Flora/Fauna

[Helium_Junkie]

Hi there, I would like some advice on what fish and plants to keep in my aquarium.

The tank is a 170litre Fluval 120cm*40cm surface area. 40cm depth.

The surface area = 120*40 = 4800cm2 or 48m2 ... does that sound right?

Whats the ratio of fish to surface area?

OK, next question, what fish would be recommended? I want some real pretty fish in a nice community, preferably including some of those fighting fish with the gorgeous tails. Are they friendly enough to keep with others?

I'd really like a yellow tang too, but don't know if these are commercially available or keepable, or even if they are a tropical species, I just saw some in the brighton aquarium and liked them.

So, starting thoughts for me to munch on?

Also, as an aside... is fish food OK to use as an ammonia source for fishless cycling?

Ta

 

[Joviella]

Hi, firstly I believe that yellow tangs are marine fish. Therefore they would not be suitable for your tank......sorry. The plants you get will kind of depend on which fish you choose to keep. When I first started keeping fish, I spent a fortune buying plants and replacing them weekly because the fish I had destroyed them. I would decide what fish you want and then think about the plants!!!! Hope this helps a bit!!

 

[Joviella]

Oh, and on the feeding the tank with food to cycle......I have tried this and it doesn't work so well. I ended up cycling with fish.......dannios,as I couldn't get ammonia anywhere near where I live.

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

if u want pretty fish u cant go past the good old neon tetra
i think bettas (siamese fighting fish) are alright in community tanks but dont put them with other males bettas!
and yes yellow tangs are marine fish

 

[aloaring]

Well First off welcome to the hobby and the forum!!
Now to help you out ; the yellow tang is a marine fish (saltwater) and difficult to keep you really want to start with freshwater fish.
the pretty fish you are goin gon about are bettas and should be kept by themselves. If you want pretty fish you'd be better off buying guppies and platys (but just get females otherwise you'll be overrun by babies. but before you add any fish you haven't said whether you have cycled your tank?
Read the beginners part of the forum for advice on how to det up a tank. Goodluck

 

[ajhainey]

If I were starting over I would get guppies (fantastic colour tails/shiny bodies/very active) and platys (super bright orange/red/blacks) as they are pretty, energetic and hardy! Steer clear of neon tetras, especially for cycling, as they are too delicate for it. Once the tank is established, mollies are large and amusing and the marble ones are quite pretty to look at. Harlequins shoal nicely and are pretty. Cories (trilineatus or julli seem nost common) are energetic and cute little bottom feeders.

That said only you can make the choices - or we'd all end up with the identical tank ! My advice is take a long look round the fish shop - with a pen and paper writing/sketching the details of the fish you want (size, colour, short/long name). When you get home look up all the fish you liked on the internet and see if they are peaceful/aggresive, shoaling/fighers, nippy/slow, small/big etc and you should be able to plan a pretty decent tank for yourself - then post it on here and see what people think.

For plants stick with whatever is cheap at your fish shop to start with- IME these tend to be the hardiest varieties. I just bunged a whole bunch of things in and saw what survived best - I found anything red/purple edged tended to die under my inexperienced hand - I would stick to nice bright green things - they seem to be easiest to keep alive I'll try and post a pic later so you can see what I have in ther at the moment.

Have fun stocking up!

aj xx

FYI: My fighting fish and my guppies are so far getting on fine (only 3 days tho') - but make sure you have a back up tank in case they do suddenly decide to fight. I'm more worried about someone nibbling on the betta's fins as he's quite slow, than him picking on anyone else to be honest - he seems a quiet, personable chap.

Edited to add: IIRC you have the same tank as me - I seem to remember working out it should hold approx 40" (100cm) of fish regardless of what method of working that out I used. I'm going to be a tiny bit overstocked in my end state at about 43" but I have an overspill tank in case the bioload does prove too high for the tank when everyone is fully grown. All looks ok so far (3 months).

 

[clutterydrawer]

Cherry barbs are a pretty colour. Also pearl danios have a lovely blur/green/purple irridescent sheen to them, and are very active and amusing.

 

[Helium_Junkie]

/me scribbles some notes

The intimidating thing about researching is all the fancy names on the forums

I want a good balance, shame about the Tang, are there any fish which look very similar to these (shape mainly)?

Also, could someone explain what Guppies/Platys/Mollies/Harlequins are in terms of water area (bottom/mid/top) and which forum for info on them? I.e. what species are they I will try and find out by myself, but its best to ask, eh?

Info on my tank and how the cycling is going can be found in my other thread in this forum: "Greetings"

100cm of fish in a 120*40cm tank, I dont have another tank at all so I cant really risk overstocking... I'll take it nice and slow I think and I should be fine

I really quite liked the idea of a schoal (righ word?) of Neon Tetra's, if they be the glowy things? After the tank is well established would it be ok to try to keep some?

And just to pile on more questions... what about the glass fish thing, the see-through one... darn I forget the name!

Thanks!

 

[Helium_Junkie]

Ooh! Just found the fish index!
Blimey, that thing should be at the top!

 

[ajhainey]

Check you water p.h - if its below 7 and you are keeping on top of the water changes/conditions you can probably get away with neon tetras once the tank is established. I had no luck with them at all tho' lost 7 of 9 so far...maybe that says more about my fishkeeping skills than anything else tho...Possibly I should tell you you can probably keep neons but you'd best stop taking advice from me

In all honesty I tried to cycle with them (newbie error no1) and my p.h is 8 which is really unsuitable so the deaths are explicable but the high death rate has really put me off them Try asking in the Cyprinids and Characins forum for more on different kinds of tetras...

I like http/freshaquarium.about.com/cs/beginner.../fishlevels.htm as a quick guide - but no idea how accurate it is - seems ok for the fish I have, except for my betta who likes to pretend hes a catfish

As for the glass catfish - just don't get a dyed one!

aj xx

 

[Helium_Junkie]

As for the glass catfish - just don't get a dyed one!

Catfish? I was talking about this tiny lil thing I saw in a book... looked about 5cm or so...

 

[nightlife20]

bit of advice, dont go with everythin ppl suggest, take a look around write names down of fish that U like then ask if they are compatable..


even tho the other members have good intentions , this is your setup so it should be your choice of fish ... i went into an lfs and pointed out every single fish i wanted, she told me what could and couldnt go with what... i got a good selection out of it

 

[clutterydrawer]

/me scribbles some notes

The intimidating thing about researching is all the fancy names on the forums

I want a good balance, shame about the Tang, are there any fish which look very similar to these (shape mainly)?

Also, could someone explain what Guppies/Platys/Mollies/Harlequins are in terms of water area (bottom/mid/top) and which forum for info on them? I.e. what species are they I will try and find out by myself, but its best to ask, eh?

Info on my tank and how the cycling is going can be found in my other thread in this forum: "Greetings"

100cm of fish in a 120*40cm tank, I dont have another tank at all so I cant really risk overstocking... I'll take it nice and slow I think and I should be fine

I really quite liked the idea of a schoal (righ word?) of Neon Tetra's, if they be the glowy things? After the tank is well established would it be ok to try to keep some?

And just to pile on more questions... what about the glass fish thing, the see-through one... darn I forget the name!

Thanks!

Guppies, platies, mollies and harlequins are all middle to top swimmers as a rule. Guppies, platies and mollies are livebearers, whereas harlequin rasboras are cyprinids.

Neon tetras are bright blue and red, they look like this:

A school of them would be fine once your tank is mature. Bear in mind that they don't always school though, when I had them they all went their own way and I hardly ever saw them as a group.

The glass fish you saw in the book could have been glass catfish, or they could have been glass tetras. (I'm not sure they're actually tetras, but I've heard them referred to as tetras).
Did the fish in the book look more like this:

or more like this:

??

 

[Helium_Junkie]

Its the bottom one, is it keepable? I want some!!

As for not going strictly on peoples opinions, absoutely right! I just need to be pointed in a direction

I would like some Betta's, maybe 2 or 3 females, and whatever works with them.

Would that work?

Also, during fishless cycling should i be doing water changes?

 

[clutterydrawer]

Fraid I don't know much about glass catfish. I think they are peaceful shoaling fish which reach 4-6". If you do a search on this forum you should find some stuff, also try a google search, or have a look on fishprofiles.com .


I don't know much about bettas either but I know that when keeping females you need enough of them to establish a pecking order...or summat. Ask in the betta section, they will know more.


Edit - no water changes during fishless cycle! If you remove the water, you are removing the ammonia that you have added to the water. Removing the ammonia means less food for the bacteria, so the cycle takes longer.