I have a fish tank

[Alan Taylor]

Hi there,

my neibour has just moved out and his new home is too small for his fish tank so he gave it to me

The tank is 3'3" x 1'3" x 1'" it has a megga water pump/Filter an air pump (bit noisy) thermostat heater and 6 fish

Iodotropheus sprengerae

Pseudotropheus saulosi

Melanochromis maingano

plecostanus (algeneter)

Aulonocara sunshine

Synodantis petricola.

 

All the furniture is in place, the tank has cleared nicely, now I just need a few more fish and some plants.

 

Any tips on plants would be appreciated, evidently the fish eat the plants, should I get plastic? If the fish are happy eating the plants then I have no problem with that.

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Alan

 

[ 30. November 2004, 01:09 PM: Message edited by: Alan Taylor ]

[MrWiggly]

Hi Alan .. How U Doin' ?

 

Natural plants always look better in any tank setup. A good varied selection with be of benefit to your fish, as well as looking good.

 

OK .. some fish do eat plants .. but what's wrong with that ? No problem with fertilising etc .. the fish will take care of that !!

 

Good lighting is essential for good plant growth.

 

Plastic plants are fine if you want to go down that road. Easily maintained, just take them out of the tank and wash them under the tap if the get dirty.

 

Only trouble with plastic plants is that the look just that .. PLASTIC !!

 

Enjoy your tank ..

 

Best ... MrWiggly

[Guest Ferret1959]

If you are putting in more fish keep to the same sorts.

They look like ciclids and can be aggressive and territorial.

The plec will be as tough as old boots but can suffer if tormented.

Make sure you have a lot of 'hiding' places for the smaller fish.

 

If you do get an aggressive fish change all the tank contents around.

 

Ask in your local fish keeping shop for a light that will bring the best out of the fishes colours cos those ones you have are quite colourful.

Nice one Al.

[Alan Taylor]

Thanks lads, the natural plants are in, loads of hiding places in the stones, excellent lighting etc. Non of this was down to me (except the plants) as the tank has been running of a year or 2. I will post some pics tomorrow, off to bed

[chesters1]

carefull of the rocks some dissolve slowly and make the water harder ,bog wood is the best material i have found and hide small flowerpots behind it ,flowerpots make ideal caves both for hiding and for egg laying ,even one stood on end (big end in gravel) makes an ideal place for fry to hide,if i had a photo of my old tanks i would post it i used to run 30x3ft and 3x4ft and 1x6ft unfortunatly south american cichlids need carefull water regimes ,tap water is poisenous in this country and a 10gall a day reverse osmosis machine expensive to run to remove the chemicals just to top up the evaporation daily ,1/3rd water changes a month hell to store the water in plastic dustbins

its a full time job to keep up and i gave it all up ,the airpump i sold to a tackle shop is still going strong after 10 years with only air filter cleaning ,japenese and totally silent ran all the tanks without problems ,now powerheads are common there obselete

 

[ 30. November 2004, 11:21 PM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]

[Alan Taylor]

Thanks Chesters, I will be making a few small changes to the rocks and veg. The big blue one (we call him hooligan) is a nasty bastuard especially to the little blue one (we call her tiny).

The guy that I got the tank from says to feed them every other day and that the food should vanish within 3 minutes :confused: I am feeding them every day and they still eat it all.

 

Sounds like you had one heck of a set up there Chesters

 

Cheers

 

Alan

[Uncle Fester]

Alan, I believe the Cichlids will dig holes and move things around to suit themselves, and as you probably know or have found out are extremely aggressive and territorial. Consider adding only the more aggressive fish to an established tank, or leave 'em alone as they have probably already established an order of rank. Many Cichlids are hard or impossible to sex, but once paired, will breed and rear their young even in a community tank. They are pretty much unique in the way they guard and rear their young, an example being the Discus which excretes "milk" through their skin which the fry feed upon. Mouthbrooders are another example of parental care, although neither are hard enough to go with your present fish. Many of the more colourful Cichlids prefer hard water, and you often see them here in GB in tanks set up like marines, ie all rocks. I think Hooligan is about right. Even Angels turn hooligan when they pair off to spawn.

As Chesters says, airpumps are really obsolete these days. All you need to do is circulate the water to move the oxygenated top layer of water to the bottom and so on. And don't forget that if you clean the filter, you can destroy the bacteria that cleans the water, causing a temporary excess of toxins and distress to the fish. You can avoid this by cleaning the filter in "seasoned" water taken from the tank during partial water changes.

I would think very carefully before adding any more livestock to your tank, if you think of the water to fish ratio they have in the wild you might get an idea of what I'm getting at.

Please be careful.

Best of luck.

Uncle Fester

[Alan Taylor]

Thanks for that Uncle Fester, all hell broke loose last night, I slipped with the food so gave them a bit too much. Tiny came out of her little hiding place and after feeding started to make herself available to hooligan, I felt a bit like a peeping tom

Hooligan is now keeping the other fish away from the mating area (I think)and tiny is back in her hole.

While all this is going on out comes another fish that we have not seen since we have had the tank (8days)

Your tips have been taken on board especially about the seasoned water. I think there is plenty of space for some more fish but will wait for a while and see what happens.

We have swapped the air pump for a quieter one (we like the bubbles) and the power head is going fine. One of my clients is a vibration and sound control specialist on luxury boats, he gave us some material to insulate the "pump room" but still have air circulating.

 

Thanks again.

 

Alan

[chesters1]

you can get a mesh substrate to ensure digging doesent get carried away just put it in the tank in its monthly clean up cover it with gravel and mr digger cant wreck the undergravel filter properties ,the only cichlid that can handle over stocking is malawi's in their case the more the merrier and the less fighting but they need places to call home otherwise one without a house gets beaten up.

power heads used to have little tubes that let air in if you like bubbles if your power head has a tiny upright tube on the outlet vent try putting a bit of plastic tube over it and hold the other end out of the water

 

[ 07. December 2004, 08:08 PM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]

[Alan Taylor]

This is getting more complicated than fishing

 

All inwardly digested and noted

 

Thanks.

 

Alan