New RIO 300 tank

[MatsP]

I'd start by doing the water change, then get the fish if you are sure that there's nothing wrong in the tank.

--
Mats

[slakey]

Ok well I went out and bought some more three-line corys (3 for £15, nearly bought 6).

They're really small compared to my other cory that I've had for one year.

Put the bag in the tank for 30mins with lights off, the release them and let them roam with light off for 15 or 20minutes went to college, come home and 2 of them are with the big cory and the other one is adventuring on it's own But them seem happy and swimming up the glass except the one on it's own *think it's the shy one*

Also on another positive note, my Otto's body is like a real nice black colour, not a faded black or grey but a pure black on the two I can see so surely my water can't be too off target?

Another thing, I told the lady who sold the Shark to me that he/she died and she said it's most likely got beat up and that's why he/she was hiding, probably hense why the smallest of my first lot of cory's has scales missing and can't swim properly.

[nikelodeon79]

A cory beating up a RTBS? Highly doubtful! She of course would say that because she doesn't want you to think she has bad stock (and likely doesn't want to give you a refund on the RTBS!)

Regarding the tipsy cory: this doesn't necessarily indicate a swim bladder problem. IME, cories tend to start tilting/spinning when they're on their way out.

You mentioned having nitrite in your tank... that is not good. What are your current levels of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate?

Regarding the rams: Certainly German Blue Rams wouldn't be a good mix, because the temp requirements are too different. Bolivian Rams (Mikrogeophagus altispinosus), on the other hand, prefer cooler temps (around 24*C) so there shouldn't be a problem there. Finding a pair can be tricky... If you get a male and a female it doesn't necessarily mean they're going to pair up. Getting a group of them and watching who pairs off is better. Just be careful that the bottom of your tank doesn't get too crowded. Bolivians tend to be the puppy dogs of the cichlid world, but occassionally you'll find one that's overly aggressive, especially if they breed, so you have to watch that with the more docile cories.

I actually prefer tanks without "centerpiece" fish. I set up my main cory tank with a couple groups of small schooling fish and a few different species of corydora and it's one of my favorite tanks!

Regardless of what you decide, get things sorted out in your tank (why the fish are dying) before adding any more fish.

[slakey]

I shall do a full water test (pH, Nitrite, Nitrate and Ammonia) tommorow when I get back from work and post the results up with pictures of the new fish.

Ofcourse I will be getting more Three-Line's at a later date.

One type of eel I do like is for sale at my garden centre grows to 16" and is green, I did look at the name but have totally forgot about it.
But I no doubt bet that it wouldn't be suitable to keep with my corys.

I would go for neons are my main fish, but unless you have a really big tank for dozens of them then there's no point really, I know my tank isn't the smallest but I'd want bigger if I was going for a shoal of neons.

Still really like the Severums and they have 3 at my garden centre, all very nice and orange, so tempting.
But must get my tank 100% correct before adding, even then they may eat my corys I'd expect due to the size difference?

[racoll]

One type of eel I do like is for sale at my garden centre grows to 16" and is green, I did look at the name but have totally forgot about it.

Take a picture, find out what the fish is, and then think about buying it. Don't trust the identification of the garden centre!

Probably a spiny eel, which are pretty peaceful, but some species of spiny eel grow much bigger than others....

[slakey]

Nope not a spiny eel.
Like I said, it's a shade od green, thin, has what looks like spikes going down it's body, and has it's swimming fins close to the head.

[racoll]

A ropefish Erpetoichthys calabaricus?

[slakey]

wow i feel embarrased for calling it a eel, but yep that's it

Any thoughts on how it'd fair in a tank my size?

Water Test Results:

pH 7.6
Ammonia 0.0
Nitrite 0.0
Nitrate 20.0

now I live in a hard water area so 20ppm for Nitrate is normal, that's how it comes out at the tap, if not 20 it's not far from that reading.

[MatsP]

Looks good to me. I'd love to have 20 ppm nitrate in my tap-water. It's closer to 35 here...

--
Mats

[slakey]

Unless I have killer guppies lol, I'm guessing the fish are dying of old age?

[MatsP]

Unless I have killer guppies lol, I'm guessing the fish are dying of old age?

Probably not killer guppies, and Corys should live five-ten years minimum if you look after them well. However, not all things that kill fish are directly related to water quality (or related to any of the COMMONLY measured items of water quality, e.g. nitrogenous compounds, pH, KH, GH, etc).

--
Mats

[slakey]

Not sure where things are going wrong then...

[Richard B]

A RTBS can get very old & large (9"+) so not old age there.

The reedfish/ropefish enjoy eating small guppy/neon type fish when they can get them

[slakey]

Ah ok no ropefish then...

Also one site said they need a tank of 400 litres

So I'm still on the look for some fish

[slakey]

Ok well yesterday I noticed 3 worries about my tank.

It has 3 scratches not huge, but the biggest at one end you can get your finger nail in the gap, as soon as I done that I put my finger inside the tank and luckily it was nice and smooth over there, so I'm guessing just an outside graze?

Will this get worser and worse in the long run?

[MatsP]

I have scratches in my tanks - no big worries (but you may want to figure out what made the scratch and avoid doing it again!).

--
Mats

[slakey]

Well the only thing we could think of was maybe the door handle hitting it, but the door handle comes way below where the big scratch is and for the two minor scratches their close to the door frame so don't know.

Unless it came with scratches and I've only just noticed :/

[slakey]

Hello all, long time.

The algae is green hair algae I think and is mostly all over my plants ruining the look sad.gif
Also I have green algae type sheets over some wood, aswell as brown algae from my old filter media still floating around.

It has come to the point where I'm going to maybe sell my fish *wait til they've pasted on* and totally revamp my entire tank, i.e new plants etc and scrub the wood clean, then start again with new water etc...

Or change to Tanganyika fish tank.

I have 3 Otto's in there but it's not going too well and theres too much of it for 3...

What should I do?

Buy loads more Otto's?
Buy a adult pleco?
Go with the total revamp?
Change to Tanganyika?

[MatsP]

No other person than you can decide what is right for you. Having a big tank that doesn't look particularly good is in no ones best interest - how you deal with it, however, is your decision.

However, it sounds like you have several kinds of algae in there. Green hair algae are not the easiest things to get rid of. The "green sheet on the wood" sounds like Cyanobacteria, which I'm not sure if there is a single fish that eats. I'd start by reducing the light-time and the feeding of the fish. Both of these will help produce less favourable conditions for the algae.

Otos prefer soft brown and soft green algae. They will certainly not eat hair algae or cyanobacteria. Green hair algae can be eaten by for example Rosy Barbs, but they also eat all sorts of other things.

--
Mats

[slakey]

I'll get some pictures up so you can identify it better.

[slakey]

Brown algae/muck stuff from 125 filter media


Green hair type algae on plants


Green sheet algae on wood pieces

Also if anyones interested I'm selling my Rio125:

£120o.n.o
Collect

[racoll]

Slakey, you will find most people find plants harder to keep than fish - you are not alone there.

A tank with plants and no algae needs to be in balance. Algae means the light, nutrients and carbon dioxide are out of balance.

Your big airstone is removing all the carbon dioxide, and I would imagine from your location that you have nutrient rich tapwater.

Combine this with plentiful light, and algae of all kinds will proliferate. The plants cannot compete as there is no CO2 available to them. You also do not have anywhere near enough plants to let them get the upper hand.

Algae eating fish will often help, but buying more will not completely fix the problem on its own.

If you don't want to get a CO2 system, you are limited to just cutting down the light, perhaps with a reduced photo-period (<9 hours), floating plants, and tannin stains from bogwood. Also, do try more algae eating fish. Crossocheilus siamensis I find are awesome algae eaters, as are some Garra spp., such as the one in my avatar.

There is now a huge online literature on aquarium plants. Have a dig round these two sites for aquarium plant 101:

http://www.ukaps.org/index.htm

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/p ... ion=plants

[slakey]

Thanks for all the info racoll.

i have been told to look for SAE's but know that there is a fake kind that is identical to the true SAE unless your an expert on them.
So do the fake SAE's do just as good of a cleaning job as the true SAE's?
Well I'm looking at replacing the plants that are algae-fied(made up)
and buying new ones.

[racoll]

but know that there is a fake kind that is identical to the true SAE unless your an expert on them.

You do have to be an expert to know which scientific name applies to which fish, but it is quite straightforward to know which one is good for your tank.

This is the Siamese algae eater (Crossocheilus siamensis, Crossocheilus langei or Crossocheilus oblongus). Note the clear fins and lateral stripe extending into tail. This fish is the one you want, peaceful, always active and even eats the black brush algae.






This is one of the "fakes", the flying fox Epalzeorhynchus kalopterus. It is probably okay and a good algae eater though, but I cannot vouch for it having never kept it. Note the dark colouring in the fins, the white tips, and the double lateral/dorsal stripe.





This is Garra cambodgiensis. Note the dark base to the dorsal, the lateral stripe not extending into the caudal fin, and the double lateral/dorsal stripe again. Will be a good algae eater, but I don't know how aggressive they may become as they age.





This is the one to really avoid, the Chinese algae eater (actually from India), Gyrinocheilus aymonieri. Note the zig-zag pattern. This one gets large and belligerent, and while a good algae eater when small, not a fish you want to get stuck with.



Also sold in a golden form.



But remember, algae eating fish alone will not solve your problem. You also need to cut down your light.

[slakey]

Just got back from the garden centre, and I spent £80.39 on aquarium stuff!!!
I bought all new filter media and the new stuff Juwel have bought out, those lil white stone things.
A Fluval plus2 Filter, some new life spectrum pellets and some flake food.

Also I was told if I say turn lights on and off it really messes with the algae, and the fish and plants will get used to it. Example:
Turn on 8am
Turn off 1pm
Turn on 4pm
Turn off 9pm

Ofcourse that'd be do-able via a timer. Should I consider this?

I also had a little clean up of the tank, took the dead and most dying plants and plant leaves out, and may be going to a LFS to get some new tomorrow.

Also came up with my next idea once I'm happy with this tank.

A Arcadia Arc 35litre foreground covered fry/quarantine or small fish tank, for my beside table.

[MatsP]

I consider a timer for the lights an essential part of aquarium setup. Wickes or some similar DIY store will sell them for under a fiver.

--
Mats

[racoll]

Also I was told if I say turn lights on and off it really messes with the algae, and the fish and plants will get used to it

A light siesta has been reported to reduce algae, but it is far from proven. Give it a go, but on its own it is unlikely to work. I would also reduce it to 8-9 hours rather than 10.

I consider a timer for the lights an essential part of aquarium setup.

Indeed, this is especially important when trying to limit light available to algae.

A tank with plants and no algae needs to be in balance. Algae means the light, nutrients and carbon dioxide are out of balance.

I will expand on this point - contrary to common belief, it is not nitrates and phosphates that cause algae, it is ammonia. The main benefit of having heavy planting of stem plants is that they immediately take up the trace ammonia (always present in the tank) that algae otherwise utilise. However when these plants are limited, by not having access to CO2, they are unable to perform this service, and will just get caked in algae themselves.

Another option worth trying is the new liquid carbon sources for plants such as this or this. They have also been reported to have a direct algacidal effect.

If you haven't already, I would recommend you join the ukaps forum. There is a lot of info on there......

[slakey]

Racoll - The picture of the true SAE isn't working and one other

At the minute I have a Carbon Sponge to clear the tinge to my water, should I leave it in until Saturday? Or a earlier day?

I also have Cirax in there, which I bought today, anybody know how effective these are?

As for the Secahem Flourish Excel I shall buy some, then work out the dosage once I decided how many plants and what plants I want in.

[racoll]

Okay, the image links have been replaced.

At the minute I have a Carbon Sponge to clear the tinge to my water, should I leave it in until Saturday? Or a earlier day?

Carbon as you probably know removes the tannin stains from the water. Together with floating plants (such as amazon frogbit Limnobium laevigatum, pennywort Hydrocotyle ranunculoides and hornwort Ceratophylum demersum), and the right number of algae eating fish, I have found a light tannin stain to the water to be the best algae control method.

In light of this, I would remove the carbon sponge. Cirax is just a biological filter medium, so thats fine.

I decided how many plants and what plants I want in.

Some plants will simply not grow without CO2. STICK TO THE EASY ONES! e.g. anubias, java fern, vallis, hornwort, some crypts etc.

[slakey]

Yeah I have two vallis, about 3 anubias, 1 moss ball and unsure about others. But I would like the entire left glass wall of the tank to be Vallis, which will cause tricky as I've put the new Fluval filter there.

Also after moving some of the wood pieces around I came across what looks like mould on one piece, it was white, felt slimey in the water, and kind of smelt when I rubbed some of with my thumb... Any concern, I'll try get a picture of it tomorrow.

Also when would it be advisable for me to put in some Shrimp?
If I can find any, I lost my last female guppy today, but I knew I was losing her, as yet again she had a growth/wort type thing towards the back underside of her body, and her scales were slightly sticking out if you looked at her head on etc...

Any known causes of this?

Rest of the fish seem fine.
Been seeing the Kuhli Loaches more, and my god they're chubby!