Our new 200ltr community

[SYNiC]

I just have to wait until the Mrs. is out before I pull the large pasta pot out to boil them up for a while.

It wasn't big enough I have them in the laundry sink, covered with boiling water from the kettle. I'll repeat this a couple of times and then just let them soak in water outside until I'm ready to put them into the tank.

[SYNiC]

I finally have some stock in here now after almost 6 weeks. All water parameters seemed to be good, so I moved my Angel and BN into the Jebo, and went out today and got 6 Harlequins & a Clown Loach to start things off. I didn't really want the Loach, but after adding some Java Moss, I found a snail in my tank. I pulled it out, but have seen little white specs on the glass about 1-2mm big, which I assume are more of them starting life in there. Hopefully the Loach will sort that out, and if I want I can return it to the LFS.

I also added the 300LPH internal from my other tank to help out with the bio load, and will add some more stock in the next couple of weeks.

My Koi Angel is sulking at the moment, he (we call it a he) wasn't to happy with the move, he should come out and check things out over the next day or two I hope. Hopefully he wont get a taste for little juvi Harlequins .

I really like the way they shoal around together, and am seriously thinking about palming the Angel off to the LFS, and just having a smaller community of shoaling fish, rather than putting in more larger species. I've got a couple of weeks to think about it, so I'll just wait and see how he goes, and how much of a bully he really is.

I haven't taken any pics yet, I'll do so tonight when it's dark if I get time.

Thanks for reading, and thanks to all those that took their time to give some great advice.

Cheers,

Michael.

[Edit]

Didn't take him long to come out of hiding and swim to the camera as soon as it was out.

This one has been on a 24hr feast since going in!

These guys are great to watch, they never stop.

The snail terminator.

I can't get any decent shots of the Loach or Harlequins, as my point&shoot isn't quick enough, even when playing with the ISO and shutter settings.

I'll let it all settle for a week or two, and probably move everything around (was a rushed aquascape job). Any other ideas for stock?. I was hoping for some Cardinals, but they are pretty small at the LFS, and might end up being Angel bait. I'd also like some Rummynose. I'll probably grab 2 more Harlequins also.

[oakes]

Hey, it's looking great, well done. Will make a great tetra tank and the cardinals are definitely a goer. Some of my other favourite tetras are diamond, flame and bleeding heart. There are so many other choices for a community tank. If it were me i would add some pencilfish to the above and a pair of blue or bolivian rams.

Cories will do well too.

cheers

ps - yea keep an eye on mr angel

[SYNiC]

Hey, it's looking great, well done. Will make a great tetra tank and the cardinals are definitely a goer. Some of my other favourite tetras are diamond, flame and bleeding heart. There are so many other choices for a community tank. If it were me i would add some pencilfish to the above and a pair of blue or bolivian rams.

Cories will do well too.

cheers

ps - yea keep an eye on mr angel

Thanks for the comments mate. I would love to have a pair of rams in there, though I have read that they are pretty sensitive to water conditions (bolivians not being as bad). I may let the tank establish itself for a while, and see what it does. I'd love to give them a go down the track, I think the colors in the Blue Rams are just fantastic. They also require acidic water and mine is pretty neutral, it may well come down in time with the wood in there though.

I had a look at the Tetras you mentioned and I like the Flame Tetra a lot. The Diamond & Bleeding Hearts look good too, but might get a little big for what I want (~2.5"). I also like the Glowlights.

[oakes]

Contrary to what i have heard i have never found blue rams to be overly sensitive. I once kept a pair for several years in a 2ft tank with just an UG filter and minimal maintenance. pH around neutral. I think they eventually died of old age! I think stability is the key, no rapid changes in water parameters, so not a bad idea to leave it a while for your tank to fully establish. Also i have heard that the German imports are more delicate, though more expensive and even more beautiful than the more commonly available fish which i understand come from the farms in Asia. I believe the German ones are bred under more exacting water conditions making them more susceptible to change.

[robdog013]

nice and bright

[gingerbeer]

just read this thread - just a couple of quickies. Like what you hae done.

firstly watch that magnetic cleaner with an acrylic tank. It is easy to scratch an acrylic tank. I use an old credit card to clean all my tanks (actually you get cards similr to credit cards at some hotels and I think some might have accidently come home with me)

secondly the chain swords that you buy will normally have ererged growth. This means you put them in your tank and they seem to die as all the leaves fall of - and then grow like crazy as a grass about 5 inches high - great plant.

thirdly how about some crypts for your tank - another plant that will do well in lower light conditions.

Good luck

Steve

[SYNiC]

firstly watch that magnetic cleaner with an acrylic tank. It is easy to scratch an acrylic tank. I use an old credit card to clean all my tanks (actually you get cards similr to credit cards at some hotels and I think some might have accidently come home with me)

Yep, don't I know it, I used to work in the Acrylic manufacturing industry. I haven't had any problems yet, the main thing to watch out for is not let it get into the gravel. One piece of gravel behind there is all it would take.

secondly the chain swords that you buy will normally have ererged growth. This means you put them in your tank and they seem to die as all the leaves fall of - and then grow like crazy as a grass about 5 inches high - great plant.

thirdly how about some crypts for your tank - another plant that will do well in lower light conditions.

Thanks for the advice mate, I will be sure to take it on board. I was thinking of getting a Java Fern to go on the wood, but that may be overkill with the moss?. And I'm going to have a look at some Crypts also.

I don't want to go to crazy with plants, more so just to fill the background out and try to make it look a little natural. I want something hardy, easy to grow with my set-up, and fairly low maintenance.

Good luck

Steve

Cheers!

[L127]

nice fat bn you have there...

[limegirl]

Looks lovely!

Word of advice - plants grow! I think in about four months the plants you have will have filled out the whole tank! I wouldn't rush into getting anything else at this stage.

[D6C1]

Nice tank!

Get a couple more clown loaches.. They are a lot more entertaining in a group.

[SYNiC]

Looks lovely!

Word of advice - plants grow! I think in about four months the plants you have will have filled out the whole tank! I wouldn't rush into getting anything else at this stage.

Yeah, the Wisteria is like a weed. I will keep that under control, and remove most of it when it grows out a bit more. I'd like to get some thin Val in there maybe.

[briztoon]

G'day SYNiC,

Very cool tank.

I'm in the process of remodelling both my 6 foot SunSun and 2 foot SunSun. Both tanks are almost exactly like yours. Both are planted community tanks. They have the drip filters in the rear of the hood. I'll post pics of the first setup of my 6 foot on a new thread so as not to hijack this thread.

A couple of things things I've learnt.

As gingerbeer mentioned, crypts are great plants.

I use Daika Wool to clean my tank. It's poly filter wool for filters, but works real good at getting algea off the glass without scratching it. That's if you don't mind getting your arm wet.

I had two of the 900LPH power heads in my 6 foot, and one in my 2 foot. I found after I finished planting and stocking my tanks that they just didn't do a good enough job.

So I added an eheim canister filter to each tank. I'm pretty happy with the results in the two foot tank. Only negative is that I would of liked to have the intake from the eheim in the 2 foot tank at the opposite end of the tank to the internal power head for the drip filter. Unfortunately this is just not possible without cutting out part of the back and bottom of a drip filter compartment.

With the six foot tank I did something a bit different. The six foot tank has an internal power head at either end, and two drip bars running parallel in the hood. I really didn't like the look of the internal powerheads, so I add an eheim filter at either in end of the tank and hooked the return line of the eheim filters into the drip bars in the hood of the tanks. Thus removing the two internal powerheads. A bit expensive, but hey...

Before I did this, I found that the the spray bar created a bit too much surface movement for my and some of my plants and fishes liking. (I have marbled hatchet fish and banna lillies in my 6 foot tank).

The negative side of this, and the negative side to the filter outlets from the drip filters in the hoods, is that there is not enough water movement in the tank to keep waste in the water column, so that eventually it is sucked up by the filter intakes. I make sure I do a real good tank vacuum each week.

There's one final part of the two in one filter set up. I use filter wool, ceramic noodles and bio balls in the ehiems, stacked in that order from the bottom up. In the drip filter compartments I have either bags of peat or purigen.

As for your stocking, If your getting rid of the Angel fish, some SA dwarf cichlids I would highly recommend are Laetacara curviceps, Cleithracara maronii, Nannacara anomala, Apistogramma agassizii or borellii (easy and hardy apistos), and Mikrogeophagus altispinosus (Bolivian rams). I've seen them all in Brisbane LFS over the last month.

I would think about possibly keeping 4 of one of the dwarf acaras spieces or bolivian rams and a pair or trio of apistogramma.

I guess that's enough of my experiences and it has hijacked your thread somewhat, so I'll go and start my own.

Peter

[SYNiC]

Thanks for some great suggestions mate. And don't worry about hijacking the thread, that's the point of forums isn't it?.

I have been doing some research on plants, and I'm slowly getting a better understanding of what I'd like in there. "Cryptocoryne walkeri" & "Anubias barteri v. 'nana'" are a couple that have tickled my fancy so far, and are easy growers under my conditions. I'd also like to eventually pull the Wisteria, and replace it with some kind of Val.

As for the filter, I don't doubt that the built in unit won't live up to the job in the long run. I just don't want to spend big dollars on something like a Eheim or Fluval canister. I have been looking at some cheap Aqua Nova canisters (around $99@1000-1200LPH). Maybe I can get something cheap off the person that got me the tank I'll see what happens, until then I wont go overstocking.

I'm also going to add so Purigen into the system, as I'm starting to get some tannin from the wood. While I know it has no negative of the stock, I personally like the crystal clear look.

Next on my agenda of things to look at is ferts. I'm looking at using tabs for the root feeder (Sword), just trying to decide if it is going to worth the bother or not. Has anyone had any good results from Seachem Flourish Tabs?. I was a little concerned with the mention of phosphate in them though.

Other than that, that's about as far as I have got/am going to get until after the new year.

briztoon - send me a PM with the link of the thread that you start, I'd love to see pics of your set-ups.

Cheers,

Michael.

[briztoon]

About to post the first installment.

[D6C1]

And watching both threads! Keep updating guys.

[SYNiC]

I went out today and got some more fish. I grabbed 2 more Harlequins, another Clown Loach and a Black Velvet Angel.

I decided to go with a couple of feature fish, so I think the black Angel will look good in there with the bright green plants, white gravel and black tank. Adding the second Loach was good too, they have been out chasing each other all over the place.

So now I have;

1 Gold Marble

1 Black Velvet Angel

8 Harlequins

2 Clown Loaches

1 Bristlenose

Here is a quick pic I took this afternoon. I'll try to get a better one when it's dark.

Edit:

[briztoon]

Hey SYNiC,

Looking very nice. Plants are looking real good as well.

[SYNiC]

Just added 2 Flame Dwarf Gouramis, and 6 Red Phantom Tetras. I would of preferred a cobalt as well, but there was none in at the time. The Red Phantoms were kind of a spur of the moment thing. I really wanted some Cardinals (the tank needs some blue in there), but they were just to small & would end up expensive feeder fish to my Gold Marble.

Maybe I will set the 10G up again, and use that to grow out some Cardinals... I'll try and get some pics soon, I just did a water change so the water isn't very clear at the moment...

Cheers.

[SYNiC]

Some updated pics... I just couldn't seem to get any decent shots tonight, here's the best of the worst.

[KIMO]

Looking really good mate. Fantastic looking set up!

[SYNiC]

Looking really good mate. Fantastic looking set up!

Thanks KIMO, a lot of great advice from this thread along the way helped things come together nicely too...

[SYNiC]

A little update on my tank. All things are good, in the 6 months its been up and running, I haven't lost any stock and everyone is getting on well. My juvi Angel is getting bigger fast, as are the Red Phantoms, which I suspect are almost fully grown.

I've recently added a canister, as I said I was going to do. I ended up going with a 305 (Fluval) that does 1000lph (about 710lph flow). I spent 4.5hrs last week pulling plants, pruning, re-planting new clippings, vacuuming, doing a w/c and putting the new 305 in.

I should of pulled the noodles out of the hood and put them straight in to the 305, but I just left the Jebo power head in until it seeds the 305. I suspect the power head is blocked with debris as it is not moving as much water as it should be, hopefully it isn't a sealed unit, and I can get to the impeller and pull out whatever is slowing it down.

So, to my dilemma... I have an itch that needs scratching - I want more fish. What are your thoughts on putting more in there?. Currently we have;

2 Angles

2 Dwarf Gouramis

8 Harlequins

6 Red Phantoms

2 Clown Loaches (2.5-3")

1 Bristlenose (about 3-3.5")

Initially I thought maybe another Angel. But I'd like to get more color in there. I may try to swap one of the Flame Dwarfs for a Cobalt at the LFS (I really want some blue in there). I also thought about Pearl or Opaline Gouramis, but they would be too big at 4-5"ea. Sparkling Gouramis look good too, but would require a group and to be honest, I want to try and steer clear of small shoaling fish as we have the Harlequins and the Tetras already.

That leaves me to my next thought - Rams. How would say Blue/Bolivian Rams go in a community with Angles?. I have read of it being done the question is, have I got enough room for a pair?. I figure the Harlequins and Tetras would make for a good dither fish, as they are always out and about.

Throw some ideas at me, I've been looking around on the net to get some ideas, but I'm getting more confused the more I look. I even thought of throwing the 10G together and growing out some Cardinals, though it could prove to be an expensive test if they turned out to be feeder fish to my Angel(s).

Sorry for the rant, it turned out longer than I had expected

Cheers,

Michael

[oakes]

Beautiful tank there. A pair of blue rams would make a lovely addition, but my concern would be that the clown loaches would be too boisterous for them and would certainly disrupt any breeding activity. If it were me i would substitute the loaches for the rams, but that's just me!

If it's blue colour you want a tetra option other than the cardinals are cochu blue tetras though i don't think they grow much bigger.

Have fun!

[SYNiC]

Beautiful tank there. A pair of blue rams would make a lovely addition, but my concern would be that the clown loaches would be too boisterous for them and would certainly disrupt any breeding activity. If it were me i would substitute the loaches for the rams, but that's just me!

If it's blue colour you want a tetra option other than the cardinals are cochu blue tetras though i don't think they grow much bigger.

Have fun!

I really would like some Rams, but you know what - I've grown to love those Loaches. They are the most entertaining fish in there to watch when they come out to play. I will look into your suggestion, thanks for the compliment.

Edit: Checked out the Cochu Tetra, I remember seeing it before now, they get to ~4/5cm from what I read. There is some awesome looking Rainbows out there, might have to read up a little more on those fellas...