Lchi's 40g :)

So I've decided to document this whole process since this tank is my first larger volume tank and I thought it might be fun to watch the progression from start to finish!

Here is what I have going so far:


Started fishless cycling last night.

I have an Aquaclear 110 and 300w heater hooked up so far.

Can't wait to start making it pretty!

 

Do you have any ideas of what stock you want?

 

Looking forward to following along!

 

Do you have any ideas of what stock you want?

I was thinking the following so far:
- 8x Rummynose tetra
- 6x SterbaI cory
- 8-10x Endlers
-10x Cardinal tetra
-some sort of snail

I did want an angelfish or a gourami of some type but I haven't decided if I want to risk the smaller fish turning into a snack for them. I also think I might be pretty stocked so I'm not even sure if there will be room at this point for a larger fish.

Opinions/suggestions welcome!

 

You're making we want to go to Petco!

 

You're making we want to go to Petco!

Do ittttttt!!!!!

No better feeling than setting up a fresh tank IMO.

 

How exciting!

What about removing the endlers and getting a single angelfish or 2 pearl gouramis (1m1f)? I think you could up your corys to 10-12. It would be fun seeing a bunch of them scurrying around. Are you going with sand as a substrate?

 

How exciting!

What about removing the endlers and getting a single angelfish or 2 pearl gouramis (1m1f)? I think you could up your corys to 10-12. It would be fun seeing a bunch of them scurrying around. Are you going with sand as a substrate?

I am so wound up over this new tank! I'm rather attached to my endlers unfortunately. I lost all but one female to an unknown parasite outbreak and she ended up dropping 12 fry (currently in a grow out tank) so I was going to move them to the 40 gallon when they've grown. I do have a spare 10 gallon I could put them in but my BF aka Permanent Roommate may have a heart attack if I set up another tank ( already have 4 in a teeny tiny 3rd floor walk up apartment).

I have Carib Sea Tahitian Moon Sand coming next week!

So my options are rehoming the endlers to make room for another larger fish or keep the endlers and forgo the angel/gourami.

Decisions, decisions.

 

Yeah, that is tough. I know how attached you are with your endlers from your other thread which was why I was hesitant to suggest it. I guess I would mainly worry about the angelfish. What if you remove either the rummy noses or cardinals and get the pearls instead? They'd be less likely a threat to smaller fish.

 

Oh it's all good; it's nice to have people weigh in. I could definitely drop the cardinals or rummy noses since I haven't had the chance to get attached to them yet, just have to pick which one now lol. I definitely will up my cory school, they are extra adorable in big groups!

 

You could also consider a pair of keyhole cichlids. Very peaceful and I doubt they would eat any of your fish.

 

You could also consider a pair of keyhole cichlids. Very peaceful and I doubt they would eat any of your fish.

I just looked them up; they're beautiful! Thanks for the suggestion, I had no idea.

 

They are one of my favorite cichlids. I can't keep them in my tank as they are a bit too timid for blood parrots and a sajica. Similar to severums in temperament but they do better not alone. However, since you don't have any other large fish and you don't want to do a pair, you could probably do 1 and they would be fine since their won't be anything intimidating in the tank.

You could also try something like a rainbow cichlid or a sajica cichlid. Though if you did those I'd only do 1.

 

I wouldn't mind doing a pair of the keyhole ciclids (or any larger fish) if it won't overstock the tank! So for stocking (based on suggestions):

- 8x Rummynose tetra OR 10x Cardinal Tetra
- 10-12x SterbaI cory
- 8-10x Endlers
-some sort of snail
-a pair of Pearl Gourami OR a pair of Keyhole Ciclids

Does that seem okay?

 

Sounds great to me. I vote mystery and nerites for snails.

 

Love nerites; have one in my betta tank already!

Do you have any issues with mysteries eating plants or laying eggs like crazy? I've never had a mystery snail before.

 

No, I've never had my mysteries eat my plants. I don't know if you give your nerites any veggies but I would definitely leave a fresh veggie in the tank for them every day or every other day. Mine love zucchini, spinach and unsalted canned green beans.

If you get a female, they will lay eggs above the water line but you can easily remove the clutch. It's very difficult though to sex them.

 

I tried a bit of carrot earlier this week and left it in for almost two days and he didn't touch it. I do have some frozen spinach on hand, so I'll try that tonight.

 

Sometimes you have to try different veggies to see which they prefer. They can be just as picky as we are. lol You might want to try fresh spinach instead since the frozen kind tend to make a mess of your tank.

 

Will do, I just thought he might have turned down the carrot because it was a little tougher than all the soft algae he's used to plowing through which led me to think he might like thawed out frozen spinach since it'll be mushy by the time he gets to it lol. It's water change day tomorrow anyway so if it does make a mess, I'll already be cleaning!

 

Was it a raw carrot? You can try blanching it first to soften it up. Or buy frozen carrots. They'll be soft once you thaw them in a bit of tank water. That's what I do, but with frozen zucchinI and summer squash. Thaw them in tank water and toss them in on a veggie clip.

 

If you are looking to get mystery snails you can actually tell the gender of light colors like white and gold. The point of the shell will be darker on females. I'm sure you could possibly tell for darker colors but it would be harder. The first pic(sorry for the angle) is one of my new gold females. The second is my gold male Jupiter.

Also, my avatar pic is a white female.

 

good to know, thanks!

 

Just my 2 cents on the cardinal/rummy nose debate. I have both and I loveee how my Rummynose School. The cardinals are nice, but IMO rummynose are the way to go.

 

Just my 2 cents on the cardinal/rummy nose debate. I have both and I loveee how my Rummynose School. The cardinals are nice, but IMO rummynose are the way to go.

You've made this very difficult for me LOL. I was leaning towards the cardinals but now I'm reconsidering.

Could you explain the differences in how they school? Just curious as to what makes you like one over the other!

 

You've made this very difficult for me LOL. I was leaning towards the cardinals but now I'm reconsidering.

Could you explain the differences in how they school? Just curious as to what makes you like one over the other!

Sorry! Didn't mean to make a hard decision harder! I like my rummynose better because the school a bit tighter and they seem to stay schooled for the most part. The cardinals will break apart sometimes, but my rummynose like to stay together for the most part. I have 8 cardinals and 8 rummynose so maybe the cardinals like a bigger school. I don't know. Either way I just find the rummynose more interesting to watch. They are both nice though.

 

Sorry! Didn't mean to make a hard decision harder! I like my rummynose better because the school a bit tighter and they seem to stay schooled for the most part. The cardinals will break apart sometimes, but my rummynose like to stay together for the most part. I have 8 cardinals and 8 rummynose so maybe the cardinals like a bigger school. I don't know. Either way I just find the rummynose more interesting to watch. They are both nice though.

Hmm I do like the idea of a tighter school. You may have swayed me. I can't wait to get them now!

 

I would personally choose the rummies over the cardinals also. But...and someone correct me if I'm wrong...I believe I remember seeing that rummies do better when introduced to an established tank?

 

So I've decided to document this whole process since this tank is my first larger volume tank and I thought it might be fun to watch the progression from start to finish!

Here is what I have going so far:


Started fishless cycling last night.

I have an Aquaclear 110 and 300w heater hooked up so far.

Can't wait to start making it pretty!

I can't wait to see this come together. Your 10 gallon is beautiful

 

Yes rummy nose tetras are more sensitive than the typical tetra

 

Yes rummy nose tetras are more sensitive than the typical tetra

I will say though that my rummynose tetras were put in my tank first...after a 2 month cycle. With careful attention to water parameters, they have thrived. They have even been through an ich outbreak which was because my cardinals had it and I put them in at the same time as the rummynose. I have lost no rummynose tetras (fingers crossed).

 

So in the past week, I picked up some rocks and a gnarly piece of spiderwood, and hooked up some bubbles:


Don't mind the placement of anything, I just tossed everything in to grow some lovely biofilm on their surfaces.

And today, I had some goodies waiting for me when I came home from work:



I've never been so excited to haul 60lbs of sand up three flights of stairs in my life LOL.

Now I'm off to do some marathon sand rinsing; stay tuned!

 

WOOHOO can't wait to see the finished product

 

I will say though that my rummynose tetras were put in my tank first...after a 2 month cycle. With careful attention to water parameters, they have thrived. They have even been through an ich outbreak which was because my cardinals had it and I put them in at the same time as the rummynose. I have lost no rummynose tetras (fingers crossed).

I have never had trouble with the rummy-noses! as long as you do the weekly water change things should be fine and tbh they kinda indicate how good your water quality is (if they are very bright red on the nose they are having a blast)

 

I have never had trouble with the rummy-noses! as long as you do the weekly water change things should be fine and tbh they kinda indicate how good your water quality is (if they are very bright red on the nose they are having a blast)

Are yours tank raised or wild caught? The LFS guy was telling me that the tank raised ones do better in aquariums but their coloring isn't as vivid as wild caught ones, which are apparently less expensive because of the fact that they tend not to last.

 

Are yours tank raised or wild caught? The LFS guy was telling me that the tank raised ones do better in aquariums but their coloring isn't as vivid as wild caught ones, which are apparently less expensive because of the fact that they tend not to last.

They were tank raised afaik. But the colouration was fine and very bright. I think it depends where you get them and what region you live in (different standards on fish) IE. Some stores buy from cheap (fish farms) others from quality ones.

The store I normally buy in buy quality fish and have strict rules, they also make trips to the places and even go on trips that interest them (they have been in malawI alot)

I think its a matter of giving the fish a natural enviroment and making sure your water quality is good in the long run (Wild or not) I had my Rummy-noses for a year and lost only one in the start (it got sucked into the filter since it was very small) I've given them away to a friend now and all are still alive (its very stressful for them to get moved from tank to tank, but even that they survived)

I see you already have roots and rocks in your tank and will scape it soon enough, the roots and plants will help the rummy-noses feel more secure.

On another note. my expirience is that the rummy-noses will school a lot as well
This was a day after I added all fish to my old tank.

 

Water is still kinda murky but here's what I've got so far:


Plants are coming tomorrow!

 

Looks great!

 

They were tank raised afaik. But the colouration was fine and very bright. I think it depends where you get them and what region you live in (different standards on fish) IE. Some stores buy from cheap (fish farms) others from quality ones.

The store I normally buy in buy quality fish and have strict rules, they also make trips to the places and even go on trips that interest them (they have been in malawI alot)

I think its a matter of giving the fish a natural enviroment and making sure your water quality is good in the long run (Wild or not) I had my Rummy-noses for a year and lost only one in the start (it got sucked into the filter since it was very small) I've given them away to a friend now and all are still alive (its very stressful for them to get moved from tank to tank, but even that they survived)

I see you already have roots and rocks in your tank and will scape it soon enough, the roots and plants will help the rummy-noses feel more secure.

On another note. my expirience is that the rummy-noses will school a lot as well
This was a day after I added all fish to my old tank.

Your tank is beautiful!

 

Water is still kinda murky but here's what I've got so far:


Plants are coming tomorrow!

So exciting to see it come together. You going to get some java moss and make a tree out of your drift wood?