Hello from Cambridgeshire UK!

[MattW]

Congo tetra? could be done but a larger tank is needed for a decent group of them.

A couple of others I thought of were White clouds, Ricefish, and X-ray/Pristella tetra

 

[fishorama]

Do you have fish clubs near you? They can be very helpful & may have locally bred fish available at auction that are adapted to your local water conditions. Ask at local fish shops too. You want to see in what water parameters they keep their fish. I used to live with very hard water & we could keep more species than wild fish require.

 

[ricbea]

Hi and welcome,

I will watch this thread with interest, i recently got my hobby boots back on and started with a small tank about 5 months ago. On a whim in my local version of B&Q bought a 60L set, that went well…..so, I decided to to start hunting around on Czech version of eBay and found a nice 120L Jewel complete set, that went well…..so, I decided to go hunting for another deal and snagged a 240L set and its going well…..

I have platties and 2 juvenile albino Pleco’s in the 60L, the Pleco’s will move over to the 240L
4 convict cichlids (and fry) + 6 glass fish on the 125L
25 neon tetras, 4 Corys and 4 albino corys, 3 trumpet snails in the 240L The corys are simply amazing, they have these incredible bursts of energy and love surfing the air curtain at the back of the tank

I hope you take as much joy out of the hobby as I do.

The only suggestion I can offer is, take your time and work out what you want, then plunge in and enjoy the water.

Good luck

 

[Wourgh]

Hi all!

Thanks for your responses. So ended up going a little bigger than first thought. Ended up getting the Fluval Shaker 252L. I thought might as well go hard or go home... From what the reviews suggest, it fit our requirements a little better. We preferred the external filter, the Bluetooth connected LED light and the aesthetic of the tank better fitted our home. Got my Father in law to help set it up.

Do you have fish clubs near you?

Unfortunately not. There was mention of the "The Cambridgeshire Aquarist Society" on another forum but cant see any more on it...

The only suggestion I can offer is, take your time and work out what you want, then plunge in and enjoy the water.

Thanks for the advice, appreciate it! Well I've plunged into a new tank. Now just have to set it up and see what happens.

 

[Wourgh]

Hi all,

Just thought I'd put up a quick update...

Started assembly of the tank so got it all set up late December. One thing I will say about these chipboard cabinets, they might as well be made of sponge! The Father in Law and I managed to break one of the turn locks and split one of the cabinet walls. Thankfully was able to glue and clamp the panel back together, and CT1 every panel and join to further reinforce and seal it in. We did consider a solid oak one but they protruded too far out so was backed into getting the Fluval Shaker.

So set the tank up, dosed it with conditioner initially and beneficial bacteria for 3 days. Ended up smashing the included heater as I removed it (whilst on) for 30 seconds while sorting the cable management and tried putting it back in to cold water. Rookie mistake! £40 later, new heater installed, no drama. The old heater was rubbish anyway! Haha.

On day 4, the tank looked a little cloudy and after a bit of googling it would seem to be a bacteria bloom. Left it be and within a couple days it cleared up. After which, I took a sample to my local fish store, they said to stop dosing the bacteria daily as my sample was showing signs of nitrites. Under the advice of the local fish shop, I've now got 6 zebra danios to help the nitrogen cycle get going. From what I can tell I already have some bacteria to kick start the cycle and the danios are hardy so should be able to deal with the flucuating conditions. The danios seem to be coping well. All seems well.

Doing daily tests to make sure nothing creeps up on us. Let's hope for the best.