How many sids?

[Miz]

Hi everyone, i'm new around here!
(First of all, sorry my spelling in english is not as good i would hope... )

So, i have about 56 gallon community tank. Now i'm thinkng about giving up other spieces and getting some sids there. How may can i fit in there? Tank is 120 cm long, depth is about 45 cm.

Thanks for yor view.

[shari2]

Welcome Miz, and your spelling is fine.

How many sids? Are they going to be the only fish in the tank? You could get a nice sized group in there. I'd say maybe a dozen, but then, I don't have any myself so I'd wait and hear from some others who keep them.

[Graeme Robson]

Yeah. We need to know if there is any other occupants in the aquarium.

[Miz]

No there woulndt be any other fish. Or maybe one Ancistrus cirrhosus, because i have become quite attached of it. This cat fish has been in the family over ten years.

Now i have in tank beside the cat fish 2 blue rams and 10 cardinaltetras. These will have to go because they recomend very soft and acid water wich would not matc with sids ideal values.

[Emma Turner]

Hi Miz, welcome to Loaches Online.

How soft is your water and what pH is it? Sids will do great in very soft to medium water. Here is our profile of the species, which may be of interest: http://www.loaches.com/species-index/ya ... idthimunki

Emma

[Miz]

Thanks i have allready read that. My tanks pH is around 6.2 so i maybe sids would do ok in there. I'm just thinking of tryin to spawn these fish so that is one of the reasons giving up other speaces.

At least i do not want to try keeping rams in the same tank with sids, cause my rams seems to be fairly agressive ones.

[Emma Turner]

That's absolutely fine for Sids. We have a planted paludarium style tank at work which is around the same pH and houses a big group of Y. sidthimunki and all are thriving.

Emma

[Mad Duff]

Hi Miz, your tank and water conditions sound ideal for Sid's.

As for how many Sid's I would say first work out how many you can afford, I dont know how much they are in Finland but they can be quite expensive over here (unless your extremely lucky like me ). My 36 Sid's are going into their own 75 gallon tank soon with a shoal of 12 Harlequin Rasboras, 2x Honey gouramis and a couple of Kuhli Loach, the tank is over filtered and has a couple of water changes done weekly.

I think a shoal of upto 20 would look perfect in your tank or you could go for a couple less and include a nice shoal of dithers like Harlequin Rasbora's.

[Miz]

Well, i wouldnt say they are cheap... One local shop sels them 12.5 Euros each (that would be around 16 $ i think).
But i'm not planning to by them today so i can spare some money for that.

Maybe i could by eight of them first and maybe eight more later? My tank is also quite well filtered (1 Eheim 2028 external filter and 1 New Line internal filter, wich regain 500 l/h) i do water changes once per week or bit often sometimes.

So maybe i could keep those tetras with sid's also? Least as long there is many inough to call them shoal. Maybe later i will replace them with some other shoal wich have the same region with sid's

Here is a bit old picture of my tank: http://kuvablogi.com/nayta/252548/. I have done some small chances since that was taken, but you see the idea. Is there something i should change so sid's would get on well in there?

[Mad Duff]

There wouldn't be any problem keeping the Cardinals with them, originally mine where with a shoal of 15 neons and they were fine until the neons started dieing due to old age.

I think buying a small shoal to start with and then adding to it is definitely the way to go, I started off with 10 and then added another 10 and then got the chance of another 16 for a very cheap price and still only ended up paying for 10

The tank looks great, the one thing about Sid's is if there is cover they will make use of it and at times the tank will look totally empty so it is a good idea to have some dither fish in there, but once food is put in the sight of a large shoal of Sid's feeding at all levels is amazing.

I hope you get the Sid's because I can guarantee that you wont be disappointed

[NancyD]

Your tank is beautiful, Miz. My suggestion is for dither fish with a dark lateral line if you decide to get something other than the cardinals. My sids sometmes like to swim with red tailed rasboras (r. borapetensis), a 4 inch SAE & even otos.

[Miz]

Thanks! I'm not quite happy with my tank yet, but i'm getting there slowly.

I'm trying to sell my rams or actyally just male away (They dont get along togheter anymore, so i have to separate them). Then i'm planning bying some sid's maybe. When i visited one of my local fis shops i saw these litle fellows there, they looked so cute and funnu svimming around the tank. I had a bit hard time not bying them yet, sice i dont have any place fof them now. Maybe next time then...

[Oldfish]

Miz Your tank looks great! I think sids should thrive in your setup.

[Mark in Vancouver]

There wouldn't be any problem keeping the Cardinals with them, originally mine where with a shoal of 15 neons and they were fine until the neons started dieing due to old age.

I think buying a small shoal to start with and then adding to it is definitely the way to go, I started off with 10 and then added another 10 and then got the chance of another 16 for a very cheap price and still only ended up paying for 10

The tank looks great, the one thing about Sid's is if there is cover they will make use of it and at times the tank will look totally empty so it is a good idea to have some dither fish in there, but once food is put in the sight of a large shoal of Sid's feeding at all levels is amazing.

I hope you get the Sid's because I can guarantee that you wont be disappointed

Hey MD - isn't it about time we saw some more photos of your sid shoal?

[Mad Duff]

Im sure I can manage something