New member

[Mick85]

Hi just wanted to introduce myself. Just found this forum after sifting through many others that were very inactive so good to see there's still a fish keeping forum with heaps of activity! I'm still relatively new to fish keeping, i first gave it a shot a few years ago with a little 19L nano tank but i completely stuffed it up by not cycling the tank properly and over stocking the tank. It was my fault for not doing my research properly before setting up the tank and getting fish but I've learnt since! Now i have 2 tanks set up. One was a 100L breeding tank which i bred angels and kribensis cichlids in and the other is an Aqua One 850 165L community tank. The breeding tank is now also a community tank with smaller fish.

This is my 100L tank

As you can see I've got a bit of a BBA problem but I'm treating it with prime excel and it's starting to turn purple.
I'm running an Aqua One Ocellaris 850 cannister as well as an Aqua One HOB filter.
Stock:
- 7 purple harlequin rasboras
- 6 red eye balloon tetras
- 6 kuhli loaches
- 2 marbled bristlenose plecos
- 1 royal whiptail catfish
- 1 dwarf honey gourami
- 1 german blue ram
- 2 mystery snails
- 2 ramshorn snails

This is my 165L tank

This tank has been running for a couple of years now and is probably a bit over stocked but i keep up on maintenance and the water quality is spot on.
Stock:
- 4 angels (from my last batch of angels i bred)
- 3 clown loaches
- 5 yoyo loaches
- 3 german blue rams
- 1 empire gudgeon
- 1 kribensis cichlid
- 1 red rainbow
- 3 lake kutubu rainbows
- 2 smaller rainbows i can't remember the species
- 1 black ghostknife

I'm always looking to do little changes to my tanks so I'll update as they happen!

Look forward to being part of the community!

 

[itiwhetu]

Hi, I am a plant fanatic and so I like to see lots of plants, 30-50% of the volume of the tank that will help to keep the system balanced and acts as a biological filter. This is a cool site lots of people with different ideas, you will learn heaps here.

 

[Mick85]

Hi, I am a plant fanatic and so I like to see lots of plants, 30-50% of the volume of the tank that will help to keep the system balanced and acts as a biological filter. This is a cool site lots of people with different ideas, you will learn heaps here.

What are some plants i can get that don't require cO2 bottle? I don't know much about plants but I've always liked the idea of having a planted aquarium.

 

[itiwhetu]

You are in Australia we will see if @Colin_T can help you with what is available .

 

[Mick85]

You are in Australia we will see if @Colin_T can help you with what is available .

Thanks mate

 

[Colin_T]

I can only see one of the 3rd species of rainbowfish you have and it looks like a female Melanotaenia boesemani. The following link is to Adrian Tappin's rainbowfish book and is worth a look at if you like rainbowfish. You can download it via the link at the bottom of the page (it's 198MB) or click contents (top right of screen) and view individual species.

Rainbowfish Book

A website dedicated to Rainbowfishes of Australia and New Guinea

rainbowfish.angfaqld.org.au

Rainbowfish need plant matter in their diet and regularly graze on algae and plants in an aquarium. You can offer them vege flakes or fresh/ frozen (but defrosted) veges/ algae as part of their diet.

I used to grow duckweed in my tanks specifically for them to eat. If you don't want it in the tank, grow it in a pond or plastic storage container outdoors and bring some in each week for them to eat.

------------------
Some good plants to try include Ambulia, Hygrophila polysperma, H. ruba/ rubra, Hydrilla, common Amazon sword plant, narrow Vallis, Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta).
The Water Sprite normally floats on the surface but can also be planted in the substrate. The other plants should be planted in the gravel.

If you add an iron based aquarium plant fertiliser, it will help most aquarium plants do well. The liquid iron based aquarium plant fertilisers tend to be better than the tablet forms, although you can push the tablets under the roots of plants and that works well.

I use Sera Florena liquid plant fertiliser but there are other brands too.

Do not bother adding carbon fertiliser to the tank because they are not necessary.

-------------------
re: the black beard algae. It will spread to other plants in the tank so try to get rid of it before adding new plants. Sometimes you have to strip the tank down and start it again to get rid of the algae because it leaves spores in the water.

 

[Mick85]

I can only see one of the 3rd species of rainbowfish you have and it looks like a female Melanotaenia boesemani. The following link is to Adrian Tappin's rainbowfish book and is worth a look at if you like rainbowfish. You can download it via the link at the bottom of the page (it's 198MB) or click contents (top right of screen) and view individual species.

Rainbowfish Book

A website dedicated to Rainbowfishes of Australia and New Guinea

rainbowfish.angfaqld.org.au

Rainbowfish need plant matter in their diet and regularly graze on algae and plants in an aquarium. You can offer them vege flakes or fresh/ frozen (but defrosted) veges/ algae as part of their diet.

I used to grow duckweed in my tanks specifically for them to eat. If you don't want it in the tank, grow it in a pond or plastic storage container outdoors and bring some in each week for them to eat.

------------------
Some good plants to try include Ambulia, Hygrophila polysperma, H. ruba/ rubra, Hydrilla, common Amazon sword plant, narrow Vallis, Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta).
The Water Sprite normally floats on the surface but can also be planted in the substrate. The other plants should be planted in the gravel.

If you add an iron based aquarium plant fertiliser, it will help most aquarium plants do well. The liquid iron based aquarium plant fertilisers tend to be better than the tablet forms, although you can push the tablets under the roots of plants and that works well.

I use Sera Florena liquid plant fertiliser but there are other brands too.

Do not bother adding carbon fertiliser to the tank because they are not necessary.

-------------------
re: the black beard algae. It will spread to other plants in the tank so try to get rid of it before adding new plants. Sometimes you have to strip the tank down and start it again to get rid of the algae because it leaves spores in the water.

Thanks Colin. Yeh i think i might have 2x female Bosemani, bit boring! I do feed that tank with a mix of flakes/shrimp + algae pellets every morning and either frozen blood worms or frozen brine shrimp/artemia at night but I'll try to get more plants in there. Thanks for the recommendations.

As for the BBA most of it in my 100L tank is growing on the driftwood on the left side of the tank. If i put the driftwood in a bucket of water and treat it with excel would that kill the BBA? Otherwise I'll just get rid of it and get another piece. It's even starting to grow on the back glass in my 165L tank so gotta get ontop of that before it spreads more. Is it something to do with my water?

 

[Colin_T]

No idea if excel kills it.

I would put the wood in a bucket of water and add some granulated pool chlorine. After 24 hours hose it off and refill the bucket. Let it soak for a few days (changing the water each day). Then double dose the bucket with dechlorinator. Smell the wood and if it doesn't smell of chlorine, put it in the tank.

 

[Mick85]

No idea if excel kills it.

I would put the wood in a bucket of water and add some granulated pool chlorine. After 24 hours hose it off and refill the bucket. Let it soak for a few days (changing the water each day). Then double dose the bucket with dechlorinator. Smell the wood and if it doesn't smell of chlorine, put it in the tank.

I'll give that a go. Cheers Colin.

 

[AilyNC]

Lovely tanks - agree with advice to plant more. If you go on the Tropica website you can check care info including CO2 requirements about plants you have access to in local fish shops. I don't use additional CO2 & have java Fern, Echinodorus'Reni' & Echinodorus Bleherae, Vallisneria Nana, Cryptocoryne Wendtii Green, Cryptocoryne Beckettii, Cryptocoryne crispatula, Limnophila sessiliflora and misses. I think lots of plants really enhance a tank and your tanks are lovely so will be stunning with more plants.

 

[Mick85]

Lovely tanks - agree with advice to plant more. If you go on the Tropica website you can check care info including CO2 requirements about plants you have access to in local fish shops. I don't use additional CO2 & have java Fern, Echinodorus'Reni' & Echinodorus Bleherae, Vallisneria Nana, Cryptocoryne Wendtii Green, Cryptocoryne Beckettii, Cryptocoryne crispatula, Limnophila sessiliflora and misses. I think lots of plants really enhance a tank and your tanks are lovely so will be stunning with more plants.

Thanks Aily. I definitely want more plants but I'm trying to get this BBA under control before i add more plants. Don't want it spreading to new plants. I like your tanks btw! What stock do you have in each?

 

[AilyNC]

Thanks Aily. I definitely want more plants but I'm trying to get this BBA under control before i add more plants. Don't want it spreading to new plants. I like your tanks btw! What stock do you have in each?

The small tank has water wisteria, Elodea, amazon sword, Anubis Nana, Cryptocoryne Wendtii Green & Limnophila sessiliflora with lots of floating Salvinia. Fish stock is 12 platy fry of different ages from 3 weeks to 10 weeks. 2 neon tetra (need to re-home as water too hard) & two adult Platy. I just finished ich & worming treatment & changed substrate to sand. My plan for this tank will be a Columbian False Zebra Pleco with either a mix of Endlers & Forktail blue-eyed Rainbowfish or big group of one of those. Need to trade the platy as they get big enough.

The bigger tank has 6 bronze cory & 10 Cherry Barb. It's new tank that I'm building slowly. Plants are Echinodorus Bleherae, Echinodorus'Reni', Vallisneria Nana, Cryptocoryne Wendtii Green, Cryptocoryne Beckettii, Cryptocoryne crispatula, Limnophila sessiliflora, Lagenandra meeboldii red, Java Fern, Java Moss, Christmas Moss (lots of the tree) and floating I have Limnobium laevigatum (Frogbit).

 

[vanalisa]

Welcome, glad you shared pics your tanks are lovely!

 

[Mick85]

So I'm probably going to leave the BBA alone...my kuhli loaches seem to like hanging around in it lol

Also replaced the gravel with sand in the 100L. Waters still a bit cloudy but i only did it a few hours ago.

 

[AilyNC]

Oh wow the BBA looks lovely! The tank looks cleaner, bigger & brighter with the sand. Good job