My first serious tank

When I was younger, I had several aquariums but never knew much about it. Had lots of fish deaths and didn't take that much care of my fish to be honest...
I'm not proud of myself for that but I'm older and wiser know.
Doing lots of research, reading up on the cycle and so on.

Last week I ordered a 240 liter tank and started setting it up this weekend.
Here's the result of my work.
I do believe it's the most beautiful tank I've set up

Doing a fishless cycle at the moment and can't wait to put some fish in it.

 

That's a beautiful tank

 

Looking great! Slap a black background on that and itd look very sharp.

What do you plan to stock it with?

 

Great looking tank. Many people on here have made similar mistakes early on.

 

What do you plan to stock it with?

A few angelfish
A pleco (small species)
A school of corydoras (not sure which species, depends on stocking in the store)
A school of tetras
A couple of dwarf gouramis

 

Agree - Nice looking tank. Your going to have fun with it.

Add your fish in groups over time so your tank can adjust as the bio load increases.

 

Yes that's the idea.
I am planning on doing the pleco + corys as a first group.
A week later or so the gouramis
A week later the tetras
and a week later the angelfish

 

Stick to one dwarf gourami or get a trio of honey gourami. Dwarves are aggressive and no matter the tank size will fight and often kill one another.

Id suggest bronze, sterbai, or emerald cories as they can handle the temperatures that angelfish need

 

The fish store always sell the gouramis in pairs so I'll have one male and one female. That should be ok to keep the peace between them, right?

 

Beautiful tank!

 

Wow female DG's are usually very hard to find. Be sure they aren't tricking you because if you get two males you're in for trouble. Otherwise 3-4 Honey Gouramis would be a good alternative, they're much more peaceful too. Your tank looks great so far and sounds like you've done your research this time around! A black background would really make it look sharp, lot's of people use Plasti-Dip spray. You can spray it on your tank and if you ever want to remove it you can just peel it right off. If you don't have that in Belgium regular black paint works too.

I did some terrible, terrible things to the tanks I had as a kid. We've all made those beginner mistake. What kind of lighting and filtration do you have btw?

 

There are two fish shops in my area and in both stores they sell the DG's in pair so maybe the females are easier to find around here... Don't know... I'll definitely double check with them to make sure they sell me a female and ask for some guarantee that if it's to be a male, I can return it.

The filter came with the tank. It's a Juwel Bio flow filter. I believe it can handle 600 liter/hour.
I have inserted two bags of siporax which each are rated for 200 liter so that should give me plenty of room for the bacteria to grow on.
The mechanical part of the filter also has 3 different sponges.

As for lighting, it has 2 tubes. One says "DAY" and the other says "NATURE". I'm not sure about the specs of these lights but the nature should be great for the plants.

 

Yes that's the idea.
I am planning on doing the pleco + corys as a first group.
A week later or so the gouramis
A week later the tetras
and a week later the angelfish

Better switch the timeslots of tetras and gouramis. The tetras as schooling fish should be given a bit of a headstart from the territorial centerpiece fish.

 

I’d recommend some sterbaI or juliI for that tank. If you can get your hands on either green or orange lasers cories, that’d be my first pick for that tank, through.
Following, can’t wait to see where this tank goes.

 

Great tank! I like the multiple honey gourami ideas. I wish I had known about them and that you shouldn't keep Dwarf Gourami males before I bought a Flame Gourami. Have fun!!

 

There are two fish shops in my area and in both stores they sell the DG's in pair so maybe the females are easier to find around here... Don't know... I'll definitely double check with them to make sure they sell me a female and ask for some guarantee that if it's to be a male, I can return it.

The filter came with the tank. It's a Juwel Bio flow filter. I believe it can handle 600 liter/hour.
I have inserted two bags of siporax which each are rated for 200 liter so that should give me plenty of room for the bacteria to grow on.
The mechanical part of the filter also has 3 different sponges.

As for lighting, it has 2 tubes. One says "DAY" and the other says "NATURE". I'm not sure about the specs of these lights but the nature should be great for the plants.

Dwarf Gourami Care, Size, Life Span, Tank Mates, Breeding

 

Awesome tank , I was the same. Have had fish my whole life but didn’t get serious about it until the last couple years or so