Help Me Stock! 30g Planted w/ Cardinals

[Gemtrox42]

Yes. This pleco, like many others, graze wood but some species use the bacterial properties to aid their digestive organs, while the Clown Pleco actually eats the wood. Other foods are eaten and needed too, such as...

In its habitat, this fish feeds on logs and branches, eating the wood itself along with aufwuchs [algae mats containing rotifers, small crustaceans, insect larvae, protozoans]. In the aquarium wood must be provided. This fish will eat some species of algae, prepared sinking foods that contain vegetable matter along with shrimp, fish meal, etc. Blanched vegetables such as zucchini, yams, squash, cucumber, spinach, romaine, banana. Live or frozen brine shrimp, bloodworms, blackworms.

I'll have to move my shrimp, but otherwise it sounds good.

So right now I'm looking at getting a clown pleco and 2 honey gourami. Hopefully they play nice!

 

[Madisonkeug]

I don't think your tank is big enough for all the fish you want. Don't we all have that problem?

I only have a pair of honeys (and I am down to 7 corys as I gifted one to someone who only had three juulis in their tank which I didn’t think was enough lol) and aquadvisor shows I’d be okay adding one more honey and two blue rams I have extra filtration in my HOB but if you guys don’t think it’s advisable maybe I’ll just get some more honeys ?.... or should I even LOL?! What do you guys think?!

 

[Byron]

I only have a pair of honeys (and I am down to 7 corys as I gifted one to someone who only had three juulis in their tank which I didn’t think was enough lol) and aquadvisor shows I’d be okay adding one more honey and two blue rams I have extra filtration in my HOB but if you guys don’t think it’s advisable maybe I’ll just get some more honeys ?.... or should I even LOL?! What do you guys think?!

The blue rams need warmth, 82F/28C, and the cories cannot last this high.

 

[Madisonkeug]

The blue rams need warmth, 82F/28C, and the cories cannot last this high.

Hmmm okay! I know you are very VERY experienced (especially compared to me lol) I just keep hearing different things about what temp Blue rams need to be at! My LFS owner Bradley has a really cool display tank of their own and they have six or seven of them in a huge community tank at 78° with corys and some three spot Gouramis and it’s super planted an looks so cool I was hoping to have a mini version in my 29 Gal

 

[Byron]

Hmmm okay! I know you are very VERY experienced (especially compared to me lol) I just keep hearing different things about what temp Blue rams need to be at! My LFS owner Bradley has a really cool display tank of their own and they have six or seven of them in a huge community tank at 78° with corys and some three spot Gouramis and it’s super planted an looks so cool I was hoping to have a mini version in my 29 Gal

My observations, as your response is sensible and deserves answering.

How long have those blue rams been living? A normal lifespan, which is said to be 4-5 years, has, so far as I understand, only been possible with warm water as the fish is evolved to live in. My pair back in the 1990's did not last more than two years, in a tank at 77-78F, and I now know why. Mikrogeophagus ramirezi inhabits the waters of the savannas, where day temperatures average 40C in the shade. One collection measured the air at 31C (cool for the region) on an overcast day at 10 am in the morning; the water at that time was 28.5C/83Fand that was at the "coolest" time of the average day.

Second, what is Bradley's level of research/biological study? A rhetorical question, but there are a lot of hobbyists--and some very good ones otherwise--who have not studied fish biology and physiology, nor their habitat environment. Those who understand how a fish "lives" can easily see why something like temperature is so critical to the health and functioning of the fish's life processes. I would also mention that every reputable site will agree 99% of the time on such issues. The rest of us learn from these people, that is how society has progressed through the ages, learning from the wisdom of those who do the studies.

As 3-spot gourami have been mentioned...this is one of the most aggressive of the medium-sized gourami species. The 3-spot, blue, gold, marble, cosby, opaline...all these varieties are the one species Trichopodus trichopterus. As with any fish or animal, there can be exceptions to the norm, but normally this species is on the rough side. We had a member here a year or so back who had a female gold gourami that killed every other fish in the 90g tank and had to be separated. Just a caution.

 

[Madisonkeug]

My observations, as your response is sensible and deserves answering.

How long have those blue rams been living? A normal lifespan, which is said to be 4-5 years, has, so far as I understand, only been possible with warm water as the fish is evolved to live in. My pair back in the 1990's did not last more than two years, in a tank at 77-78F, and I now know why. Mikrogeophagus ramirezi inhabits the waters of the savannas, where day temperatures average 40C in the shade. One collection measured the air at 31C (cool for the region) on an overcast day at 10 am in the morning; the water at that time was 28.5C/83Fand that was at the "coolest" time of the average day.

Second, what is Bradley's level of research/biological study? A rhetorical question, but there are a lot of hobbyists--and some very good ones otherwise--who have not studied fish biology and physiology, nor their habitat environment. Those who understand how a fish "lives" can easily see why something like temperature is so critical to the health and functioning of the fish's life processes. I would also mention that every reputable site will agree 99% of the time on such issues. The rest of us learn from these people, that is how society has progressed through the ages, learning from the wisdom of those who do the studies.

As 3-spot gourami have been mentioned...this is one of the most aggressive of the medium-sized gourami species. The 3-spot, blue, gold, marble, cosby, opaline...all these varieties are the one species Trichopodus trichopterus. As with any fish or animal, there can be exceptions to the norm, but normally this species is on the rough side. We had a member here a year or so back who had a female gold gourami that killed every other fish in the 90g tank and had to be separated. Just a caution.

Yes no!!!! I am not looking to have another three spot as I’ve had some in the past (like six years ago) and they just constantly fought and attacked one another however that is what is in his tank and since I was looking at another species gourami (the honeys which are more timid ive found with mine) I figured being closely related their water perams will be similar (as I’ve found in my experience and in research online) it’s been a few years since I’ve had those Gouramis though. Anyhow I don’t want to seem like I am doubting other people’s findings as I know these fish are originally from the savanna and are genetically capable of dealing with the extreme heat fluctuations and high water temperatures but I feel like when I buy them from a local breeder and they’ve been breeding them in a tank at 80° And housing them in that temp which I mean isn’t too far off what they would be at ~2° difference (they are I think three years old now he said) wouldn’t they be more adapted to living in a more similar environment that they were born into rather than what they would experience in the wild? Like I’m just not sure. And I don’t want to go out and buy fish and have them live but not thrive I want them to be happy and healthy fish of course so that is why I ask on here since all of you guys have this experience and have done the trial and error that I can possibly learn from. I know his experience / knowledge is of fish is probably pretty decent as I know he was a professor here at UFV of Marine studies and Biology and he taught my eldest sister for a year

It is just interesting but also confusing how there are so many different factors that play into it and it’s hard to keep track of all of them especially comparing them to other peoples experiences because there’s just no way your situations can be the exact same!!! Lol!!!

 

[Byron]

The extent to which a fish can "adapt" to environmental conditions that are outside its preferred range is often debated. Each species of freshwater fish on this planet has evolved to function in a very specific environment; "environment" here includes everything from the water parameters (GH, pH, temperature) to the habitat to the other species that share the habitat. Metabolism is the collective term for all the chemical processes which give life to a fish. Metabolism is linked to all other body processes; metabolism depends upon nutrition and respiration, on osmoregulation, and on excretion. The rate of metabolism is controlled by hormones and is influenced by several factors including prevailing environmental conditions (temperature, salinity and oxygen levels). Because of the unique properties of water (I won't go into this now), fish have evolved in an environment where temperature remains relatively stable. Fish are ectothermic, which means they have little or no ability to physiologically maintain a constant body temperature; this temperature is the same as the surrounding water, so temperature directly affects how the fish's internal processes are functioning. The farther away from the "preference" the harder the fish must work just to live, and this wears it down, causes stress, and makes it susceptible to various issues it would otherwise not encounter, or be able to deal with effectively.

A temperature difference of 2 or 3 degrees may seem trivial to us (being endotherm animals), but to a fish it can be life or death.