Fish Tank Idea

blahblah06

Hi guys bought myself a new tank fluval 1200 and am looking to get an idea on what interior to do the tank in. i was thinking of doing a tank full of balas but not sure has anyone any experience

emma6606

Hey,
Do ya mean Bala sharks? Theyre fairly boring, personally I like Cichlids, theyre hardy and have more personality!!
How many litres does the tank hold? I thought Fluval were for the filters, didnt realise they did tanks...
What fish shops are you near too?
Emma

blahblah06

Hi Emma, thanks for the reply. Well i was looking at the Cichlids but there fairly expensive and i know they have different colours and that but i just like the idea of having sharks swim around the tank. although i may be wrong. i just dont know what lay out to go with and what fish. id like to do a lot of rocks with the cichlids. nice bright tank then a dark tank with the sharks. im stumped. i think its about 200 litre could be wrong though not so sure.

blahblah06

here is my tank http://www.theaquariumshop.co.uk/fluval-deep-1000-o-16.html

Scoops

Bala Sharks are ok but Emma's right in saying they are a bit boring. African Ciclids can be fun but once you start with ciclids you will have to stay with them as they are quite aggressive. Why not do a basic community tank, they can quite interesting especially for a beginner. That way you can put in different species that can live together peacefully - neons, cardinals, guppy's, gouramis, tigers etc. It leads to a very colourfull tank.

blahblah06

well i have a beginner tank the last yr thats y i want to go for something different

Scoops

How Much are you spending? Marine tanks are the absolute best, they look fantastic, but they are a lot of work and very expensive!

blahblah06

well i got the tank already but i dont think i cud be bothered with marine. i am interested in seeing what ppl have in there tank backgrounds and all that so i could decide

Scoops

I don't have a tank at the moment since I was away for a while, the last tank I set up was a community one, my friend had a great marine tank at one point. What about silver dollars or red belly piranha?

FranknFurter

Personally, I always liked a shoal of guppies, VERY colourful, VERY easy and they breed like rabbits!

Cichlids are wonderful, just be careful, somthing like an oscar, whilst being hugely entertaining, and usually friendly, will eat like a horse and grow huge very quickly, mine used to take food from my hand and suck on fingers lol
(*sigh* I do miss old hannibal, even though he ate all my guppies )

Mollys are nice too, if a bit boring.
Im told pirahana have great entertainment value too.
I must say tho, if I had a tank big enough, i would DEFINITELY be getting another Oscar. As I said, not too expensive and make a GREAT "real" pet!

b

Scoops

I didn't think of an Oscar, they are fantastic - great pets. But they do get huge!

blahblah06

so everyone reckon the cichlids then is there must to keeping them?

Arcadian

The tank you've linked to is only 100cm long so is too small for a shoal of balas and you'd be fairly restricted in the species of cichlid you can keep too.

Why not check out the Tropical Fish Centre for lots of ideas, here's a link
http://www.tropicalfish.site5.com/tfc/

blahblah06

its 4 ft i thought that would have been big enough. the guys in the shops dont even have them in that big a tank. although how many is a shoal

ninja 101

here's a great fish tank idea... get a fish tank piss in it and then put whatever fish you like in it and BINGO!!!

btw go get f o c k e d

blahblah06

ehhh right

Hellrazer

Ninja 101--Banned.

Arcadian

blahblah06 wrote:

its 4 ft i thought that would have been big enough. the guys in the shops dont even have them in that big a tank. although how many is a shoal

Don't go by the size of the holding tanks in petshops, these are only temporary accomodations. Bala sharks grow on average to 13 inches with some getting larger, it's important to take adult size into account when deciding what fish to keep rather than the size they are when on sale.

Why not go for a community tank of various barbs or gouramis or tetras and corydoras. If you want cichlids there are some smaller ones which can live in a community tank.

WhiteWashMan

ninja 101 wrote:

here's a great fish tank idea... get a fish tank piss in it and then put whatever fish you like in it and BINGO!!!

btw go get f o c k e d

banned

edit. woops. already done by Hellrazor.
sorry dude.

blahblah06

i think i will start of with a tank of angels what do u reckon

cynos

blahblah06 wrote:

Hi Emma, thanks for the reply. Well i was looking at the Cichlids but there fairly expensive

no more expensive than balas really
Swords and coolock shops do them for €5-€8 depending on size
more or less the same as balas.

Arcadian wrote:

The tank you've linked to is only 100cm long so is too small for a shoal of balas and you'd be fairly restricted in the species of cichlid you can keep too.

That site is suppose to say 1000cm four foot
thats plenty big for anything for a few years anyway
I've two year old balas in my 4foot and theres plenty of space

Rippleman

Hi blahblah06

Do you know what your water tap water conditions are? Hard/alkaline or soft/acid?

If you want to specialise with a particular type of fish it is always a good idea to choose a species that thrives in your tap water so you do not have to constantly adjust it to their needs.

If hard & alkaline then the East African cichlids will do well in it. They need plenty of rocks to form territories which can make for interesting tank layouts with plenty of caves. There are some good 3D rock backgrounds which add greatly to the overall look. It is also possible to use cement to make your own rocks/decor/backgrounds as the rise in Ph it will cause will not adversly affect the cichlids. It can save you a lot of money making your own decor and you would end up with a unique tank all of your own design. it can be great fun OR a total headache if you are not into getting your hands dirty! If you make decor using cement be sure to cure it properly before introducing it to fish or the Ph shift will be too harsh and definitely kill them.Here are some links to DIY ideas (click on the links for article on how to make them):

background1




background2



an unusual background full of caves



If you like the idea of this sort of tank layout and decor you may be interested in reading an article by Marc Elieson here which will give you some insight into the fascination East African cichlids hold for many people. They are, of course, very agressive fish and crouding as many fish into the tank as possible will dilute the agression & bullying and makes for a lively 'show' always full of action and entertainment.

It's best not to mix cichlids from different lakes with the exception of those from Lakes Malawi and Victoria. Information on the different cichlids you can mix is here

__________________________________

On the other hand you may have softer, more acid tap water which will lend itself to a very different type of tank. South American fishes will do well in this type of water including the Angelfish you are thinking of. Angels are also cichlids and can be agressive to each other (and other fish) but not to the extent that the Africans would be. There are many, many different varieties of Angels with a good choice in colours, patterns and long/short fins which can be mixed to create interest. Here is a link to just some of the varieties available.

This sort of tank lends itself to growing plants which not only look fab but help to keep the water in good condition by using up what would otherwise be 'pollutants' (ammonia, nitrate, phosphate, iron etc). If you are not used to growing aquarium plants, easy ones to start with are Java Fern and Java Moss which will grow quite easily in most conditions. A little aquarium plant fertiliser will help them thrive. Remember to renew your lights every 6 months or you will end up with more algae than plants (the bulbs 'wear out' in that the colour waves they emit change over time).

You can make a wonderful 'live background' from the Java Moss

Instructions are here

Bogwood comes in all shapes and sizes and great decor for the soft water aquarium. It slowly leeches tannic and humic acids into the water which the fish will love. It can turn the water slightly amber in colour which some people do not like (maybe they think it looks dirty?) but this makes the fish feel more at ease and can show off their colours better.

The planted tank is very different to the rocky African tank but just as stunning in its own right



It is important to check that any rocks used will not harden the water. Slate is safe an ordinary (washed) coal can be used to dramatic effect.

If you want to keep other fish with the Angels there are many to choose from. A single pair of Rams will set up home at the bottom of the tank and probably lay eggs from time to time. A school of Clown Loach (they dont like to be kept alone) are colourful, very entertaining and will eat any snails in the tank (which the plants will thank you for).

Oops... think I am rambling on a bit here.... hope this gives you some ideas.

Carl

blahblah06

now thats a proper response. how do i check the water? here is my tank so far. what do you think to plain ?


edit.. it wont let me upload the pic for some reason

cynos

just host your pic on http://tinypic.com and post the link here

Rippleman

Check the water with test kits from your lfs or bring in a sample to them & see if they can test it for you. Ph (acid or alkaline), GH (general hardness) and KH (carbonate hardness) are the ones you are looking for.

It is often cheaper to buy a kit with several different tests in it than buying them separately.

karlin

Great, Rippleman; I am thinking of a second tank and that's some very useful advice.

Blahblah, definitely get a water test kit!! You need to make sure your tank has cycled before you start putting any fish in there and that can take up to six weeks -- mine did -- despite doing the textbook approach and also thinking it had cycled earlier, I went through the full 6 weeks of ammonia, nitrate and nitrite spikes and believe me you will be so thankful you have the kit and can check the process as some of those spikes will kill your expensive fish if you put them in before the cycle is done!! The kit with several tests (I have the interpet one but there are many brands) is the best/most economic to get when you are setting up and need to do all the tests several times a week. I thought I'd just kind of rush through all that bit but you really can't.

At times I never thought my tank would cycle (ammonia hell!!) but now it is doing just what it should -- all values are 0 or close to it and I have a thriving community tank, well planted, all coming along nicely. It is hard to wait but you really truly need patience or you'll be dealing with potential loss of fish.

There are some good sites and good books that will take you through the cycling process and the testing process before you get into cichlids. They are generally much more demanding fish and need more precise water conditions than a community tank, so you do need a good grasp of what all the water stuff is about before venturing into keeping them. I'm thinking about them but I really like that angel tank above. I also really like rainbowfish though they don't look their best til they reach adulthood.

That 1000 cm tank is beautiful btw!

Rippleman

Hi Karlin,

It is sooooo difficult when planing a new tank to decide which fish you want to keep... there are so many to choose from! It can easily turn into a case of MTS (multiple tank syndrome!).

I have 4 tanks on the go at the moment (two 4', a 3' and a small quarantine tank) and it is STILL not enough:( . researching Discus at the moment with a view to setting up a larger tank for them.

Glad to hear you went with test kits from the start, they make fish keeping so much easier and negate the frustration of not knowing why your fish just 'up & died' for 'no reason'.

Setting up your second tank will be much easier and quicker to cycle as you can add mature filter media from your existing tank to kick start it. You could even buy your filter first and hook it up to your present tank and it can be maturing before you even set up the second one. I always keep a spare filter running in one of my tanks in case of emergency.

Carl

blahblah06

here is my tank

http://i2.tinypic.com/sbh8xu.jpg

blahblah06

here is my tank

http://i2.tinypic.com/sbh8xu.jpg

cynos

Do you fond that fluval filter any use?
I had one for a while and found it done F all

blahblah06

its the 2nd one i had. has the fluval 2 and that sthe fluval 4. think there great. keeps everything clean