JJWooble Posted May 1, 2015 Report Share Posted May 1, 2015 So I got this tank off an FNZAS member a while back, and have finally decided what to do with it. It sat on the floor as a fry tank to 5 siamese fighting fish for a few months; But I've since moved out the fighter fry, added plants... ...but not yet substrate, a filter (brand new Fluval 306 :dnc1: ) and a nice looking stand I started the cycling process 2 or 3 weeks ago My main reason for getting a bigger tank was that /most/ of the fish I had fallen in love with required something of this size. Previously, all my tanks have been 75 litres and under, so this is a big step up for me, and one I'm really excited about. Stocklist that I'm planning on so far; Large school of glowlight danios School of around ~10 silver or marbled hatchetfish 1 male, 2 female thicklip gourami Large school of corydoras, probably sterbai or bronze 4-5 red whiptail catfish 1 half banded spiny eel I like the look of larger schools of fish, and so decided to have only a few larger schools as opposed to lots of smaller ones The eel, whiptails and the hatchets in particular are fish that I have wanted to keep for a long time now Scape will be sand substrate (probably white or an off-white colour), with driftwood, smooth rocks, and plenty of plants that do ok in low tech tanks, as I will be mainly relying on sunlight from the window for lighting, and will not be investing in a CO2 system at this stage, tho I will probably look into ferts for my sword plants. Not sure about the specifics of what the tank will /look/ like as I am yet to settle on rocks/driftwood and I find that usually decides the scape for me. Next few steps before it is finished cycling will be to remove the rest of the background on the back of the tank, put in substrate and start planting and looking for bits of driftwood/rock. Then, once it is cycled, I will start by getting the glowlight danio school first. I will also be using the tank temporarily as a grow out for whatever pygmy corydora fry I manage to raise. Then, once they are sold off, I will slowly start stocking the tank with other fish on my stock list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJWooble Posted May 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2015 My 19 litre DPF tank is almost cycled, very exciting Planning on using it as a qt for 10 or so ember tetra temporarily once cycled, those will then go into my blackwater tank, and then I will get the puffer for this tank. I've set up a pond/ramshorn snail colony in my frog tank, which seems to be growing nicely. Hoping that there will be a decent population by the time I get the puffer. Had some issues with filtration for a bit-- the HOB I used didn't have a inlet basket over the end of it, so kept getting blocked. Fortunately I found the missing piece, and it is now running smoothly. Lighting is just one of those smaller LED units, heater a 25W. Plants-- twisted val, anubias and christmas moss. I tried to make it quite a densely planted area so that the future puff has plenty of places to explore, hide etc. tho I imagine it will make the ember tetra a nuisance to catch out of it Any thoughts/suggestions on how to improve on anything? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJWooble Posted May 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2015 Finally actually tested my 210 litre tank 3 or 4 days ago, and turns out it was cycled-- no ammonia or nitrites present, despite getting 'fed' daily, and a heck of a lot of nitrate I did a big water change, then another....Then on the 10th, as it was my birthday, my partner bought me 10 rummy nose tetra and 10 ember tetra :dnc1: Loving these little guys, so active in the tank. The embers will be moving onto the dwarf puffer tank once that has cycled properly to finish QT on them whilst maturing the biological filtration of the tank in preparation for the DPF, and then into my blackwater tank with the pygmy cories. The Rummy nose tetra were not /meant/ to be a part of my 200 litre tank stock list (had settled on glowlight danios after seeing how active they were in Alexyay's tank) buuuut when I was in the store their cute colour patterns got the better of me and I went for them instead Very happy with my choice, although three of them appear to be somewhat skinny/not eating too much/not shoaling properly with the group. Any ideas what it could be--- bad genetics, parasites? They don't seem to have any other symptoms. One of the embers also isn't fully 'orange' but acts otherwise normally-- could this just be natural colour variation or something else? Yesterday, I added a male bristlenose and two sterbai corys (thanks Jasonnz!). There was /some/ drama with getting them home as I got lost....and then one of the corys popped their bag, leading to water going everywhere and a quick detour to raid the nearest person's tupperware drawer. No drama once home however; they seem to be doing well, looking forward to expanding the school of sterbais to around 20 over the coming weeks, and the BN has taken up residence in a piece of driftwood I have been doing daily 25% water changes on the tank, as well as daily testing, just as a safeguard for water quality. Parameters seem good for now-- no ammonia or nitrite has shown since I added the new fish, nitrates are sitting around 10-20... Although it is very hard to tell what /exactly/ the nitrates are with the API test kit as the colour range between 10-20 is really difficult to differentiate :an!gry Next few things to do with this tank: - secure the lids, as I only have two at the moment which only partially cover the aquarium... a /bit/ of an issue if I'm wanting to keep hatchet fish and an eel. Going to have to look at getting glass cut so it fits around the filter input/output snugly also. - adding a prefilter sponge to the filter intake to prevent an eel escape & improve mechanical filtration - adding substrate-- will either be getting it on the 30th when I go to my favourite beach, or (more likely) my patience will run out and I'll get some from a local beach or just buy some silica sand. - planting and getting the hardscape done - adding in caves/tubes/other hiding places for the eel/bottom dwellers - adding the rest of the stock gradually - painting in the background (probably will go for just plain black as it seems to look really good on my other tanks) - getting an LED lighting unit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJWooble Posted May 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2015 So my /planned/ stock list for my current 'projects' will hopefully be as follows; 210 litre community 20 Rummy nose tetra 10 Silver Hatchetfish ~20 Sterbai corydoras 4-5 Red Whiptail Catfish 1 Indian Banded Gourami 1 Bristlenose pleco 1 Indian Green Spiny eel (Macronagthus pancalus) Blackwater tank (60-70 litres when I upgrade) 8-10 pygmy corydoras 10 ember tetra ~6 chocolate gourami 19 litre 1 Dwarf Puffer Fish Are there any possible problems with these combinations of fish? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted May 13, 2015 Report Share Posted May 13, 2015 Hope to get to see your tanks once they are done Re the skinny rummynose, if they are hiding and not schooling with the others I would suspect worms. Your less coloured ember tetra could be a female, they don't colour up as much as the males, or may also be unwell. When you do get round to stocking the 210 litre tank let me know. I have at least three mature red whiptails in my tank - 1 female and 2 males - that I have considered moving on in order to just have a breeding trio longfins as my ground dwellers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJWooble Posted May 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2015 Haha, me too. Can't wait to get to scaping the 210 litre, just haven't managed to find the right bits of driftwood/rocks yet. The blackwater will have much the same scape as it does now, just with more swimming room, the plants a bit more organized (as the corys in there are breeding, I keep removing and replacing the xmas moss which makes it a little untidy..) and maybe a few stones. Hmmm, good idea-- I will treat them with Prazi next time I can go grab some from the store. Guessing that as they are not eating, it would be better for me to dose the tank as opposed to just soaking their feed in it? I will get back to you re: red whiptails in the next few weeks-- would be very interested Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJWooble Posted May 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2015 Have picked up some Prazi, and will dose accordingly, hopefully it will help the little guys thanks for that advice Picked up some silica sand whilst I was there, which I'll wash and put in the 210 tonight. Also have been emailing a few glass companies to get lids cut for my 210, so hopefully will hear back from those soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJWooble Posted May 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 So worming the tank went well, lost one little guy but he was the worst of the three skinny ones Everyone else appears to be fine now Newest addition yesterday was this little guy; my Indian green spiny eel. He's an awesome little character, very active after lights out and spends his day buried up to his neck in the sand He also ate a shrimp pellet last night. I am absolutely loving having him in the tank. :happy2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJWooble Posted June 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2015 Finally got my Dwarf Puffer fish :f77: A bit skinny, but eating and seems to be settling in ok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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