30 gallon. stocking questions.

[justrelax]

i just picked up a 30 gallon tank and have deicided i think i want to do a cichlid community. so i have some questions. right off the bat i'm really drawn to the german blue rams, orange cockatoo's, and the double full red agassizi's. has anyone had any luck keeping all three species in one tank? i'm concerned that 30 gallons won't be enough space for all three, but have no experience with these breeds. i keep perfect water parameters, so i'm not worried about that. the next question would be, what can i put in with them? some type of schooling tetra, maybe neons? i'm open to suggestions, so please share your thoughts!!

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I'm sure it can be done. I know people who have GBR's in with others like cockatoos. But for a 30G, need to also look at real estate. Is there enough room for all 3 territories?

 

[justrelax]

that's exactly the problem i was expecting. so, am i pretty much limited to putting caves along the substrate for housing, or can i sort of stack caves to make the most of my space? just to clarify, i'm planning on a sand substrate and will be using slate for cave formations. you think if i used tall plants (they will be fake at this point) to divide the tank into two or three sections with caves along the back wall in each section that would work? just thinking out loud here, please share your thoughts...
of course, the overall health and happiness of my fish is my primary concern. but if three pairs of different species can be done without sacrificing either, i'd like to.
oh, and the tetra question... any opinions on neons with gbr's, cockatoo's, or agassizi's?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Actually, you wouldn't need to divide the tank with plants. Just having lots of stacked caves, etc, and it should be fine. As for tetras, I probably wouldn't do neons, but rather cardinals instead. Very similar looking, but a little bigger.

Also, my GBR's seem to really like anacharis. It's their main hangout. If you did a lot of cave work through most of the tank, and have a small grove of anacharis on one side of the tank or the other, or even in the middle, splitting up 2 sets of rockwork. The GBR's will probably stay closer to the plants, and the others in the caves, etc.

 

[justrelax]

i like the sound of that. i think i will do gbr's and cockatoo's then. next question:
i currently have running on my 55 an emperor 400 and an xp2. they will continue to run together for about three more weeks to get the canister completely seeded. what i'm thinking is that when i pull the emperor off the 55, i can put it right on the thirty, dump in 10 cardinal's (thanx for the suggestion, that will work!) and pretty much instantly cycle the 30, right? the cardinal's should be tough enough to handle a mini-cycle if it happens, don't you think? not that i want to put them through that, and if that sounds too cruel someone please tell me, but my emperor has been handling the bio-load of the 55 so it seems to me it could handle 10 cardinals!

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Absolutely, you will have a cycled filter on the 30G then. There is a possibility you might see a small spike, like I did when I moved my XP3 from the 55G to the 75G, but it only lasted 2 days, and wasn't much of a spike. So if you see something spike, don't worry, just watch and do a PWC if necessary, it will be very short lived if it does happen. Then you will be set.

I think the cardinals would be ok. They are more hardy than neons. So you should be ok there. No worries. You should see the bioload my Emperor 400's are handling, lol.

 

[Menagerie]

Sounds like you have a solid plan; the only potential flaw is the stacked caves. As humans, we don't mind living in high rises, but certain fish will never "nest" too far from the substrate. Just something to keep in mind and of course, YMMV with each fish.

 

[toddnbecka]

A friend who owns an lfs has a display tank with terraces made from cracked plastic "critter keepers". They're 1.5-2 gallon plastic boxes, turned on their sides. Gravel bed on top, front edges concealed with rocks. They make great caves, as well as different levels in the substrate. Just about any square plastic boxes or containers would work.

 

[justrelax]

that's a good idea, i've been thinking of some diy way to do this. seems it would possibly be more stable if i could make the entire cave formations all one piece and just drop them in place... i like the look of slate, though. will aquarium poly hold together pieces of rock? then i could pre-form the slate caves.

 

[toddnbecka]

Aquarium silicone or epoxy will work for gluing slate together. Silicone would be easier to remove if you wanted to change the layout later.

 

[justrelax]

gotcha, is there a prefered brand?

 

[toddnbecka]

Just read the ingredients to be sure it's pure silicone. You can pick up a tube at a hardware store or Home Depot, etc. cheaper than the lfs.

 

[src]

There's already several discussions about Silicone, one very recently in the General Discussion forum if you want details. However, the consensus is to either use "real" aquarium silicone, or GE Silicone I Door and Window - make sure there are no anti-mold or mildew additives in the tube you pick up (i.e. it should NOT list mold/mildew resistance as a feature).

 

[justrelax]

ok, so i'm getting the tank this weekend. i plan to instant cycle as discussed with the emperor. i am going to introduce 8 cardinal tetra's, 3 oto's and an albino bn right away. now the question..
how should i introduce the apisto's (gbr pair and cockatoo pair)? i will be setting up the tank with caves structures on either end of the tank and plants here and there (fake plants i found some fake anacharis lwb, i hope they like it as much as the real stuff ). so i see my options as: both pairs of apisto's at the same time with everyone else, both at the same time after the potential mini-cycle, or one pair at a time after the potential mini-cycle.
???

 

[toddnbecka]

I'd drop the oto's from the stocking list. The BN will be quite enough to keep the tank clear of algae, and won't leave enough to support the oto's. I'd wait until the tank is established before adding the apisto's, they're harder to come by than cardinal tetra's. The emperor is established, but the new tank won't be. The bacteria grow on every surface in the tank, including the substrate. The filter should be able to handle the cardinals/BN while the tank is new, but apisto's are very sensitive fish, best to have a well-established tank ready for them.

 

[justrelax]

i was wondering if that stock list was a bit heavy... i just wanted oto's because i think they're sweet! but i do like albino bn's too. oh well.

 

[justrelax]

well, the tank is set up and it looks pretty sweet. i haven't moved the filter over or added any fish yet. have been saving my pennies in the meantime, i was wasting some time looking at fish today and got to thinking zebra danios are pretty cool looking. i'm seeing some threads that say they can be a little too active for some fish. anyone have an opinion on keeping them with the apistos instead of the cardinals?