Roma 200, My First Journal

[crago1990]

Hi everyone,

Ive been keeping fish for about 3 years now. First 2 of these was rubbish small tanks with goldfish. Then i found this forum and soon got rid of the goldfish. I currently have an elite 95 whcih ive had for just over a year. This was my first tank keeping tropical fish and live plants. Fish wise went brilliantly, not really had many deaths and pleased with the stocking. Planting hasnt gone so great, only thing ive really keept alive is crypts.

Anyway on tuesday i have a roma 200 coming with a fluval 206 external filter. I was going to create a journal when the tank arrived, but this morning a peice of redmoor diftwood came in the post. Got me thinking how im going to scape the tank.

First a few details on the tank:
Tank: Roma 200 with cabinet
Fliter: Fluval 206 external filter
Substrate: this is were im a little stuck. in my current 95 i have john innes soil in there which i also like the natural look of. But i have been seeing alot of people use cat litter which i like the sound of and very cheap! but also read Stu40s journal and seen the amazing plant growth with using tetraplant complete substrate. I found it pretty cheap on www.zooplus.co.uk for £13.99 for 5.8kg. doesnt seem to bad, what do you people think?
Lights: Standerd roma lights 2x 30 T8s i believe. They any good?

Stocking i want:
10 Neon Tetra (currently have 6)
10 Cherry Barb (currently have 5)
8 Lemon Tetra (Currently have 4 and my fav fish!)
10 Harlequin Rasbora ( dont own any yet)
2 Bolivian Rams ( dont own yet but have fell in love with them since i saw them in this forum!)
Would love something for the bottom but not corrys had them before would like something different. Understand the tank will be too small for clown loaches (cost a bomb anyway!) what else is my choices?

Is that overstocked? Understocked? Just right?

Now to the scape..

i have one peice of redmoor came through the post today and im waiting for another to come hopefully monday.
Peice one..

Another angle..

What do you guys think i quite like it and hope it will work well with the other bit ive orderd.

Now for a silly paint drawing i made quickly LOL.

Shocking haha. As you can see i like to have a plan. Anyway let me describe it a little.
1. would like to have some vallis? in the right hand corner if it will grow.
2. Next to it i would like a big sowrd to fill in.
3. Would like some anubis to grow on the wood.
4. Would like some java moss to grow on the wood.
5.Maybe another sword.
6. Attach some java fern to the wood.
7. Some more moss on the wood.
8. My crypts to fill out the left hand side.
9. Maybe some swords to fill out with the vallis? any plants you guys would think would fit in nicely would be great?

Wont be using co2 but will add liquid ferts and root tabs. I currently have TPN lite. When ive used that would like some ideas what to use next? Tizer said to use dry ferts starter kit which ill look into when ive ran out of TPN. But what else is out there?

Sorry for so much info! Got a little excited will up load more pics when the tank comes and the next bit of wood. Took pics with my iphone but im charging my camera so quality should be better next time. Would love help trying to make this tank look good. You guys on the forum are such good Aquascapers

 

[crago1990]

I been thinking about it for a while as seeings as the tank comes on tuesday i needed to get the substrate orderd. So ive gone for the tetra complete substrate. Hope that was the correct choice

 

[Biulu]

Sounds all good! There are many good substrates out there, and tetracomplete is definitively one. When using it, you will no longer need your root tabs though as all the nutrients are already in the substrate.

Your planting plan looks good. What about putting a smaller plant in front of the vallis, one with a more roundish leaf to set off the long vallis? There are several crypts that could do, such as the affinis or the becketti.

For the bottom, what about some smaller loaches? You could keep a group of zebras, rostratas, yoyos, dwarf chain etc. There are many choices apart from the large clowns. I kept a group of 6 zebra loaches in a 180 litre.

 

[crago1990]

Thanks for the reply

So i wont need the root tabs? Oh well thats a waste of money then lol. No harm in putting them in the substrate few months down the line when maybe some of the nutrients have gone.

Yeah i was thinking of what plant to put there. I do already have some crypts so that could be an option. Ive read alot of people use quick growing stem plants at the start aswell to keep algae away. Maybe something i should look at?

Just looked at zebra loach not sure im that keen, thanks for the idea though. I just saw on another post ottos? They look like cool fish? Dont know how big or anything they get though. Mite have to have a proper look on the internet about them.

 

[jacko32]

i had a group of 10 mixed sex checker board cichlids 'Dicrossus filamentosa' in the bottom of my tank they were amazing the way they interact and the stunning colours they have i was sad to see them go when i sold them.

 

[Biulu]

Otos are nice but they are not for the bottom; they hang around everywhere where you have plants or algae.

Are you not keen on loaches in general, or just the zebras? If it are just the zebras; have a look at the loaches forum. There are so many of these!

Checkerboard cichlids are nice, but if you are already planning on the Bolivian rams, I wouldn't do this. One type of bottom cichlid is best.

 

[crago1990]

i had a group of 10 mixed sex checker board cichlids 'Dicrossus filamentosa' in the bottom of my tank they were amazing the way they interact and the stunning colours they have i was sad to see them go when i sold them.

They look cool! but im pretty set on the bolivan rams

Otos are nice but they are not for the bottom; they hang around everywhere where you have plants or algae.

Are you not keen on loaches in general, or just the zebras? If it are just the zebras; have a look at the loaches forum. There are so many of these!

Checkerboard cichlids are nice, but if you are already planning on the Bolivian rams, I wouldn't do this. One type of bottom cichlid is best.

Read ottos aint that hardy either? might give that a miss then. Yeah i might just have a look in the loach section! thanks. Had a BN plec before but took him back after a year just never really liked it that much... im not sure if i would want a diff plec? is there any other small plecs that dont look as ugly

 

[jacko32]

i had a group of 10 mixed sex checker board cichlids 'Dicrossus filamentosa' in the bottom of my tank they were amazing the way they interact and the stunning colours they have i was sad to see them go when i sold them.

They look cool! but im pretty set on the bolivan rams

Otos are nice but they are not for the bottom; they hang around everywhere where you have plants or algae.

Are you not keen on loaches in general, or just the zebras? If it are just the zebras; have a look at the loaches forum. There are so many of these!

Checkerboard cichlids are nice, but if you are already planning on the Bolivian rams, I wouldn't do this. One type of bottom cichlid is best.

Read ottos aint that hardy either? might give that a miss then. Yeah i might just have a look in the loach section! thanks. Had a BN plec before but took him back after a year just never really liked it that much... im not sure if i would want a diff plec? is there any other small plecs that dont look as ugly

i found plecs to be quite boring always hiding not much to watch
had bolivians myself they were quite nice but i prefered the checker boards because you can keep them in larger groups and there interaction is so amazing you can watch them for hours they are harder to source than the rams though
you could try a large group of kuhli loaches if you want some thing different never tried mixing them with rams though as i never mix continents i always keep south american fish with south american fish and asian fish with asian fish

 

[crago1990]

[/quote]
i found plecs to be quite boring always hiding not much to watch
had bolivians myself they were quite nice but i prefered the checker boards because you can keep them in larger groups and there interaction is so amazing you can watch them for hours they are harder to source than the rams though
you could try a large group of kuhli loaches if you want some thing different never tried mixing them with rams though as i never mix continents i always keep south american fish with south american fish and asian fish with asian fish
[quote/]

yeah i kind if agree they do hide way too much. Those checker boards never even seen them in any of my local fish shops. Just been lookin at the loach part of the forum and i think im going to give them a miss.. not my cup of tea i will just leave the bottom for the rams or maybe ill add corrys one day.
Cheers for all the ideas though.

 

[jacko32]

i found plecs to be quite boring always hiding not much to watch
had bolivians myself they were quite nice but i prefered the checker boards because you can keep them in larger groups and there interaction is so amazing you can watch them for hours they are harder to source than the rams though
you could try a large group of kuhli loaches if you want some thing different never tried mixing them with rams though as i never mix continents i always keep south american fish with south american fish and asian fish with asian fish
[quote/]

yeah i kind if agree they do hide way too much. Those checker boards never even seen them in any of my local fish shops. Just been lookin at the loach part of the forum and i think im going to give them a miss.. not my cup of tea i will just leave the bottom for the rams or maybe ill add corrys one day.
Cheers for all the ideas though.
[/quote]

i bought mine off a breeder on ebay never seen them in local shops

 

[Biulu]

Otos are not for new tanks; you need to have established some algae first for them to do well.

 

[crago1990]

Got my tetra complete substrate through today! and my tank should be here at some point today

Heres the substrate i got...

 

[Biulu]

Alright! It is the same one I had in my bowfront in Mexico and it lasts for a long time. If their formula hasn't changed then you will find root tabs in there as well. It does need a capping substrate though as otherwise several particles in there will start floating.

 

[crago1990]

gravel and loads other stuff come free with the tank so i didnt have to pay extra to cap it thank god. Spent enough already lol

 

[crago1990]

finally got the tank i can not believe the size of this thing! The instructions to build the stand were just awful! I admitt im not the best at things like this but those instructions didnt help me atall. The tank is pretty dirty so im going to give it a clean and set the bad boy up. Heres a few pics anyway if anyone is interested.