Stocking A Juwel Trigon 190

[Tooombsy]

Hi guys. I'm new here and haven't brought my aquarium yet, doing my research before diving into it.
I want to get the Trigon 190 as the corner is the only place I can really fit a decent sized tank in my room.
I'm gonna be having live plants in the tank along with some wood and a few rocks.
I'll be cycling the tank for a while and testing the water quality before adding any stock to it.

I want to eventually stock:
1 Siamese fighter
8 flame tetra
8 neon tetra
4 threadfin rainbowfish

Also I'd like:
6-12 red cherry shrimp
4 amano shrimp
(And maybe a few assassin snails)

The main questions I have are:
Will these all get along ok?
Is this too many fish for a 190L tank?
Should I introduce the clean up crew before gradually introducing the fish?

Thanks for reading, any help will be appreciated

 

[Ninjouzata]

Be sure to cycle it following THIS and not just let it sit there the way most LFS would tell you to do.
You'll need ammonia and a liquid test kit (API is a popular brand, can be bought cheaper online). HERE are some ammonia sources.
 
Keep in mind the betta you choose may not like tank mates, so you'll want a back up plan.
The betta should be added last as if you added it first it would feel the other fish are coming into it's territory. HERE is more info on betta care.
 
I have heard of neon tetras being nippy towards bettas (and have seen mine nip fish) so I would choose something else.
I'd say harlequin rasboras but their color is close to the flame tetras and I imagine you want something different.
 
The threadfins need groups of at least 6 just like the tetras do. The betta may eat the red cherry shrimp but I think the amanos will be too big for it to eat. Be sure to provide plenty of hiding places and hopefully they'll survive.
 
I think I personally would cut the neons and bump the threadfins to 8 and then choose a fish for the bottom like loaches (dwarf chain or khuli) or corydoras, which there are lots to choose from.
 
The benefit of the fish-less cycle is you can add your stocking all at once, so you can add your shrimp and snails at the same time as the fish.
You might want to wait though as shrimp usually do best in more mature tanks (6+ months).
 
Be sure to research any of the fish you put with the betta as it has higher temperature requirements than some other fish can handle.
Seriouslyfish is a good resource for this, and of course you can always ask here. My choice of cories would be sterbai since they can handle the warmer temps.
 
Also 

to TFF!

 

[Tooombsy]

Hi Ninjouzata, thanks for the welcome and for taking the time to write such an informative reply. It's greatly appreciated

I checked the tank cycling out on here yesterday and decided that's the one I would use, it is simple to follow and has better info than most I have read so far. If all goes well and I feel confident that I know what I'm doing I'll be ordering my tank today!

I never realised that the neons would be nippy towards the betta, that could be a problem!
I think I will drop the neons, and bump up the threadfins and fires to 10 each.

If I was to keep the neons instead of the betta, are there any fish similar in colour to the blue Siamese fighter you could recommend? As this is what drew me to it in the first place, it's looks beautiful!

As for the shrimp, if the cherrys will be too small and look like food I might drop these too and get a few more amano to replace those.
For the bottom fish would a bristlenose cat work well? From what I've read they max out at about 12cm, but not sure if with my tank being a corner tank that it will have sufficient floor area to move around in.

 

[the_lock_man]

If you want the blue Siamese Fighter, then find a small corner for a 25l tank, and have him in it on his own. They are naturally solitary fish, and I feel a 190l is just too big, there is too much other activity for him to be truly comfortable.
 
Alternatives for the 190l - nothing's got the deep blue of a betta, but you could look at dwarf gourami, or there are various South American cichlids which have blue in them - particularly German Blue Ram, and some of the Apistogramma species have blue flashes.

 

[Tooombsy]

If 190 is too much for the betta I'll find a different fish. Have my heart set on that tank and my girlfriend will only moan if I buy a seperate tank for the betta. I looked at some cichlids before but I understood they may get aggressive towards other fish, am I wrong in thinking this?

I was thinking maybe a swordtail but again with it being a corner tank I'm not sure if the fish will have enough room to swim when fully grown. There's lots of fish id like to get bit i don't want to compromise the fishes health and happiness just so I can have them.

I'm gonna stick with 10 fire tetra and 10 threadfins, 6 amano shrimp and 4 assassin snails for now I think. Then when the tank is more established I can add a couple of additions to it after researching what I can get.

Also any help on which plants would work well in this tank would help, ifs like maybe some moss or grass for the front of it and moss over my stones, then some taller growing plants in the background to hire the filter and for extra places for my little friends to explore

 

[the_lock_man]

Not all cichlids are psychopaths, and I wouldn't foresee many problems with an apisto - the German Blue Ram can be a bit fussy when it comes to water quality though.
 
Dwarf (or indeed any of the smaller) gourami species would go beautifully in the tank too. Swordtails are again a good choice, but I would suggest that you only get males, partly because the females don't develop the sword and partly because females are baby-making machines. I would also suggest you never get any female platies, for the same reason (and platies and swordtails will crossbreed).

 

[Tooombsy]

The dwarf gourami looks nice, I'll have to read up a bit on them before I decide. Thanks for the recommendations
So tomorrow I think I'm going to take the plunge and buy my tank. I have the weekend off work to get up set up how I want and get the cycling process started.
I'll keep you all updated on the progress and I'll try to post a few pictures along the way

 

[Ninjouzata]

You're welcome! I like when I can write longer responses.
 
I love the look of the dwarf gourami but a lot of them get DGIV, I think is what it's called? (Dwarf gourami iridovirus?)

I wish I could recall more about it for you, hopefully someone else can explain! I'm not saying don't get one just know that there can be problems.
 
Are you set on a blue color or would something else that's vibrant work? Peacock gudgeons have some lovely coloration. These are the fish that my neons have nipped, actually.
 
Can't wait to see pics hopefully!

 

[Tooombsy]

I have my aquarium now!! It's set up and looks amazing. Have quite a few plants in there, and a nice piece of bogwood (which is being weighted down with stones to stop it floating away lol). I've upgraded the 600lph pump for the 1000lph, was hoping for the 1500 but it isn't compatible with mine unfortunately
Will see how the 1000 works for a while then I'll get an external if I'm not happy with it.
I'm going to be using the cycling method on here, I'm hoping that with the plants in my tank, it may be cycled sooner than without plants.

My new questions are:
Are there any ways of speeding up the cycle process?
Does anyone have any matured filter media from a juwel filter or any mature substrate they could part with?

I'd like to get this tank kick started and ready soon as my nieces are coming to visit in a few weeks and are excited to see all the fish swimming around lol.

Thanks for any help guys

 

[Ninjouzata]

You can speed it up by getting mature media though unfortunately I'm not from the UK. Whereabouts there are you? Maybe there will be someone nearby that could spare some.
 
Another thing you can do is get something like Dr. Tims One & Only though I'm not sure how easy it is to get there.

 

[Tooombsy]

I'm in London. I'm going to call round a few aquatic shops after work today and see if they can spare some. Fingers crossed
I've read Dr.Tims is good but as you said, not sure if I can get it her

 

[Tooombsy]

Okay guys I found some of Dr. Tim's one and only in a LFS. I have poured the whole bottle in as it said its best and cannot be overdosed. I've been testing the water each day and after three days the readings are:

Ammonia:0
Nitrite:5
Nitrate:40

I'm still dosing ammonia back up to 2ppm when its at zero and waiting until its zero again before adding more, but does anybody know why the Nitrite is still so high?

Many thanks for any help

 

[Tooombsy]

The water in my tank is now great. Ammonia 0 , Nitrite 0 and Nitrate 5ppm.

Yesterday I introduced 10 neon tetra and 5 guppies, tested the water after 24 and still good results.

Tomorrow I'm going to add 6 amano shrimp for cleaning up and was thinking a few oto for algae that may form on the glass, though I won't be adding these for another week so I can monitor the water condition first.

With the fish I'll have will there still be room for 2 dwarf gourami and possibly a bristlenose pleco?
I've heard a few different rules for stocking levels and don't know which to go by.

Thanks again for any help guys

 

[Ninjouzata]

Were you processing 3ppm ammonia->nitrite->nitrate in 24 hours? Just want to make sure
 
I would not add otos just yet..they are best in a mature tank (6+ months old) and can be rather sensitive and hard to feed.
If you do pick some up get a good look at them, you want to make sure they have plump bellies to show they're eating
 
I personally would not recommend picking up a fish for cleaning though..as it's your job to clean the tank. If you get algae there is usually a reason for it and can be fixed without having to add fish.
 
You can do the gourami and bristlenose pleco, yes. Keep in mind about the DGIV mentioned before..and I would keep a trio of gourami rather than a pair, that way a single female isn't harrassed too much.
 
Do you have any driftwood? I ask because the bn plec will need it

 

[Tooombsy]

Okay I'll hold off on the oto for now, I will be cleaning it myself still but my girlfriend wanted some fish that suck onto the glass, she thinks they're funny.
So 2 female and 1 male gourami? I love the colour on these fish
Yes I have a nice piece of driftwood which I'll be taking the stones off tomorrow, hopefully it's absorbed enough water now and doesn't float up again.
Yes I full dosed ammonia and readings were good the next day.
Also the ammonia is still 0 after having my fish in there too.
I tried posting a picture on here of my tank when I set it up but my file size is too large from pictures taken on the phone.
I'll play around with my settings and see if I can reduce it