Ideas?
- Thread starter Yesg
- Start date
Sadly the only incredibly overpriced sub-species is the atlus, I can get in the albino and the regular for a few bucks, what a specimen you have! Very beautiful, and very big
esoxlucius
are the barbs aggressive at all? Because I have heard they can be fin nippers/scale eaters when small, but their mouth is too small to eat other fish when bigger, is this true? Or completely false? And how often do you feed them/how much waste do they create? Would you think they could go together with jade perch, golden perch, and other smaller Aussie natives?
My own experience with mine, and I got mine when they were about 3", is that they are very peaceful towards other tank mates, no issues at all. However they are the greediest fish I have ever kept, absolute dustbins. They will eat anything. They will destroy a planted tank so don't even think about that. And I believe they will eat very small fish if given the chance, and for that reason I've never kept tiny fish with mine at any stage during their development.
I feed my tanks about 5 times a week. An assortment of floating/sinking various sized pellets is the staple, with chopped worms and prawns on occasion too. Algae based wafers too for greenery. Very rarely do I feed veg because I find that terrestrial based plant matter goes right through my fish and just helps block my filter floss up!
For any fish to thrive with tinfoils I believe they have to be equally aggressive at feeding time, otherwise food will be gone before they even realise it's hit the water. I can't comment on your aussie natives in this regard.
Bugger! I was hoping to make a nicer-looking planted tank, if I don't bother with the tinfoils, do the silver dollars and Bala sharks still destroy the plants? And if so I might have to cut the 400 and buy a 125 and make a gorgeous planted tank with things such as paradise fish and gourami, etc, thoughts? And thank you so much esoxlucios, you have been such a help, didn't expect this much help on my first and only post, I am forever grateful for everyone's ideas and help
Silver dollars are worse than tinfoils! I think your plan of having a separate planted com tank is a good one. My unplanted 360 is for the big boys, minimally scaped with rocks and driftwood. I also have a separate planted 180 for my small stuff. That is the ideal scenario because you can have plants in one tank and not worry about them, and have your monster plant destroyers in your other tank.
There's nothing worse than fish constantly pecking at or pulling up your plants. My tiny filament barbs(2") were originally in my planted 180 and they never bothered my plants. As soon as they hit 4" they started destroying them. I transferred them to my 360 in a flash. They're now nudging 6", beautiful fish. If i'd have researched them properly I would have known this. This hobby is all about research.
esoxlucius
Thanks, I think I will just sell my big tank to fund my smaller planted tank, first time really doing a planted tank tho, and good preconditions for things like gourami and paradise fish? I want something with like long nice and green leaves, also I know you should have a c02? Is it healthy with fish or isn't it very necessary? And any other smaller fish to go with the other fish? I have probs like 15 khuli loaches in total, should I put those in it? I also breed super red bristlenose so could they also get in there? I don't want to overstock it, but I have no idea how to really do fully planted tanks, I have done things such as java fern and moss and stuff but nothing major. Any help with planted would REALLY help, thank you
Thanks, I think I will just sell my big tank to fund my smaller planted tank, first time really doing a planted tank tho, and good preconditions for things like gourami and paradise fish? I want something with like long nice and green leaves, also I know you should have a c02? Is it healthy with fish or isn't it very necessary? And any other smaller fish to go with the other fish? I have probs like 15 khuli loaches in total, should I put those in it? I also breed super red bristlenose so could they also get in there? I don't want to overstock it, but I have no idea how to really do fully planted tanks, I have done things such as java fern and moss and stuff but nothing major. Any help with planted would REALLY help, thank you
My experience and success with plants is limited. When I first decided to add a bit of greenery to my 180 I did what most people did, just throw them in and wait for them to grow into a jungle. You soon realise it doesn't work like that at all, lol. I even found that plants that were meant to be hardy would hardly get going, or grow very slowly, I was extremely disappointed at first. I wanted lushness overnight.
Light is arguably the most important factor so I ditched my old tubes and went the led route. I noticed better growth immediately but the plants I had still weren't exactly thriving, they were only doing ok. So I tried a load of different plants over the months ahead and two species in particular really took off for me. They were vallisinaria and cryptocoryne crispulata, both by the way have lovely long green flowing leaves, which is what you want.
They're all I have in my 180 now and I couldn't be happier with them. My val is rooted in the substrate and my cryptocoryne is in a couple of pots. I dose the pots and substrate with osmocote fertiliser once in a while and that's it.
I got there in the end but it took me many months of trying and trying and just finding out what worked best for me. That's the only insight I can give you really on plants.
esoxlucius
May I ask how long you've been in the hobby? And I know in the UK you can practically have any fish I've heard, what's the craziest fish you've kept? And are they pricey? What natives can you own? and if you could, can you send me a pic of your tanks when you get a chance? I am extremely intrigued by what you keep and the tanks you've got, and like I always say, I am super thankful for your help on what I'm not experienced in, and if you have any questions about the Aussie natives just ask, I have kept most of them.
I've been in the hobby for close on 30 years all told, though i came out of it for a long while. I started getting back into it in 2015, which is when I became a member on here.
Back in the day it was mainly coldwater fish I kept, various goldfish and such, but I did have a few successful years at keeping piranha. And yes, over here in the uk pretty much anything goes. There's no real need for harsh legislation when the temps of our uk waterways would kill any aquarium "escapees".
As I mentioned before I have two tanks, a planted 180 with an assortment of smaller fish, and an unplanted 360 with my bigger fish in. Prices and availability of fish seem ok in the uk, though i've never asked for anything really rare or exotic.
We do have some beautiful natives though most of them would be better suited to outside ponds. One day I do plan to turn my 360 into a coldwater European perch tank, though that could be many years away yet because my current stock are quite long lived fish. See pics below of my tanks and the European perch, my favourite fish.
