My Tanks

[Guyver]

I'm still fairly new to this hobby but since I've started I've really been enjoying my self setting up the tanks, looking after the fish and just enjoying watching them.

Here's my first tank which is a cold water tank with gold fish, got to love the gold fish they are so easy to look after but they do make a mess. The tank is 370mm x 42mm x 25mm, 32L with a built in filter and lighting, I've thrown in a little Fluval filter just for good measure. I made the custom background which is a screen shot from the Super nintendo game Donkey Kong Country. Naturally it's one of the water stages.

http/i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj139/mymediaguyver/7e7e91fd.jpg

This is my tropical fish tank which I have slowly been adding new fish, plants and decorations to over the past few months. It's 920mm x 460mm x 360mm, not sure how many liters it holds. It has a internal Aquatopia 400 filter and a Aqua One Nautilus 800 external filter and a dual line air pump. The fish that are in this tank are Rummy Nose, Ram, albino catfish, Clown loach, black widow, sword tail, Molly, glass catfish, tetra neon and two over energetic cat fish. Even though there's a lot of different types of fish in there they all seem to get along fine, I think the ram is the boss of that tank.

http/i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj139/mymediaguyver/d19dff2c.jpg

http/i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj139/mymediaguyver/12d22f02.jpg
Also made a custom background for this tank this time using a Sonic the Hedgehog them... can't half tell I'm into gaming as well

 

[KittyKat]

It's a shame that this is the first thing I'm saying to you… but it really hurts to see goldfish in such a small tank

The tropical tank looks good, the Crypts will spread nicely, but it could probably benefit from more tall plants along the back. The tank holds 150 litres, but it's the dimensions that are important, not the volume.

 

[Guyver]

It's a shame that this is the first thing I'm saying to you… but it really hurts to see goldfish in such a small tank

The tropical tank looks good, the Crypts will spread nicely, but it could probably benefit from more tall plants along the back. The tank holds 150 litres, but it's the dimensions that are important, not the volume.

Thanks for the advice, I'm actually working on getting a larger tank for my goldfish. I have a work mate that has a bigger tank that he wants to get rid of so the gold fish can have more room to swim around. Bigger plants for the tropical tank are on the cards as well, speaking of which do plants need any specific product to help them grow and stay healthy?

 

[KittyKat]

Thanks for the advice, I'm actually working on getting a larger tank for my goldfish. I have a work mate that has a bigger tank that he wants to get rid of so the gold fish can have more room to swim around.

That's great! Keep in mind that most of them should reach around 12-15 inches long with time.

Bigger plants for the tropical tank are on the cards as well, speaking of which do plants need any specific product to help them grow and stay healthy?

A bit of a complicated question… in short, plants need CO[sub]2[/sub], minerals, nutrients and light to grow, but this is where it gets complicated because different plants need different amounts of each. If you stick to undemanding plants, then they should be fine in your tank as it is. By undemanding plants, I mean those that can take the nutrients and minerals that are in tap water, do not need any more CO[sub]2[/sub] than what is already getting into the tank through surface movement and is released by the fish, and do not need much light.

The plants you already have, which look like Anubias spp. and Crypt. wendtii, are relatively undemanding plants. Anubias is slow growing, but the Crypt will grow at a moderate pace, so just watch it to see if there are any problems with the new leaves. If it does look like there's something wrong with the new leaves, then it's probably best if you post a photo and ask for help as it could be caused by lack of something in the water.

 

[catfishblues]

Wow. I freaking love this! Donkey Kong country owns! Great idea, really creative.

 

[Iiriva]

I agree with the pretty looks, and I'm glad that the goldfish are getting a bigger tank, but clown loaches are schooling fish and need at least 500 liters. Yours is only about 140 liters. I'd rehome it...

But otherwise the colors are pretty and I've never seen a donkey kong background before!

 

[KittyKat]

…but clown loaches are schooling fish and need at least 500 liters. Yours is only about 140 liters. I'd rehome it...

While it is true that they are schooling fish (so should be kept in groups of 6+), it is not true that they need 500 litres What they need are the dimensions: an adult clown loach needs a bottom area of 6*2 ft because they will reach 16 inches in length, but any height tank starting from about 15 inches is fine. So, tanks starting from 400 litres are suitable for clown loaches, but it's not good to say that because tank dimensions vary so much. For example, even my 500 litre tank is too short for clown loaches, so it is best if you actually specify the dimension requirements instead of the volume.

Another thing to keep in mind is that clown loaches are very slow growers, so I would say that a 4 ft tank is probably fine until they reach 5-6 inches TL, although in smaller volume tanks, it is important to keep up the water changes to prevent stunting. So as a general guide, I would say…
3 ft tank for up to 2-3" TL clown loach
4 ft tank for up to 4-6" TL loach
5 ft tank for up to 6-8" TL loach
6 ft tank to adult, although longer tank would be better
…of course, like you, I would prefer to see clown loaches grow up in their final tanks as the swimming space does make a difference, in my experience.

It is also worth pointing out that tetras, glass cats and Corys are also schooling or shoaling species.

 

[Guyver]

Thanks for all the info guys, I'm still pretty new to this but the more I get into it the more I learn.

Well today I made some progress with the new bigger tank for my gold fish, cleaned the tank up and added the Donkey Kong Country Returns background, I accidentally cut it slightly to small so I'll add some black borders later. Also managed to get down to the local aquarium and grabbed another filter, gravel and some other stuff I needed. I'll post some more pics when I've finsihed

 

[KittyKat]

Also managed to get down to the local aquarium and grabbed another filter, gravel and some other stuff I needed.

That tank is a good step forward. In case you did not know, you will need to move all old media from the old goldfish filter to the new one or at least run both filters in parallel for at least 4 weeks, and preferably for 6+.

 

[Guyver]

Got the new gold fish tank set up now

random video of tank plus computer http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYMWtnqtkLc&list=UUR5rcVTsEDhCtEsnzbXgCww&index=1&feature=plcp