New Tank

[Gaz_S]

Hi everyone,

Made the mistake of getting carried away So now Im currently thinking about getting a larger tank around 125L. I have the following fish in a 50L aquarium at the moment, 5 Copper Harlequins, 4 Cardinal Tetras, 4 Lemon Tetras, 4 Silver Tip Tetras, 1 Bristlenose Pleco, 1 Albino Red Tail Black Shark And 3 Tuxedo Platys (1 Male 2 Female) Unfortunatley lost a female. I think the tanks way overstocked at the moment been lucky not to lose anymore. Getting fry though

I want to try learn from my mistakes and was wondering if you guys could help me.

I was thinking about getting a diffrent variety of tetra aswell such as Black or Red Phantoms but think it would be wiser to increase the size of the schools of my current stock to 5 or 6 after reading another post on the forum if this would be a benefit for the fish. Would this be possible or do you have any other suggestions

I would also like to know the best way of kickstarting the cycle i orignally did this just by waiting a long period of time but have read that you can use filter media from healthy tanks or gravel in a mesh bag which already contains the nitrifying bacterias already would this work? Id like to keep away from the chemicals.

Oh and would it be worthwhile investing in Plant substrate?

Thanks to all those who make time to reply will be very helpful.

Gaz

 

[didz04]

Hmm yeah it is over stocked for a 50lt and the fish like a shark will need a bigger tank than 125lt.
If affordable a good size tank would be a 4ft tank around 150lt (40g) minimum and as long as if you have a good external or even internal filter like 4 fluval, I think you should be fine with the stocking you have. However, even then the shark will need to be transfered to a bigger tank once the shark has grown 3-4" and may even turn aggressive to its tank mates.

You could add fish like guppies or the babies that could help quicken up the cycle.

 

[Gaz_S]

Thanks for the advice! Just waiting to move into my new apartment i have decided to go for a 180L tank Juwel Rio if theres enough room if not the next model down. Ill have to watch the behavior of the Red Tail Black Shark towards the other fish hopefully a much larger tank will give it the bigger space it needs.