Hello All!

[GavinB]

Hi Everyone!

Thought I may as well register here on the forums as Im just starting out in the hobby now and am always sat using a computer at work and at home! (otherwise I'm just staring at my fish!)

Sooo,

I'm Gavin, I'm 22 and I hail from sunny Kingston Upon Hull in East Yorkshire, UK.

My current setups: a 64 litre tank currently consisting of 4 swordtails, 3 serpae tetras 4 clown loaches and a tiger spotted plec.

Those guys are all currently in waiting to head on over to the bad boy I just bought...

Juwel Rio 180 (180 litre) which im currently cycling with 4 zebra danios and some Seachem Stability (Just waiting for the high nitrite part to kick in)

Absolutely love my clown loaches to death all the other fish come second to those guys but I still love em

Hope to meet you all and hope I have chance to be as active as possible around here!

 

[Wills]

Hi there welcome to the forum Im an other Hull lad quite a few members on here from Hull

Which shops you been going to? Do you have any pics of your tiger plec? Bit concerned it might turn out to be a monster as one of the plecs thats given that common name sometimes reaches a good 18 inches But it could be a bit of a rarer one that stays much smaller, actually if you tell me the shop and the price I can probs work it out haha.

Also how long has the 60 liter been set up? Are you planning on keeping any fish in there after you have the 180 set up? If your just going for the big tank for now and your small tank has been set up for a few months you could just move all your filter pads etc to the new filter in the bigger tank and move your fish over now. At the end of the day its the same filter bacteria colony supporting the same amount of fish in a bigger expanse of water, I did a similar thing when I set up my 240 liter from my 125 liter and it went fine

With the clowns, a 180 liter tank is okay for now and probs for a year or so but gradually as they grow they will eventually need to be in a 6 foot tank around 125 gallons. But thats a few years off as they grow slow but they will end up at 8-12 inches maybe bigger.

Ill let you in on a little secret with you about clown loaches and hull fish shops - 2 of the Hull fish shops are notorious for doing this. They sell 2 inch clown loaches to people with medium sized tanks let them grow on in the customers tank for a few years then when they outgrow the tank they go back to the shops and the shop whacks a big price tag on them because of the size yet they have probably taken the fish in for free and they have not had to raise the fish or pay the premium from the fish farm import charges for the bigger clown loaches. It happens all over the world but like I say 2 shops in Hull are notorious for it, happens all the time.

An other thing about Hull fish shops, while they are pretty good there are things you will learn on this forum that none of them will ever tell you in the shops (even though I know some of them know it)

Like a fishless cycle which uses pure house hold ammonia to cycle a tank instead of fish like zebra danios this cuts out the risk of killing any fish and or the fish you use to cycle the tank getting a disease and then infecting the tank when you add your permanent fish.

Good to have you here look forward to seeing some pics of your fish!

Wills

 

[GavinB]

Hi Wills,

I'll be sure to get some pictures up as soon as possible!

Im planning on moving over all the fish from the smaller tank to the 180 as soon as I know its safe to do so. Thanks for the advice on moving the filter media over, I diddnt really think about doing that!

Would I just slot in the current media in between the current filters in the rio 180 (I'd take a look at the filter which comes with as its got quite a few layers!)

My clown loaches came from Ings Road along with the tiger spot plec, Zebra danio's were the first fish I bought to help cycle the smaller tank and they all lived through apart from 1 and are getting fairly big now(4 left) (these came from Thernes in the city centre) and the sword tails and serpae came from Frisbys.

 

[discus_lover]

hello and welcome here dude, it this aquarium you can introduce more fishes like different types of tetra sp. , harlequin rasbora etc....

 

[Wills]

Hi Wills,

I'll be sure to get some pictures up as soon as possible!

Im planning on moving over all the fish from the smaller tank to the 180 as soon as I know its safe to do so. Thanks for the advice on moving the filter media over, I diddnt really think about doing that!

Would I just slot in the current media in between the current filters in the rio 180 (I'd take a look at the filter which comes with as its got quite a few layers!)

My clown loaches came from Ings Road along with the tiger spot plec, Zebra danio's were the first fish I bought to help cycle the smaller tank and they all lived through apart from 1 and are getting fairly big now(4 left) (these came from Thernes in the city centre) and the sword tails and serpae came from Frisbys.

Hi, yeah I would put the media over now but do a big water change on the 180 as some ammonia and nitrite will have build up by now with the danio in. How long has the 60 liter been set up? I would put the 60 liter filter media near the blue sponge in the juwel filter (I think)

Ings lane is a good shop I always have a pop in and see what they have around but never anything that rare But still some nice fish in there. Good news about your plec Im pretty certain its going to be a small growing one as they do label their plecs correctly and dont really stock that many common plecs or gibbis Frisbies is also a good shop, very expensive but good shop and they get a lot of interesting fish I just got a new Guianacara from them on Thursday Very nice cichlids in there, I tell you what actually if you want some really nice fish for your tank they have some Krobia sp. Rio Xingu in at the moment they would do quite well in your tank

Thearne however in the city center is a bit ropey at the best of times, I nip in for dry goods if I need them and their plants are probably the cheapest quality plants Ive ever seen but their fish are a bit iffy at times and you usually see quite a few with bacterial diseases and often they often mis label big fish so be careful if you go again.

Just a note on your fish stock at the moment, I would up your tetras to 6 or so and also your clown loaches would appreciate an other friend as well - so long as your happy to keep up with their tank size requirements I dont see why you shouldnt add an other. If your stuck for places to get more tetras I saw 3 adult serpae tetras in Maidenhead which is a bit further along the road from Ings lane heading away from Hull in Beverley Garden Center.

An other thing worth mentioning about the serpae tetras, they are very very nippy fish and will take chunks out of other fishes fins there are a few ways to prevent this first way is to keep them in a large group like 10+ and the other as a preventative is to avoid putting long finned fish or delicate finned fish in with them like angels, congo tetras or pearl gourami.

Wills

 

[GavinB]

check out the photos of my tanks here: tank pics