New to Aquariums---30 Gallon Tank

So for Christmas I got my girlfriend a 30 gallon fish tank. I am a very intellectual person, so I have been reading about almost everything there is related to freshwater tanks. I know how to cycle the tank, test for certain levels, etc. I am now down to deciding what fish to put in it. She is a huge fan of the color black, so the substrate is a black sand that is going to be rinsed first. But for the fish, I am trying to decide. I guess it would be cool to have all of the fish black too, or maybe all black with a colorful centerpiece fish? I am not sure.

As of now this is what I have:

- Several Live Plants
-1 Zebra Pleco
-5 Black Corys
-6 Ghost Shrimp
-3 Black Mollys
-7 Malaysian Trumpet Snails
-7 Black Skirt Tetras
-1 Bolivian Ram

1) Is the Pleco + Shrimp + Snails + Mollies to much considering I will have X amount of algae?

2) Will that community have any problems?

3) I was considering a Black Angelfish instead of the Bolivian Ram but I read that the Angelfish might eat the Tetras or Ghost Shrimp, thoughts?

Any ideas/suggestions are definitely welcomed. Thecalculator put me at 98%, and I will be running two 30 Gallon Filters.

Thanks,
Spenser

 

I would rethink the snails.. malaysian trumpet snails reproduce at a rapid rate. Youd be completely covered in no time

 

Peacefantasy , from what I have researched their growth is directly related to the amount of food provided. So if you limit their food correctly, they don't expand. I guess that could be a coin flip though.

 

Hi, welcome to fishlore

The only problem I see with all black fish and an all black substrate is you won't see the cories and they will blend in with the substrate. Maybe get dalmation mollies and sterbaI cories so they show up? . Have you thought of mixing white sand with the black, then they would show up. The darker the substrate often the darker the fish turn.

Also, that is just not true about Malaysian trumpet snails, I wish it was lol.
I started with like 3 and now have hundreds. My fish eat every spec of food I put in. and I know that's true because the MTS are all over my plants and moss looking for food and not hiding in the substrate where there they would find excess food. I just pulled out over 100 this last week when they climbed onto my marimo covered logs.

I actually like them a lot but just be aware you're making a decision that is very hard to undo without completely taking apart your tank. If you don't want them I'd go with nerite snails, they cannot reproduce in fresh water.

The bolivian will be fine with ghost shrimp, not sure about the angel though.

How are you planning on cycling the tank? fishless with ammonia? or a few fish and Tetra Safe Start Plus? With fishless you can stock the whole tank at once after it is cycled. With TSSP you only put in 1 inch of fish per 10 gallon for the first two weeks while cycling.

 

CindiL, I really like the salvation idea, haven't thought of that. I am doing a fish less ammonia cycle. Honestly, I'm doing a faster slightly more risky 1-2 week cycle. But I have flourish nitrogen if for some reason my nitrate levels are to low when my ammonia/nitrite levels hit 0.

 

I'm curious, what's your faster slightly more risky 1-2 week plan? Normally your nitrates increase, not decrease by the end of a cycle so now I'm really curious what your plan is.

Also TSS+ is a two week cycle too.

 

I find that solid white fish look very cool in tanks with black sand. CindiL has a point about having black fish and black sand. I have black sand in all my tanks. I find that my solid white platinum angels look amazing with the black substrate. A platinum angel would be a cool centerpiece fish.

I have cories that are black AND white (similar to panda cories) those guys look great on the black sand as well.

The more black you put in the tank (per your girlfriends taste) I think having some white fish would look really cool. Maybe go for a black and white theme with your tank. You have black tetras and black mollies and black cories. Throw some white in there! It'll look great! Platinum angels are stunning. If you can find a platinum marble angel, that would be really cool too. The regular marble angels get yellow tinting to their white areas as the get older. The platinum marble would stay 100% black and white.

 

CindiL, it's the same as most ammonia cycles but it goes up to 8ppm at first, it's a 7-10 day cycle. So it'll be done just after Christmas.

bizaliz3, that's also a great idea. I could se show the white would stand out. Would the Angelfish not give the shrimp/tetras problems or vice versa for the Tetras haha?

 

Welcome to the forum and glad you're hear. The angelfish when big will potentially eat neon tetras, ember tetras, and small bullet shaped fish like neons which are part of their diet in the wild. The black skirts are bigger and should be fine, but they can be fin nippers so might go after the angels fins. I agree that black fish are not going to show up well on black gravel. I have never kept a ram before. My angel sparky will be moving shortly from a 20 gal with neons, embers, albino BN male to a 29 gal which is on the floor at the moment as I am combineing 2 ten gal tanks that I am shutting down. Sparky who is quarter size at the moment, will be living with 8 chrerry barbs, 5 harlequin rasboras. 2 female bn plecos, a lemon and a yellow, nerite snails and ghost shrimp. Alison

 

Regarding the ammonia cycle...Are you dosing it to 8 to make it go faster? because your fish won't have that much of a bio-load.

I see some problems with this that I'd like to point out. Dosing to 8ppm and which even happens with 4ppm cycles is that your nitrites will skyrocket and if they consistently stay above 5, your cycle will stall. Also your nitrates will skyrocket not plunge and in so doing depending on your KH (carbonate hardness) you will have a ph crash which will kill off your newly grown bacteria colony. I'm curious your source for doing it this way. I mean it can't hurt to try it......

What a lot of people do also for a fast cycle with TSS+ is dose ammonia to 2.0 (keep it there ) and put in a bottle of Tetra Safe Start +. In two weeks you will have a cycle.

 

bizaliz3, that's also a great idea. I could se show the white would stand out. Would the Angelfish not give the shrimp/tetras problems or vice versa for the Tetras haha?

The black skirt tetras would not be in trouble with an angel. They are large enough. The tetras can be nippy, but usually if kept in a proper sized school, they shouldn't nip at anyone.

The shrimp on the other hand...those could be in trouble when the angel is full grown. I have never had ghost shrimp live long anyway. Even by themselves.

 

CindiL, I can't remember the link exactly. Most people said it worked with a few complaints of their nitrate levels being around 2ppm instead of in the 5-20ppm range. I would do the TSS but do to time restraints and other things, I'm going to try this out. Hopefully it will work as said.

 

Is this the one time ammonia dosing method?

It would be interesting to do 3 fishless cycles side by side with one water source.
1. Dosing to 2ppm ammonia and adding TSS+
2. Dosing to 2ppm and adding Seachem Stability
3. One time dosing of a high amount of ammonia with no additives (which you "might" be doing)
4. We don't need to do this one as its been done so many times of just keeping the ammonia levels at 4ppm without any additives.

and seeing how they all work side by side. Anyone want to do this? ha ha

Well let us know how it goes when you're done

 

CindiL, due* excuse my grammar I've pulled an all nighter haha. This one requires to put to 8ppm, then test everyday and depending on how low it goes to adjust the amount of ammonia you put in each day and then supposedly on day 7 everything will be back down to 0-.25ppm and stable except for nitrates around 5-100ppm (that has been the problem) so I guess I will see how it goes. Would be an interesting experiment though, science has always appealed to me.

Additionally, what are your thoughts about exchanging the Bolivian Ram out for a Whitish Angelfish?

 

Angels are beautiful and I'd like to have one, but never have because my 33g is not tall enough. My tank is 48x13x13. I am partial to Bolivians right now and I have 3. I also am wondering how the angel would do with the tetras, you could maybe go with a less aggressive tetra school? I have neons and glowlight though I'd really like the rummy nose tetra and they would look really cool with your black fish. You can also get black neons.

Edit:Also, I would throw in a bottle of Seachem Stability to guarantee a quick cycle with your ammonia. It has both the nitrosomonas and nitrobacter bacteria in it and will jump start the colony.

 

Alirat, Bizaliz3 sorry for just seeing your posts. I really appreciate the help. I am going to check out some other larger tetras that aren't black.

 

How about lemon tetras, or white skirt tetras. (A white skirt tetra is a color variation of the black skirt tetra.

 

Welcome to the forum.

I'd be very interested to see a photo of your Zebra Pleco. They are quite rare in the hobby, and hardly cheap, with breeding pairs weighing in at £300 each over here in the UK - Certainly no fish for a beginner!

 

Alirat, Bizaliz3 sorry for just seeing your posts. I really appreciate the help. I am going to check out some other larger tetras that aren't black.

The black skirt tetras would look great with the black sand. I was more concerned about the black cories. I feel like you wouldn't see them being that they are bottom dwellers.

In fact you could even go with the black/white theme with the tetras. Black skirted tetras and white skirted tetras. With a platinum angel for your centerpiece. And a shoal of panda cories Black and white all around

The fish you listed in your first post....do you already have all those? or was that the list of fish you were preparing to get?