Your current Fish tank Setups!

[Gibbo]

@Gibbo you’d be right to avoid those dwarf guarmi, they aren’t very hardly these days.

Id be tempted to get something that will keep the molly/platy population under control and something to go into the bottom.

It doesn’t matter if you want babies or not, if you have any females, you will have them but other fish will snack on most of them, including the other mollys/plates.

Perhaps some angel fish or some larger tetras would go nice?

Yeah local pet shop to OcUK (Kidsgrove Tropicals) seem really good, just grabbed some plants from them and they basically adviced against any Tetra's due to my water not been soft, they said they would live in my PH but if I want to do whats best for the fish then its best to avoid Tetras unless they have been tank bread in a PH 7 or over.

He recommended me some rainbow fish and he did say some of the bottom feeders would be suitable he also adviced probably getting something like 6 of the smaller rainbow fish which grow to around 2.5" and around 3-4 bottom dwellers and leave it at that.

Now I've got the Molly/Platy's I need to stick with fish that ideally thrive in a PH of around 7.0-7.5 and yeah the fish shop guy did say Dwarf Guarmi can be hit and miss as are not that hardy.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Rainbow fish are a good shout, I have bosemani’s but there are lots of different species, with many being smaller. They’ll also pick off some of the newly born mollys well of you have any females.

PH7.5 isn’t that that high (IMO of course), I wouldn’t go for finicky soft water fish but I wouldn’t put most commercially bred tetras in that camp (again IMO of course).

I’m not sure what to recommend for the bottom, your substrate looks pretty sharp and may not be suitable for Corydoras. I don’t really like Plecos, they need target feeding and this a pain when you want to go on holiday (can’t just use an auto feeder).

Armano shrimp are nice but it’s £££ for enough of them for a 190l.

 

[Nasher]

Testras will be fine if they are from a local store since the water will be very similar. I have flame and diamond tetras in my tank which is between PH 7 and 7.5. Diamonds are larger and quite energetic.

A siamese algae eater is helpful too (a real one) and usually very cheap, I think mine was £2.50. Corys are great but like fine sand to dig in.

 

[watercooledman]

i have

African Clawed Frog x2
Zebra Nerite Snail x2
Yamato Amano Shrimp x2 not seen these for a while though
Sulfur Head Peacock Cichlid x1
Albino Corydoras x4
Aulonocara Jacobfreiberg x1
Tiger Oscar x1 great fish
Apistogramma Juruensis x1
Apistogramma Borelli x1
Tiger Botia Loach x2
clown loach x1
Gold Spot Pleco L001 x1
bristlenose pleco x2
Gibbiceps plec growing nice x1
Red Tailed Black Shark x1

all growing well and all seem to get along, apart from the clownloach eating the tetras and maybe the shrimps too

 

[UTmaniac]

@Gibbo You Mollies and Platties don't need 25-26C, you could set the heater thermostat to kick in at ~18C and chances are it will rarely kick in unless it's a nippy cold winter spell, as the tank lighting and filtration will give off latent heat to the water.

Your substrate looks quite coarse in the photos, otherwise I'd suggest a group of 10+ Corydoras catfish, but they like digging and a coarse substrate can mess their barbels up.

Bit confused about your Stockport water not being soft, I was under the impression Manchester and Liverpool tap water is quite soft, the latter is at least partially supplied from around Lake Vernwy iirc. Southampton water is quite hard, kH and gH ~11-13 iirc, but the pH is ~7.8 iirc.

If your water is reasonably hard, then small rainbowfish species could be an option, such as Dward Neon. However, I expect your mid and upper levels to be filled with baby livebearers in the coming months, so I'd suggest looking for bottom dwelling fish!

Beware of getting "cute little babies" of species that grow up to require far more space than your current tank. I can't see your tank's dimensions, I'd guess it is a corner 180l tank, if so stick to species that aren't too active and grow to a max size of ~10cm.

A number of African riverine species are tolerant of a wide range of water hardness, in my ~280l tank of little/peaceful fish there's a group of...
~10 Synodontis nigriventris
1x Synodontis congica (very shy for a syno, the biggest fish in the tank but I've had to pull other syno species out because they would bully this timid catfish)
2x Microsynodontis sp.1 (last of 10+ group, very active when in big group)
~10 Pareutropius mandvillei (last of 25+ group, midwater diurnal social catfish that are similar to more common P. buffei)
2x Congo Tetra (last of 10+ group)
~5 African Banded Barb (last of 10+ group)

Plus a few non-Africans...
~10 Dwarf Chain Loaches
1x male Halfbeak (born in another of my tanks days after purchase and rescued before the adults ate him)
L204 Flash Plec

From my tank of bigger and more rowdy African fish, Synodontis schoutedeni could suit your tank, but I'd expect it to go baby livebearer hunting at night.

A single Kribensis Cichlid could work, but if you get a pair, do not get any other bottom dwelling fish as Kribs are excellent parents just like my old Steatocranus Cichlids... They will bludgeon fish that go anywhere near their babies.

Anyway, this has turned into a much bigger post than I intended... Research water chemistry needs, temp needs, whether a species is happy solo or needs a big social group of 10+, whether they are territorial etc.

 

[sneakysnail]

I have an interesting situation with my water/ one tank. Periodically after doing water changes I'll have fish/ shrimp gulping at the surface. I use dechlorinator and have even recently started aging water aswell but still encounter this problem. do have test strips which show no heavy metals etc or anything else I should worry about. The drop test do have different results for ph etc though so the strips may not be reliable.

The fish dont start gulping straight away either and could be 6+ hours later. Potentially relate to the lights coming on, sometimes I see small bacterial blooms aswell. I'm trying not to disturb the sand substrate as I know gas pickets can poison and suffocate fish.

The odd thing is that it is only this one tank I have issue with. it's been set up 5 months odd. when I see the fish gulp i move them to one of my 4 other tanks which have also had a water change with the exact same water.....

I'm going to start using seachem prime aswell as aging water now but wonder if anyone else has had similar experience.

Thinking it has to be the tank rather than the water. have given the filter a fairly decent clean a few times with tank water but think potentially related to starting it up after a water change and kicking gunk into the tank and combined with the lights causing the bloom.

 

[SDK^]

I’m new to aquariums - my son would like an Axolotl and I’m reading up on water cycling and everything else I need to know.

One question which I can‘t find an answer for.
When doing the regular water changes do I need to add dechlorinator each time? If so, do I do this before I add the new water into the tank, or is it safe to add the tap water into the tank and then dechlorinate with the Axolotl still in there?

 

[b0rn2sk8]

You add it each time, add it to the tank first and then add the water, it mixes it throughout the tank for you.

I use seachem safe, it’s powdered but it’s super concentrated and very good value for money.

 

[Gibbo]

Did you buy a mix of male and female platies and mollies? There will be 100s soon.

Turns out one of the Gold dust is a female, spotted her very fat, went to get a breeding trap, got home, she had dropped, not sure how many she had but I've spotted at least two fry in the tank hiding, survived 48-72hrs now and have since doubled/tripled in size.

@Gibbo you’d be right to avoid those dwarf guarmi, they aren’t very hardly these days.

Id be tempted to get something that will keep the molly/platy population under control and something to go into the bottom.

It doesn’t matter if you want babies or not, if you have any females, you will have them but other fish will snack on most of them, including the other mollys/plates.

Perhaps some angel fish or some larger tetras would go nice?

Since got a 40l tank, was gonna be a hospital tank as I forgot I posted here and I went and got 3x Peacock Gudgeons, one looked not great immediately at which point I should have just changed my mind at the LFS, big mistake. Introduced these guys to the tank some weeks back, the not so good looking one died within a couple of days, no real signs except he was dull in colours and cloudy eye. The second one had a white spot/fungys/injury on his dorsel fin but was feeding, he died a few days later, the third one is still alive and seems healthy and happy, also 5 Harlequin rasbora were introduced at same time, came from same tank at LFS as Peacocks, one of those died but in an odd way, no signs, next day floating, not sure if it ate to much as I've been feeding California black worms and I think this is another one of my mistakes as some of these works are the size of a Rasbora and they were eating them, so could explain the floater. Fast forward to today and another died, but I had noticed this guy had been hiding for days apart from the other three.

Also at same time I got 2x Bolivians from another LFS, unfortunately one died a few days later, refusing to eat and its belly went inwards and again maybe ill from day one, the LFS had only had a few days, I also think wild caught. The second is actually a GBR he is huge, first of all he seemed to react to the PH and hardness in the tank, manage to sort that somewhat, he healed up and seemed happy but now he seems bloated and off his feet, again I think its maybe the worms, I have ceased feeding them these now as don't think doing fish any good.

Back to the 40l got it locally, it came with four Phantom Tetra and two neon tetra, I have since planted it heavily, added some Cherry shrimp and this tank seem to be running fine, no upset fish, no casaulities.

@Gibbo You Mollies and Platties don't need 25-26C, you could set the heater thermostat to kick in at ~18C and chances are it will rarely kick in unless it's a nippy cold winter spell, as the tank lighting and filtration will give off latent heat to the water.

Your substrate looks quite coarse in the photos, otherwise I'd suggest a group of 10+ Corydoras catfish, but they like digging and a coarse substrate can mess their barbels up.

Bit confused about your Stockport water not being soft, I was under the impression Manchester and Liverpool tap water is quite soft, the latter is at least partially supplied from around Lake Vernwy iirc. Southampton water is quite hard, kH and gH ~11-13 iirc, but the pH is ~7.8 iirc.

If your water is reasonably hard, then small rainbowfish species could be an option, such as Dward Neon. However, I expect your mid and upper levels to be filled with baby livebearers in the coming months, so I'd suggest looking for bottom dwelling fish!

Beware of getting "cute little babies" of species that grow up to require far more space than your current tank. I can't see your tank's dimensions, I'd guess it is a corner 180l tank, if so stick to species that aren't too active and grow to a max size of ~10cm.

A number of African riverine species are tolerant of a wide range of water hardness, in my ~280l tank of little/peaceful fish there's a group of...
~10 Synodontis nigriventris
1x Synodontis congica (very shy for a syno, the biggest fish in the tank but I've had to pull other syno species out because they would bully this timid catfish)
2x Microsynodontis sp.1 (last of 10+ group, very active when in big group)
~10 Pareutropius mandvillei (last of 25+ group, midwater diurnal social catfish that are similar to more common P. buffei)
2x Congo Tetra (last of 10+ group)
~5 African Banded Barb (last of 10+ group)

Plus a few non-Africans...
~10 Dwarf Chain Loaches
1x male Halfbeak (born in another of my tanks days after purchase and rescued before the adults ate him)
L204 Flash Plec

From my tank of bigger and more rowdy African fish, Synodontis schoutedeni could suit your tank, but I'd expect it to go baby livebearer hunting at night.

A single Kribensis Cichlid could work, but if you get a pair, do not get any other bottom dwelling fish as Kribs are excellent parents just like my old Steatocranus Cichlids... They will bludgeon fish that go anywhere near their babies.

Anyway, this has turned into a much bigger post than I intended... Research water chemistry needs, temp needs, whether a species is happy solo or needs a big social group of 10+, whether they are territorial etc.

Temp is still set at 26c as a happy medium for all species in the tank which now stands at:

6x Mollies plus two babies of what I have spotted
3x Rasboras, also seen the female laying eggs on leaves, two passed.
6x Dwarf neon rainbow fish, the alpha male killed himself by getting stuck somewhere and a female was breathing rapidly for 2 weeks plus near the top, she eventually passed.
1x Peacock Gudgeon the other two passed and I think these introduced disease or just weak stock
3x Platy
1x Siamese Algae eater
1x GBR, having his ups and downs, he now seems bloated, he can still swim, but I've also noticed dimples in his head, so I've started treating with Hexamita and Gdex by Esha, he seem to be doing well, but had some california black worms and the following day he was looking big and bloated, so either constipation or hexamita or something else.

Water parameters in tank are PH7.3, GH6-7 and KH4, out the tap they are PH7, GH7 and KH3
Ammonia and Nitrite showing 0ppm on liquid test kit and also tested by LFS with API digital spin machine, Nitrate is 6-10ppm.

The GBR does scratch at least once or twice a day, used to do it lots, the other fish scratch once in a blue moon, hence treating will Esha hexamita and Gdex just in case there are worms/flukes in the tank.

 

[Nasher]

Doesn't need to be as high as 26c. 23-25 is ok.

Platies and mollies are ok in colder water. I once had some in the pond over summer when I got overloaded with them. They grew to adults in there before I gave them away.

The blue ram will probably get really aggressive. My Bolivian ram hates everything except the pleco and corys. But only chases them away if they go near it. I had a blue ram that chased everything all over the tank.

 

[arc@css]

I had 4 Synodontis Nigriventris a good few years back, it was really satisfying seeing them grow and looking so healthy.

Always been a catfish lover.

 

[bainbridge]

@Gibbo I also have a Trigon 190 (and a 40ltr) and live in a hard water area. It's a funny tank because its quite short horizontally but quite high. If you're after some fish to occupy the upper lever, I recommend:

Blue eyed fork tailed rainbow fish. They only have a lifespan of about 2-3 years, I normally avoid fish with a short lifespan but these colourful little fish were recommended to me for liking hard water. They have thrived and buzz around the upper third of the tank, popping with colour. The females aren't as colourful as the males.

If you're after 1 slightly larger, "showpiece" fish, the male Cockatoo dwarf cichlid only grows to about 4 inches, is very striking and is one of the least aggressive cichlids. I was apprehensive about letting a cichlid loose in my community tank, but he's been fine in there and swans around like he owns the place. The water hardness is at the upper end of what they can tolerate but he was bred in Bristol hard water and it's all he's ever known. His colour doesn't pop as much as he would in softer water but he's happy.

I also have to recommend a Bristle nose plec for the lower part of the tank. They only grow to about 5 inches max and my male loves it in there. He's very reclusive and just does his own thing. His mission in life is to eat as much as possible via his alien sucker mouth. Some of his bristles now have forked ends! Since I've had him in there for nearly a year I've not had to clean the sides of the tank once. He gets a slice of courgette every few days too.

Anyway, good luck getting your tank how you want it!

 

[Nasher]

Golden wonder panchax will stay near the top, but they cant go with really small fish as they will eat them. They can also jump pretty high and launch at anything near the surface, including hands

 

[SDK^]

First n00b mistake.

In the excitement to get the tank setup and start the Nitro cycle I didn't wash the sand before we put it in The water was cloudy and whenever I moved anything it got more cloudy
Today I've got everything out, washed the sand and now waiting for it to dry out.

Really getting into Aquariums now and looking to setup another for Tropical fish.
Does anyone have recommendations for some good looking, interesting Tropical fish which can live together?

A photo of where we got to on Sunday.
My son chose all of the decorations (it's his tank) - I've said there are too many in there and he's agreed to remove the ruins and the small spikey plant

 

[LiE]

First n00b mistake.

In the excitement to get the tank setup and start the Nitro cycle I didn't wash the sand before we put it in The water was cloudy and whenever I moved anything it got more cloudy
Today I've got everything out, washed the sand and now waiting for it to dry out.

whoops!

 

[LiE]

Here's how my tank currently looks, the plants keep growing like mad!



Sparkles still doing well.

 

[Spook187]

Got all my blockwork ready for strengthen the floor in prep for the new build 1100 litre tank

 

[SDK^]

Hi - Can anyone please help or advise me on a new tank cycle query below?

I started cycling a new tank for an Axolotl on the 28th June (tank empty except for decorations and filter) and raised the Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate levels to high values on 8th July, but since then they are not dropping. I did a 60% water change last week (using dechlorinated water) and the Nitrate levels dropped but nothing else - any ideas?


This is the test i've just done today - the ammonia and Nitrite levels are the same as 8th July and the Nitrate levels have risen since the water change 5 days ago.

I was hoping to start to see the Ammonia and Nitrite level dropping by now.

 

[LiE]

My first tank took 6 weeks.

 

[SDK^]

I should add, pH values look good