Hi New On Here And Wondering...

[lilacamy931]

L260 Pleco, L270 Pleco, L066 Pleco these are in order: Queen arabesque, chocolate zebra plec and king tiger plec hope that helps a little

 

[LiveYourLife]

Fact is Synaesthesia, Its a Fish Forum so its more than likely that people who are members on here do care about their fish, and care for them in the correct way.
Just because a fish is surviving, doesnt mean its thriving.
Lee_K became a member of this forum beacuse he had a few questions to ask, so he posted a thread. We all answered with honesty and if Im honest Complete sense.
I agree totally with Curiosity101.. Why do you have an account on here if all you are going to do is question people about how they give advice.?
Its extremely frustrating when someone joins a forum, then starts questioning all of its higher ranked members.

 

[Curiosity101]

Yeah sorry about that lee_k... I just expected you to pop the L numbers into google. But lilcamy is bang on.

Oh and as for rainbows being too active, I wasn't aware they were that active as I haven't kept them before. So I'd go with indigoJ's opinion there. There are smaller varieties available anyways though if you chose to go that way.

And just to hopefully get you fired up about re-homing your current plec (if you are going to)

^^ Chocholate Zebra Plec - L260

^^ Queen Arabesque -- L270

^^ King Tiger Pleco - L066

As you can see I'm a particular fan of the stripy ones...but you can get all sort of colours and patterns. See 30 Plecos Under 8" <-- that is a list a member on here put together of the smaller plecos, if you take the common name (or L number) and put it into the search box at Planet Catfish you should get all the info you need.
The 3 I listed above are all pretty common plecs, but they will be pricier than your bog standard bristlenose (which you may like, but I personally don't). For all the plecs I listed a fair price would be from £20-30.

 

[lee_k]

well thanks for your help guys, just got back from my local shop

i took the pleco, clown loach, 2 tiger barbs, 3 stripped barbs, and both gouramis and got a grand total of... £15

i have replaced them with 5x male guppys (blue) and 8x yellow tipped tectra's....please tell me this is now ok?

So my current stock:

1x Rainbow shark
5x Crib (1 adult, 4 baby)
1x small catfish
1x eel (found out what he was they have them in at my local store its a java loach)
5x male guppy
8x yellow tipped tectra

im going to try and get one of the smaller plecos today, might pop over to bridgemere as they had none at my store

so my tank is 32"L x 41"H x 12"W how close am i to be stocked? i fancied a shoal of neon's/red tipped and mollys/swordfis?

obviously in my fish count bare in mind im going to try and get one of them smaller plecos

thanks
lee

 

[lee_k]

well thanks for your help guys, just got back from my local shop

i took the pleco, clown loach, 2 tiger barbs, 3 stripped barbs, and both gouramis and got a grand total of... £15

i have replaced them with 5x male guppys (blue) and 8x yellow tipped tectra's....please tell me this is now ok?

So my current stock:

1x Rainbow shark
5x Crib (1 adult, 4 baby)
1x small catfish
1x eel (found out what he was they have them in at my local store its a java loach)
5x male guppy
8x yellow tipped tectra

im going to try and get one of the smaller plecos today, might pop over to bridgemere as they had none at my store

so my tank is 32"L x 41"H x 12"W how close am i to be stocked? i fancied a shoal of neon's/red tipped and mollys/swordfis?

obviously in my fish count bare in mind im going to try and get one of them smaller plecos

thanks
lee

Forgot to reply earlier, my stats are: Temp= 20c PH=6.4, nitrite=less than 0.1mg but not completly clear, ammonia=0.4 isn't this quite high? Nitrate=50mg again isn't this quite high?

Please bare in mind i've had to do a part water change, so i could take fish to the shop this morning, and tests were done straight after, so these may settle, i will re test in a few hours.

 

[Curiosity101]

Your rainbow shark is a red tailed black shark. Not a rainbow shark, the red tail tends to be more aggressive. Though in a 250l tank should be fine.

5x Krib - What are the plans for these guys? You will find they breed like rabbits once the youngsters grow up.
1x Small Catfish - Really could do with gettin this ID'd, I think it my be in the Synodontis family...but other than that I'm not sure
1x Eel - From looking up the java loach, I really don't think that's what it is... maybe you could try to get it ID'd on here aswell?
8x Yellow Tipped Tetra - There's no such thing as a yellow tipped tetra...so I can't say if it's fine or not. Could you get a picture?
1 x Female fighter - What happened to her?

Have you already decided what pleco you want? There are loads to choose from, don't let impatiance lead you to getting one now...when you may well see a different one that you prefer more.
Eitherways, phone ahead to see if the plecs are instore. And if not, so long as they're common (which the ones I listed are), then they'll be able to order one or two in for you.

Please don't take this the wrong way by the way, but it seems like you're rushing...and not really researching before you buy...but more 'impulse' buying. There's no rush to restock...wouldn't you rather research everything first so you know you're getting exactly what you want? And not just what the shop has in at the time? Sorry if I'm wrong...but this seems to be what's coming accross.

Anyhoo, stocking wise (taking very rough guestimates as we don't know the exact ID's of each of the fish) I'd say you're about 90% stocked when you add a new plec. So have room for either another shoal OR the mollys/swordtails.
Then if you leave all of the new inhabitants to grow and mature over the next few months, see how things are going (check that your water stats are holding, ie. nitrates not climbing to high etc). If everything looks good (perhaps ask for assistance if you're not sure), get whichever group of fish you didn't get now. Ie. if you got more tetras, get the mollys/swordtails or vice versa.



Edit: Well there's some proof at least that the tank was overstocked, as the filter was clearly being overloaded. Now the plec imparticular is gone you should see both Nitrites and Ammonia return to 0. However if it were me I'd do a 50% water change now just to bring ammonia down to a safe level ASAP.
Also the nitrates aren't TOO high, but they're not great. You should be aiming for more like 20-30ppm normally (dependant on the reading out of your tap). I think you would find your nitrates would be much much higher if you filter was actually able to cope with all the waste though.

Edit 2: If those results were after a partial water change then this means they were even higher before! A water change is never going to unsettle the bacteria enough to give bad readings... it's just physical proof the tank was overstocked.

 

[lee_k]

Hi, thanks for the help, im not really rushing i decided last night to replace the gouramis etc with a few tectra shoals so theres some action higher up the tank.

the cribs already had babys once that how i ended up with 5, (i gave 5 to a friend to) is there anyway to stop them breeding?

the catfish is this little fella:

the loach really does look like:

[URL="http/animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/loac...chWFLo_Ap4A.jpg"]http/animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/loac...chWFLo_Ap4A.jpg[/URL]

i think it is a java loach, as the shop label said 3" max size to and mines about that and hes around 2-3year old (orignally had 3...1 died one had a arguement with the filter then died)

ill get some pics of the other tectras when the tank light comes on at approx 3pm. I thought the label said yellow tipped or yellow finned something like that anyway.

the female fighter is still in there

pleco wise id like either the king one or chocolate zebra, they look kinda the same and look pretty cool.

Again thanks for all your help

Lee

EDIT: it wasnt a proper water change as such,(i.e. never touched the filter or cleaned any gravel etc) i just took a bucket worth of water to put the fish in. I'll retest tomorrow and see if its settling. If it proves it was overstocked then im glad ive done the right thing, even if it meant getting rid of my plec

All seems to be well so far, when the tectra first went in the adult krib was a bit friendly, but now its gone in its little cave and everything seems happy. Once the new fish are a bit bigger hopefully they'll be no problem

Thanks
Lee

 

[Harlequins]

Agree with curiosity,

perhaps the tetras are silvertip tetras?,the females tend to have yellow tips on their anal fins,whereas the males are silver,could do with a pic

Just thought be wary of the adult krib,any fish under 2 inches can make nice snacks for them!

 

[Curiosity101]

Only way to stop the Kribs breeding is to either Keep only 1, Keep only females or Keep only males (though I'm not sure if there'd be territorial issues with all males.

I saw the picture of the catfish, thats why I think it might be a Synodontis...but if you could get a couple more pictures (or even just use the one you have), and post in the catfish section or something asking for an ID. You really do need to know the exact species of each of the fish in your tank.

I'm not convinced it's a java loach, but cause I'm no expert that's why I suggested you try to get a proper ID. You might be right (considering it seems to have maxed out at 3"), but surely it wouldn't hurt to get a second opinion?

The only tetras I can think of that might be called 'Yellow tipped' or 'yellow finned', are Lemon tetras or Yellow fin congo tetras. But a picture should make it pretty easy

Did you have a look at that list of 30 or so 8" or smaller plecos?
Oh and out of the chocholate zebra and the king tiger, the king tiger is the bigger of the two. If you want a pair I would suggest the zebs, and if you just want 1 slighty larger plec I'd go for the king tiger.

Good point harlequins, I guess they could be silvertips...

^^ Lee_k?

 

[lee_k]

King sounds better then as i'd prefer just the one. Bridgemere dont have either pleco in and glovers another local of mine only have standard or the clown one, which they said is small. I'll be honest i didnt have a look through the list as the gf instantly liked the king and chocolate one so my decision was kind of made for me

Ill try and get more pictures of that catfish and loach and see if i can get ID'd

How can i tell if the kribs are male or female?

Sorry if im being a pain

Thanks
Lee

EDIT: yes that looks like the tectras i have

 

[Curiosity101]

Ah fair enough, well king tigers are easy enough to come by, I'm sure you could somewhere who will order in for you

Female kribs : Pink, round stomach. More rounded fins. Generally more colourful.
Males: Paler, pointier fins.

They should be sexable from around 1.5" onwards.

If they are silver tip tetras then they'll be fine in your tank , presuming they don't become a krib snack.

 

[lee_k]

the krib appears to have left them alone now. Just had a about 2mins of curiousity.

Posted about the id for the cat fish and typed the rest up on the laptop, so my stock currents stands at:

1x Red tail shark

5x kribs

1x Female betta

8x silvertip tectra

5x Male guppy

1x Small catfish - awaiting id.

1x Java Loach

So hopefully this is a better setup than yesterday, when i came on here actually quite proud of my setup to then find out its really bad.

Next step is possibly some live plants - but ive had nothing but bad experiance with them in the past

Lee

 

[Harlequins]

Looking good,
just do a head count in the morning,if the Krib takes a fancy to them they'll disappear overnight!,my silvertips were very small when i got them,they've now reached their adult size of roughly 2 inches.

Also keep a check on your stats,hopefully they'll settle down,you've added a fair amount of fish but the bio load is less than you took out so hopefully it should find a happy medium

Don't be in no rush to add your plec just yet,let your ammona/nitrite settle at 0 first

 

[Curiosity101]

It already sounds ALOT better, and probably looks a bit more balanced?

I'd suggest eventually re-homing at least a couple of the kribs and replacing them with a nice centerpiece fish.
Perhaps Keyhole Cichlids?

Plants wise...elodea, cabomba, wisteria, java fern, java moss and anubias are all very easy to grow to be honest. Also as they're so easy to grow they're very cheap to buy, Ebay would be a good place to get them from.

See - Planted Aquarium Resource Centre AKA PARC, for loads of useful info on plants
Also see - A guide on where to buy plants, because although Ebay can be ok, it can also be hit and miss. Only real note about ebay is, DONT buy one of those 'various plant packs', only buy the species you know you want.

 

[lee_k]

well doesnt look like the pleco wil happen today, tried both my locals, stapley water gardens, hollybush garden centre, bridgemere garden centre and none of them have the plecos i want

been looking at my kribs and only the full size adult has a pink belly, does that mean the rest are male or does it take a while for the belly to go pink?

not that keen on the Keyhole Cichlids how would a few angel fish be in my setup?

its either that or go with my original plan of a neon/ swordfish shoal

Thanks Again
Lee