Trop Fish community tank=boring

tk123

I've had a 3ft community tank for about 3 years now - pleco, 2 corries, 3 tiger barbs, 2 platties, 2 mollies, a shark and then abt 10 tetras....anyhoo I'm a bit bored with these and was wondering if you could recommend some other fish for my tank- i like the pleco and corries and i'm not really bothered abt the rest especially that evil angel fish!!! :mad: so i wouldn't mind if they were eaten(its cruel i know!!)...The shop i usually go to never really has anything other than what i mentioned so I was going to try Whackers in Parnell St as I live near town - are they ok there?? - i've been out to petstop a few times and the tanks look really overcrowded and theres always a bunch of dead fish in each tank....thanx!!

Falkorre

18+ fish in a 3ft tank, some like the pleco that grow huge, are u kidding?!?!
sounds to me like u have more than enuf in that tank, unless ur thinking of buying another?

B

whiteshadow

Hi tk123

Communities can get very boring. I know.
if you're looking for a change why not strip it down and start afresh.

Whackers have a huge array of fish and if you pop in on a saturday and ask for a friend of mine Gav. He only works saturdays and he'll guide you how to go about stripping it down and setting it up for different fish.

With a 3 foot tank I'd recommend getting some south african cichlids (lake malawi are especially nice and not at all boring). They are as near to marine fish as you can get without all the expensive equipment.

http://www.fishzine.com/pics/electric.jpg

Im setting one a three foot tank myself as a cichlid tank. You could just get a specific type of cichlid, get a large male and 2 females for him and try to breed them.. like me.

The problem is that these type of cichlids (as opposed to angel fish ... also cichlids but softwater ones) require really high ph water and so you have to put in ocean rock and coral gravel to buffer the water and keep the ph high. This means that you can't really keep any of your existing fish or decorations. Also you must make sure your filters are up to scratch as the higher the ph the more damaging ANY ammonia is... also you might even want to change your light from a plant one to a blue one... it makes the colours of the fish really stand out.

But the good news is that most aquatic centres will accept your fish in part trade for new fish. Go in (early) on saturday, get some fish bags, bag up all your fish and bring them back in to them... they should give you some credit towards when you buy your new cichlids. There are also some really nice catfish (not plecos') you can put in with them.

Whackers have a good selection but if you are ever out in dun laoighre go to fishFX
www.fishfx.net for the highest quality of fish and service i know of.

keep us posted how you get on.

tk123

Thanx whiteshadow!!!

Nala

I was gonna get a big tropical set-up a while ago, but decided against it as I know that when ur a beginner fishkeeper, a lot of fish can and do die due to mistakes you make, and I'm a wee student so I can't afford to keep replacing tropical fish cos they're generally more expensive than coldwaters. So I got a deadly coldwater set-up from Argos (€49 for a starter kit-lovely tank, a nice smallish 14L hexagon shape!-fits on my desk!) and bought myself 3 fantails. Two of them have since died so all I have now is a redcap and a coldwater catfish of some kind(not sure which breed, hard to tell he's still tiny).

whiteshadow

the bigger the tank,
the cleaner the water
and therefore the less maintenance.

think big!

that hexafun was my first tank too but the number one killer among first time fish keepers is over stocking and over feeding.

i'd feed goldfish a tiny bit every second day or so.
and change 1/3 of the water every week.

especially in the 15Litre hexafun

have fun

Andrew Duffy

I've a 30L coldwater tank - living in a rented apartment severely restricts the size of tank I can have - and have 3 baby goldfish in it, total length well under six inches. However, in the last year I've killed two blackmoors. I've had two comets for over a year without any trouble and a butterfly moor for nearly as long with one bad bout of constipation. I usually feed them a very small amount daily, and give them squashed up peas every so often. I change about one fifth of the water every 10 days or so.
Does anyone have any tips on how to improve that? I can obviously increase the frequency of water changes, but I suspect that highly decorative fish like moors are just too unhealthy to live in a small tank.

whiteshadow

Hi Andrew,

you sound as if you're doing everything as you should.
some fish have been overbred so much that they are just
too week. Black Moors have a bit of a bad rep.

Get some pond weed to help constipation also!
they'll nibble on it and is very good for digestion too.

Alternatively you could use a pipette with luke warm water and perform
diy Colonic Irrigation...!!!

if anything just increase the amount of water you change.
bring it up to 1/4 or a little more of the tank volume.
and make sure it's goldfish food you use.
some people use tropical thinking it's the same.

Nala

I've never had a black moor last longer than a few weeks. I'm thinkin about getting a couple more redcaps,but I really like calicos so we'll see.

whiteshadow

really hate those bubble eyes.
they are sick looking

and occasionaly you see them with one that has burst
swimming in circles.... nasty

Nala

Yeah I've never had one of them, I used to love having ornaments in the tank (fluorescent yellow and pink...yeuch) and was afraid they'd hurt themselves.

Falkorre

Originally posted by neev
and bought myself 3 fantails. Two of them have since died so all I have now is a redcap and a coldwater catfish of some kind(not sure which breed, hard to tell he's still tiny).

Fantails and other ornamentals are rather delicate and overbred, not the best starter fish. Personally, but saying that, in the past iv had black moors that have lived years and grown quite big!

That catfish thing, is probably a "weather loach" wonderfull and fun to watch, just be carefull as they have a tendency to try to jump out of the tank when ur not around, i actually had one once, that hopped out of the tank i had in a bedroom, and must have been on the floor for hours, was completely dry an shriveled and dead looking when i got home, i dumped it back in the tank and within 2 mins it had come back an was swimming happilly! VERY hardy, but be warned, it will (slowly) grow rather big.

Another interesting fact about the weather loach, it can actually change colour very very slightly, somtimes becoming slightly irridescent, depending on the weather/ temp / air pressure, for camoflauge (sp?).... barely noticable indoors but it can do it.
Heres some pics of some, and if any1 is looking for one, rescue one from petstop in blanchardstown for €6. (is very rare i say that, but i have a soft spot for loaches)
http://www.loaches.com/species_pages/wloach.html

B

Nala

It's seriously really hard to tell what knd he is, he's about an inch long! Yeah they secrete a mucous that keeps them moist when out of water, same as salamanders and frogs. They're also very similar to newts in the escaping thing, though my little chap hasn't tried it yet and I don't think he could cos I've a cover on the tank (I keep cats....).
I didn't start my fishy hobby with fantails btw, I'd had commons, shubunkins and comets for a long time beforehand. Commons are incredibly hardy, my cat used to sneak in, catch them and have their fins in bits, they'd be out of water for about 5 minutes and they'd go on to live another few years! One little chap had his tail bitten off by the aforementioned kitty, he lived for another 5 years, with no tail.

This is the tank I have...it looks a lot smaller than it actually is in this picture.