slakey

hey the recent water test results are:

pH: 7.6
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 40

Went to LFS got some more fish food lol and pH buffer 7.2, just recently put some in so my pH will be dropping

And also seen some fish I like:
Severums
Demonasi
Leopard Ctnemopars?
Datnoid
Assorted Killifish
Angels *still in mind*
Discus *come up again*
The black corydoras *still*
2 Plecs one grows to 7" the other to 5"
And some other medium-hard to keep cichlids.

calinb

Nice piece of mopani wood, slakey! It makes for a very intriguing scene. I also like the over-turned clay pot. I may try that. I used small to tiny pots to hold most of my plants, but I buried them in the gravel.

Looks like you've achieved cycling! I'm keeping Prime on hand for emergencies but I think it screws up water readings and tank cycling--at least with Bio-Spira. (You've probably seen my post). My API kit seems to detect all the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates bound with the Prime, but the bacteria don't seem to eat it those chemicals after they are bound into non-toxic forms. When bound with Prime (or presumably Amquel, etc.), they will be forever reported, even though they aren't harming the fish. It becomes impossible to tell from the API kit how much of a reading is from chemicals in a toxic state and how much is from chemicals in a bound and non-toxic state. I noticed that my Seachem ammonia disc does not seem to indicate the ammonia content that is bound--it indicated lower ammonia levels than the API water test when Prime was in my tank so perhaps it reports only toxic ammonia. Now that I've removed nearly all the water containing Prime, API agrees with the Seachem disc.

Have fun populating the "snail" tank with new critters.

-Cal

slakey

just got back from LFS and came back with a pair of Blue Rams and 2 Peru Cory's.

£25.98 in total for four fish.

The man at the LFS got out the dominent male and the fattest female =]

Pictures will follow tomorrow most probably as I'm babysitting tonight.

slakey

Well here are some pictures:

2 New Corys:








Male Ram:




(I think that's the male)



The female:


The pair:


Also some bad news my big yellow guppy died, not sure how, but she has had a weird back since I've had her so maybe that had something to do with it...
Also one of the darker females had to be killed by me today, she was unable to swim, and kept going on her side when she stopped moving her fins... So I put her in a jug of cold water with ice, and then put her in the freezer for 30mins.

So 2 losses and 4 gains...
All the other... 12+ guppies seem fine and the older batch some males have got a orangey/pinkish colour towards the back of there body, they really have came out stunning by the mother and father colours!!!

*I need to get rid of all my guppies, any suggestions? I have tried one of my LFS but they said no as they don't have a quarintine tank =[ only 2 more left to try really...*

slakey

Well all looks good!!!
Just recently been looking at my tank, and the ram's have made a lil dug-out at the front right corner of the tank =]

Also the female has a small tube like thing near the rear of her body...
Looks like they are gearing up to breed hehe!!!
Will keep you all updated.

COBettaCouple

The tank looks great - very nicely done.

slakey

no eggs anymore. think it's their first time, they all got eatten...
nevermind, plenty more times =]

I'm considering getting another pleco... but the one's that I have got, have died on me =/ and they're meant to be hardy!!!

So either ottos or a plec...

slakey

I have too many guppies
What can I do with them all?

slakey

Possible change around?

I have been thinking of re-scaping my tank, but what to do with the fish in the mean time?

Do you think a fish store will take them til I've sorted my tank?

If not, I only have a empty 9gallon, but that wouldn't be able to hold all the fish

slakey

If I go through with the tank change around this is what I'd like to change it to:



With the fish that I'd desire to be in there.

The 2 big fish are a pair of Silver/Gold Angels, the colourful fish near the filters are my pair of GBRS now, the two lil blue lines with silver around are my two zebra danios, the two lil black circles are my Peru Corries and the three silver dots on the sand is my trio of three-lined corries.

The rocks would be stacked up at the back and then lowered as they come forward, and some plant pots will be placed in between the stack, creating any necessary hides.

slakey

Some good news

As my mum is getting her old office back that means the space where I am right now *Dining Room* the desks/storage will be going in her room, then I have to get a smallish desktop for my PC and my mum said I can have another fish tank, right next to my PC down here!!! YAY!

Now I just need to think of what kind of fish tank I want...

I was thinking either:

A Vision 180
A Rio 180
A Rekord 120

It's either a smaller tank near my pc, or if I can a 180 where the dog cage used to be, but the video/dvd/book case will have to be removed and a dvd stack bought in replacement, just need to confirm this with my parents and I'll start saving for the new tank.

If all goes well I won't need to re-do the interior of my current Rio 125 as I'd put that design for the new Rio 180 *hopefully*

...[Starts Dreaming Of The Fish Stock]...

What do you people think about the fish tank size?

If I'm allowed the old cage space:

*What tank do you suggest*

If I'm not allowed the old cage space:

*What tank do you suggest*

I could at a push spend about £400 on the new tank if it was 180litres but it needs to be 101cm *39inches long as that is the max room I have for one.

COBettaCouple

I'd go with the biggest tank you can fit in the space available.

slakey

Yeah it's probably a Rio 180, but I'm also quite tempted by a Vision 180 not the same length though...

Would should I go for? Height or Length?

My Rio 125 is more height then it is length...

COBettaCouple

I'd get the most capacity and stock fish accordingly.

slakey

It will be the Rio 180 if I'm allowed to put it where I invision it to go

Would the design for the tank be alright... with the boulder rocks being stacked... Sort of like a Malawi Cichlid tank but for tropical fish.

In this tank I would possibly try to breed a pair of BN's aswell as some Rams and angels.

And for my Rio 125 I would try to breed my corydoras and then put in some red/orange gouramis and breed them only after I got rid of the guppies.

slakey

Yay!!! I bought new filter sponges today, Green, Blue (coarst), white and black all of them are now in and hopefully the nitrate will go down by tomorrow, so I'll do another water test then.

Other News:

It's looking good for me getting a Rio 180 downstairs, think Dad has said yes, as when I was measuring out the space he said something about the width of the tank and does it fit...

So looks positive xP

I have the money now, just not the space atm,

I will wait til next month or the month after that, depending on how patient I am. But if I can free up the space I'll get it sooner

So I guess it's now done to planning it all out, the deco, substrate, plants and fish.

So far I know I want sand substrate, with the plant pots and rock idea, plant will need to be very very hardy.

Not sure whether or not I'll have some wood, as my bits in my 125 are still leaking *dont like tanned water much*

As far as fish go...

I'm interested possibly trying for a rainbow shark or a RTBS. But them again I'm also interested in a pair of angels...

I know if I choose either one of the sharks I'll be limited for other fish as the sharks grow to 6inches max and are "semi-aggresive"

slakey

My ammonia is back down to 0ppm and the nitrate is still the same ole 40ppm.

hopefully buy a mature BN pleco instead of a baby one, and ask if the LFS can get some cherry shrimp in for me.

COBettaCouple

Perhaps some low light plants could help consume the nitrates.