90 x 40 x 40 cm setup (3 feet) advise please

[cs_sg]

FYI, Gan got some excellent looking blue face heckels on sale now.. quite surprised with his latest shipment, normally, he gets a few of these blue face heckels but this time round, the entire shipment.. don't miss it, if you really into heckels

I saw these blue face heckels on sale from another forum actually. I can't afford his lot! about 80bucks each.
Wild and Gorgeous but....I can't afford that and I prefer the in-bred yellow base ones Looks like the tiger
I was told by discus keepers that wild ones are difficult for beginners so I won't dare try them.


BTW, The private breeder was offering lower grade juveniles at a much affordable price for beginners .

[celticfish]

yup yup! lovely creatures. got nine of them from gan recently.

if you are a beginner you right to start with domestic ones first. cheaper!

if you plan to pump them up to adult size i would suggest you grow them in a bare tank first though. just holler if you need help on them. there are some resident discus lovers in AQ including simon and standoyo.

[Simon]

to be honest, they are almost the same, except for the stress level tolerance, which is lower for wild discus.

the bigger ones was so tempting, too bad my 6ft is down.. or else....

here are some of mine.. ex...

1st pix is of an ordinary heckel, 2nd and 3rd is a blue faced heckel.. except 2nd pix was taken the day I added them into my 6ft

[cs_sg]

to be honest, they are almost the same, except for the stress level tolerance, which is lower for wild discus.

the bigger ones was so tempting, too bad my 6ft is down.. or else....

here are some of mine.. ex...

1st pix is of an ordinary heckel, 2nd and 3rd is a blue faced heckel.. except 2nd pix was taken the day I added them into my 6ft

Beautiessssssssss!!!!

here's the wild ones on sales which I was talking about.
Poor pic quality on his post though, but I believe they are beauties in real.
http://www.aquarealms.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21748

[Simon]

looks like the same size as what Gan have

[Phillipians]

hehe, sorry about it, its danios, not darios, heh. Hmmm Discus would be goood as long as they are well fed, you can take a gamble on them not taking out your shrimps. Like always, Yamatos are ok, its the cherries which look more "bite-sized" heh.

Not much experience with big fish as i tend to go with small ones normally, can ask ard. And 2 X 55W sounds a tad insufficient, but the reason for your APP not growing must moost prob be lack of co2. 110W for 3 ft tank should still be ok, but for APP, co2 is a must

[cs_sg]

Thanks Phillipians.

I can visualize the discus feasting on the shrimps already

As for the APP, I've decided to get a CO2 tank for this tank.

Oh yeah...The next time you pray, please pray too that my parents accept this new 'addition' to the living room with 'grace'

[Phillipians]

haha, sure thing never underestimate the power of prayer. All the best for your new addition

[izzat]

Hi Chyrl,

You can try Nature Aquarium to get the T5 tubes, Elbiru 6500K tube.
Price wise, is around $15 +/- per tube. I change the tubes once a year, and having a 1 month interval in-between changing on tubes.

You can call Ben (HorizonVenture in SRC sponsor forum) and he will be more than delighted to tell you more regarding T5 setups.
I personally bought 2 sets of DIY T5 from him and I am very satisfied with his customer service

[cs_sg]

Thanks izzat,

Spoken to Ben and hopefully settle the lighting this couple of days.
Now, I'll just have to bear with a bare fish tank for a while

[cs_sg]

I've finally decided on the lighting and the following is the update on my tank setup:

Tank size: 90x40x40cm (about 38Gallon)

Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) :
Number and type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) : 2x 55Watts PL

CO2 Injection Rate (bps) : 1bps
Type of CO2 (DIY/Cylinder) : Cylinder
Method of Injection (e.g. Diffusor/Reactor) : Internal Reactor

Liquid fertilisers Used (Product name. E.g. Seachem Flourish) : Dr Mallick's lushgro
Fertilization regime (Frequency and amount per dose) :

Substrate:Lapis & Root Monster inserting 1 every 10cm apart. No base fert

Other additives (Product name. E.g. Seachem Prime) :

Type of Filter :Eheim cannister 2215)

1 Profanatic Fan 24hr/7

FLORA:
E. tennellus
MM
Dwarf hairgrass
HC
Petite Nana

Mid-Background:
Blyxa japonica
E. oriental
1 banana plant
Sag (very minimal on back right-hand corner of tank to cover filter inlet)
Val (very minimal on back right-hand corner of tank)

Erect moss on driftwood

Now, what I lack is fish in this tank.

Initially, I had wanted some angels or discus.
After reading how these cichlids might prey on my shrimps and pencilfish, I may give them a miss.
Besides, the 40cm height seemed too short for these 2 types of fish.

Can you please suggest any other fish which will be friendly to the following which I must add into this 3feet tank?

Intended Fauna to add (I already have them in my 15gallon, which I house temporary due to the total rescape of this 3 footer):
10 pencil fish
6 yamato shrimp
4 oto

Preparing to add:
Pygmy cories (probably 12)

I would like some bigger fish than a tetra and rasbora but friendly and hardy enough for a planted tank (when I do my trimming, I believe that stresses the fish).

The rainbow flag fish is good looking but I would like to consider some other fish too before deciding.

Fish I'm NOT considering in this 3footer:
Rasbora
Guppy
Neon Tetra
Cardinal Tetra


Please remember that my current scape provides alot of room for mid water swimmers as 80% of my plants are short. It doesn't provide much cover for the fish except the right corner of the tank where I have the Sag and Vals.

Please throw in your suggestions. Preferably a picture of the fish and its special requirement if possible.

Thank you.

[ranmasatome]

Chryl..
Cant wait to see a pic of this tank..
Oh btw..its commonly mis-concieved that tetras and rasboras are small fish.. There are a lot of big and nice ones out there..
errr..Rasbora Vulcanus, Rasbora pauciperforata??

How about some barbs?? larger ones..
Puntius arulius - personally..i think these are very nice
Puntius denisonii
Puntius filamentosus
Barbus fasciolatus

[cs_sg]

Chryl..
Cant wait to see a pic of this tank..

Any suggestion for fish?

I'm waiting for plants to transform to submersed form.
Will try update with pics if the plants grow in.

[Justikanz]

Yes, the Denison Barb would be nice. Bigger than the average barb or rasbora, schooling, active and will not specifically hunt down your pencils...

You can also try Badis badis... Can't think of anymore now...

[cs_sg]

Yes, the Denison Barb would be nice. Bigger than the average barb or rasbora, schooling, active and will not specifically hunt down your pencils...

You can also try Badis badis... Can't think of anymore now...

Badis badis? Isn't that a SA cichlid?
Will they go after my shrimps and other fish in the same tank? My concern is, my choice of plants and placements don't provide much cover for the 'weaker' fish to hide if they are in danger.

Ranmasatome, I'll look up the fish profiles for those you suggested
Thanks for the list of suggestion.

[Justikanz]

Nope, they are not cichlids. They are blue in colour(fins and some parts of the body) and more docile, can be territorial towards other badis. Dun think they will hjave any problems with Yamato shimps. As with almost all fish, they will take anything that can fit in their mouths... But they will not endanger your animals as they grow to no more than 2 inches. You can opt for the smaller Dario dario. Oh, they require live food...

[cs_sg]

Nope, they are not cichlids. They are blue in colour(fins and some parts of the body) and more docile, can be territorial towards other badis. Dun think they will hjave any problems with Yamato shimps. As with almost all fish, they will take anything that can fit in their mouths... But they will not endanger your animals as they grow to no more than 2 inches. You can opt for the smaller Dario dario. Oh, they require live food...

Is this the one?
I found something on the badis badis, but not sure if its the same one you're referring to.

I don't remember seeing them in the LFS here though.

BTW, where did you get your killies from? :P I saw some threads you just had some lately.

[Justikanz]

Yup, similar. There are several Badis spp. available. I am not too familiar with them but had seen several types. Personally, I find them very pretty and somewhat less agressive than dwarf cichlids. They will flare at other badis when they see them. More elusive also. I had a blue badis that is really blue now and it has began to patrol around the tank... But it had also murdered several darios. It is safe with other fish, though... Kingfisher, the LFS, should have Badis on sale. I got mine there... Sometimes C328 also has them on sale.

Killies? I bought from C328. You can also try Wu Hu (Ben's) at Tiong Bahru.

[cs_sg]

Hello ...............


I have finally planted and some of the plants are already 2 weeks old now.

I bought 2 pieces of bogwood 3 days ago and missed out on covering the ugly cut off bits of the bogwoods with taiwan moss.

As you can see from the pictures, the bare tips are really ugly........

[B]My questions are:

How can I cover these ugly tips with moss if I don't want to remove the wood from the tank?

Can I tie on some soft mesh and wrap around the tips?
If I decide to tie some java fern narrow leaf where the rocks are sitting, but not to remove the woods from the tank, is it advisable to 'sew' the ferns on a soft mesh and attach them to the wood? [B]


I'm still waiting for the bogwoods to sink (used 2 rocks to hold them down).
The woods were too big to fit in mum's curry pot so I didn't boil them too

If I move the woods, the gravel around it will start to give way again and my crypts around the base of the woods will be affected. The crypts already went through the first round of melting when my bogwood floated and uprooted some of them.





Cheers

[ranmasatome]

actually you dont have to do anything liao... the tips willb e covered once the moss grows longer and more dense.. as for the java fern...just plonk them where you want them..and use a smal twist tie to anchor the roots.. easy peasy.. hopefully the tank is dense enough to cover the ties..