Loaches Online Forum

After a long wait and a few discussions with the landlord I'm finally getting my tank tomorrow

Here's the setup:

Fluval Duo Deep 1200 Kit but swapping the standard filter that comes with it for an fx5
Black Sand Substrate
Lots of plants (few plastic/silk) and real ones
Few plastic wood branches

I've been told a few conflicting stories by different pet stores about stocking amounts and times.

So I thought I'd check with the experts on here

1) How many fish would this tank hold? The plan is 9 Clowns, 7 Pentazona Barbs and 15 Leopard Danio's + 1 other (below)

2) Is there an Asian equivalent to the pleco as the girlfriend wants a fish to name? or another fish that grows to a decent size that's fine with the others

3) How long after the amonia and nitrate levels have dropped to zero can I start adding fish and in what order as the shop I went to today said 5-6 months before adding the clowns?

Congradulations!

Uggh...Just how big is the tank?

120cm wide x 40 Deep x 45 Height

which works about 216 litres

216 liter = 57.061 163 068 gallon [US, liquid]

You should be ok with that set-up for a while, as the filtration you have done a swap for is pretty decent. The clowns will certainly appreciate the flow. Long term, they are going to need more space, so be prepared to upgrade in a few years time.

I would agree with what the shop said about stocking slowly. The clowns, due to their sensitivity, will need to be the last type of fish you add, so that your system has had a good chance to mature. Your best bet will be to add a small shoal of danios once ammonia and nitrIte levels have both zero'ed out. Feed lightly and monitor the water over the next few weeks, and providing ammonia and nitrIte are both on zero, you can then consider adding the barbs.

I would suggest getting yourself a nice species of Garra instead of the pleco. These are Asian species that feed primarily on algae and some are absolutely stunning e.g. the Panda Garra - Garra flavatra or the Rinocerous garra - Garra bicornuta. They will get on fine with all the other inhabitants you suggest.

Wait as long as you can until adding the clowns. Five or six months from the setting up of a new aquarium is what I would personally recommend, particularly if you are new to keeping Botia.

Best of luck,

Emma

Sorry to say that that tank isn't big enough for nine clowns. You'd be able to keep 3-5 in there for a few years, but will need to upgrade eventually.

I assume you want a pleco or equivalent for any algae that may occur? In which case the siamese algae eater is a good fish.

The leopard danios would be the best fish to add first, followed by the barbs. The LFS is right about waiting several months to add clowns. Are you going to do a fishless cycle or use the danios?

We're buying a place in about a year so won't have the restrictions about tank size so upgrading won't be a problem

So, you have a tank of about 57 gallons.

9 clowns
7 barbs
15 danios
1 pleco equivalent

First question: How big are the clowns you plan to get, and are you aware that they will get big if well cared for? Look at some of Emma's pics of her gang of clowns

your barbs will acheive 5cm each
leopard danios can get to 6cm
Plecos? Well, since that's an unkown at this point we can't really say.

I currently have 6 clowns in my 55gallon. Two I am now looking for a home for since they are really too big for my tank at about 8 inches. The others will keep growing too. If I want to keep them I really need a tank of about 125 gallons.

The three clowns I started with were small and still are fine in my tank. I aquired the other three from a friend and didn't realize just how small a 55 could look until they got here.

Since you have had a hard time getting the ok from the landlord for this tank I don't know how well an even larger one will go over? In any case, I think 9 is too many, but that is my opinion, and I tend to understock rather than overstock.

Cudos to you for looking for information before you set up the tank! Alot of us learned the hard way ...

Eyrie wrote:Are you going to do a fishless cycle or use the danios?

Will be doing it fishless

shari2 wrote:
First question: How big are the clowns you plan to get, and are you aware that they will get big if well cared for? Look at some of Emma's pics of her gang of clowns

Will be getting the smallest ones at the LFS, about 1-1.5" iirc

shari2 wrote: Cudos to you for looking for information before you set up the tank! Alot of us learned the hard way ...

Been doing lots of research since my last thread http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php ... highlight=

Always good to plan....

Concurring on 9 being too many. You should probably start with about five (say three first, make sure everything is ok, add two more --> gives you a reasonable troupe).

Fishless cycle is the way to go!

In fact, with established fishless cycle you can add a lot of fish at once. The only thing you need to make sure is that your nitrAtes at the end of the fishless cycle are not too high, but you can do a very large water change if needed -- before any fish has been added. (This does not mean that you can add clowns faster, of course).

I'd personally go with somewhat larger dither, more comparable in size to the clowns who will grow to 3" soon enough (the clown dither fish here is Giant Danios, in the next larger tank probably the Rainbows...)

Good luck!

one final question, I've ordered this background for the tank

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... %3AIT&rd=1

Can the filter/heaters go behind this or will it mean that the main part of the tank in front of it won't get filtered/heated properley?

You want your filter intake and output - and your heater - to be in the larger volume of water. Be careful, too, to seal the edges of that backing into place. Otherwise, you'll rarely see your loaches.

Firstly I'd like to thank all of you for making me spend so much money!

Went to pick up the Fluval 1200 but they had none in stock so I'm now the owner of a Juwel Vision 450

(Volume: approx. 450 Litres, Measurements: 151 x 61 x 64 cm)

Can I now get away with the original stock levels in this thread?

Also incase anyone is interested, you can fit the tank and stand in the back of a Vauxhall corsa

seriously excellent photo!

keep posting updates.
and photos.
sounds very good indeed - and I hope your landlord is happy and your floors are strong...

sophie wrote:seriously excellent photo!

keep posting updates.
and photos.
sounds very good indeed - and I hope your landlord is happy and your floors are strong...

We're on the ground floor and I'm 99% sure they are concrete floors, Will get some photo's of the tank setup tomorrow once I've got some plants in there. Might also get to make use of the free waterproof camera I got from Thomas Cook when I bough currency a while back.

Took ages to fill and really not looking forward to doing water changes!