My Tank - The Latest

[Alex.]

Well guys, around 5-6 weeks after starting my fishless cycle, and a couple of mature media donations later, my nitrites finally dropped a few days ago and were clearing in 12 hours with ammonia clearing in well under 12... more like 8-10.

I am away at the end of next week on a work training course so didn't want to leave my girlfriend in charge of newly added fish if i left it another week so i bit the bullet and bought some stock and plants. I changed 80-90% of the water before adding anything.

I added:

8 neons
2 dwarf gouramis
5 sterbai corys
and 1 L288 pleco added this morning (shop said they were pretty sure it was a L288... see pics).

I'm going to keep an eye on all levels - ill check every day to ensure everythings going fine. Ammonia is 0 currently, nitrite 0 and nitrate about 30 (thats 24hours after adding everything but the pleco). I'll do a 25% water change every week to keep the nitrates down too.

Tank overview:

Tetras:

Pleco:

One of the Sterbai's (do these guys ever keep still?!):

And one of the Gourami's:

What do you think guys? I went for the dwarf gouramis over 2 Pearl's simply because they stay smaller so i have a few more options for further stock...

I'm going to leave them a few weeks and see how they all get on anyway - anyone with any advice please let me know!

In terms of food - i have a flake, i bought 6 frozen trays (brineshrimp, daphna, bloodworm) - how often do i feed frozen stuff? And i also bought some sinking pellets for the guys at the bottom and some algae wafers for the plec.

Any advice appreciated - also suggestions on future stock?

Feeding is one i haven't a clue on yet, how am i meant to know how much to feed these guys??

Apart from that thanks to everyone on here who has helped me get to this stage so far!

 

[Aqua Tom]

Congratulations on a very nice looking tank. I bet those fish adore their new home.

Lovely feeling isnt it?

I love your Plec, lest hope he is a small one.

The Stebais are playfull fish & are very entertaining to watch, you need 1 more of those.

Good luck with the neons I have awful problems keeping them but it may be just me.

I am loving your gouramis' but having no experience can offer no advice.

keep us posted

Tom

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

PlanetCatfish has no temperature data for L288, but L270 found in the same stretch of river has 27-30C requirements. L288 stays quite small for a plec at ~10cm, but is it mainly a meat eater rather than a vegetarian.

The two concerns that immediately spring to mind with your stocking, if indeed you have a L288 are...

Neons have a bad reputation at high end tropical temps and are opften subtituted for Cardinals at such temps.

If this L288 needs high current water to keep oxygen levels near their potential at 27-30C, you gourami is not going to be a "happy bunny."

I'd definitely get the catfish ID verified at PC, besides probably costing you a fair bit, you need to know what conditions it needs. I cannot remember the exact thread, but someone on here brought home an "impulse buy" pleco and it was dead within 24 hours, as the specialised conditions it needed were not met.

 

[fishheaventv]

beautiful tank and that's awesome pleco

 

[Aqua Tom]

PlanetCatfish has no temperature data for L288, but L270 found in the same stretch of river has 27-30C requirements. L288 stays quite small for a plec at ~10cm, but is it mainly a meat eater rather than a vegetarian.

The two concerns that immediately spring to mind with your stocking, if indeed you have a L288 are...

Neons have a bad reputation at high end tropical temps and are opften subtituted for Cardinals at such temps.

If this L288 needs high current water to keep oxygen levels near their potential at 27-30C, you gourami is not going to be a "happy bunny."

I'd definitely get the catfish ID verified at PC, besides probably costing you a fair bit, you need to know what conditions it needs. I cannot remember the exact thread, but someone on here brought home an "impulse buy" pleco and it was dead within 24 hours, as the specialised conditions it needed were not met.

But congratulations on completing your fishless cycle none=the=less.


Tom

 

[FishFanatic04]

Congrats on the fishless cycle! I would add one more cory so there will be a nice round number. The pleco is beautiful. Just do some research to make sure everyone will be happy!

Must feel so good to have fish in there!

 

[Alex.]

PlanetCatfish has no temperature data for L288, but L270 found in the same stretch of river has 27-30C requirements. L288 stays quite small for a plec at ~10cm, but is it mainly a meat eater rather than a vegetarian.

The two concerns that immediately spring to mind with your stocking, if indeed you have a L288 are...

Neons have a bad reputation at high end tropical temps and are opften subtituted for Cardinals at such temps.

If this L288 needs high current water to keep oxygen levels near their potential at 27-30C, you gourami is not going to be a "happy bunny."

I'd definitely get the catfish ID verified at PC, besides probably costing you a fair bit, you need to know what conditions it needs. I cannot remember the exact thread, but someone on here brought home an "impulse buy" pleco and it was dead within 24 hours, as the specialised conditions it needed were not met.

Aquatics to your door has it down as 26-29C from when they had some in stock. In the shop it was kept with BN plecs although not sure what temperature they had it at. If it is meant to be 26-29, I thought gouramis were ok in those temps? Then again I am not the one with experience so please feel free to inform me otherwise!

What temp do you think I should keep my tank at?

The consensus seems to be add another cory? The shop will think I'm bonkers just buying one

 

[FishFanatic04]

Wouldn't worry about it. Just tell them you are adding to your group.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

PlanetCatfish has no temperature data for L288, but L270 found in the same stretch of river has 27-30C requirements. L288 stays quite small for a plec at ~10cm, but is it mainly a meat eater rather than a vegetarian.

The two concerns that immediately spring to mind with your stocking, if indeed you have a L288 are...

Neons have a bad reputation at high end tropical temps and are opften subtituted for Cardinals at such temps.

If this L288 needs high current water to keep oxygen levels near their potential at 27-30C, you gourami is not going to be a "happy bunny."

I'd definitely get the catfish ID verified at PC, besides probably costing you a fair bit, you need to know what conditions it needs. I cannot remember the exact thread, but someone on here brought home an "impulse buy" pleco and it was dead within 24 hours, as the specialised conditions it needed were not met.

Aquatics to your door has it down as 26-29C from when they had some in stock. In the shop it was kept with BN plecs although not sure what temperature they had it at. If it is meant to be 26-29, I thought gouramis were ok in those temps? Then again I am not the one with experience so please feel free to inform me otherwise!

What temp do you think I should keep my tank at?

The consensus seems to be add another cory? The shop will think I'm bonkers just buying one

The problem with buying exotic fish including L-numbers is that you need to be sure you are providing them with any vital requirements, which means you need to be sure exactly what you have bought. It is a great looking catfish, but I'd imagine like most of us you would be rather upset if it died because you were not providing the right conditions. Shops often incorrectly identify fish, especially less common ones (eg. I've got a mislabelled Synodontis notata that is a Synodontis congica; a mislabelled Microsynodontis batesii that I believe is a Microsynodontis polli) and there are a whole host of orange/black vertical banded plecs out there.

The potential gourami incompatabilty is if this catfish needs a strong current, like say L034 (Medusa Pleco), where 10-15x true water current via lots of surface rippling is needed. Very few labyrinth fish would tolerate such conditions.

 

[Alex.]

PlanetCatfish has no temperature data for L288, but L270 found in the same stretch of river has 27-30C requirements. L288 stays quite small for a plec at ~10cm, but is it mainly a meat eater rather than a vegetarian.

The two concerns that immediately spring to mind with your stocking, if indeed you have a L288 are...

Neons have a bad reputation at high end tropical temps and are opften subtituted for Cardinals at such temps.

If this L288 needs high current water to keep oxygen levels near their potential at 27-30C, you gourami is not going to be a "happy bunny."

I'd definitely get the catfish ID verified at PC, besides probably costing you a fair bit, you need to know what conditions it needs. I cannot remember the exact thread, but someone on here brought home an "impulse buy" pleco and it was dead within 24 hours, as the specialised conditions it needed were not met.

Aquatics to your door has it down as 26-29C from when they had some in stock. In the shop it was kept with BN plecs although not sure what temperature they had it at. If it is meant to be 26-29, I thought gouramis were ok in those temps? Then again I am not the one with experience so please feel free to inform me otherwise!

What temp do you think I should keep my tank at?

The consensus seems to be add another cory? The shop will think I'm bonkers just buying one

The problem with buying exotic fish including L-numbers is that you need to be sure you are providing them with any vital requirements, which means you need to be sure exactly what you have bought. It is a great looking catfish, but I'd imagine like most of us you would be rather upset if it died because you were not providing the right conditions. Shops often incorrectly identify fish, especially less common ones (eg. I've got a mislabelled Synodontis notata that is a Synodontis congica; a mislabelled Microsynodontis batesii that I believe is a Microsynodontis polli) and there are a whole host of orange/black vertical banded plecs out there.

The potential gourami incompatabilty is if this catfish needs a strong current, like say L034 (Medusa Pleco), where 10-15x true water current via lots of surface rippling is needed. Very few labyrinth fish would tolerate such conditions.

No problem, thanks for the info. I'll try to get a definite ID on the plec.

So gouramis don't like a current? I currently have an air stone and the filter set using the Venturi valve which is giving plenty of surface agitation and current, should I change this?

 

[Aqua Tom]

So gouramis don't like a current? I currently have an air stone and the filter set using the Venturi valve which is giving plenty of surface agitation and current, should I change this?

No, that should be fine.


Tom

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

As a very rough ballpark, your gourami will want less than 750lph of actual water movement in your 125l tank i.e. less than 6x true water current. Powerheads and especially filters rarely meet the marketed turnover in the real world (eg. my All Pond Solutions 2000EFs can just about do 1200lph (when the marketing talks of 2000lph), you can usually take at least 10% of the quoted filtration rates.

On the other hand, if you pleco required strong riverine conditions like my Synodontis brichardi, your tank would need ~1250-1900lph of actual water movement provided mainly through surface rippling.

Here's a clip of my 5x2x2 (~500l as not full to brim) from a few months back, with an FX5 (~2300lph) and APS2000EF (~1200lph) providing surface rippling, with a 5000lph powerhead midwater...
[video]http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpt5Osr1kkc[/video]

 

[DJH584]

I love the colouring and look of the pleco. To me it says," I am the submarine camouflaged version of a stealth bomber. Find me and start messing then you will have problems!!!" Superb looking fish, just wish we had the room to have some.

Regards

 

[xingumike]

The pleco is definitely Peckoltia (and a beautiful one), difficult to get an exact ID without catch locale, even then the L number system is hardly the be all and end all when it comes to ID.

26/27 degrees would be a safe bet temperature wise imo, these fish are Ominvores so offer meat as well as vegetable matter.

I see you have asked at PC for an ID, they will know if anyone does, my initial thought was P. vittata (L15)

ps - you won't believe how much better your tank would look with a plain black background.

 

[Alex.]

The pleco is definitely Peckoltia (and a beautiful one), difficult to get an exact ID without catch locale, even then the L number system is hardly the be all and end all when it comes to ID.

26/27 degrees would be a safe bet temperature wise imo, these fish are Ominvores so offer meat as well as vegetable matter.

I see you have asked at PC for an ID, they will know if anyone does, my initial thought was P. vittata (L15)

ps - you won't believe how much better your tank would look with a plain black background.

Yeah having just looked up L15 - he looks identical to one of those too! The L15 seems to have a lower (22-27) temp range than the L288.

How would you go about adding a black background with the tank only 10-15cm from my wall?

Thanks for the comments / feedback