New Tank Opinion/ Rec & Question

[underthesea1]

Hey guys, I am new to the forum.

I currently have a 70 litre aquarium, with an external filter, and if I am honest it looks very messy and I want to switch to an 'all in one' aquarium.

I enjoy fish keeping but am pretty amateur and not looking for something high maintenance or complicated, just want to have a nice looking tank that does what it says on the tin and is suitable for my stock.

I currently have

- 3 cory (I know they need to be in a larger group, and I will look to get another 3 one I sort the tank situation out!)
- 1 male guppy - I had 7 but the other 6 died at varying points, not entirely sure why, have not had any fish deaths for months now, potentially my mollies?
- about 6 adult molly and some fry, I do not want to keep molly any longer as they breed so often I am constantly having to take fish back to my LFS to keep tank stock within limits.
- shrimps and snails (so many snails!!)

I have been using AqAdvisor to check and I think I will probably look at getting a few more cory, and perhaps some tetra/ raspboras/ killifish (obviously will check all compatibility before doing so).

I am looking at three tanks, all a similar price and wanted input on which to go for, or if ultimately, for someone like me, any of them would be suitable.

The tanks I am looking at:

- fluval roma 125

- juwel rio 125

- aquaone nano 80 - (130)

The aquaone specifically appeals due to the fact the filter and heater are hidden which I think is aesthetically more pleasing, along with the seamless edges

Just wondered what people would recommend/ if anyone has any other suggests for a tank under the £300 mark, all in one (filter included), volume between 100 - 130l, ideally filter intergrated/ hidden, and I tend to prefer longer profile aquariums?

Lastly, in regards to my Molly and Guppy, is it ethical to keep a single male guppy and a single male molly in a community tank? If not I either need to get a few more guppy, or return him to the LFS, and I ask regarding the Molly as there is one I have had for 2 years since he was a fry and would love to keep him, but really not sure I want to keep livebearers longterm!

If you've read to the end, thank you for sticking with me!

 

[Essjay]

You give your location as London, which probably means you have very hard water. You can check this by looking for hardness on your water company's website. You need a number and the unit of measurement rather than words - the unit is important as there are several different ones they could use.

The reason for me saying this is that cories and tetras/rasboras are soft water fish so if you do have hard water they wouldn't be suitable. I know little about killifish but we do have expert killifish keepers on the forum and they should be able to advise which, if any, would be suitable once we know your water hardness.

 

[underthesea1]

I am indeed in London (which does indeed have very hard water, I hate it!), I did a check and the results I got are below. Thanks for the feedback, my cory seem to have been fine, but I will take that on board when adding future species! Someone recommended me rasboras hence why I thought they'd suitable!

Degrees Clarke:	18.6
Degrees German (DH):	14.8
Degrees French:	26.5

 

[BigDog]

Welcome to the forum first

 

[underthesea1]

Thanks Big Dog

I mainly want to avoid livebearers.

I wanted a bristle nose pleco, but remember people dissuading me from them (I agree with a 70l tank, but maybe a larger one?).

Just want some pretty colourful fish ideally, quite like nano fish. Love gobies IF they'd be suitable.

 

[Essjay]

Fishkeeping uses 2 units - dH (aka German degrees) and ppm (aka mg/l calcium carbonate). Fish profiles will give a species' range in one or other. Yours is 14.8 dH and 265 ppm.

The usual recommendations for hard water are one of the common livebearers (which you don't want because of fry!), most species of rainbowfish and African Rift Lake cichlids. These cichlids usually need a bigger tank than you are looking at and need some research about which fish go together.
Rainbowfish are an option, many are brightly coloured but a lot grow quite large so need big tanks.

I am not that well up on hard water fish as mine is soft so I'll leave it for other members to suggest suitable (non-livebearer) fish.

 

[underthesea1]

Thank you Essjay - appreciated!

 

[Fishkeeper123]

Non livebearer fish for hard water I can think of:
• danios
• BN pleco
• some cories(the ones that are really common like bronze, sterbai…)
• kribensis
• loaches
• rainbowfish
• some tetras(x-ray, black widow, emperor…)
• cherry barbs
• Bolivian ram
Mainly Asian fish can cope with higher hardness. Just make sure the fish aren’t wild fish. There are more and I’m not saying all these fish would work in your tank but here are some that can be kept at high hardness.

 

[Essjay]

Forgot to mention, one of the best sites for fish research is Seriously Fish.

Knowledge Base — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

The profiles on there tell you the hardness, pH and temperature range a species needs; the minimum tank size; whether it needs groups, a pair or a single fish; and a lot of other info about them.

 

[seangee]

No personal experience with those but they are all reputable brands. You may want to throw the Fluval Flex 123 into the mix - sorry that makes your dilemma worse. I have the Flex 15 and its a great design, simplicity itself for maintenance and also has a separate rear compartment for filter and heater. Its worth having a look on eBay or social media sites for used. Lots of people get bored with the hobby or aren't prepared to do the maintenance or research and get frustrated when their fish keep dying. I got my Flex used, but I recently shut down another tank and advertised on here that I was giving it away. Not a single response. Yeah I know Berks is a long way for most members, but there are a lot of used tanks out there and not much of a market for them.