Hello All (Pictures)

[MichaelOverHere]

Hello, my names michael, live in northern ireland and i've been tropical fish keeping since February 2012.
I have currently have 3 tropical tanks;

My first tank is a 50L interpet "fishbox". Currently population: 5 Neon Tetras, 1 Molly, 1 Baby Fry (Either Guppy or Molly-Guppy Cross), 6 fancy guppys.
Fairly proud of my little fry, i plucked him out of the filter when i was cleaning it and rigged up a wee net to put him in, then got him a breeders net and i released him into the tank about 2 weeks ago, something very satisfying about raising your own fish.

Fry a couple days after being released:

"My" Second tank is actually my aunts, but i bought it for her and set it all up for her cycled it etc for her birthday, i also maintain it (clean it etc). Fishless cycled at my own house for about 6 weeks before transporting it to her house. Current population: 2 zebra danios, 2 platys and 8 Neon Tetras (went into fish shop and asked for 6, got home and realised i had 2 hitchhikers! lol 8 for the price of 6)

My third tank, was more of an impulse buy and im undecided what im going to do with it still, its a Biorb 60 (dont yell at me it was cheap ). I've a few options for it;
- Sell it on
- Continue setting it up with the ceramic material and biorb filter, Also cover ceramic material with some nice pebbles.
- Try to fit in a traditional filter, Remove ceramic material and put in sand and possibly use the biorb pump and connect it to an airstone or decoration.

Have already got spare new filter, spare sand from my aunts tank, pebbles etc. Just cant decide what to do lol! Any suggestions?

 

[KittyKat]

Hi Michael, welcome to the forum.

The biOrb can be salvaged, and the existing filter is fine if you set it up exactly as instructions say (use the correct filter materials and no substrate), but it will not take many fish and will not take a particularly large variety of fish.

I strongly recommend that you re-examine your current tanks before you proceed with the biOrb as some of your fish should not be kept in tanks that small, should be kept in larger groups and/or are in water that is not perfect for them, and correct the stocking before setting up a new tank. Also, if you have not already done so, research the nitrogen cycle with regards to aquaria, so you know what to do with the new biOrb filter.

 

[MichaelOverHere]

Have just put biorb up for sale within the last 10 minutes online to see if anyone wants it.

Which fish are you talking about exactly? (I know the molly is a bit odd being on its own, wasnt part of the plan waas rescued from sisters old tank)

 

[KittyKat]

Have just put biorb up for sale within the last 10 minutes online to see if anyone wants it.

If you're still looking for a tank after that sells, then a standard rectangular one will give you most options for fish, but if it doesn't sell, you could always use it as a fry tank for guppies.

Which fish are you talking about exactly? (I know the molly is a bit odd being on its own, wasnt part of the plan waas rescued from sisters old tank)

The following:

My first tank is a 50L interpet "fishbox". Currently population: 5 Neon Tetras, 1 Molly, 1 Baby Fry (Either Guppy or Molly-Guppy Cross), 6 fancy guppys.

The tank is H 43l*39w*33d cm
Mollies and guppies are hardwater fish, tetras are soft water fish. In the long term, keeping either in the wrong water parameters can cause problems. It is usually better to mix livebearers with appropriate rasboras, barbs or danios in neutral to hard water. Keeping livebearers in soft water is just not a good idea and there are no "similar" fish.
Tetras are schooling, so should ideally be kept in groups of 10-15+ per species, or at least in a group of 6+. They grow almost to 2 inches SL (standard length, excluding tail), so I would not want to keep them in anything under 60 cm long.
Mollies will grow to 4-6 inches SL long in the right conditions (assuming it was not inbred into a balloon shape), which a 43 cm long tank is not. It should have at least a 90 cm tank, and I would personally not put one into anything under 120 cm. If it's not a fish that you want anyway, then why not see if you could find it a bigger home with others of its own kind?

"My" Second tank is actually my aunts, but i bought it for her and set it all up for her cycled it etc for her birthday, i also maintain it (clean it etc). Fishless cycled at my own house for about 6 weeks before transporting it to her house. Current population: 2 zebra danios, 2 platys and 8 Neon Tetras (went into fish shop and asked for 6, got home and realised i had 2 hitchhikers! lol 8 for the price of 6)

Zebra danios are also schooling fish (see above) and should have at least a 4 ft tank because they can get across 4-5 ft of water in under a second. Danio margaritatus are a good alternative and would be ideal for a tank like yours in terms of size too, and you could keep 8-10 of them in that tank without problems, even with neons and platys.
For platys and neons, see above. Also, platys grow to over 2 inches with the right care, so should have a tank that is at least 2 ft long.