New 5ft 1100ltr Freshwater Tank Questions (probably some really dumb ones)
danielbostock
Member Posts: 1
Hi all,
I will preface this post, I am a complete newb who is keen to learn and I spending a lot of time understanding how to manage and grow a good community of fish. Eventually I want to have a marine tank (would be a new tank of course!), but I feel this is the first logical step in the knowledge progression.
I have recently been setting up a new 5ft tank that has been cycled and started the build up the community. This is a tank that isn't just for my appreciation but my entire family. My 3 boys, wife and I have really come to enjoy our small gold & catfish tank so much so we went to this second one. We quite enjoy the more colorful varieties of freshwater. I have become quite fond (and so has my family) of the Kribensis Cichlid from seeing them in a local fish store. I have been doing quite a bit of research about them so I have some questions about making this tank work with them.
But first I will endeavor to give some background on current status of the tank.
Currently we have the following fish & Filtering
3x Albino Corydora's
2x Albino bristlenoses
3x Platy's
1x Eheim 2217
1x SunSun 2400l/ph canister filter
1x AquaOne 990 AirPump
At least 8 different ornaments & places which would be considered a place for the Kribs to hide, potentially adding some more to great a layered tank so the bottom dwellers can have their space and territories. No live plants, lots of fake plastic plants and want to avoid getting live plants for the moment at least.
I am looking to add more dither fish over the next two weeks in order to prepare for the arrival of the Kribs which my local pet store says would arrive in around 3 weeks time. The plan is to add this week is to add another 6 Platy's (exactly a week after adding the last 3, plus 1 bristlenose). Then next week 6 danios or Tetras. From my understanding the Kribs and other fish do well with having these higher level dither fish.
1. Would I be able to add in 6 Kribs, and if so what should be the sex ratio.
2. My eldest son really likes the cloan loaches, would I be able to add one or 2 of them, or is this too many bottom dwellers?
3. After the Kribs, I would like to add another batch of community fish either guppies or more tetra's, would this be too many fish?
Thanks in advance for any advice and help, apologies for the length of the post and if I have failed to provide any important information.
Daniel.
I will preface this post, I am a complete newb who is keen to learn and I spending a lot of time understanding how to manage and grow a good community of fish. Eventually I want to have a marine tank (would be a new tank of course!), but I feel this is the first logical step in the knowledge progression.
I have recently been setting up a new 5ft tank that has been cycled and started the build up the community. This is a tank that isn't just for my appreciation but my entire family. My 3 boys, wife and I have really come to enjoy our small gold & catfish tank so much so we went to this second one. We quite enjoy the more colorful varieties of freshwater. I have become quite fond (and so has my family) of the Kribensis Cichlid from seeing them in a local fish store. I have been doing quite a bit of research about them so I have some questions about making this tank work with them.
But first I will endeavor to give some background on current status of the tank.
Currently we have the following fish & Filtering
3x Albino Corydora's
2x Albino bristlenoses
3x Platy's
1x Eheim 2217
1x SunSun 2400l/ph canister filter
1x AquaOne 990 AirPump
At least 8 different ornaments & places which would be considered a place for the Kribs to hide, potentially adding some more to great a layered tank so the bottom dwellers can have their space and territories. No live plants, lots of fake plastic plants and want to avoid getting live plants for the moment at least.
I am looking to add more dither fish over the next two weeks in order to prepare for the arrival of the Kribs which my local pet store says would arrive in around 3 weeks time. The plan is to add this week is to add another 6 Platy's (exactly a week after adding the last 3, plus 1 bristlenose). Then next week 6 danios or Tetras. From my understanding the Kribs and other fish do well with having these higher level dither fish.
1. Would I be able to add in 6 Kribs, and if so what should be the sex ratio.
2. My eldest son really likes the cloan loaches, would I be able to add one or 2 of them, or is this too many bottom dwellers?
3. After the Kribs, I would like to add another batch of community fish either guppies or more tetra's, would this be too many fish?
Thanks in advance for any advice and help, apologies for the length of the post and if I have failed to provide any important information.
Daniel.
Comments
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Hi Daniel, would love to help, but first how many lts is your 5 ft tank?
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Hi Daniel,
A 5' tank with a 1100 ltr capacity is pretty big. With your current filtration (not counting air pump), you would be getting all the water in the tank through your filters around 3 times every hour. If you stock to maximum capacity that may be a little low.
Looking at your stocking intentions I note that the fish you have come from a variety of "locations" and you will find it difficult to "average" out the water conditions in the tank to health benefits for all of the fish. Live bearers need much "harder" water than the soft acidic water most of your tetras and other fish you have in there would prefer.
If you really want the Kribs, a fish I like and there are a number of varieties that look better than the one usually found in your LFS. You could look at some of the African Tetras (congo, yellow-tail congo, etc.) that would go well There are also quite a few african catfish that can be good.
Any pics of what you have at the moment?
Cheers,
Bob
