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Good evening all!

I currently have a 96l Juwel aquarium and I'm finally able to upgrade to a 4' Rio 240l.

I'm going to be starting the switch over after Christmas, and commencing with the substrate.

I bought the tank second hand with an odd selection of fish including one black widow tetra, two medium sized Angels, three Neons and two Peppered Cory. I already have Neons and BWs, so I moved them to the 96l to make some friends, and the Cory moved too as the horrific mish mash of gravel types (including blue and orange gravel) wasn't really suitable for them. The Angels stayed under duress as Mrs Lurch is particularly keen on them. I'm wary, and the first sign of anything untoward, they're out of there. They're still in the Rio, too big for the 96l.

So the gravel has to go. Even if I wanted gravel, this stuff wouldn't be staying. It is my intention to drain the tank, empty it of the gravel, give the tank a good clean and prepare the substrate as follows.

A thin layer of cocoa peat soaked and expanded with fertiliser. Should make about 8l. This will then be capped with a light river sand. Reckon that's a start. Once I've done this, I'll refill the tank and pop the Angels back in as they won't have been too keen on the 80l box I'll have temporarily housed them in.

I have an assortment of wood and some stone to go in, plus the plants that are in the 96l. It is my intention to play around with the wood layout prior to decanting the entire contents of the 96l in to the 4'. I am hoping to make the tank as South American as possible while creating as many habitats as I can - woody, planted and rocky. The wood I have comprises of two large "chunks" and the rest is smaller bits and some branch pieces.

I'd be very grateful for any input anyone has. I'm mainly creating this for the Cory, the other fish are more for the benefit of the family, although I do like the BWs as a constant source of amusement, and I'm thinking of some Colombian Red Fins since being quite taken with them in a friend's Heros tank.

I'd be interested in any New World plant suggestions, and if anyone in the UK has any to spare, I'd happily part with some beer tokens for the right plants. I will have some Myriophyllum Mattongrossene available if anyone wanted to make an exchange.

Thanks for looking!

Lurch

I'd be very wary of the Angelfish/ Neon Tetra combo, the tetra are natural prey for the cichlids in the wild and they are infamous for eating such small fish in aquaria as they grow, hence why the slightly larger Cardinal Tetra are suggested (providing of course you are not adding young Cardinals to "teenage" Angelfish).

Might be teaching you to suck eggs, but also remember to pull the Angelfish out of the Rio240, rescape the tank, then add all the other planned occupants before returning the cichlids to the tank. Not doing this runs a strong risk of the cichlids seeing new additions as invaders of their territory, which they could see as the whole tank. A poor 3-month old Ilyodon xantusi youngster I had raised paid for my risk of not following the above mid summer, I added 8 4-5cm TL Ilyodon to my Rio240, that contained the Ilyodon parents and ~48 Steatocranus casuarius teenagers... The poor girl was clamped by one cichlid's mouth while a group of the other pulled her apart within seconds (thankfully I rescued the other 7 before even more fatailities occurred).

Thanks for the reply.

I was indeed aware of the Angel/Neon snack possibility, half the Neons I now own actualy came with the 4' - how many they bought initially, we'll never know!! TBH, the Neons are likely to be moved on, and the Colombians will replace them.

I wasn't sure about just how territorial the Angels would get as I've not had bigger 'lids before, but they would have come out while I loaded the smaller fish in the tank. The final phase of the rescape will be re-planting the plants from the 96l in to the 4', so the tank will be significantly different. In light of what you've said, I'll not put the wood in its proper position until the last minute either.

Well, upgraded it last Friday, and the C.aeneus have spawned all over it, twice now! Got some Cory fry and also some Cory eggs!

That's a really nice reward for the tank upgrade. Congrats

Thank you very much!

Now I'm on the correct device, a pic! All comments and suggestions welcome! I'm getting some more Echinodorus sp. to go in there, and some more star grass is waiting to be planted.

The substrate is river sand over cocoa peat.