Hello hello

Me again!

So, I bought a 180L Juwel Vision set up from gumtree for my community tank. I'm going to put sand in it

I was wondering if I could get some help/ suggestions for stocking. My tapwater results are:

pH: 6.4
Calcium Carbonate: 47.5
French degrees: 4.75
English degrees: 3.33
German degrees: 2.66

(BTW - what is the difference between those degrees measurements? I had heard of German degrees but not English or French!)

I am really indecisive about what I want, I've spent days staring at care sheets but keep changing my mind!

Whatever I chose I would want corydoras in the mix, I think they're lovely. What else could I think about? I was wondering if I could do a South American tank with corys, tetras, and something else...? I want to be sure that my fish will be 1) happy 2) healthy.

Tank is (hopefully) getting delivered tomorrow. I'll have to clean it (seller said it had been cleaned without chemicals but I want to be sure there's nothing nasty lurking) and start cycling probably on Sunday, so I've got time to think and plan, but I'd really appreciate any wise words!

Any ideas? Any common pitfalls to avoid?

Thanks

Be prepared to be the envy of the entire forum I would LOVE to have 180 litres of soft water to play with!

Corys are lovely little fish. Are you having a sand substrate? They need it really for their barbels, they can get knackered digging around in gravel.

A S American tank is a great idea, there are loads of small-ish colourful tetras to choose from. Neons are a staple in most LFS but there are others if you fancy something a bit more unusual. Did you have any in mind?

I quite like Asian biotopes too but don't feel like you have to do a biotope, there are lots of fish from all over the world that like soft, acidic water.

Have you had a look at hatchet fish? Those are really cool.

Oh good grief I happen to have a Vision 180 in my attic and very very soft water I've also just sorted the lighting by getting an external starter. Must resist!!!!

JON

Yes I'm going to have sand... despite my sand phobia! (I posted about that yesterday) Corys really entertain me, spent ages looking at the panda corys in LFS last week, and decided that they were cute enough to face my fear!

My boyfriend likes neons, and it was a condition of my tank purchase that he got to choose some fish, so we'll probably get some of those! I quite like rummy nose tetras too, would it be feasible to have a shoal of both?

Wow hatchet fish look weird and wonderful! I doubt I could find those up here though - not exactly wide LFS selection

Asian biotope is another option as I love honey and dwarf gourami, although I've heard they can be a bit tricky to look after, with fighting and that some are prone to disease... I think I need nice easy fish, I get scared easily lol

I feel like I'm spoiled for choice with fish selection so it's a bit overwhelming really, especially because I'm new to this. Biotopes seemed like an obvious idea to limit my choice so I don't get paralysed with indecision! But I'm not set on a biotope... so any suggestions welcome!

Also need to think about planting... pffff what have I started?!

JON - give in to temptation!

You could certainly do a nice shoal of both rummy nose and neons in that tank. Your water conditions are ideal

I've personally not had much joy with gourami (I had powder blues for all of about a week!) they were very aggressive and ran amok in the tank so were returned but some people house them fine. personality of the fish I guess.

A pair of Blue Rams would be very pretty but you need your tank to mature before considering these, say 6-12 months in.

Check out the stickied article in the member forum if you are thinking about plants!

Quote:

I can recommend Honey Gourami .... very peaceful, much more so than the Dwarf Gourami and they aren't susceptible to the Iridovirus which affects the Dwarf Gourami either. They're generally healthier as they are less inbred. A male and 2 or 3 females would work well.

On the plant side of the equation, Gourami like to have some floating plants such as Salvinia.

A shoal each of Neons and Rummy Nose is quite suitable too.

Oh and another possibility if you go for South American fish is dwarf cichlids from the Apistogramma family. Lots of variations there to choose from.....some pairing and some harem breeders, where you'd have a male and a number of females. I think there's only one listed in our caresheets at the moment, the Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlid (Apistogramma cacatuoides), but it gives you a general idea of the famiy.

Hmmm I did think about rams but I wanted to make sure I was a good fishkeeper before I invested in more fragile fish! So yes, maybe in future, once I've got over my nerves

I think I prefer the honey gourami to the cockatoo dwarf cichlids... Although I know my boyfriend will like the latter better! I doubt we could source those up here though... LFS really don't have a great range and I would feel bad driving to Edinburgh to Glasgow to transport fish 50miles back...

Can I just check my working out with you guys: So, the tank is 180L, that gives 162L of "fish space" right? Then if I divide that by 4.5 to get 36, times that by 2.5 so I can have 90cm of fish... is that correct?

So:
- 6 neons would be 18cm,
- 6 rummy nose tetras would be 30cm, and
- 6 panda cories 30cm
That would take me to 78cm of fish, so I'd only have 12cm left which would only allow 2 honey gourami or 2 dwarf cockatoo cichlids... And I think they're less likely to squabble if there's more of them, right?

If I got 1 male & 3 female honey gourami (or dwarf cichlids...), that would be 20cm, so I could get:
- 8 panda cories 40cm (to please me)
- 10 neon tetras 30cm (to please my boyfriend)
Is that a better configuration?

Thanks for the help, you guys rock

Personally I'd get a bigger shoal of one species, rather than two smaller shoals of two different species, so I'd get more neons, rather than a mix of neons and rummy-noses. Generally the more you can have in a shoal the happier they are.

Quote:


Yes, sounds fine.....and after 6-12 months if all is well you could then increase by another 50% or so, another 40-50cms of fish, would be OK although it may look a little "busy"