Newly started river tank

[zrx]

Hi

I got interested in aquariums recently and saw a lot of really nice river tank setups on this forum so I had to build an asia biotope myself. I have never had an aquarium earlier exept for taking care of my 10 year old brothers 8g tank, and when he bought one single Botia Kubotai and one Clown for it I just thought that fish cant like to live in such a small tank even though the LFS told him it was fine.

So i bought a used 27g tank and yesterday I filled up the river tank with water and plants. Here is a picture of it. The questions I have is regarding the fish, how many and what kind of fish is good for a setup like this? I was thinking of clowns and Botia Kubotai but I thought the tank was 55g when i ordered it, this might be rather small for the clowns atleast, what do you think?
I am getting a shoal of Danios but i would really like some nice loaches, maybe hillstreams?





What do you think about it? The rocks i just picked up outside and the powerheads are cheap AquaEL 1100 Turbo. I know there arent a lot of plants (microsorum, cryptocoryne) yet and they are attached with rubberbands so far but i hope to get more this weekend.

I made the setup with the two big rocks in the middle to force the stream from the powerheads towards the front glass and the pebbles to hold the sand from moving towards the end of the tank. Behind the big rocks it is still water so the sand stays. This is for the species that wants to burrow for food and offering an open spot without streaming water.

What should I do next to make this better? Do I need more hidingplaces? There is a rather big cave behind the log and also some hiding between the powerhead and the largest rock.

[shari2]

Looks very nice zrx! You should cycle it before adding fish, however.

And welcome to the forum.

[zrx]

Thanks and thanks

I am cycling it right now, I was thinking of adding fish next weekend after two weeks of cykling. But maybe I should do more?

I read somewhere that it was a good idea to add a small amount of fish from the beginning to get the bacteria to establish. And only feed very conservative during the first month.

But what kind of loaches would be alright in a small tank like this?

[LES..]

Hi zrx,

Looks like a nicely layed out tank, if you are going for hillstream loaches I'll throughly recomend Pseudogastromyzon cheni but then that's just because i keep them and they are the only ones i know much about ;-)
It is a delight to watch cheni, they are always entertaining, lots of power play and interaction to keep everyone in the pecking order.
You can have a look at what i mean: http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?doc ... 1224530762

I'm sure that most hillstream loaches will feel quite at home your tank, see what's on offer in your area.

LES..

[Graeme Robson]

Let your tank cycle longer. I would defiantly recommend you just keep Hillstream loaches in your tank. 29g tank isn't big enough to house a group of Clowns or Kubotai's. Your tank looks like a great set-up for just about any Hillstream/Brook Loaches. Good luck on your Hilly search. Nice tank indeed!

[shari2]

fun video LES...!
Once I get the river tank moved and all the rest sorted out, I'm going to try to get some. They are common enough around here that I could likely get my friend Mike at the shop to order some. Plus, they'd be free on store credit from fish/plants I bring him.

[mikev]

Nice tank. IMHO, 29g is the most convenient size for small/medium fish (3 29g tanks here). Your large round stone is something greatly appreciated by Gastros (probably by other suckers as well)

I am cycling it right now, I was thinking of adding fish next weekend after two weeks of cykling. But maybe I should do more?

Cycling with Ammonia or just running the filter?
A way to know if your tank is ready is: bring the ammonia up to 2.0. If it clears within 6 hours with no nitrites visible, you are in good shape. Repeat this test 3 times to make totally sure...

I read somewhere that it was a good idea to add a small amount of fish from the beginning to get the bacteria to establish. And only feed very conservative during the first month.

This is cycling *with fish*. A better way is to cycle without, build up strong bacteria colonies, and then add a lot of fish at once (so you don't lose your bacteria). In your case, add all the danios you intend and feed them well, so that you don't lose the bacteria.

Once you have fish in, you cannot add too much new fish at once, since you may overload the biofilter.

[Graeme Robson]

Indeed great Vid, Les. What are you feeding them?

[Emma Turner]

Fantastic P. Cheni vid, LES. They sure like whatever food that is you've put in for them.

Emma

[LES..]

Indeed great Vid, Les. What are you feeding them?

Ack! just answered this in the gravid cheni thread, anyway they get a selection between Tetra Tabimin, Nutrafin max sinking complete food and freeze dried brine shrimp. Brine shrimp is the clear favourite but you don't want to stand in the way of the other two ether. We used to give them Hikari algae wafers but it has been difficult find any recently as none of the local shops have it in stock. The Tabimin is a green tablet with algae in them, we originally just bought a tub when we couldn't find the Hikari food and it seems to be a good replacement. The Nutrafin tablets are a lovely pink and seem to have a higher protein content.

I hope you don't mind this diversion of your thread into foods zrx :)

[zrx]

No its no problem im interested in the food aswell It was really nice fishes in the video.

Let your tank cycle longer. I would defiantly recommend you just keep Hillstream loaches in your tank. 29g tank isn't big enough to house a group of Clowns or Kubotai's. Your tank looks like a great set-up for just about any Hillstream/Brook Loaches. Good luck on your Hilly search. Nice tank indeed!

How long do you think I need to cycle it? I have read up on fishless cycle and decided after all to add three small fivebanded barbs. They are a little shy but they seem to do fine. I did just check the watervalues (NO2 0, NO3 25-50, KH 3, PH 7) and it is the same as when i put them in 2 days ago exept for nitrate, guess I need more plants.

The tap water here is at NO2 0, NO3 25, KH 1, PH 6,2. I have added Sera Nitrivec and KH+ and the KH+ seems to have got my PH to 7 would like it slightly lower though.
The nitrivec can states it is possible to add the fish after 24 hours. But this might not be recommended for the fish?

I'm going to leave the idea with clowns but from what I have read about the kubotai 3 of them should do fine in a tank like this. But this might be wrong?

However I think I have decided on what fish I'm getting. If I can have three kubotais i'm going to do a Myanmar biotope with Danio Kyathit and Gastromyzon punctulatus. The Gastromyzon p. isnt listed as native to Myanmar on fishbase but when I search on google a lot of sources states it is. The distriubtion I think of is 3 Kubotais 3 Gastromyzon p. and 10 Kyathit. Hope this isn't impossible regarding to tank size because I really like those Botia Kubotai.