The New Tank Has Arrived

[ProjectMayhem]

almost all puffers are deemed 'non-community' fish - simply because of their tendancy to nip with their rather larger 'teeth'. The red eye puffer is seen as a particularly vicious one as well. You could have a species only tank, but this one is quite shy and prefers to hide rather than actively swimming, so it wouldn't make a great display!

Nice tank choice - I've got the Flval Roma 125L. Had it for two years and have no complaints about it whatsover.

I changed my mind, I'm going to stock 6 Danios, 6 Tetra's some Harlequins but I'm not sure if they're schooling fish or not and whether they are will depend on how many I get and a Clown Plec.

It's a great tank but not being able to switch between bulbs is something I don't like.

 

[ZoddyZod]

I changed my mind, I'm going to stock 6 Danios, 6 Tetra's some Harlequins but I'm not sure if they're schooling fish or not and whether they are will depend on how many I get and a Clown Plec.

can't see any issues with that stocking

Personally I would advise on few schooling fish - I've made the same mistake of having 3 different 'schoolers' and the tank gets a bit 'messy'. I'd got with 2 groups max and up the numbers.

Harlequins are brilliant for schooling. My 8 ALWAYS stay in quite a tight group. My neons and rosy tip tetra do not.

Danios are incredibly active and fun to watch. They do not sit still for a second.

 

[ProjectMayhem]

I changed my mind, I'm going to stock 6 Danios, 6 Tetra's some Harlequins but I'm not sure if they're schooling fish or not and whether they are will depend on how many I get and a Clown Plec.

can't see any issues with that stocking

Personally I would advise on few schooling fish - I've made the same mistake of having 3 different 'schoolers' and the tank gets a bit 'messy'. I'd got with 2 groups max and up the numbers.

Harlequins are brilliant for schooling. My 8 ALWAYS stay in quite a tight group. My neons and rosy tip tetra do not.

Danios are incredibly active and fun to watch. They do not sit still for a second.

Well I might just stick to Harlequins and Danios, I wanted 2 parrot fish too but I'm told they'll eat all my other fish when they get bigger, is there a bigger a fish I can stock around these too, I like the thought of the harlequins and Danios but it would be nice to have something bigger with them.

 

[ZoddyZod]

Well I might just stick to Harlequins and Danios, I wanted 2 parrot fish too but I'm told they'll eat all my other fish when they get bigger, is there a bigger a fish I can stock around these too, I like the thought of the harlequins and Danios but it would be nice to have something bigger with them.

in terms of 'big' fish, the 125L is quite limiting (as I have found myself). However, there are still some very nice fish that are larger than tetra/rasbora that can work with the schools you want. Have a look at some of these

Bolivian ram - or many other 'apistogramma' species of dwarf cichlid. Be wary of the 'blue' or 'gold' ram though - these are very delicate and require more specialized conditions.

Dwarf flag acara - gets to a nice size and has striking colours.

Dwarf gourami - one of the most colourful tropical fish you can buy.

Golden wonder panchax - again, very colourful.

in terms of size of fish - 6 inches is probably the max size for your tank - depending on fish temperament - so have a look around and come bak here with any others you might have questions about.

 

[willowstwin]

I have the same prob with stocking for a 120 I plan to get. I have 6 neon tetras currently in my smaller tank, so was going to bump them up to 10, add 7 galaxy rasboras, but bigger fish I'm worried about I dont want gourami's (keeping my 48litre for my red dwarf and giving him some females to play with ) so bigger fish but not too big for the tank... PICKING FISH IS STRESSFUL

 

[ProjectMayhem]

By the time they get big I'll have upgraded to a 240 if not 400 by then, I'm thinking around 2 or 3 months until I have a 240 and 6 - 8 months before I have a 400 so size at the moment isn't a problem if I get young fish, I'm just worried about them attacking, I thought rams were aggressive?

 

[ZoddyZod]

By the time they get big I'll have upgraded to a 240 if not 400 by then, I'm thinking around 2 or 3 months until I have a 240 and 6 - 8 months before I have a 400 so size at the moment isn't a problem if I get young fish, I'm just worried about them attacking, I thought rams were aggressive?

personally I would never buy fish that you know will outgrow your tank. Although you are planning upgrades, you can never know what will happen in the future and you might get stuk with fish that are unhappy in too small a tank.

Rams are not considered agressive. However, they can be a bit confrontational with others of the same species. I would say either have 1 of them or a known pair.

Apistogramm Caucatoides (cockatoo cichlid) can be kept as 1 male and 2 or 3 females. This would be another good choice.

 

[ProjectMayhem]

By the time they get big I'll have upgraded to a 240 if not 400 by then, I'm thinking around 2 or 3 months until I have a 240 and 6 - 8 months before I have a 400 so size at the moment isn't a problem if I get young fish, I'm just worried about them attacking, I thought rams were aggressive?

personally I would never buy fish that you know will outgrow your tank. Although you are planning upgrades, you can never know what will happen in the future and you might get stuk with fish that are unhappy in too small a tank.

Rams are not considered agressive. However, they can be a bit confrontational with others of the same species. I would say either have 1 of them or a known pair.

Apistogramm Caucatoides (cockatoo cichlid) can be kept as 1 male and 2 or 3 females. This would be another good choice.

I've decided on the Golden wonders for the bigger ones because the rams have a temperature preference of 27 and my Danios although may be able to cope isn't the best for them.

My parents own a pet shop so if that situation ever did happen it would at least have a home there.

 

[ZoddyZod]

I've decided on the Golden wonders for the bigger ones because the rams have a temperature preference of 27 and my Danios although may be able to cope isn't the best for them.

My parents own a pet shop so if that situation ever did happen it would at least have a home there.

Rams and Bolivian Rams are quite different. The 'rams' (usually called gold, blue or German) do indeed need higher temps, but the bolivians do not.

However, the panchax killi will work fine.

 

[ProjectMayhem]

The site I was looking at grouped the rams in to one but it did say bolivians also need 27 to breed.

 

[ZoddyZod]

The site I was looking at grouped the rams in to one but it did say bolivians also need 27 to breed.

not sure of the temp. required for them to breed, bu that should be viewed as a seasonal extreme rather than a year round condition.

I've got 2 in my 125l which is at 25c. They are not as colourful as the blue/gold rams, but they have loads of personality and are the most interesting fish to watch in my tank. One of them regularly confronts my angel (2-3 times the size) and it is the angel that always backs down.

 

[ProjectMayhem]

The site I was looking at grouped the rams in to one but it did say bolivians also need 27 to breed.

not sure of the temp. required for them to breed, bu that should be viewed as a seasonal extreme rather than a year round condition.

I've got 2 in my 125l which is at 25c. They are not as colourful as the blue/gold rams, but they have loads of personality and are the most interesting fish to watch in my tank. One of them regularly confronts my angel (2-3 times the size) and it is the angel that always backs down.

Thats what I want in the bigger fish, the schooling fish are nice to watch but its good to also have something bigger which is fun to watch

 

[ZoddyZod]

If you want fish with personality then the dwarf cichlids are a great choice. Just make sure to pick a species that allows you to have two or more for them to display their social interaction

 

[ProjectMayhem]

My Moss balls finally arrived, I got some pond lettuce like I was recommended only problem is the lights on the fluval come down too much and I have only been able to put the new one in. The bogwood I bought on Saturday has finished soaking, last nights water is practically clear so I have put that in too, all thats waiting for the cycling to finish and I can add some fish.