them to some other sucker to make money. If aquarists boycott the sale of these fish, they'll disappear off the shelves and stay in the wild where they are endangered as it is! (http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bala_shark)
 
Sorry to harp on about this, but I've been exactly where you are, upgrading my tank every year to accommodate them.....they just get too big and are too skittish for home aquaria in my opinion.
 
If you do decide to keep them, I advise to cover your aquarium 15 min before the lights go out, so they don't jump and hit the lid when you move near them...and make sure all decor is smooth/rounded as they injure themselves very easily. Also when you clean, keep a towel over the whole aquarium with just your arm going through so when they jump they don't fly out, instead hit something soft.
 
Perhaps consider Torpedo Barbs instead....I'm no expert on them and have never owned them so research well, but they look good and grow half the size.....you'll still need a 450L+ in the future though, they grow to 15cm, though they might be fine in a 90 gallon, I'm sure this forum will have the optimum tank size for them somewhere. Also a jumper though......

 

[Lanzuis]

Silver sharks need 1000L+ (at 15cm)...if not a lot more. I personally feel they shouldn't be sold at all in shops. Even if you keep them until they grow up and then donate them back to your LFS (like I did), they are just going to sell them to some other sucker to make money. If aquarists boycott the sale of these fish, they'll disappear off the shelves and stay in the wild where they are endangered as it is! (http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bala_shark)
 
Sorry to harp on about this, but I've been exactly where you are, upgrading my tank every year to accommodate them.....they just get too big and are too skittish for home aquaria in my opinion.
 
If you do decide to keep them, I advise to cover your aquarium 15 min before the lights go out, so they don't jump and hit the lid when you move near them...and make sure all decor is smooth/rounded as they injure themselves very easily. Also when you clean, keep a towel over the whole aquarium with just your arm going through so when they jump they don't fly out, instead hit something soft.
 
Perhaps consider Torpedo Barbs instead....I'm no expert on them and have never owned them so research well, but they look good and grow half the size.....you'll still need a 450L+ in the future though, they grow to 15cm, though they might be fine in a 90 gallon, I'm sure this forum will have the optimum tank size for them somewhere. Also a jumper though......

What would you suggest I do then? upgrade to an 8ft tank in 2 years or give them back to the LFS?