Forum Newbie with some Q's

[Ryan S]

Hi,

Let me introduce myself...
Iâ??ve been keeping tropical fish on and off for 20 years, and currently have a medium sized hex set-up. Iâ??ve just order a Juwel Rio 300 (121x51x62) and should be picking it up on the 21st October. It comes complete with heater/internal filter and lighting set-up.

I will be creating a well planted South American community tank, my main interest being Coryâ??s and their brethren. I would like to keep a range of tetras, and a couple of pairs of dwarf/medium Cichlids. Other fish such as headstanders/pencils are also an option down the line.

In my previous aquariums I have always had a gravel substrate, but would like to use (dark coloured) sand for this tank, as I understand it will allow my cats to forage in a more natural manner. Bearing in mind the size of the aquarium, what sort of depth will the sand need to be? And could I compromise by using gravel at the rear eg1/3, with sand at the front and sides â??2/3?

Iâ??m planning not to rush this project, and allow the plants to establish well in advance. Once the tank is settled and up to a constant temperature how long should I leave it before planting it up?

As I already have a system up and running, would it be a good idea to add some of my existing filter media to the new set-up? If so, how long should I wait until I do this; a few days, or more like a week?


Thanks for any advice

Ryan

P.S. I can recommend the Goldfish Bowl in Oxford for a wide range of Catfish â?? they have loads of Coryâ??s and plecs, aswell as larger cats and an interesting range of other fishâ?¦I just wish Iâ??d found it sooner!

http://www.thegoldfishbowl.co.uk/index.html

[Jools]

http://www.thegoldfishbowl.co.uk/index.html

Hi Ryan,

Nice to meet you. I've always wanted to visit the goldfish bowl, just never managed to when I've been in that part of the world.

I had a look around their website though - I've never seen so many misidentified catfishes for a long time - I'm told there's a catfish nut amongst the staff who'll keep you right when you're there.

As to planting your tank, as with adding fish, add a few plants and let them do their thing. This is personal opinion, but I wouldn't go to town on planting it up until it is at least 75% stocked.

BTW, you'll find over time the two different substrates just get mixed up. I would chose one and go with it. If keeping Corys, I wouldn't go for more than 2cm of sand to avoid gas build up, but you'll need at least double that if you're going to plant the tank. Gas build up is unavoidable, but if the substrate isn't disturbed by constand redecoration, this doesn't usually pose too much of a problem.

Jools

[Ryan S]

http://www.thegoldfishbowl.co.uk/index.html

I had a look around their website though - I've never seen so many misidentified catfishes for a long time - I'm told there's a catfish nut amongst the staff who'll keep you right when you're there.
Jools

hi Jools,

Thanks for the quick response.
I have to say I was very impresed with the range of fish they had available...not altogether cheap mind - but many Cory's I'd only ever seen in books.

I'm yet to meet the boss - he's the catfish nut at the shop... I'll ask them about the sand v plants dilemma, and check out a few garden centres to see what they've got...

[MatsP]

I'll add my two cents to the discussion....

I bought a Rio 400 from the Goldfishbowl, as I couldn't resist saving about 100 pounds from driving 120 miles [= cost of about 12 pounds], and I agree, they have a splendid, albeit somewhat expensive, selection of fish. The RIO 300 is a nice size tank.

I also agree with Jools on the web-site having a lot of mis-identified fish on it. I sent them an e-mail trying to correct some of the mistakes I'd seen. I haven't checked if they have corrected them...

I've been experimenting with sand and gravel substrates for a bit, but I can't say I've got a lot of experience... I've got two tanks with sand, and three with gravel. In the "sand" I've got a few grains of gravel, just to make it less uniform. I don't see a problem with that, but you have to accept as the tank has it's own life, the gravel will move around and mix with with the sand, so forget the idea of having sand in one place and gravel in another, unless you put some sort of barrier in place to prevent it from mixing [and even then, it will probably mix to some small extent].

I agree with Jools on the "a few plants at a time". You'll find that some plants grow like crazy, and others don't...

--
Mats

[Ryan S]

unless you put some sort of barrier in place to prevent it from mixing [and even then, it will probably mix to some small extent].
Mats

Hi Mats,
Funny you should mention that!

I was thinking about putting in some â??gravel plotsâ?? into the back corners, by fixing in some sort of dividers onto the base somehow.

I donâ??t mind a small amount of mixing - I think that may look good anyway - especially if there's a 'blending' effect of gravel/gravel & sand/ sand & gravel/ sand going on.

I forgot to mention â?? the idea of this tank is a display â?? Iâ??d like it to create a natural look â?? with one main shoal of tetras (possibly up to 30 cardinals), cats of course, cichlids as mentioned to add another element of interestâ?¦

BUT I donâ??t want it crammed full of fish â?? if anything â?? exactly the opposite. Iâ??m not too keen on having one large fish as the centre piece or main attraction, I want it to be interesting for me (even if I have to donate my singltone Bosemani Rainbow to a shop â?? he/she is quite the little dicatator at present).

I have to agree though - the deal was very good - I took a quick look online after visiting a few local centres, and I was astounded at the price of a 3ft plus tank and cabinet - that's before you shell out for all the gubbins to run it!!
I was thinking about constructing my own (I'm no DIY expert though!) until I was directed to the Juwel display in the Goldfish Bowl...and here I am - panicking about my substrate!

Ryan

P.S. - I wanted the 400 - but my g/f allowed me to compromise as she said it would take up too much space ! At least I have another £100 to spend on the fish and decor now

[MatsP]

Ok, here's a DIY idea that doesn't require a huge load of equipment [and I'm just making this up as I go along, so it's an experiment...]:

- You can buy a piece of pipe, 4-5" diameter [if you want really fancy stuff, find a supplier of perspex/plexiglass, if not, your local DIY shop would have drainage or water-waste pipes that would work just as well and cost a lot less]. Cut this into "rings" that are a little less than the depth of sand. Place at in suitable places where you want gravel. Fill these with gravel and let it "overflow" outside to the sand outside the "ring". [Looking around in the garden-centre or DIY shop may find you some other types of "rings" that would do this just as well, this was just the first idea that came to mind].

- A bit more effort/equipment in the DIY case would be to use a tile-cutter and cut rings out of terra-cotta pots. The advantage here would be that you could get all sorts of dimensions, and terracotta looks nice in the tank anyways. If you're really lucky, you could even pay for the tile-cutter [approx £30] by getting the pots for free in the "broken pots" section at the garden-centre [some places you have to find a few broken pots and ask if you can have them, other places have a tub/barrel/etc that are already pre-marked as free].

- A bunch of stone or slate-pieces can also be used to form borders. Make a border of medium sized stones and fill one side with gravel and the other with sand.

As I said before, I'm just making this up as I go, so it's you'll have to decide yourself if you think it works or not...

Oh, and to kick-start your filter, squeeze some old (uncleaned) filter-media into the tank. It will look really murky for a while, but it will help the filter and the substrate to establish a set of good bacteria. I would do this a day or so after filling the tank up.

My tank has a rather eclectic mix:
8 Rosy barbs [6 original "cycling the tank fish" + 2 daughters of those. They keep spawning, but no fry...]
5 Boesemans rainbows.
5

Brochis Splendens

4 Satanoperca Jurupari.
5

Pimelodus Pictus

3

Panaque Maccus

2

Baryancistrus sp(L177)

2

Ancistrus sp(3)

2

Peckoltia Vittata

It's quite heavily planted, with lots of caves made from Bamboo pipes, terracotta pots and it has a number of pieces of wood, with some more wood soaking in a tub outside at the moment.

Picture of the tank as it looked several months ago.


--
Mats

[Ryan S]

Looks nice Mats...

and some good ideas - at least somrthing to think about. I'm hoping to grow some 'real' plants, but can always go plastic!

as for the filter - giving it a kickstart - that's just what I had in mind.

I really like my Rainbow, but I think he/she's a bit cramped at present...we'll see how it goes in the new tank.

Cheers,
Ryan

[racoll]

For my planted tank i use a mixture of "Eco Complete Planted Aquarium Substrate", which is a black sand, and "Seachem Flourite" which is a coarser substrate in a variety of reddish colours. The combination of the two looks really natural.





This works really well as the plants are taking off!



If you are going for lots of cories, only use about 1/4 flourite, as it may be too harsh on their little whiskers. Having said that, my C.pygmeus and C.hastatus aren't having any problems with it, but some of the bigger species that dig a bit more might.





As you're in the Oxford area, go to Maidenhead Aquatics in Wheatley (called Oxford on the website). It's WAY better that the Goldfish Bowl.

They always have loads of really unusual stuff that i can't resist.

I go there every week nearly!

[Ryan S]

Maidenhead Aquatics in Wheatley!

No-way - my g/f studied at the Brookes campus up there for a year - to think of all the time I was kicking my heels when picking her up - and I could have been in there!

Cheers for the info...

[racoll]

It's a brand new store that's why!

It's where the old wyvale garden centre was.

Nowhere else have seen three species of anabantoids at once!

I'm rather fond of them, as you can tell from my avatar.

I've now got Ctenopoma acutirostre, Microctenopoma ansorgii and Microctenopoma fasciolatum

[Ryan S]

Popped into Maidenhead Aquatics today, and was impressed by the fish (not to mention prices) they had on offer...

Some interesting cats in there, hope they've still got some when I go abck in a few weeks to stock up!

Cheers for the advice,

Ryan