Ummm... Which Forum To Post In?

[geer head]

I recently was entrusted the care of a (approximately) 220 L fish tank. I have managed to kill the horrible algae problem and keep the remaining three fish alive. It is panted decently, but not heavily, (I would approx 30-50% coverage of substrate). I am not experienced with planted tanks. In terms of getting some help, which forum would be better to post in? This one or the planted tanks?

I have read the basics about having planted tanks, but it would be nice to have some helping hands to assist. If this forum is a suitable place, I will edit this post with more details on the tank.

Thanks

P.S. Can anyone identify the fish in the third post?

 

[ALW]

What are the three fish

 

[geer head]

jeweled cichlid, pleco, some shark like fish (have no clue), and recently one platty.

I have no worries about the fish, I've had my 5 gal tank for about a year now (not tank above). It's the plants that are a new area to me.

This is the unknown shark like fish... anyone know what it is???

 

[waterdrop]

Wow! Interesting shark thing!

 

[LosC519]

Looks like a catfish to me, try posting the pic and asking for an ID in the catfish section of the forum.

If your plants are not dying then they are fine. What kind of plants do you have? The one pictured looks like an Amazon sword which is a hardy low light plant, and it looks like you have a Jungle Vallisneria in the corner there. What kind of lighting do you have? How many watts? Plants need a good amount of watts of light for a good amount of time. 8-12 hours a day of light. The amount of watts of light depends on the type of plants you have. The 2 you have are both low light plants and will do fine in 2 watts of light per gallon. Since you have about a 60g tank you would need atleast 120 watts of light. You could go with lower lighting as I have successfully kept alive Amazon swords with minimal growth in 1 watt of light per gallon. All plants are different and almost all require more or less light than others, research the type of plants you have or the ones you plan on keeping. Nutrients are another factor, plants convert fish waste into nutrients, they will take in waste from the water or from the substrate or both.

Checkout the planted section, post for help and read up on the articles pinned at the top there.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

oh dear, that looks very much like a juvi pangasius catfish to me

here's some pictures of them as adults

http/www.fishforums.net/content/Other-Ca...18/Pangasiidae/

that fish needs a new, significantly bigger home....... like a public aquarium

 

[LosC519]

Donate it to a local reputable fish store with enough space to keep it.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Donate it to a local reputable fish store with enough space to keep it.

you'll be lucky to find one! needs to be in a public aquarium, most fish shops wouldn't have tanks big enough.

 

[LosC519]

Yikes...ummm... dinner? lol. This guy wont fit in a 100-125g? 300g? Theres ppl out there.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ok, usual standard given for large catfish is they need a tank 4 times their length, this fish gets to 3/4 metres long. so you need a tank 12 metres x 6 metres x 6 metres as a bare minimum for keeping it.... to keep it ideally it needs more than that. That's 95026 gallons!!!!

there's also loads of them in the trade for some inexplicable reason so every public aquarium or place with room to house one has people beating down their door to give their pangasius catfish a home.



these fish have no place in the trade full stop.

 

[geer head]

oh dear, that looks very much like a juvi pangasius catfish to me

here's some pictures of them as adults

[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/content/Other-Ca...18/Pangasiidae/"]http/www.fishforums.net/content/Other-Ca...18/Pangasiidae/[/URL]

that fish needs a new, significantly bigger home....... like a public aquarium

Can't be that.

It's been in the tank for a few years. I can assure you it won't need a bigger tank as it only 4-6 inches long. I do have a suspicion that it is a catfish as most 'shark like' fish are indeed a type of catfish.

 

[geer head]

Can anyone answer my initial question though, would it be better to ask about a planted aquarium in the planted aquarium section (or being a newbie to planted tanks) ask for help in here?