Lazy_Loach

Great feedback everyone thanks! Haven't had as much time as I would have liked so that I could post lots of replies...but then the lack of time is *why* I'm looking for low maintenance! The_Obstacle - I like Africans - the behaviour is much more interesting than simple schooling fish...but they can be a bit messy looking at the few I have in my smaller tank. So if I go down that path (and it is likely that I will) I will need to find a way to keep the mess low either by preventing settling of rubbish to the bottom or finding something that will clean up after them without getting slaughtered. myfishybuisness - Good plan to have a mix of fish so that all the tasks are taken care of...I kind of have this in my community tank already and it seems to work well. If I went down an African path what would the equivalent set up be then? Ally07 - Very cool tank, but too much Zen for me I think. I was thinking about the minimalist approach and while it could be cool for a smaller tank (like one of those new Fluval Chi tanks) I think it could be a wee bit austere for a 400L tank... but still cool - I haven't seen many tanks that aren't massively hardscaped or planted like a jungle so it was nice to see the other end of the scale... As for sump, I thought about that but since I've got an FX-5 on the way I'm kind of committed to 'no sump'. Where is "David R's tank" that you refer to? ryanjury - A short post, but it definitely pushed me towards the Africans. What have you got in your tank? What kind of hardscaping? phoenix44 - Awesome tank, but I think such a heavily planted tank won't work that well for me seeing as how I am already struggling with the plants I have and the rotten black algae that grows all over them. Apparently a symptom on low nutrients (have loads of nitrate obviously) but maybe not enough of the rest. What else do I add? Excel is keeping it from getting worse but the plants do not thrive... Also I hear that Africans are like sheep...so heavily planted my not be that cool. However, I loved your tank and despite contemplating having a tank with no plants all...or cough...just plastics ones that I can bleach...I think I will stick with plants after all....so if I need something hardy and vigorous...and great at mopping up nitrates what would your suggestions be? joshlikesfish - I go some ambulia from the petshop some months ago and all it did was break off and float around for a while before it pretty much died off or got eaten. To be fair as I wrote to phoenix44 it could be that I need to feed my plants... My African tank came with java fern stuck to this cool hunk of wood...but it isn't that happy either...lots of it has broken off over the months...it isn't dying, but it isn't exactly growing like topsy either... So, it has been a week and here we are with the state of play: 1. Looks like it will be Africans 2. Light-medium planting to keep it interesting So other than what fish and plants the next question is - tank landscaping? I've got some stick on backgrounds on my two tanks but they keep peeling off (even when stuck on with Vaseline)...so I've looked around and basically there are the following options: 1. More of the same 2. Nothing (see through tank) 3. Paint the back of the tank (e.g. black) 4. DIY 3D Background (e.g. polystyrene + epoxy resin) 5. Commercial 3D background I'm not sold on (1) as this is already driving me nuts, nor am I keen on (2) as that is why I got a stick on background to begin with. Painting the tank back is easy, relatively cheap, and low maintenance...but not necessarily 'attractive'.... Options 4 and 5 are the same though (4) is a lot of work while (5) is a lot of money. I don't know how durable such a solution would be - polystyrene just wants to float and there is ongoing concern in relation to the durability of such backgrounds...apparently if your tank has a resident pleco or similar the background can get seriously damaged when they decide to have a good suck on it.... Suggestions? Once the background is decided this leads on to the rest of the interior.... Thanks all for the help so far! LL.

Hi All, I am looking to put together a new tank (from scratch) and am looking for something low maintenance...weekly water changes and occasional trimming plants and fishing out a corpse now and then are about the limit...I'm looking for something you set up and then pretty much don't need to touch. Granted I probably won't get there, but that's not going to stop me trying. If you want to know what I have now you can see my little intro blurb thing here - http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=52596. Now for scope (stuff we know): 1. The new tank will be around 400L (to be built), providing a block of water measuring roughly 1.4m long, 0.5m wide and 0.6m deep. 2. The new tank will have a Fluval FX-5 filter (already have a brand new one on the way) 3. It will be freshwater...as far as I can tell while utterly awesome to look at salt water doesn't have any potential to be "low maintenance" 4. Pretty much everything else is up for discussion! The first question then is - What kind of fish? Should I create another community tank, or should I create a Cichlid tank? If I do community then it is pretty straightforward, if I do Cichlids then how much do I need to worry about hardness, pH, and midnight massacres? Certainly Cichlids are interesting fish, particularly if they breed, and their colours can be amazing...though I've already noticed that only the dominant fish *really* shine....the rest just tend to be a bit more dull coloured... Once we've sorted the kind of critters we think would be best we can talk about the fish themselves (which flavours are yummy), stocking rates, planted vs non-planted, tips on filter configuration, pros and cons of CO2 injection (if applicable - not much point for plastic plants), the best way to architect the tank to hide all the pipes and tubes, and no doubt various hare-brained schemes for keeping the effort factor low...it could well become an interesting thread! So lets start there - Will it be a) Community, b) Cichlid, or c)Something else? Which option provides the best outright "minimum maintenance solution" and is there any option which is a little more work but that would result in a better overall outcome? Looking forward to the responses! The Lazy Loach.

Hi Everyone, Just signed up...am looking for advice for a new tank, which as my name suggests, will hopefully be low maintenance....like low low low maintenance....but I'll post that in the newbies corner somewhere.... 8) . I currently have a 160L tank with some tiger and odessa barbs, bristle nose thingies and a couple electric yellows (an impulse buy off TradeMe) and a 200L community tank with a bit of everything in it (sword tails, red tail sharks, silver sharks, neon tetras, black widow tetras, damios, rummy nose tetras, plecos, a loach or two, and a bunch of other fish who's name I fail to remember. This tank is pretty heavily stocked as some of the fish that came with the 160L tank were relocated to the community tank - so keeping the nitrates low is a challenge....as is the never ending battle with the black beard algae (not bearding at the moment, but black crap on all the plants nonetheless... I'm finding the fish keeping quite fun (when all goes well) and utterly infuriating when it doesn't....I think for me the main selling point is the "restful" affect of the tank on the family...the 'fishiness' of it all (don't shoot me) is an unfortunate, but very necessary, prerequisite. Right...that's the intro done (I think) now off to start my quest for a low maintenance tank... See you round! The Lazy Loach....