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Anyone here keep fish?

I keep tropical fish. I've a 45l tank. At the moment I have 2 peppered corys and 2 albino corys, 2 rummy nosed tetras and 2 neon tetras, 3 ottos and a shed load of endlers guppies because they keep breeding!!

Mine is a planted tank and tbh I'm having algae problems so I want to get rid of my real plants and just go for decorative because my tank was a lot better when I had that before.
 
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I keep tropical fish. I've a 45l tank. At the moment I have 2 peppered corys and 2 albino corys, 2 rummy nosed tetras and 2 neon tetras, 3 ottos and a shed load of endlers guppies because they keep breeding!!

Mine is a planted tank and tbh I'm having algae problems so I want to get rid of my real plants and just go for decorative because my tank was a lot better when I had that before.

yeah plant tanks take a lot more care and maintenance the other tanks. to get rid of algea you need to get rid of excess nutrients in the water and also reduce the amount of light in the tank. however, those things do not bode well for plants. once you get algae problems then it is hard to get rid of.
 
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yeah plant tanks take a lot more care and maintenance the other tanks. to get rid of algea you need to get rid of excess nutrients in the water and also reduce the amount of light in the tank. however, those things do not bode well for plants. once you get algae problems then it is hard to get rid of.

I know. It's also worse since my filter broke and I bought a new one. This doesn't seem to handle the water as well even though its made for a 50l tank. I'm going to get a new filter and get rid of the plants (and some guppies)
 
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I know. It's also worse since my filter broke and I bought a new one. This doesn't seem to handle the water as well even though its made for a 50l tank. I'm going to get a new filter and get rid of the plants (and some guppies)

careful when you switch filters. what do you have running now? a lot of filters use biological filtration as part of the filtration process. by removing the old filter you have removed a lot of the good bacteria to help break down the waste. try doing more frequent water changes to help out the new filter.

also get the water tested for amonia, nitrites, and nitrates as well.
 
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I keep tropical fish. I've a 45l tank. At the moment I have 2 peppered corys and 2 albino corys, 2 rummy nosed tetras and 2 neon tetras, 3 ottos and a shed load of endlers guppies because they keep breeding!!

Mine is a planted tank and tbh I'm having algae problems so I want to get rid of my real plants and just go for decorative because my tank was a lot better when I had that before.

I had the algae problems in my 75g before. Constantly battled with it even after breaking the tank down and restarting (see my album pics). You have to have a balance is what I'm finding out. You have to have enough plants to out compete the algae for nutrients. You have to have enough nutrients for the plants to stay alive and you have to have enough light that the plants can compete for the nutrients as well. It's a balancing act for sure. Planted tanks can be just a complex as a SW setup IMO.
 
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I had the algae problems in my 75g before. Constantly battled with it even after breaking the tank down and restarting (see my album pics). You have to have a balance is what I'm finding out. You have to have enough plants to out compete the algae for nutrients. You have to have enough nutrients for the plants to stay alive and you have to have enough light that the plants can compete for the nutrients as well. It's a balancing act for sure. Planted tanks can be just a complex as a SW setup IMO.

Yeah we had a huge tank years ago but never hand any problems, then this time I really struggled with it, had all sorts of problems, algae, ammonia etc. I joined a fishy forum and got advice from there (the tropical tank) and one guy said with a planted tank you are not just a fish keeper you are also a gardener. I'm not liking it though. Thing is, my hubby pushed for the fish, and he looks at them yet its me that maintains the tank and tbh I'm fed up of it now constantly trying to work out what's wrong, so I, going to make it minimal maintenance and get rid of the plants.
 
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The thing with the planted tank is if you go overboard either way you get algae. You don't have enough plants, then you have too much light and too many nutrients so you get algae. You have enough plants, but not enough light and your plants die. The high nutrients just give you algae. You have enough plants and light, but not enough nutrients and the algae can out compete the plants just because it grows faster. So you get algae again.
 
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I just recently got into this hobby. I currently have 5 Tiger Barbs and a few Ghost Shrimp that will be going into a new 30 gallon setup soon. They're currently, and temporarily, in a 10 gallon tank (lesson #1, don't listen to your LFS). I can't put everything together just yet until my sweetie and I swap offices this weekend, and of course the new tank has to cycle before the Barbs go into it. At any rate, here's what I have thus far for the new setup:


Aqueon 30 Gallon Glass Tank (36 1/4 x 12 5/8 x 16 3/4)
Wrought Iron Stand (can hold two tanks)
Aqueon 36″ Glass Versa-Top
Aqueon 36″ Modular LED Light w/1 additional Colormax LED
Hagen Fluval C3 Power Filter (doing a return via Amazon/UPS as the first one was cracked)
Hagen Fluval M100 Glass Submersible Heater
Needed: Substrate and decorations


Here's a vid:

Tiger Barbs - YouTube

Any thoughts on what else I can add to the new setup that will work well with the Tiger Barbs and Ghost Shrimp? I was tossing around the idea of possibly 4 Panda Cory, 2 female German Gold Rams, and 1 Pearl Gourami. Could I have 2 Oto Catfish even though I have the Ghost Shrimp?
 
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I just recently got into this hobby. I currently have 5 Tiger Barbs and a few Ghost Shrimp that will be going into a new 30 gallon setup soon. They're currently, and temporarily, in a 10 gallon tank (lesson #1, don't listen to your LFS). I can't put everything together just yet until my sweetie and I swap offices this weekend, and of course the new tank has to cycle before the Barbs go into it. At any rate, here's what I have thus far for the new setup:


Aqueon 30 Gallon Glass Tank (36 1/4 x 12 5/8 x 16 3/4)
Wrought Iron Stand (can hold two tanks)
Aqueon 36″ Glass Versa-Top
Aqueon 36″ Modular LED Light w/1 additional Colormax LED
Hagen Fluval C3 Power Filter (doing a return via Amazon/UPS as the first one was cracked)
Hagen Fluval M100 Glass Submersible Heater
Needed: Substrate and decorations


Here's a vid:

Tiger Barbs - YouTube

Any thoughts on what else I can add to the new setup that will work well with the Tiger Barbs and Ghost Shrimp? I was tossing around the idea of possibly 4 Panda Cory, 2 female German Gold Rams, and 1 Pearl Gourami. Could I have 2 Oto Catfish even though I have the Ghost Shrimp?

barbs can be fin nippers so do not get any fish that has long fins like angelfish or swordfish. they can also be a little aggressive as well. you want other fast moving fish like rainbows and mollies. no rams. some of the gourami's might be fine. cory cats are great little armored catfish. oto's should be fine or any plecostomus would be fine as well. and yes otos and ghost shrimp should be fine. and lastly any of the larger schooling tetra's should be fine. emporer tetras are my favorite.
 
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that is one type of tank that i have not done yet.....brackish. i never really liked the brackish fish except for archers and puffers. i had a green spotted puffer acclimated to saltwater. he was in my 20 gal salt tank that i had along with a couple of maroon clowns and a royal grama.
I got to like Scatophagus argus "Scats" when I was running freshwater (hard and soft water) and marine tanks (one for invertebrates). Since I had done just about everything else, I started up a brackish water tank. It was an accomplishment...
 
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barbs can be fin nippers so do not get any fish that has long fins like angelfish or swordfish. they can also be a little aggressive as well. you want other fast moving fish like rainbows and mollies. no rams. some of the gourami's might be fine. cory cats are great little armored catfish. oto's should be fine or any plecostomus would be fine as well. and yes otos and ghost shrimp should be fine. and lastly any of the larger schooling tetra's should be fine. emporer tetras are my favorite.


I'm using the Stocking Advisor, and didn't get any warnings about the Rams & Barbs, so I'm guessing two female Rams with them will work out nicely. From what I understand the Pleco's have a fairly high bio-load, so I probably won't get those. Oh yes, those emporer tetras are pretty fish! But I got a warning on the advisor that the Barbs are too aggressive for them. :(

I'm sure this neat little thing is not prone to mistakes, but it's an extremely nice guide when trying to stock your aquarium. Plus it gives some other pertinent advice as well (perams, temps, water change frequency, if your overstocking etc). AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor
 
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Yeah we had a huge tank years ago but never hand any problems, then this time I really struggled with it, had all sorts of problems, algae, ammonia etc.
IME problems like that happen in tanks that have areas (usually in the gravel) that go aerobic. Anaerobic bacteria are your worst enemy, and aerobic bacteria can be your best friend.

Back in the '70s when I had my aquariums, the concept of reverse flow filtration was brand new, and I had to build my own by combining under-gravel filters (that were too weak by themselves) with back mounted power filters that pumped clean water into the area underneath the gravel. A little experimentation with different gravel types and distribution, and a reverse flow tank pretty much takes care of itself after the aerobic bacteria are established.

I found plants to be more of a pain than anything else. You don't need greenery to have a balanced aquarium; oxygenation from air bubblers works just fine.
 
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I'm using the Stocking Advisor, and didn't get any warnings about the Rams & Barbs, so I'm guessing two female Rams with them will work out nicely. From what I understand the Pleco's have a fairly high bio-load, so I probably won't get those. Oh yes, those emporer tetras are pretty fish! But I got a warning on the advisor that the Barbs are too aggressive for them. :(

I'm sure this neat little thing is not prone to mistakes, but it's an extremely nice guide when trying to stock your aquarium. Plus it gives some other pertinent advice as well (perams, temps, water change frequency, if your overstocking etc). AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor

Rams and barbs are not going to work out well. Rams are about as laid back as you can get and the barbs will freak them out most likely. I would not do it. I wouldn't go with the gouramis either tbh. Barbs will nip at pretty much anything that won't nip back and can be big bullies.
 
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I found plants to be more of a pain than anything else. You don't need greenery to have a balanced aquarium; oxygenation from air bubblers works just fine.

Plants can be a PITA, but they look gorgeous when you've got them all going right. IMO planted tanks are some of the most beautiful FW tanks you can put together. I can't agree on the air bubblers though. I've run one in my tank maybe once, but got rid of it after a few months as I didn't care for the look. I don't think oxygenation is usually a problem on a fish tank. Especially not with today's power filters.
 
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Plants can be a PITA, but they look gorgeous when you've got them all going right. IMO planted tanks are some of the most beautiful FW tanks you can put together. I can't agree on the air bubblers though. I've run one in my tank maybe once, but got rid of it after a few months as I didn't care for the look. I don't think oxygenation is usually a problem on a fish tank. Especially not with today's power filters.
It's been a long time for me, but the power filters that I used didn't churn up the water at all, so I would put an air bubbler in the filters' reservoirs to make sure that the water flowing through the gravel was well-oxygenated. The look of crystal-clear water was pretty nice IMO.

Plants may look pretty to people who are into that kind of thing, but the live plants being sold weren't the natural environment for any of the fishes that I kept. I had mostly African lake Cichlids, South American river species and marine fishes. Especially with the Cichlids it was far easier to give them their natural environment than it was to work hard to enforce a fake one. Matter of preference, I suppose.
 
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Rams and barbs are not going to work out well. Rams are about as laid back as you can get and the barbs will freak them out most likely. I would not do it. I wouldn't go with the gouramis either tbh. Barbs will nip at pretty much anything that won't nip back and can be big bullies.

Ok. Better to listen to those with experience. Can you think of some others I can house with the Barbs?
 
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It's been a long time for me, but the power filters that I used didn't churn up the water at all, so I would put an air bubbler in the filters' reservoirs to make sure that the water flowing through the gravel was well-oxygenated. The look of crystal-clear water was pretty nice IMO.

Plants may look pretty to people who are into that kind of thing, but the live plants being sold weren't the natural environment for any of the fishes that I kept. I had mostly African lake Cichlids, South American river species and marine fishes. Especially with the Cichlids it was far easier to give them their natural environment than it was to work hard to enforce a fake one. Matter of preference, I suppose.

Cichlids in general aren't kind to plants. Africans certainly aren't. I wouldn't put live plants in my convicts tank. It would be pointless. I've just got into SW. No clue what plants even grow in a SW environment. I have no idea if any of the plants I have even grow in the same areas of the world. Honestly, I don't really care. I'm not after a biotope I just want a nice looking aquarium where the fish swim in circles. If the plants and the fish can co-exist peacefully then that's what I would prefer myself.

I don't buy the idea that you need a lot of surface agitation. Some of my tanks are perfectly still by design and the fish seem fine w/it and I run canisters on those guys to boot. No doubt some fish need/benefit from the extra oxygenation, but I don't think that's the standard.
 
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I have kept and bred saltwater fish for years. Love the hobby.

Unfortunately we just moved at the end of the year, and our new rental does not allow a tank... Will get back to the hobby next year when our lease is up and we buy a new house. Moved from California to Texas, and had to disassemble all 12 tanks before the move... Heartbreaking. Glad to see that hobbies are not limited to digital! And thanks to everyone posting pics of their setups... Makes the lack of a tank more bearable.
 
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