guppylover2

hi there, have recently set up new 40g tank with water from established tank (and media) and have one gold nugget and 2 gibbies (will get 6 foot tank later to accomodate size). have a fluval 204, put output nozzle halfway down tank to better simulate river current. this is my first mainly pl*co tank, have driftwood and rocks etc. just wondering if i need to add airstone or other method of increasing turbulence at water surface/oxygenation. i know these catfish are used to fast flowing rivers with lots of oxygen. catfish seem ok, have only been in new tank for 5 days (prev small quarantine tank) in fact the gold nugget is way more sociable and is quite active even during the day. however my 2 guppies whom i just moved out of the tank were hanging out at the water surface sucking air, and very occasionally (have seen this only 2 times each with all the plecs) the plecs go up to the surface for air. maybe not enough oxygen? need an airflow unit? my ph, nitrates etc are all excellent. what do you guys reckon? i really want the best for these fishes, i'm obsessed with them at the moment.

thoughts on mid to top level fish anyone?

As I said, will get 6 foot plus tank when gibbies grow!

hi there, have just set up a 40g tank as a starting tank for 2 gibbies, a gold nugget pl*co (will later get 6 foot plus tank) and as gold nuggets like the temp warm, will go for 27-28 degrees celsius (80 - 82 degrees F). am wondering whether to eventually add my 2 bristlenoses and yellow black eyed ansictrus, do these catfish like the water a bit colder? my new 40g tank has natural dark river sand, driftwood and river rock caves, no plants. the tank the bristlenose are currently in is a 75g community, which will be turned into a proper planted setup, although could put a couple of rock caves there as well. if i put them into the 40g, its kind of total catfish tank (may have a couple of mid-top water fish just for interes). I have 3 large clown loaches in the community tank, and i thought if i took out the bristlenoses, i have more room for more schooling fish with the plants. also what would be appropriate small fish for the 40g, with the temp and (probably) acidic pH with the driftwood? would like it to be about 6.5 ph for the catfish, so its close to their natural environment (blackwater biotope). are killies OK with this? what top level fish live in the blackwater rivers in the amazon etc? have set up tank just last night with 50% water/mulm from already very established large tank. currently couple guppies to help get the filter going. though would be alright to add catfish in one week coz using mature water (also added piece of ceramic filter media from established tank to new tanks filter). will check parameters etc before adding fish.

cute babies guys, well done.

thanks plecs, nice to be reassured. was worried he wasn't happy. all water parameters OK. food seems to be being eaten, and i am seeing catfish poo. Am feeding spirulena discs. gold nuggets are omniverous right? what do you feed yours? what other plecs do you have? i'm getting a sailfin (gibby - aka yellow red eyed plec - from the other post i see what you mean about how the albino common plec isn't really albino - check out the pictures on the planet catfish website!) also getting a red spot plecostomus. so will definitely need a large tank eventually. how big is your gold nugget? by the way i am a chick too.

looked at planet catfish website and found a picture of the sailfin plec or "gibby" and my catfish looked exactly like that. so i think that's what it was. gave away my catfish because of the size it would grow to. then felt sad as if had given away a child. so have just bought another (i know, waste of money) and have decided will eventually get 6 foot tank! Am quickly becoming addicted to catfish, even if all they do is hide from me. am setting up catfish tank this weekend (3 foot one will do for a while) with coarse sand, rocks and hopefully some black water from peat. want to make a sort of blackwater biotope tank. where do you get peat from? have read that you can boil it up to make black water. have also got driftwood.

thanks for the replies, will go with bought river sand. unfortunately can't get light colour. catbrat - you really have ph 6.5? i'm jealous - my water is quite alkaline in wellington, and the pH is 7.8 at the least. do you use anything to bring down the ph? in their natural environment catfish often live in acidic pH.

bought a gold nugget pleco 2 weeks ago. is currently still in the quarantine tank (10 gallon), and is still hiding all the time, even with the lights out. Have seen him dart back into the cave quickly when i walk into the room (room not always occupied) but mostly hiding. will he get a bit more social? i know over time my other catfish have, but this guy is seriously not at the moment.

thanks catbrat. can you tell me if your pH is OK with the sand? i'm thinking of getting some from your supplier. only thing is, they may not have cream/white colour that i want. If you boil up beach sand enough to get rid of the salt and potential parasites, do you think that would be OK?

another question, did you guys have to put a stocking over your filter intake? i read somewhere that it can get into your filter and ruin it. aLso do you stir yours up periodically to get rid of anaerobic air pockets?

thanks for the replies. i'm in wellington. the sand you got sounds great catbrat, how do you know if it is hardness-free or not? yes i'm mainly going for a catfish tank, although i may end up with other fish in there, i thought maybe some neons, swords etc. it will have to house the other fish temporarily as i said.

hi there, i am setting up a new catfish tank. i want to obtain some sand as i've read it's good for catfish as they spend a lot of time on the bottom, and it is close to their natural biotope which is what i am going for - a blackwater river biotope tank, with rocks and bogwood. where is a good place to obtain clean hardness free sand? can i have white sand or is it too bright for the fish? i will be keeping a gold nugget pleco, yellow gibby or sailfin plec, and probably bristlenose and blackeyed ancistrus cats. also, my other fish may have to spen some time in the tank while i covert their tank into planted (3 clown loaches, zebras, guppies, glass catfish and glowlights.

my favourite peaceful colourful larger fish is the clown loach (once they grow, and they do grow quickly). However, you'll often only see them in the evening as they are nocturnal, but they are colourful orange and black stripes, and if you get a small shoal (3-4 only for a tank of your size) they are really playful and fast. They don't harm other fish, except tiny fry. I keep them with danios, glowlight tetras,bristle noses, glass catfish.

is she an albino plec, or otherwise known as a golden plec? if so, she will get really big. i have one similar but with red eyes, and she is beautiful, but i have to get rid of her coz she could grow up to 25 inches!

thanks i do 25-30% water change every week or so, and i have a fluval 304. the inches of fish i would be thinking of adding would be total when they are fully grown.

hey there am wanting to add some fish to my 250-300 litre tank, and just curious as to which formula is better for determining roughly the total no. of fish a tank can hold : (I know that this is just an estimate) ? 1 inch of fish (2.54cm) per every 64cm squared of surface area (this formula is in 2 aquarium books i have looked at) ? 1 inch of fish per gallon (read this somewhere) my surface area i have calculated (difficult because it is a bowfront, but it is roughly one quarter of a circle as it is a right angle at the back) is 16286 cm. (radius is roughly 72 cm squared, formula for SA of circle is 4 times pi times radius squared, divided by one quarter) thus using the formula of 1 inch of fish for every 64cm squared of SA (10inches squared), I get 255inch of fish. so do you guys reckon the first one is the right formula as a rough estimate?

sorry havn't got around to the technology of posting a photo on the net yet, but i will. I have a pale-yellow plecostomus with red eyes and long beautiful fins with sort of yellow spots on them. the LFS called it a 'golded red-eyed plec' but searching on the net i couldn't find anything with this name. I bought it for $50 or so, and when i bought it it was about 7-8 cm long excluding tail fin, now at least 12 cm in a matter of months. very shy. have found a picture on the net that looks like it i think - called an albing common plec. if this is the case i am worried because it may get very big. I have it in a 70 gallon tank, but still if it gets to 18inches long i think that is just too big! I do love it though - very beautiful, very hardy. does anyone know?

hi, I've been reading all the comments so far about CO2 systems. I'm really keen, i've been wanting to convert my 70gallon tank to planted for ages now. done lots of research, and i'm interested that you guys say you can't use american CO2 equipment due to incompatibilty. Is it american CO2 bottles that are incompatible with NZ CO2 suppliers, or american C02 systems incompatible with NZ bottles? it's just that i've found some cheap CO2 systems that are ph controlled, and i'd really like one of these. can you get a ph controlled system in NZ? i've looked into the eheim system, and this will be at least $1300 from the pet shop.