stocking advice

[Drogon]

Thank you all for the suggestions/info! Partner still wants EBJD but think I've explained the situation to her.

I'll have to look for some floating plants then Asni am a fan of that idea. Tanks coming along nicely, except the snail breakout that seems to have happened. Guessing they came on some of the plants I glued some java moss to the wood in the rock and can already tell I'm gonna live to regret that decision

 

[magpie]

Good suggestion on the eb acaras. Good 2cents there.

Completely twenty's suggestion! I was just agreeing with it.


What kind of snails? They might not be a big deal. Shouldn't explode unless you over-feed. If they're MTS they will help stir your substrate so can be helpful in small quantities.

If they do start to go crazy you can put in a piece of cucumber over night (on a small fork or something so it sinks) and pick them out and kill them in the morning. Or get a couple of Assassin snails.

 

[magpie]

For floating plants, I like water lettuce a lot as the roots trail down into the aquarium and I love that look. They propagate readily but are easy to remove when you have too many.

Avoid duckweed like the plague. Once you have it, it's nearly impossible to get rid of - teeny leaves and they reproduce like crazy... Rinse off all plants well, and look for duckweed in your bags of fish from your LFS and remove! It's not the end of the world, but I've been annoyed by duckweed for years now, so if you can avoid it, do so.

 

[Drogon]

I have no idea what snails they if im honest! LFS did say they can be beneficial if I can keep them under control though so might keep an eye on the population.

I love that water lettuce look! Thanks for that suggestion. Tank has .5ppm nitrite now in 24 hrs after a 4ppm ammonia feeding! So not too far off. Guessing the live plants must be helping a lot because my nitrates are always 5-20ppm lol

 

[twentyleagues]

I have no idea what snails they if im honest! LFS did say they can be beneficial if I can keep them under control though so might keep an eye on the population.

I love that water lettuce look! Thanks for that suggestion. Tank has .5ppm nitrite now in 24 hrs after a 4ppm ammonia feeding! So not too far off. Guessing the live plants must be helping a lot because my nitrates are always 5-20ppm lol

Live plants can actually use ammonia as a food source. So they can actually lower your nitrates before they actually become nitrates. I'm unsure of how good they are at doing that though as ive not seen enough data on it. But it works in hydroponics. But for sure they use nitrates too.

 

[jaws7777]

Live plants can actually use ammonia as a food source. So they can actually lower your nitrates before they actually become nitrates. I'm unsure of how good they are at doing that though as ive not seen enough data on it. But it works in hydroponics. But for sure they use nitrates too.

It does look nice but im with you bud. I think the balance of fish to plants is key. Right now i have a decent sized pothos plant on the 75. Cant stand the mess so the plants going but before i chuck it im going to run some before and after tests just.out of curiosity

 

[magpie]

I started up my 65 gallon tank with a ton of live plants, no ammonia added, no fish I didn't want as "starters" but then just slowly added the fish I wanted a few at a time and watched parameters daily. There were no ammonia or nitrites during that time. There were a lot of plants, though.

I did that based on several planted tank people saying that it would work. I was nervous about it but it did work.

Throwing something in there floating even if you don't want to keep it long term like water wisteria or hornwort can help.

 

[clm08k]

Thank you all for the suggestions/info! Partner still wants EBJD but think I've explained the situation to her.

I'll have to look for some floating plants then Asni am a fan of that idea. Tanks coming along nicely, except the snail breakout that seems to have happened. Guessing they came on some of the plants I glued some java moss to the wood in the rock and can already tell I'm gonna live to regret that decision

Jack Demsey's can be pretty aggressive fish. Agree with everyone else about the EB Acaras. They are calmer and have a similar look. For the catfish, everytime I think of big catfish, I think of them slurping up other fish like spaghetti.

I know catfish and LJs can be kept together. Not sure about the smaller ones with UJs. Perhaps others can chime in.


a 3 bichir combo can be lots of fun! any the smaller UJs would be super happy in your tank. At the end of the day, it is important to get fish that you and your partner want to keep.

 

[clm08k]

Completely twenty's suggestion! I was just agreeing with it.


What kind of snails? They might not be a big deal. Shouldn't explode unless you over-feed. If they're MTS they will help stir your substrate so can be helpful in small quantities.

If they do start to go crazy you can put in a piece of cucumber over night (on a small fork or something so it sinks) and pick them out and kill them in the morning. Or get a couple of Assassin snails.

Ah man, this is embarassing. So I tried the cucumber thing last week. It floated and then I gave up. I'm glad you mentioned the weighted aspect. You probably mentioned it before. Time for try #2. hahaha.

 

[Drogon]

Well I've stuck a list in at my LFS and will decide on what to Polys to get. They recommended EBJD as they import their polys and EBJD from Germany and seem to think that they're a higher quality... not sure if its true but we shall see! I know its about what we want but don't want to unnecessarily be sentencing poor fish to death!

Seen mixed stuff about Syndontis Multis in with Bichirs, and also different types of Plec in with them. Whats everyones thoughts? Guess they're not even needed if regular maintenance is kept up!