Suave

I was thinking maybe 4 schools of smaller fish. then a school of corys. then RCS in there too since I just started breeding them.

Blub

I think, if you have a decent amount of plants and caves, hiding spots will be good. Think of an excuse to have a few coconuts for dinner - there is a cool cave project you can use the shell for: http://www.aquariumlife.net/projects...oration/87.asp

4 schools and some corys sounds cool. So, thats something like 8-10 of each I'm guessing?

Suave

something like that. I'm thinking that more in a school would be nicer rather getting the bare minimum and have more schools. I might even decide to have just a 2 or 3 schools and some loner fish, any ideas on that? I'll post some 3D sketches of the tank and vid of my current tank

Suave

sorry if the vid is bad quality... I had to use the video function on a cheap digital camera because our video camera broke recently


3D sketches of tank. yes thats the wall lol and those are two powerheads

Blub

This is going to be a dream tank alright!

A few good loner fish would be some of the larger gouramis (pearl and blue), perhaps angels, Dwarf plecos and true siamese algae eaters.

Suave

You are my hero Hatchet! haha. you know like every fish lol. any good COLORFUL fish? i love the bright colors

Blub

A lot of fancy guppys have super colours - just make sure you get all males. Male Endler's livebearers are like little rainbows, Glowlight danios (These guys are tiny) are more subtle but full of colour. Most gouramis are great for colour, Cockatoo apistos are amazing and if you can find them neon green/orange/red corys (They aren't dyed, it's natural colouration!).

Suave

woot for non dyed fish! how big are these fish generally? and these are all non schooling? bright schooling fish would be? (neon tetras come to mind)

Blub

I had forgotten about Neons! Well, Guppys (2") and Endeler's (1.5") are non schoolers but look best in large groups, Glowlight danios are schoolers, (Only 1.1" apiece though!) they corys are schooling (2.5 - 3"), (Albino corys are pretty colourful) and Cockatoo apistos (Males 3" females 2.5") are on schooling bottom dwelling dwarf cichlids. The gouramis are non schoolers, and pretty big.

here's a link you'll like: http://www.aquahobby.com/e_freshwate...arium_fish.php, http://www.fishprofiles.com/profiles/

Suave

thanks! you dont even know how much of a help you are!
for the middle should I go with rocks or plants? of course if I go with rocks along the middle there will still be plants in there.

acrylic or glass?
acrylic would need to be thicker than if I went with glass because it would bend right?
which would you think would be cheaper? of course I would probably have ot go check out stores around here to get final pricing

Blub

I'm not an expert on tank construction and the materials you need, so I can't help you there. I believe they will both work though. I have all my tanks made out of glass personally!

You can have both rock and plants: Anubias, Java moss and Java fern can be tied down to rock, where it will anchor itself and grow.

Suave

I think I am going to go with the rocks with the plants tied down. would fishing line be best?
In the lightly planted area I am thinking of doing a grass primarily, best grass? Pain to plant though I'm guessing..

Medium area? should I throw in a peice of driftwood?

then how dense should the heavily planted area be? plants that i am thinking would be definately hornwort cuz i have a ton of it and it makes for a good "forest" any others?

Blub

I use fishing line to tie down anubias, java fern, africa fern and java moss - just remove it when the plants are fully anchored.

Elocharis (Dwarf hairgrass) is a good carpeting plant. It's easy to plant: get several pots, and put all the little plantlets you get in the pots spread all over the area you want to cover. They spread by runners - so soon you will have a little lawn!

In the medium area I'd have driftwood with anubias, java moss, africa fern of java fern tied on (you can tie them to driftwood or rock) and some well pruned stems.

Good 'jungle' makers are hygro and anacharis.

Suave

the area by the powerheads. I am going to have a peice of rock to make almost a second floor type thing. should i just leave it bare or should something go there? just looking for ideas

Blub

A bit like a terrace? That would look well cool if it was bare, and there where corys resting on it!

Suave

ya like a terrace! below it should I do anything? if you can picture the terrace there, on one side will be the 'forest' and the other will be the nice grassy area.

Blub

Soo...

///// = grass
DDDD = terrace
\\\\\ = forest


//////DDDDDDD\\\\\\

I would make the terrace this shape

DDDDDDDDD
DD DDD

So, on top it's a terrace and there is a cave underneath!

And, at the back of the terrace, I would put some small anubias.

View from above: (D = plain rock, \ = anubias)

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
\\DDDDDD\\\
DDDDDDDDDD
DDDDDDDDDD

Suave

uhhh.. im lost.. haha I dont understand your 'drawings' haha.

this pic again:

out of the 4 sketches on the left look at the bottom 3. I am wondering what to put down there. the 'forest' and grass area will sort of just end leaving the bottom area bare. I'm sorry if we are repeating what we just said, but i dont understand your last post XD

Suave

i will also try to do a 3D sketch later

lilsoccakid

i didnt mean to say you couldnt fit 85 inches of fish in the tank, but im not sure how recommended it would be. maybe with tetras it would work out, but make sure the fishes needs go before how the tank looks

Suave

of course. fishy needs before mine!

Blub

Hey I just looked at your aquarium info, and since tiger barbs and cuckoo cat will outgrow you 5gal, why not move them to the large tank when it's up! I would get a few more tigers (the more tiger barbs the less aggressive).

Suave

the cuckoo actually past away one night mysteriously... As for the tigers, my friend is taking care of them now because he had a couple and he said he wouldn't mind taking them in. i should update my profile info o.O

Blub

Sorry about your cuckoo cat! The guppys would be pretty good in there, since they do need at least 10gal to thrive. (Use the spare 5gal as QT)

Suave

The 5g now belongs to a male betta XD
I actually have a 29g sorority tank now too.. haha
Just got 2 8g tanks for free. one has been cleaned up and has a bunch of juvenile Red Cherry Shrimp in it.
I should clean up the 8g and get it cycled so it can be a QT tank! yikes I def have to update my profile..

Blub

Yeah, use the spare 8gal as a QT. Got any pics of mr.Betta?

Suave

Pics are from when I first got him, he is in a 2.5g in the pics.

Suave

here are some pics of the girlies while they were in QT

Blub

Wow! They are all really cool. I bet the guys in the Betta section would want to see them. I want a male like yours!

Suave

update on the 3D sketch, I added the little terrace. I plan to have it held up probably by some peices of glass/acrylic on the sides