Ianab

For the Pleco go with some sinking pleco tablets and chunks of fresh vege. They are mostly vegetarian and too much protein in their diet can kill them. It's fine if they eat some leftovers or an occasional meaty treat, but aim for 80% vege in their diet. Mine like mushroom and courgette. Cumumber, skinned cooked peas and cooked green beans can be good too. The clown loach will probably try and get in on the action too, but veges and pleco chips wont harm him if he eats some. Just rubber band a hunk of vege to a rock and sink it in the tank, take out whats not eaten in the morning. Be warned.. they WILL make a mess in the tank as they can eat a LOT of vege. Have the gravel vac standing by :lol: Cheers Ian

Tank looks good. Should be OK to START adding fish once the temp is stable and the water is clear. (like now ) Just dont go dumping them all in an uncycled tank at once. Plan on taking 6 weeks to get the tank fully stocked unless you can shortcut things by using an established filter. I wouldn't put the clown loaches or the BGK into a new tank either, they wont handle any possible ammonia spike as well as other fish. Add them as the last fish once the filtering is established The Pleco should be OK to start with, as long as it's not too big. Are you able to get some established filter media from another tank? That will make the cycling a lot easier. A bunch of tiger barbs would give you all the movement you need :lol: I have 6 in my 4ft tank with a Bala shark, kribensis and plecos, all get along fine. Angels should be OK with those tankmates as well. Cheers Ian

10cm x 10cm x 10cm = 1 litre So 3.5 x 2 x 2.5 = 17.5 litres Approx You need to use the INSIDE dimensions and subtract something for the gravel and rocks to work out it out exactly, but thats close enough to work out stocking and medications etc. Cheers Ian

Not really. Like Banana says it depends on your fish. Hillstream loaches can basically live in whitewater rapids, I dont think that you could ever over-aerate their water without blowing most of it out of the tank. Likewise bettas and guppys dont like strong currents. Most of the filtration and aeration will be done by your power filter. Look at the airstones as an optional extra. They do help with the aeration and water movement in the tank, but mostly they are a decoration, they just look good. The filter packaging will have a suggested tank size for that filter. Use that as a guide. Depends on how much flow you want in the tank, and how heavily stocked your tank is. If you have smaller delicate fish go with a lower flow filter and a diffuser bar to avoid strong currents in the tank. For big strong fish that are messy eaters, BIG filter and lots of flow. I have a 1200lph filter in my 200l tank, the plecos, tiger barbs and kribensis love it. But it blows guppys out of the water :roll: Cheers Ian

And watch this video before you choose his tankmates... OK it's a BIG octopus and a small shark... But you get the idea Cheers Ian

They are carnivores.. I would suggest a small chunk of fish or a shrimp would be a good start. In the wild they eat small crabs and any little fish they can catch. They are also escape artists and can squeeze through almost ANY gap. Having no bones is an advantage sometimes, so make sure the tank lid fits REALLY snug. Cheers Ian

Yes, you should add some fish now, the tank wont be fully cycled, it wont be because it needs to have the fish and filter bacteria living together. So get a couple of small fish in there, feed them a little food and wait a bit longer. As for the snails.. well they wont harm the fish and can be a usefull cleanup crew. If you get too many just start picking them out. At least having snails in there is a positive sign, the tank can support life Cheers Ian

Some big plecos learn a bad habit of latching on to large flat fish like Angels and Discus and sucking the mucous off their skin. They dont all do it, and many people do keep them together with no problems. Just be aware of it so you can seperate them before the angels get to stressed out. If you go with Angels, keep away from the smaller fish. Angels are true cichlids and when they get bigger neons and any guppy sized fish starts looking like a tasty snack. Cheers Ian

Plecs are good, but I like to have a bit of other action in the tank too. My 4ft tank has tiger barbs and kribensis, it gives the tank a lot more action in the mid water. Them and the plecos all get along fine. You are pretty much free to choose whatever other fish you want, as long as they can live togther. The plecos will usually just ignore the other fish and go about his armour plated way no matter what they do. Cheers Ian

Welcome. No big trick to getting a large pleco.. just buy a small one and feed it :lol: Or offer to rehome one thats outgrown someones 2ft tank. Thats how I got my gibby, swapped it for a Bristlenose which was much better suited to the original owners tank. Cheers Ian

He just hasn't realised they are food ... yet The BGK is naturally a nocturnal stealth hunter, their eyesight isn't good, but their other senses are very accute. Their normal feeding is to wander around at night just hoovering up small fish as they sleep. I would go with the "does it fit in his mouth?" rule of thumb when picking tankmates. Cheers Ian

Thats true, clowns will grow fairly fast to about 10cm and then slow down. Maybe grow 2cm a year after that. But then they can live a long time too. So yes you have a few years before you need to worry about them The others could outgrow that tank in 12 months though. :-? Cheers Ian

Black Ghost Knifefish. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_ghost_knifefish Very interesting / cool Fish. They grow pretty big (30cm), they are peacefull, unless they can swallow it . They have larger mouths than they seem in pictures. Favourite food... small fish :roll: Cheers Ian

From another thread... jhct was talking about a new tank for his bigger fish. Ghost knife is fine as a community fish... until it gets big enough to swallow it's tank mates. (and that wont take very long) :-? Cheers Ian

ALL the fish you have can grow to 30cm or bigger. 8) I see a large tank in your future :lol: Cheers Ian

Assuming you want a heap of baby guppys... The female will start to look like a fat grape with fins before she drops the fry. You can catch her and place her in a breeding net with some floating plants or java moss and wait for the fry to drop. Then grab her out before she eats them all. (the moss helps cos the fry can hide in it.) Then just feed the fry on fine ground flake food for a few weeks till they are big enough to not be eaten in the main tank. No big secret to getting guppys to breed, getting the STOP is harder :lol: Cheers Ian

Yes they should still grow again unless they have reached adult age under poor conditions. At a certain age most animal's growth slows down ( a genetic thing). If they are still young they should resume growing, but they will probably end up a bit smaller than they should have been. Think of it as only having grown for 10 out of their first 12 months, they might end up 10cm instead of 12. If a fish is still stunted when it reaches adult age however, then it will pretty much stay that way. Cheers Ian P.S. Fish make a lousy gift unless you KNOW the recipient wants them

Allways good to do your homework before you get the fish Some cichlids are fine in a community tank, Rams and Kribs for instance. Some are OK as long as they are with big tankmates, Oscars and Angels etc. And some are the psycho axe murderers of the aquarium world that should be given little fishy straightjackets and kept in padded aquariums :evil: :lol: It's pretty important to know which one you are gettting Cheers Ian

He's in New Plymouth - he can probably get by without one :lol: Not that it's cold or anything :-? Ian

Yeah.. basically. You still need to do water changes like normal, with sea water. Top ups with fresh water. You also need to watch how warm the tank gets in summer, but rock pool species are pretty hardy. Cheers Ian P.S. Dont get any of those red rock crabs - well unless you only want one big red crab in your tank Dont ask how I know this

Extracting cash from fishkeepers pockets? :-?

Yeah, thats the one I was thinking of. http://www.loaches.com/species-index/yasuhikotakia-morleti Does it look like that? They are trouble makers :-? Cheers Ian

Had no problems with mine. Shop only had 2 when I got them, have been looking for a couple more as they seem to like living in a group, like most loaches. Still my group of 2 seem happy, active and have grown heaps. No special treatment, just regular water changes. That tank has a bit of an algae issue at the moment, so has been getting extra water changes, but it didn't seem to worry any of the fish. You just couldn't see them for a while :oops: Cheers Ian

Zebra loach http://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-striata Related to a clown loach, but they dont grow as big (4" max). So they are better for a small tank. All the fun of a clown loach in a smaller package. Cheers Ian

Bottom Feeder - Yeah right :-? I stuck a lump of dried tubifex worms to the glass for the guppys and neons. Mental note to self - drop in the sinking food first next time :lol: Cheers Ian