Everything I need for my 46 gallon bowfront?

Not exactly certain where to put this, but here goes:

My 46 Gallon Bowfront Plan
Stocking: 1 Scalare Angelfish
2 Electric Blue Rams
10 Panda Cories
10 Cardinal Tetras
10 Gold Tetras OR Black Neons
1 LF BN
2 Nerite Snails

Equipment: 300 watt Aquatop heater, Aquatop canister 450+ GPH, Aquaclear 50 HOB, Air Stones.
Tools: Gravel Vacuum (siphon), Large Net, TSS (Tetra Safe Start), Prime, carbon inserts, filter inserts, API Master water test kit, 15 gallon quarantine tank.
Food: ???
Aquascape: Plants in progress, driftwood from a nearby river, black sand.
First Aid: Pimafix, malachite green, potassium permanganate, Tetracycline, Jungle Labs Binox Crystal, Aquarisol, freshwater aquarium salt.

What kind of varied foods should I feed my stock, what kind of black sand do you suggest, anything else? Please help me to fill in the blanks, I really only get one shot to purchase all I need.

P. S. I realize that I cannot prepare for every individual situation, but I want to be ready for the inevitable issues I will face in this tank.

 

NLS all the way. Black diamond blasting media, estes black sand, or petco black sand.

 

I hear tahitI moon sand is really nice.

In your first aid drop pimafix malachite green potassium permanganate and the tetracycline

Now instead of tetracycline since it has been around forever lots of bacteria are showing resistance get kanaplex or furan-2 for this.

malachite green and potassium permanganate are so common that if you need them you can get them easily you should try to avoid needing them the one chemical I would stock in my first aid like this is methelyne blue.

depending on the cost and space you have I would probably bump the qt tank up to 20 g

New Life spectrum is the food and get the pellet variety

 

So NLS should be my staple then? What else to vary the diet?

 

fresh vegies

 

As far as substrate goes, I say Tahitian moon sand ( if you want black sparkly sand )
I have it inside one of my bottles ( decoration in the tank ) and I just love it. If I were to start all over again, I would use that in my "future" new tank. It is quite pricey though.

I also got some really fine sand from Petsmart for my Fluval Edge and that's really nice too! The MTS snails make really cool patterns in it

 

I forgot you need a fish only bucket too a couple of them between 1 and 5 gallons in size if you have cats tidy cat makes square 5 gallon buckets that are very handy

 

I already have the 15 gallon quarantine and two fish only buckets (spongebob )

Would bloodworms be a good idea for a varied diet?

 

Thread moved to Freswater Tank Equipment

 

They would. Complete list of what I feed my fish: blanched zuchinnI cucumber peas romaine lettuce, frozen bloodworms daphnia brine shrimp, algae wafers, omega one veggie flakes, nls thera small fish, omega one goldfish, omega one betta, 200-300 micron golden pearls, shrimp pellets, tropical wafers. That's what I feed!

 

If you've seen a picture of my betta tank, that's Tahitian moon said. I love it.

 

They would. Complete list of what I feed my fish: blanched zuchinnI cucumber peas romaine lettuce, frozen bloodworms daphnia brine shrimp, algae wafers, omega one veggie flakes, nls thera small fish, omega one goldfish, omega one betta, 200-300 micron golden pearls, shrimp pellets, tropical wafers. That's what I feed!

What kind of fish do you have?

 

Won't the nerite snails eat the plants? Mine ate an entire leaf off my 2 year old amazon sword!

 

I don't know. On my thread where I made my stock list no one said they would when I said I was going to have plants.

 

Mine hasn't touched any of my plants. Maybe there isn't enough algae in my tank? For the most part people say that they don't actively feed snails, but I often see mine on cucumber when I put some in the tank. (The pond snails love the stuff.)

 

Oh okay thanks kinezumi!

blanched zuchinni, cucumber, peas, romaine lettuce, frozen bloodworms, daphnia brine shrimp, algae wafers, omega one veggie flakes, nls thera small fish, omega one goldfish, omega one betta, 200-300 micron golden pearls, shrimp pellets, tropical wafers. That's what I feed!

Does everyone approve of these foods for my stock?

 

Well you won't need the goldfish food if it's a tropical tank

 

hehe

 

I guess you wouldn't need everything. I have CPDs so I need to find things that they can graze on (veggies, wafers) and things that can fit in their mouth (small pellets, daphnia, golden pearls).

 

I like frozen fish food in the variety pack. Veggies too. If you feed veggies your nerites will be fine, mine don't eat plants.

The pomegranite is good for dipping new plants for snail control.

 

So would this be good?:
Fresh veggies, algae wafers, frozen bloodworms, tropical wafers, and NLS pellets?

 

Yeah. Nice variety. Your fish will enjoy it.

 

Updated list:

My 46 Gallon Bowfront Plan
Stocking: 1 Scalare Angelfish
2 Electric Blue Rams
10 Panda Cories
10 Cardinal Tetras
10 Gold Tetras OR Black Neons
1 LF BN
2 Nerite Snails

Equipment: 300 watt Aquatop heater, Aquatop canister 450+ GPH, Aquaclear 50 HOB, Air Stones, commercial grade 3% Hydrogen Peroxide solution, homemade CO2 kit.
Tools: Gravel Vacuum (siphon), Large Net, TSS (Tetra Safe Start), Prime, carbon inserts, filter inserts, API Master water test kit, 15 gallon quarantine tank.
Food: New Life Staple (pellets), fresh veggies, tropical wafers, algae wafers, frozen bloodworms.
Aquascape: Plants in progress, driftwood from a nearby river, black sand, terracotta pots.
First Aid: Methelene Blue, Kanaplex or Furan 2, Maracyn 2, Maracyn, Pimafix, potassium permanganate, Tetracycline, Jungle Labs Binox Crystal, Aquarisol, freshwater aquarium salt.

 

1. I've recently heard negative things about using malachite green. Apparently it can be stored cumulatively in fish, leading to overdosing, and is not allowed for use in the food-fish industry.
2. I once read a thread where someone was asking which medications to keep in stock. The general consensus was not to keep any. Firstly, natural curative methods are always preferred, and secondly, if you have a bunch of medicine at your disposal, it may be tempting to medicate at the first sign of illness, without always being certain what the problem is, or if it requires medication in the first place.
3. Don't forget you'll need a filter and cartridges for your quarantine tank. (Not sure if that's what the Aquaclear HOB is for or not.)

 

Took the malachite green off the list. The reason I NEED to keep medicine in stock is because even if I get on my hands and knees to beg my mother to bring me to my LFS, she will not. So you see my sitiuation.

 

Ohh yes I forgot about that. Having a car is pretty convenient.

I'm sure you'll use your best judgement and only medicate if necessary, anyway.

 

Thank you

 

Any other comments

 

I would also take off maracyn 2, potassium permanganate, Tetracycline, Jungle labs binox crystal, aquarisol

Aquarisol= it is chelated copper if you have any invertibrates shrimp or snails this will likely kill them.
Maracyn 2= furan-2 or kanaplex they are newer and more powerful and less resistance has been made for them.
Tetracycline= One of if not the oldest aquarium antibiotic chances are it is going to be resisted
potassium permanganate= Available at walmart under the name jungle clear water
Jungle binox crystal= Furan 2 has the same active ingredients as jungle tank buddies and I would use them over the binox.


This is more like what I would get
First Aid: Methelene Blue, Kanaplex, Furan 2, Maracyn, melafix, Pimafix, freshwater aquarium salt.

 

Why do you need salt?

 

It has lots of uses but I would leave it off as well. I tried it when my tank was killing guppies one a day till none were left but it did not help. I will probably use it to disinfect the tank after I move the current occupants to bigger diggs as that was a use outlined on the bag.

 

For salt dips and the like. I already have some.♥

 

I've found a pitcher is handy (half gallon or gallon) as well as a turkey baster. I use my turkey baster every day.