cold water specialty planted tank fish help

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
E

Earthgoddess

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 15, 2005
27
0
0
44
Medical Lake, Wa
I am starting a 8 gal hex for some Aponogeton madagascarensis Madagascar-Lace leaf plant and some other companions I plan on putting my crystal red shrimp and probably some amano shrimp in there but I am looking for something that can keep some of the debris cleaned up and also to eat algae off the plants like the otocinclus do that wont hurt my shrimp or the plants
What about any corys?
Temp will be 70 degrees f and I am using flora base

One site said the “Chinese Plec (loach)” was a good algae eater although they don’t eat much of it supposedly the only true cold water species and it also said they were 4 cm in size and sold out of course
I am unable to find much of anything does anyone know what the actual name for it is (scientific)?

Although I then found a site were they have otos at a low of 60 degrees f so if you can look is any of this info look correct??

algae consuming species list
 <---- scroll to bottom of page
Oh! here I found this this might be the fish (Chinese Plec loach) that one site was mentioning seems cool though I will need a bigger tank if info is correct what do you think? Great now I want one and I will need another tank!
Its calledChinese Hillstream Loach
 
Howdy,

8 gal is not a whole lot... most algae eaters grow too big. Otocinclus might be your only possibility. I suggest to push the temp to 72-73, which should be well tolerated by Aponogeton madagascariensis as well as Otocinclus.

The Chinese loach will mostly need highly oxygenated water and a good current. Hard to combine that with your Aponogeton madagascariensis ...

HarleyK

ps
Corydoras won't eat algae ...
 
Thanks
I like the otocinclus allot so I would like to keep them although they have such a bad rap on surviving so it is frustrating when they don't.
I just realized there is a cold water section good info over there


What do you know about golden white clouds do they do any work for plants? Someone suggested them for this tank but I did not know if they would be very beneficial especially when I only have such little space in that tank and mostly its about the plant
 
Howdy,

Tanichthys albonubes is not an algae eater. However, they will not damage your plants, and they fit nicely in the tank size and conditions that you are looking for. Keep them in a school of 7 and they'll feel safe.

HarleyK
 
Yep, Tanichthys is definitly a great choice for a cold water small aquarium. I have a school of 8 in 28 liters (about 7 gals) and they spawn regularly. As for algae eaters - I'm looking for ottos right now too.
 
Thanks everyone that all sounds great so now I know what I want and I love the idea but what about stocking numbers

If I have 8 of the tanichthys albonubes and 5-10 crystal cherry shrimp Then how many otocinclus do you all think I could put in there also since it is a hex shape tank and small it does not have allot of surface area plus its tall so do you think I should have a bubble thing or will the plants put off enough oxygen?

What do you think?
 
Well I am using the florabase thinking I would not need the co2? My understanding was that it would work like the co2. Plus I will prob use flourish excell and plant tab
 
Earthgoddess said:
Well I am using the florabase thinking I would not need the co2? My understanding was that it would work like the co2. Plus I will prob use flourish excell and plant tab
Click to expand...

Howdy,

Fertilizers do not work like CO2, only CO2 does. However, they are even more important, and it was a good decision to set up your tank with substrate fertilizer :thumbsup: . I am not sure if Aponogeton madagascariensis require CO2. A Google search ("Aponogeton madagascariensis co2") reveals that they also flourish without, but many people use CO2 with them. Some plants do better with CO2, but in general, I advise against it. It didn't do much in my 80 gal, although I had a professional set-up. Try it without first, you can always add it later if your plants don't do too well. It always depends on how your entire setup and conditions work together.

HarleyK

ps
on a small tank like that, make sure that you have good biological filtration. However, Aponogeton madagascariensis does not like any current. It'll be tricky...
 
If you pot the plant you can also add a little UGF. You can use mikado (Geisha girls) and white clouds as well as glass shrimp in the unheated tank, Even a hillstream loach of the chinese type would work.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom