Tropical Fish Forum
Think Fish Tropical Fish Forum => Fish Community Creator => Topic started by: jrees343 on June 07, 2020, 12:47:41 AM
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Hi,
I recently got into fishkeeping about 2 months ago, im currently running a 20 litre freshwater betta fish aquarium which is going well so far. I'm also in the process of cycling an 80 litre freshwater aquarium as well in a blackwater biotope style. I need help with deciding what fish to add once the aquarium has fully cycled. The aquarium is a tetra starterline 80 litre aquarium from argos, I have upgraded the internal filter for a 150 litre external filter and I am using a 100 watt heater and I am still using the 10 watt LED light that was provided with the aquarium. I am looking to house 2 Dwarf Cockatoo Cichlids, 4 otocinclus catfish, 4 corydora catfish, 6 harlequin rasboras, 6 neon tetra and about 6 nerite snails in this aquarium. If you think I should change anything with this aquarium please let me know or offer any advice that would help me out with this.
Thank you :)
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Welcome to the hobby and the forum :wave:
I used this website https://www.seriouslyfish.com to research the fish I wanted to keep and it gives you all the information such as stocking numbers and parameters. In addition to our great community creator section on here you can also use http://www.aqadvisor.com to check your stocking levels Etc. However I find it doesn’t work via my WiFi but will work on 4G.
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I would always keep more than 4 Otos or Corydoras (not ‘Corydora’ :) )... so maybe 8 of one of them? Also Otos are very risky in a new tank, or one without lots of biofilm.
A true blackwater tank would have a very low pH, and be a different concept, because at such low pH’s there’s no biological filtration, and the tank relies on water changes to remove ammonia and nitrite.
If you just mean water with tannins in it so that it looks brown but the pH is well above 6, that doesn’t limit the fish choices to blackwater fish...
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Hi @jrees343 and welcome to the forum. :wave:
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Welcome :wave:, and I like the sound of your plans, along with the good advice that others have provided.
Presumably you have soft water where you are? If so, those fish ought to thrive in that. The nerite snails do better in harder water but I feed mine Dennerle Shrimp King Snail Stixx to help fortify their shells due to my very soft water, and this has worked well as a supplement to their munching of algae.
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@jrees343 a few thoughts for your consideration...
My (mental) maths of your proposed stocking levels sounds like you have too many fish. I appreciate you have upgraded the filter etc but I still feel that these levels are high and you may run into issues with filtration/high nitrate etc. Especially given the comments above, you may wish to look at rationalising the number of species you intend to keep. Perhaps just one mid water schooling species? Schooling fish always behave better and feel less stressed in higher numbers too so reducing the number of species would allow you to stock a few more cories etc..
Presume you aware that cories prefer a soft sand substrate? (as will the cichlids) and that the nerites will leave small white eggs around the aquarium which are nie on impossible to remove?
How do you intend to generate the black water look - rooibos tea is very effective but a little known method.
Have you transferred a small portion of mature media from your Berra’s tank into the 80 litre to assist with the cycling process?