55 gallon south american biotype.

Zack · Post by **Zack** » 29 Sep 2003, 06:24

Recently while i was away,my cats (the ones with legs)had pulled the plug for my filter on my 55 gallon tank and by the time i got home three days later the fish were all dead or dieing and what wasnt dead died shortly. So basicaly i have a empty 55 gallon tank to restock. I would like to restock it with several schools of smaller fish rahter than just a few larger fish. Im not sure as to what else i want but i know a school of a dozen or so neon or cardinal tetras is in order,i also would like to keep a group of seven panda corys,and possibly some ottos. What other fish woudl you recommend?

I'm going to be building a new hood for it and will try and get an estimated 110 watts so i can heavily plant. What plants and how many would you recommend i start with? Also what substrate combo...i cannot get any of the special substrates from the shop around here and i dont have the money at the moment to order it,would i be alright if i just used a small gravle and added liquid fertalizers to it? Would this along with 2,2 litre diy co2 units be enough for the plants to grow properly or would they just 'live'? How many pounds of gravle will i need?

I have no idea what sort of catfish i want for this tank.But i would like to focus on a certain geographical region so if you have a good idea for a south american biotype that doesnt include the neons or the panda corys feel free to tell me about it as well. Thanks alot.

Caol_ila · Post by **Caol_ila** » 29 Sep 2003, 08:07

Hi!

If i had a spare 55 tank id put in a whole school of really small Corydoras...i.e. 50 C.hastatus paired with a group of tetras (for instance i have some bycatch Cheirodon sp that shoal with the corys). These are my favourite small fishes...and most probably the group would get bigger with no other fishes in there...such a big shoal would be an awesome sight imo.

Zack · Post by **Zack** » 30 Sep 2003, 15:57

c'mon folks. I know pretty much everyone on here has kept a south american biotope tank....How about those of you with this sort of tank just post your tank specs for me? Thanks coal_ila,but i have only seen pygmy cories here once and there was only four and they were charging the same as they do for regular sized cories so a school of thirty would be a small investment...

Sid Guppy · Post by **Sid Guppy** » 30 Sep 2003, 17:23

55G would be about 220 liters or so?

There's hundreds of South American fish that would do. If you keep away from say, 4-6" and bigger fish;I'd go for example for the following setup:

decoration:
sand substrate with a few rounded rocks and some rootwork from bogwood.

live plants, preferably some small/medium Echinodorus species and some Myriophyllum and Eichornia's.

fish:
1 species of mediumsized Corydoras, 6-7 of them.
1 species of small Loricariid; Otocinclus or Parotocinclus, 4-5 of those.
1 species of sanddwelling, mediumsized Loricariid; think Rhineloricaria lanceolata or a similar fish; 1 pair.
1 species of small "hiding cat" to spice up the tank; 3-4 of those. Think about Microglanis ireringi or Centromochlus perugiae.

1 species of midwaterdwelling Characin; 7-9 of those. Any Moenkhousia or Hemigrammus/Hyphessobrycon will do; M pitteri is one of my favourites.

1 species of mid- or topdwellers; 5-7 or so. This can either be dwarf Hatchetfish (Carnegiella), Copella arnoldi, Nannobrycon or even some South American Rivulus spp.

You can always exchance any of those "types" for another genus with a similar size and behaviour of course.

Post by **Silurus** » 30 Sep 2003, 17:28

55G would be about 220 liters or so?

No, 55 (US) gallons is only 150 liters.

Sid Guppy · Post by **Sid Guppy** » 30 Sep 2003, 18:03

Well, then ditch one or two species (niches) from my plan, it'd be a bit crowded else.

I always thought that 1G would be 4 liters or so, but obviously that's not so.....

How many gallons (US) is a 500 liter tank then?

Post by **Silurus** » 30 Sep 2003, 18:05

How many gallons (US) is a 500 liter tank then?

About 180. It's about 2.78 liters to the US gallon.

Post by **Barbie** » 30 Sep 2003, 18:33

According to the conversion chart HERE its actually 208.197 liters.

Barbie

Post by **Silurus** » 30 Sep 2003, 18:36

Oops. My bad. Should have been 3.78 liters to the gallon, not 2.78.

Post by **Barbie** » 30 Sep 2003, 19:58

hehe, I only went and looked because I thought "oh my god, I've been telling people the WAY wrong amount all this time"

Barbie

Post by **Barbie** » 30 Sep 2003, 20:40

I guess I should go ahead and post my planted tank specs, rather than just get sidetracked off on the number of liters in a gallon, ooops!

This tank had:

albino pearlscale angels
double dark black angels
german blue rams
bolivian rams
cardinal tetras
otocinclus
L 177s
SAE's (not biotope, I know)
marbled hatchets
ancistrus triradiatus

and eventually I added:
rummynose tetras
long fin rosy barbs for additional hair algae control on the anubias
amano shrimp
botia sidthimunki

I really enjoyed the tank, and set up a 40 gallon long once I got moved, to nurse my plants back to health. It has its issues at the moment, but the fish in it are definitely healthy.

If I was going to set up a tank for these types of fish, without the plants, I would DEFINITELY look into some dwarf cories, or aspidoras. A large group of them is SO impressive cruising around. Another fish that you should look into is the pencil fish. Cardinals, rummy nose, emporer tetras, all would look stunning in a large group with some driftwood to swim around. Bolivian rams are quite easy to keep, and very interesting to watch and raise fry from. It really just depends on how small you want all the fish to be, and whether you want only biotype fish that are found in the same general continent, hehe.

Peacock gudgeons, dwarf neon rainbows, and killies are all fish that would add a large amount of color, and appreciate the water parameters, without actually belonging in the biotype setting. Debauwi cats have a great schooling behavior that's really interesting in a 4 foot tank.

All of these fish are things you could probably find online and just have shipped in to you. If you don't have any luck doing that, and can get a big enough order to make at one time, I might be able to connect you with a person that I used to have ship stuff to me in Alaska. I'll have to ask them if they're wholesale only still. Either way, I know there are places in the lower48 that could fill an order like that, no problem.

Barbie

Sid Guppy · Post by **Sid Guppy** » 30 Sep 2003, 21:42

Hi Barbie
neat!
Looks a lot like a "Dutch planted tank" but with more open gravel spaces.

Good thing you actually have built a fairly "natural" tank. I like the use of live plants too.

Maybe it's a cultural thing, but I've seen the weirdest tanks made in the US; including marine blue backgrounds(or none at all so you can see all the pretty wires and yellowish wallpaper in a tank filled with a few grand $ on fish), pink and green gravel, the Stars & Stripes, Elvis, you name it.....

You obviously don't follow that "school of thought" wich means kudo's.

riverine tank center

Corydoras robinae (the tail is a baby Hoplosternum punctatum trying to hide)

Post by **Barbie** » 01 Oct 2003, 00:49

It's hard to see the fish clearly in this picture, as I was trying to take it during the day in an office that was full length windows on two sides, but this was the tank I had at work. It had no CO2 injection, and was full of anubias and java fern. The cyprichromis, sumbu compressiceps, and petricolas all thrived in it.

It's another idea for aquascaping, and a completely separate methodology from the first one. I don't know that Zack wants to invest the money lights and CO2 would require though.

Barbie

Zack · Post by **Zack** » 01 Oct 2003, 02:22

Thanks for all the suggestions,im aiming at sort of a halfway point between the tank sg posted and the second tank that barbie posted. Your absolutely right about the money...I had some severe mechanicle problems on one of my race bikes so i'm flat broke...not to mention im going to school right now and only work during the summer. But i have found ways around expensive lighting and co2 injectors.they may not work as well but tell me how you guys think they'll work. I'm going to build my own hood and put the two existing fifteen watt bulbs and fixtures in it and two four foot 40 shop lights and fixtures that i happen to have laying around the house,i know the shop light bulbs arent too good for aquariums but can i replace them with a purpose built light relatively cheaply? Also i've used the diy 2 litre co2 contraption before on smaller tanks and was wondering if two of these would be adequate?

Ok now lets talk fish...My lfs hardly ever gets anythign out of the ordinary but they will try and get special things when i request them so i am going to see if i can have them order me three microglanis irering,Exactly how nocturnal are these guys? I am curious to see if i can get any pencil fish as well,if i can,which type and how many would you recommend? For the small schooling fish i think i'll just go with a school or neons,how many would you suggest?

Post by **Silurus** » 01 Oct 2003, 02:44

Exactly how nocturnal are these guys?

Extremely. But they can be coaaxed out of hiding during feeding time on the account of their gluttony.
Unfortunately, they can grow to a size large enough to eat a neon.

TiGrInUs · Post by **TiGrInUs** » 05 Oct 2003, 04:43

here is my 55g that was set up....too bad it crashed and i lost all my NICE fish in it. Like my black aro, snowball plec...etc.

this was the day it was set up...the next day it crashed....i used all teh tank water from a previous tank the fish were in. Im goign to be setting up another amazonian tank i think soon...

http://www.uploadit.org/files/051003-55g%20tank.jpg[img]

Kostas · Post by **Kostas** » 14 Oct 2003, 17:28

Hi,
I have a 55g planted tank with three Leporacanthicus galaxias.I am planning to put 2Stourisomatichthys leithoni and 10 Cardinal tetra(Idecided not to put diskus and Corydoras in that tank).
My plants are the folowing:
1 Echinodorus red(dont know the excact name but its very fast growing)
Cabombas red
Cabombas caroliana
Cabombas green
Vallisnerias spiralis from south america
Riccia fluitans
Pistia stratiotes

They all grow very fast although i dont put additional Co2.

A tip:Never put Leporacanthicus in a planted tank.They dig alot and upproot plants in search of food.