Moving to a new tank...

[Plecopottimus]

Hello all...new to the board and fairly new to the fishies....always had a goldfish or two as a kid but they never lasted long.

Currently I have a 10 gallon tank with the following:

A tank divider
fake plants
real plants
a small plastic log
a small castle with hiding spots underneath
a pea gravel substrate

On one side...
a 2 inch spanner barb (t-Barb)
on the other side
1 male betta
1 cory cat
1 very efficient pleco

thinking the betta would be agressive we bought the spanner barb as a foil...hoping they would keep each other inline. After a severe bout of shredded fins we soon realized bettas are very much a fine outstanding member of the community as long as there are no other male bettas and our spanner barb was just plain mean. we had one other cory cat but he died seemingly from a gill infection of some sort.

Now...we are moving houses and have purchased a 72 gallong bow front tank.

The plan is that we will maintain two tanks. The 10 gallon will be reserved for the betta...maybe a couple guoramis and a pleco

the 72 tanks first inhabitant will be the spanner barb and probably 4 more fish just like him. Hopefully they will establish a pecking order and chill him out. In addition to that we will be getting a pleco, a few dojo loaches (japanese weather fish) one red tailed shark some medium sized angel fish ( about 5 or 6) and maybe one other small school of fish which we havent decided on yet.

Obviously this tank will be freshwater and it will be well planted with both fake and real plants and we will have lots of hiding places for everyone. I plan on using much of the gravel from the 10 gallon tank as well as many of the fake and or real plants and some of the water to try and help the cycling of the new tank.

Now that I have introduced myself I just wanted to see if anyone had any input...either into my tanks... my fishies...or anything else. I hope to learn much and contribute what I can here.

Craig

 

[Nina7777]

Hey there,


Your plans sound good with the exception of the pleco in the 10 gallon and even eventually in the 72 gallon, as if it is a common plec which I am assuming it is, they can grow to around 24 inches. It will quickly outgrow the 10 gallon if not severely suffer from the limited amount of space.

Also you should stock the 72 gallon very slowly. Start off with the barbs, wait 3 to 4 weeks and add another 4 or so fish then wait another 3-4 weeks and add some more.....so on and so forth. Placing gravel from the 10 gallon into the 72 gallon is a great idea! Just don't take too much out of the 10 gallon or you'll disrupt the beneficial bacteria that is eating away at the amonia and such in there now.

Also planting some real plants in the 72 gallon will also help your cycle out alot!

again and we look forward to hearing how the 72 gallon come along!

 

[tstenback]

Hi and

Great sounding tanks. In addition to what Nina7777 mentioned be wary of putting both bettas and gouramis in the same tank specially if its fairly small as they tend to hate one another. They see the other as entering their space and it can get nasty at times. But if you want to try then go ahead, you never know. be prepared to remove the betta if any trouble starts cause it will be easier to house quickly. Good Luck and once again welcome to the forum.

 

[Plecopottimus]

Thanks for the reply! I definitely should have stated we aren't planning on putting all the fish in at once. as for the pleco...as I understand it they come in different sizes? We have one pleco we bought as a tiny little thing and he is now about an inch from head to tip of the tail. Its been about 6 months. He is a VERY efficient pleco and cleans whichever side of the tank he is on in about a day or two. when we bought him it was because he was supposed to stay fairly smal... only grow to a couple inches and he was supposed to be a very efficient little guy. at the rate he is at he should do well in the 72 but I need something to eat the algea in the 10 no? Eventually I expect I will ditch the 10 in favor of a 40 to 55 Its really only being kept for the betta. I love the little guy and I expect I would buy another one down the road but it needs to be an uber peacful tank. I think I enjoy the setting up of the tank and the scenery almost more then the fish themselves.

Craig

 

[Nina7777]

Otos would make a great addition to your 10 gallon along with the betta, and are just as efficient as a plec. They will even eat the nasty brown algae that looks like rust!

 

[Bol]

Hi, there.

Good advice you've gotten, but I'll throw something into the mix...

Gravel from the 10g isn't the only thing that would help get your cycle going. Pretty much anything with a surface will. So, although you probably already thought of this, don't forget ornaments, plants, and especially filter media. You could also 'seed' some new filter media (for the large tank's filters) in your small tank before the move.

As mentioned, though, you probably don't want to move all of that at once, or your small tank could 'crash'.

Also, I'm not very experienced with them, but it would seem that aggressive barbs and angelfish (with long, tempting fins) may not make the best mix. Perhaps a "barb person" could offer some opinions.

 

[FishDan]

You can probably get away with having barbs and angels in the same tank. So long as you have at least 6-8 barbs (this is for tiger barbs). The barbs will then be too busy establishing and maintaining order amongst themselves to bother the other fish except for very rarely. This works for my sister in a large tank without being a problem.

\Dan

 

[ProGolferCL6]

i wouldnt put barbs and angels together....the barbs will nip at the fins of the angels and stress them out... it may not look like that, the angels will chase them off, but after time goes along, the angels will be get very stressed

good luck with ur tank!!!

 

[SailfinGirl]

Bristlenose plecos seem to be a good option, as they don't grow too big. If you're not sure what your plec is, maybe you could take a pic of him with a digital camera and post it on here, and people could advice as to what speicies it is.

with regard to bettas and gouramis, I ad a betta and a moonlight gourami in a tank together, and the gourami bullied the betta. Perhpas you could try a dwarf gourami and a betta together, I think a dwarf would be better for a 10g tank anyway. Just a sggestion, see what other people say first. good luck.

 

[Nina7777]

I've found that Dwarf Guoramis are the best for 10 gallons however not the best for Bettas. Because they are both top dwellers and both brightly colored they both see the other as a threat. I tried it in the past and quickly had to remove the betta.

IMO I wouldn't mix any type of guorami and betta in a 10 gallon tank.