Getting Back Into Fishkeeping After A Disastrous First Attempt. Need S

[Ch4rlie]

Not sure what your tiny new borns are, probably snails, but with a red dot on belly is confusing me a little, most snails do not have red dots on body.
 
Have never seen tiny,tiny RCS fry, have seen them a bit bigger, maybe at 5 mm as thats when they come out of hiding a bit more.
 
Tiny RCS hides extremely well so got a bit of doubt could be that but certainly could be wrong.
 
Would not really go below 72F/22C for too long, minimum would be 68F/20C could get away with for a short while but would be wary of doing that for any length of time.
 
BTW they wont breed at temps of 68F.

 

[Maikash]

Not sure what your tiny new borns are, probably snails, but with a red dot on belly is confusing me a little, most snails do not have red dots on body.
 
Have never seen tiny,tiny RCS fry, have seen them a bit bigger, maybe at 5 mm as thats when they come out of hiding a bit more.
 
Tiny RCS hides extremely well so got a bit of doubt could be that but certainly could be wrong.
 
Would not really go below 72F/22C for too long, minimum would be 68F/20C could get away with for a short while but would be wary of doing that for any length of time.
 
BTW they wont breed at temps of 68F.

 
 
Thanks Ch4rlie. Thats very useful information. Cheers.
 
I am expecting the heater to be delivered by wednesday or thursday. Will keep an eye on the water temp. Will add some warm water to raise it a little bit.
 
Those might be snails then. I'll keep an eye on them for a few days then take em out if they turn out to be snails for sure. It always stumps me to find snails in the tank "all of a sudden".
 
Have ordered Anubias Nana and Java Fern on bogwood. 
 
Thinking of adding some more shrimps, preferably different colors, Any recommendations?

 

[Ch4rlie]

Thanks Ch4rlie. Thats very useful information. Cheers.
 
I am expecting the heater to be delivered by wednesday or thursday. Will keep an eye on the water temp. Will add some warm water to raise it a little bit.
 
Those might be snails then. I'll keep an eye on them for a few days then take em out if they turn out to be snails for sure. It always stumps me to find snails in the tank "all of a sudden".
 
Have ordered Anubias Nana and Java Fern on bogwood. 
 
Thinking of adding some more shrimps, preferably different colors, Any recommendations?
 

That should be ok, a few days at that sort of temp should be fine until you get your new heater.
 
This is one reason why I keep a spare heater as well as a spare internal filter in my cupboard just in case things like this happens
 
Snails are one of those mysteries as in the past I have thoroughly washed my planted and carefully inspected for snails or anything else, satisfied, put in tank, lo and behold 2 days later a few snails are going around my tank! lol
 
I've learned to kind of like these snails as they add a bit more life to my tank and have 2 assassin snails that keep the snail population in check, incidentally I now have a few baby assassins, tiny wee things, only about 2mm in size! 
 
Anubias and Java ferns are excellent low tech plants, and looks good on bogwood, exactly what I have in my tank as well. Makes your tank look more natural IMO.
 
There are a variety of different coloured cherry shrimps out there, yellow, green, orange, chocolate, have to mention that Red Cherries with interbreed with other variety of cherry shrimps but shrimplets will be dull brownish colour.
 
If you don't want interbreeding then Amanos and Ghost Shrimps, Crystal Reds etc will be fine with RCS.
Or you can have Cardinal Shrimps (one of my favourites!) and will also be fine but these shrimps require more care than RCS.
 
Here's a couple of link that might help you.....
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/forum/30-shrimps-other-invertebrates/
 
http/www.planetinverts.com/Cardinal_Shrimp.html

 

[misterpro]

Is your tank in a room that gets (very) cold (at night)?  If not there shouldn't be a problem as the tank temperature will never drop below room temp (for obvious reasons).
Otherwise, setting your house's thermostat to not go into "night mode" while you wait for the new heater would be an option (wasting a bit of electricity/gas).
 
And yup, both the val and the hair grass produce runners when they feel like it.

 

[Maikash]

 

Thanks Ch4rlie. Thats very useful information. Cheers.
 
I am expecting the heater to be delivered by wednesday or thursday. Will keep an eye on the water temp. Will add some warm water to raise it a little bit.
 
Those might be snails then. I'll keep an eye on them for a few days then take em out if they turn out to be snails for sure. It always stumps me to find snails in the tank "all of a sudden".
 
Have ordered Anubias Nana and Java Fern on bogwood. 
 
Thinking of adding some more shrimps, preferably different colors, Any recommendations?
 

That should be ok, a few days at that sort of temp should be fine until you get your new heater.
 
This is one reason why I keep a spare heater as well as a spare internal filter in my cupboard just in case things like this happens
 
Snails are one of those mysteries as in the past I have thoroughly washed my planted and carefully inspected for snails or anything else, satisfied, put in tank, lo and behold 2 days later a few snails are going around my tank! lol
 
I've learned to kind of like these snails as they add a bit more life to my tank and have 2 assassin snails that keep the snail population in check, incidentally I now have a few baby assassins, tiny wee things, only about 2mm in size! 
 
Anubias and Java ferns are excellent low tech plants, and looks good on bogwood, exactly what I have in my tank as well. Makes your tank look more natural IMO.
 
There are a variety of different coloured cherry shrimps out there, yellow, green, orange, chocolate, have to mention that Red Cherries with interbreed with other variety of cherry shrimps but shrimplets will be dull brownish colour.
 
If you don't want interbreeding then Amanos and Ghost Shrimps, Crystal Reds etc will be fine with RCS.
Or you can have Cardinal Shrimps (one of my favourites!) and will also be fine but these shrimps require more care than RCS.
 
Here's a couple of link that might help you.....
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/forum/30-shrimps-other-invertebrates/
 
http/www.planetinverts.com/Cardinal_Shrimp.html
 

 
Sorry Ch4rlie, Ive been quite busy lately (work related) so couldnt reply earlier.
 
Heater turned up sooner than expected and all is well again.
 
I agree with you on snails. Like you i made sure that i washed the plants properly and i didnt have any snails for a first few days but in the past week they kept multiplying. I had nearly 20 in a matter of few days, dont like them at all, managed to get rid of them using python and rest with a fish net and i think there still may be some hiding somewhere.
 
I should have anubia nana and java fern both tied to a separate piece of bogwood in a day or two. So two new pieces of wood and two new plants, as soon as i set them up i;ll take pics and post em here.
 
Thank you for your advice about shrimps. I certainly dont want them to crossbreed so im just getting 4 amano shrimps and then i'll start adding fish.
 
Plants are doing ok. Javas are doing exceptionally well. They are now growing quite well. Vallis are also doing ok i think (whatever is left of them)
 
I will now be asking about fish. More i research/read about what i want more im beginning to doubt if i could keep ANY fish at all! I have crossed almost 
ALL fish off my list. According to what i have read if i have shrimps i limit the kind of fish i can keep. I was hoping to get a pair of dwarf gouramis but as they'll eat my RCS i cant keep them. Two of which i REALLy wanted to keep were Blue emperor tetra and CPDs, emperor tetra are they say very aggressive and need brackish water with minimum light. Celestial pearl danio i cannot find locally and im not sure whether i should buy them online.
 
 
Thanks again for the links they were very informative, cheers

 

[Maikash]

Is your tank in a room that gets (very) cold (at night)?  If not there shouldn't be a problem as the tank temperature will never drop below room temp (for obvious reasons).
Otherwise, setting your house's thermostat to not go into "night mode" while you wait for the new heater would be an option (wasting a bit of electricity/gas).
 
And yup, both the val and the hair grass produce runners when they feel like it.

 
 
Apologies to you as well mate for not replying earlier and thank you. They seem to be doing okyaish hopefully i'll get some runners.

 

[daizeUK]

My local stores very rarely stock CPDs.  Out of my four nearest aquatic stores, I've only seen one stock them once within the last six months.  It was quite a surprise to see them.  It might be worth asking your LFS if they can get them in.

 

[Maikash]

My local stores very rarely stock CPDs.  Out of my four nearest aquatic stores, I've only seen one stock them once within the last six months.  It was quite a surprise to see them.  It might be worth asking your LFS if they can get them in.

 
 
Can't find em locally
 
I did however asked couple of stores if they could get some in and got a flat refusal lol Dont think i'll be asking them again.
 
Off to research. Any recommendations for good hardy and colorful beginner fish ?

 

[Lunar Jetman]

Rummy Nose Tetras?

 

[daizeUK]

If you're looking for small, shrimp-friendly fish then perhaps endlers or maybe some of the smaller rainbowfish species.  Your pH was fairly high if I remember?

 

[Maikash]

Rummy Nose Tetras?

 
looked at them and they seem to be lovely, might go with them. Thank you.

If you're looking for small, shrimp-friendly fish then perhaps endlers or maybe some of the smaller rainbowfish species.  Your pH was fairly high if I remember?

 
 
Yes definitely need shrimp friendly fish as both my kids love em to bits.
 
pH has been 7.0 in last three weekly readings.
 
What are endlers? guppies?
 
Looked at threadfin rainbows and like them too.
 
How many can i keep is the next question. 3 different schooling species in groups of 6 each or is that too many. e.g
 
6x blue emperor tetras (kerri) spoke to a lfs in case i have trouble with these and they say theyd take em off my hands and even give me store credit if they are healthy.
6x CPD
and
6x threadfin rainbows or rummynose or another small tetras
 
could you please give me some names of small rainbows you mentioned so i can go look them up 
 
Thanks Daize

 

[daizeUK]

Endlers are a type of livebearer, not guppies but similar.  Anyway your pH is lower than I thought, I suggested endlers and rainbows because I thought you had higher pH.  With a nice neutral pH I would go for the small tetras idea instead.
 
I would try to keep all your fish roughly the same size.  So you could go for 2-3 huge shoals of small fish like CPDs, ember tetras, chilli rasboras etc (check out the nano thread for more ideas).  Most of these fish are small enough to live with cherry shrimp but all of them will probably eat any baby shrimp and some types of nano fish would possibly have a go at the adults too.
 
Or you could consider larger tetras such as the rummynose or harlequin rasboras, there are loads to choose from.