Just A Couple Of Questions

[fish-r-fancy]

Okay I have a couple of questions to ask.

1. I cycled my 55 gallon tank with goldfish and now I'm going to give them back to the lfs. How long can the tank stay with no fish in it(so that I woulden't have to cycle the tank over)?

2. I plan on trading my goldfish in for a couple of clown loaches and some tetras. I understand the clown loches do better in a school. What is the minimum number of clown loaches that I should buy?

3. What should I look for in buying a clown loach? I think I'm going to try and get the biggest ones that are available because I read somewhere on this forum that larger clown loaches are more stable is this true?

4. What kind of decor do clown loaches prefer? I have some real rocks thta make a cave, a fake skull, a large piece of fake bogwood and I'm planning on adding 2 small pieces of driftwood that I found. Is there anything else that I could try.

5. What is the minimum amount of neon tetras that I should have?

6. Is 2 platties enough to have in a tank?

Thanks everybody for all the help. Sorry about the long post but I wanted to make sure that all of my questions were answered before I went to trade the fish in to my lfs today. Thank you everybody

7. Sorry I have 1 more question I have sand in my tank is this safe for clown loaches?

Thanks everybody

 

[fish-r-fancy]

Also whta do you recommend feeding them?

 

[timmystood]

1. A tank can stay without an ammonia source (fish) for a day at most. If your trading in the fish then trade them in straight away so that their are always fish in your tank.

2. I'm not an expert on clown loaches but probably a minimum of 3 clown loaches? Double check before you buy though.

3. Again, i'm no expert. The rule for buying any fish is that it is healthy with no dead tankmates etc. Just use your best judgement.

4. The decor you have sounds fine. In time you may want to add live plants.

5. The minimum amount of neon's you should have is 6.

6. 2 Platties is ok, try to get 2 females though to avoid aggression problems.

7. I would assume sand is ok, double check with a clown loach expert on this forum first though.

8. Neons and platties I know will eat a variety of food. Flakes, bloodworm etc. There are many different types of food for tropical fish.

Hope this helps and good luck

 

[fish-r-fancy]

Thank You very much. So I'll go to my lfs, trade in the fish and at the same time get my new fish. Also you said try and get to female platties how do I tell the difference? Thank You

 

[Aizy]

http/www.bollmoraakvarieklubb.org/artikl...own%20loach.htm

There's a nice informative page on clown loaches. It's quite long but it's well worth reading if you're interested in keeping them. I hope you realize that a 55 gallon is not big enough for clown loaches for more than a few years; at some point you will need to either upgrade or find them a bigger home.

Just to answer a couple of questions, they should be kept in groups of at least 4 and at least my clown loaches are doing fine with a sandy substrate. They love digging in the sand, they usually hide in the rock and coconut caves at daytime but come out when it's getting darker towards feeding time and they even eat my malaysian trumpet snails (which is fine, I have too many of those). When you buy them, make sure they do not look skinny and introduce them slowly to your tank to avoid getting ich. It's also quite likely you won't see much of them for several days until after they have settled in.

 

[xostrawberryox]

The bottom fin on all live bearers (anal fin) is pointed on the male and fan shaped on the females, ask in the shop, they should be able to identify for you. Are you sure about the Neons after what i told you before about them prefering mature tank??

 

[fish-r-fancy]

(quote)http/www.bollmoraakvarieklubb.org/artikl...own%20loach.htm

There's a nice informative page on clown loaches. It's quite long but it's well worth reading if you're interested in keeping them. I hope you realize that a 55 gallon is not big enough for clown loaches for more than a few years; at some point you will need to either upgrade or find them a bigger home.

Just to answer a couple of questions, they should be kept in groups of at least 4 and at least my clown loaches are doing fine with a sandy substrate. They love digging in the sand, they usually hide in the rock and coconut caves at daytime but come out when it's getting darker towards feeding time and they even eat my malaysian trumpet snails (which is fine, I have too many of those). When you buy them, make sure they do not look skinny and introduce them slowly to your tank to avoid getting ich. It's also quite likely you won't see much of them for several days until after they have settled in.(quote)

Thank you for the link it was very helpful. Okay I will get 4 clown loaches and now after more research that I have done yes I do realize that clown loaches will easily outgrow a 55 gallon so I will have them in the tank for awhile then trade them back to the lfs for some smaller ones.

The bottom fin on all live bearers (anal fin) is pointed on the male and fan shaped on the females, ask in the shop, they should be able to identify for you. Are you sure about the Neons after what i told you before about them prefering mature tank??

Thanks, now I can be positive that I get 2 females. YEs I am sure about the neons because the tank has been running for a month and I'm going to siphon all of the water out of my 20 gallon tank into the 55 that has been running for months. This will add some matured water to the tank. Thanks everybody for all the help. I now won't be able to make it to the lfs until tommorow but I'll take all this good advice with me. Thank everybody

 

[timmystood]

Adding water from one tank to another doesn't really count as making a tank 'mature'. In fact, adding old water is probably a bad idea because there is no better thing to fish than fresh water! A mature tank refers to the age of the filter really. A filter with loads of friendly bacteria on it that has been running for a while, about 6months, without any problems counts as a mature tank. The only way to transfer this 'mature' tank is to move the filter from one tank to another.

Just be careful how many fish you add at one time. Since your filter is established you can add a few more than someone using fish to cycle. Just make sure they are all compatable and healthy.

 

[fish-r-fancy]

Adding water from one tank to another doesn't really count as making a tank 'mature'. In fact, adding old water is probably a bad idea because there is no better thing to fish than fresh water! A mature tank refers to the age of the filter really. A filter with loads of friendly bacteria on it that has been running for a while, about 6months, without any problems counts as a mature tank. The only way to transfer this 'mature' tank is to move the filter from one tank to another.

Just be careful how many fish you add at one time. Since your filter is established you can add a few more than someone using fish to cycle. Just make sure they are all compatable and healthy.

Well the 20 gallon has been running with fish in it for a little under a year with no problems. Since I'm going to no longer be using the 20 gallon tank I probably will transfer the 2 filters on the 20 gallon to the 55 gallon for better filtration and to make the tank mature. An yes I won't go out and buy tons of fish I won't buy to many and I will make sure that they are very healty. Thank you again for all the advice

 

[timmystood]

It's ok, no problem!! You sound quite knowledgable already, good luck!

 

[fish-r-fancy]

Thank You for all the replies. I went to my lfs today, only to find that it was closed. The soonest that I could go will be Tuesday night. Oh well now I have more time to prepare the tank for the new fish! I'm going to pick up a bag of fake plants I think and purchase a nice piece of a fake log for the loaches. The log is really cool it's like a tunnel for the fish to swim through. I'll try and get a link up of the log that I will purchase. I was also going to get a piece of pvc pipe and cover all of it except the 2 openings with sand to make an underground tunnel. I just want the best for all my precious fish!