Advise required

[Frank]

Hi Guys/Girls,

Only been in this hobby for a fairly short while and have a few questions.

I have a 4ft x 45cmW x 60cm H tank which is predominantly used as a display tank, have the following number of fish in it:

10 Duboisi maswa fry, about 4 cm

4 Elec. Yellows 1m/3f about 4-5 cm ea

1 Lombardoi M about 7-8 cm (would like to get rid/sell him)

2 Maingano's about 5 cm ea

2 Convicts breeding pair (know they dont belong there, only temporary solution)

(Male is abt 10cm, Female about7 cm)

1 Firemouth about 5 cm. (only temporary solution)

2 Bristle nose fry about 3 cm ea

Am I overstocked ??

Secondly I seem to be getting a bit of algea problem, only give the tank 2 hours light in the morning and about 4 hours in the evening.

Filter is a Resun AE-808, have no idea about liters per hour ??

I know I need another filter, have read the most recent posts in here but still not convinced which one to buy. I assume I need quite a lot of filtration for the Tropheus, at least thats what I have read.

Which is better internal or external ? Would like clearer water and more movement of water.

Long term plan is a 6ft x 2ft x 2ft for the Tropheus but don't know when that will happen, and then keep the american in the 4ft tank.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

Frank

[Chester]

10 Duboisi maswa fry, about 4 cm

I am sure someone else will say this too, but why do you have Duboisi maswa in the tank? Even if it is for the short term you are bound to be feeding them all the wrong foods. And if you are feeding them the correct foods then you would be feeding all your other fish the wrong foods.

[Magnus]

Hi Frank,your tank isn't overstocked but it is a bit of a mix of fish.Your Tropheus will do better in a "species tank" as they have different dietary requirements to the other fish (they do better with algae/vege based diet to avoid bloat).The filter you have is quite big and should do an adequate job on that size tank,the 808 puts out about 1200 litres per hour.If you want more water/surface movement you could buy a T-piece and another spray bar to increase the surface agitation.It wouldn't be a bad idea to set up another filter as then you would have a "seeded" filter to put on the 6x2x2 you plan to set up.I would recomend one of the Eheim classics,perhaps a 2217.As to your Algae problem that could be a nitrate problem,are you doing weekly water changes?Have you tested for nitrates?The other thing that it could be is if you have activated carbon in the filter and it has high phosphate content that would cause an algae bloom as well.I hope i've been some help to you

[Frank]

Hi Calvus,

Yes I know the combination is awfull it just kinda happened but untill I get get it fixed just trying to find best temporary solution.

But agree totally with you in your comments.

Thanks your input.

Magnus,

Thanks your message. will try out your suggestion about T-bar and go purchase an additional filter to see what happens.

I recently got my water checked by one of the sponsors and there were no nitrate.

I try to make weekly water changes (about 25-30 %) but admittedly sometimes it only happens every 2 weeks.

Appreciate your input.

Cheers

Frank

[Chester]

You might want to makes sure you have some bloat medicine ready just in case.