hillstream tank(little info on my other tank(s) to)

[daspricey]

hi

i have the sub-trop now in the 30x12x15
i'm buying a 3' tank soon, for my...
weather loach
danios
hara hara
peppered corys
alot of rocks/slate
this will be my planted tank with T8S

im leaving it at that 4 a while. in the 30x12 im having a hillstream set up(sub-tropical again) with
hillstream loaches how many should i get?
4 wcmms
5 zebra and leopard danios
and possobly a northen loach
2 large bogwood, with plenty of java fern and moss.

then im saving as much as poss for a 4' tank.
in there there will be...
2 weather loach
7 danios(5 zebras, 2 leopards)
moth cat(hara hara)
5 peppered corys
2 hoplos
5 rosy barbs
1 plec
1 whip tail cat
decor, not decided(2 far in the future)

then the 3' will be a full tropical with...
2 rams
2 kribs
3 panda corys
3 bronze corys(1 albino)
7 khulis
3 glass cats
alot of rocks/slate and semi-planted
so
what do u think about them???
good bad?
almost forgot...
im hoping 2 get a dwarf puffer in a 5g.
now more about the hillstream...
im soooo exited about all the tanks but cant wait for the hillstream, drawn some plans...




i cant get it bigger .
if u copy and paste it into word and make it larger, it might come clearer?



the key doesn't count for the side veiw.
am i doing it all right?
and what species, dont know what my lfs has?

what does everybody think?

thanks

david

[Gargoyle131]

Sorry, but I can't help you with the hillstreams, but about the cories and dwarf puffer...

I'd stick with either bronze or panda cories. They are just as gregarious as clown loaches, if not more so. Pandas are also supposed to be more sensitive than ther cories. I know more my bronze cories can be tough little buggers, though.

A word on the dwarf puffer: I personallly wouldn't put one in anything smaller than a 10 - 20 gallon. More so because of what they eat than size. The water will get messy very quickly from all the protein.

Just my opinion, though,
Gar

[daspricey]

im starting to push my mum towards a 10g tank for the puffer(s)
thanks

david

[JoeKuhlii]

Riccia is demanding of light and CO2 when used submerged. Assuming you're planning low-medium light since you're using Java Fern, better choices for a foreground are mosses tied to rocks ("Christmas moss" is especially attractive), Anubias barteri v. nana "petite," M. tenerum (aka "Pellia"), Marselia sp. (aka "Clover"), or Elatine triandra (aka "Long stem waterwort" or "Ah Pek's Plant"). Dwarf and Pygmy chain swords are good too, but are not as small or delicate looking as these others.

[TammyLiz]

The other problem with riccia is that it does not actually attach to anyting. You have to tie it down with nets, etc, and eventually it all comes loose and you have to redo it. I would think the loaches would cause this to happen quite often, but since I don't have any hillstreams I'm not very familiar with their behavior. Is it bad to post a link to another forum? I guess someone here with power can delete this if it is.

http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=101806

This is a good post written by a respected member on a good planted tank forum, especailly for tanks with high light and CO2. A lot of the people there are from the UK so sometimes products available are different but still great info. If you do a search there for riccia, you will find some stories of the frustrations of it.

[daspricey]

thanks alot for that link, that is brill.
i think i'll try it with java moss and in the 3' with the t8's with ricia.
thanks
but am i doing every thing else right???

david