HI, can anyone give me some info please, i have a 180litre tank and has only been set up for a few days so its going through the fishless cycle at the moment but i am not too sure on the type of fish i want to keep, tropical or cold water. i have seen tanks that contain shubunkin etc and really look the look of them and could watch them for hours. but when i looked on some websites before i found this one, it stated that shubunkins are cold water fish and the water temp has to be about 22 degrees C. regards
Hi firstly well done on doing a 'fishless' cycle and also for asking before buying
Shubunkins are coldwater and do require cooler water than tropicals - less than 22! They are also much messier than tropicals so are actually harder to keep,also you cannot keep as many coldwater fish as tropicals!
Personally i would start with tropicals and try fish such as swordtails,platys,various barbs and tetra's,best idea is to visit a local fish shop and see what catches your eye, take note of the name common and latin if possible and then ask on here for opinions
Hi Stingrays4, thanks for the info, i will certainly start with tropicals. I like the look of angels, clown loaches and siamese fighter ( and i believe you can only keep 1 male ) also like the look of the gourami species.
You also may need to do research into those fish as not all are tollerent of each other. Siamese fighters are stunning fish but do limit your choice of tank mates. Read up and ask as much as you can before buying any fish and dont rely on advice given in fish shops it tends to be general, take it slowly and you will get there and your tank will be a pleasure to look at. di
Hi richb,
you should have a good look around and see what catches your eye fishwise and then plan ahead.
It's twenty questions time (sorry):
What sort of tank do you have (manufacturer)? How is it filtered? Do you have a heater for tropicals? Have you thought about plants? What shape is the tank (depth/width/height)
The fish you mention above get big (except for the fighter) so you will be limited to numbers - angels are tall so require a tank with a decent height, they are also cichlids which can get aggressive with each otehr (and fighters!), to spread the aggression you need to keep them in a decent sized shoal (5?) . Clown loaches get really big and need to be kept in shoals of at least three (prefereably 5).
I'm assuming your tank is rectangular approx 40" x 16" x 20" (1010mm x 410mm x 500mm)? Something like a Juwel Rio?
If this is the case you will be able to get approximately 55" of fish (this doesn't include tail length).
So if you did want to keep clowns and angels, you could keep something like 5 angels and 3 clowns BUT NOTHING ELSE AT ADULT SIZE, in that size tank. Those fish get big and are messy. In truth it's probably a bit short (height wise) for angels and the loaches will grow to 8-12" eventually. Those are adult sizes as well so you could get away with juveniles with some other fish for a couple or three years BUT what will you do in three years time when they have grown BIG?
Hope that helps a bit and gives you some food for thought!
1xTrigon 1903 Clown Loaches,14 Cardinal Tetras,8 Rummynose Tetras,6 Cory Trileneatus,6 Hatchetfish,4 otocinclus,1 SAE,1 Bristlenose,, 10 amano Shrimp
Anubius Barteri,Crinum thianum,Limnophilia sessiflora, Echinodorus Blehri, nymphaea lotus, Ammania Senegelis, Crinum calimustratum, java moss, 1xRekord 60Empty at Present
12 litre tank - 4 japonica shrimp, 4 Red crystal shrimp, 5 High Spot Rasbora
Anubias Barteri, Glossostigma Elatanoides, Ammania Senegalisis, Limnophilia Sessiflora, Bacopa amplexicaulis
As Dave asks, what tank do you have rich?
Angels do need deep big tanks. They might look fine when they are small, but they have the potential to grow to 9 inches tall and 6 wide. Clown loaches too can grow big and a ssaid need to be in groups of at least 3, but at least 5 are better really.
I know some people do, but wouldn't put a male siamese fighter in a community set up.
Oop sorry I hadn't read properly what Dave has written so have repeated . Sorry
You had a duplicate post Dave so I have deleted one
Dave used to be on question time btw.
As Dave has already mentioned Angels may be restricted in there, I like the Siamese Fighters (aka Betta) but a community tank can lead to problems, more so due to their lovely appealing fins that can be nipped at.
FD
Hi bluedave, and i would like to thank everyone for their advise. My tank is rectangular 1000(W)x400(D)x450(H), using an Aqua Plus 3 external filter and Rena Smartheater 300W. just thinking of artifitial plants and some form of rock formations.
Heh richb,
Not a bad guess on the tank size
Filter sounds ok
Advice as before really
If you want a busier tank, maybe have a couple of decent sized shoals of mid/top swimmers along with some cory's and botia sidthimunki (think the common name is dwarf chain loaches - anyone?), they are just as much fun as clowns but don't grow as big. You could look at a shoal of 15-20 small tetras (whatever takes your fancy - cardinal, black widow, lemon, rummy nose - the list is endless), a male/female pair of pearl Gourami's, 5-6 sid's and 6-8 corys. You'll need some hiding places for the female gourami though.
Have you thought about real plants? They help with water quality as they remove a lot of nasties from the water and look much better than plastic ones in my opinion.
Hi and welcome,i have been keeping fish for 10 months now and i am doing ok thanks to this forum
Just remember there is no such thing as a silly question,i should know i`ve asked all of them lol
Rekord 70