new to the boards and a question (about angelfish)

[marliah]

I am so happy I found this forum, Ihave been looking for a place to talk to others who are as addicted to fish as I am lol.

We have two tanks (my husband and I). We just bought our 46 gallon 3 weeks ago (46 gal oceanic bow front, biowheel filter, brackish, cichlid tank). Up until then I had been keeping a guppy tank, I just love having fish and was so happy he finally agreed to get another tank! He is the cichlid guy and I like the little peaceful freshwater setups

My question pertains to my 10 gallon tank, currently I have a handful of fancy guppies and 2 small red mollies. I would like to add a couple baby angelfish to that tank and am wondering if that is feasible. I know angels can grow pretty large (not a problem I can always upgrade to a bigger tank later). But will angels do o.k. with guppies and mollies? do they need anything special as far as food/water goes?

Also one more thing, I have some trumpet snails on order (for feeding my puffer who is in the cichlid tank) can I put them in the ten gallon tank or will they mess it up? I can run out and get a small snail tank if thats better.....

thanks in advance! Look forward to getting to know you all

Tara

 

[Fishyfanatic]

This doesn't pertain to your question, but are the cichlids in brackish water? They are not brackish fish.

The addition of any more fish into the 10 gal tank would not be a good idea. The mollies should actually not be in the tank. They need at least a 20 gal. Plus, Angels need a tank larger than 10 gal. If you are planning on upgrading later on, then wait until you get the upgraded tank before getting them.

The puffers should not be in the same tank with the cichlids. The snails can be put in the 10 gal tank, but I wouldn't with the load that you already have in it. A better option would be just a small 5 gal tank.

Welcome to AA Tara! It's always great to see new members who are as active in their fish lives as you are.

 

[marliah]

thanks for your advice, guess I will have to wait on the angelfish until I can talk my husband into letting me get another tank.

As far a cichlids go, I was told they are brackish? aren't they supposed to have some salt added to their water? My husband kept a 55 gal cichlid tank for about 6 years (until we moved and had to sell off the fish) and the cichlids were very happy (most grew to about 5") and we even had bredding take place. Perhaps he adds less salt than brackish water has? I am not sure. I think he put like 2 tablespoons into the 46 gallon when we started it up, when we do water changes we just throw a little in (a teaspoon or so) are we doing that wrong? or is this just not enough salt to be considered brackish?

For the puffer what type of salt/water ratio is best for him? and what size tank should he be in? should I buy another puffer to keep him company or just put him by himself?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Tara

 

[penpitt]

For cichlids there is a special salt to help simulate there water conditions which is hard and alkaline, but it is still freshwater.Depending on which species of puffer you have it could be FW or BW or BW/SW. If the puffer is a brackish species it will need a marine salt mix, not the cichlid salt/aquarium salt mixes that are for FW fish.
Puffers generally do best by themselves, or if the tank is large enough you could get a couple. Here is a link to help identify which puffer you might have. Based on the availability of puffers I would assume it will be one of the 3 more commonly available species. Have a look at tetraodon biocellatus, tetraodon nigroviridis and carinotetraodon travancoricus.

http://www.pufferlist.com/

 

[marliah]

ahh o.k. that makes sense, so cichlids do need some salt but they aren't brackish (my bad, I probably misunderstood what my husband said then).

The puffer I have is a figure 8 (Tetraodon biocellatus), and actually after reading your post I looked it up and it appears he can live in FW or BW (good think cause he probably wouldn't have survived otherwise!).

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Cichlids don't need any salt. They are perfectly fine in regular freshwater water. Some stores push upon people Freshwater Aquarium salt, but it is not needed at all. The addition of salts in freshwater tanks is debatable. Some people use it, but it is not needed. There is the theory that fish that are constantly in salted freshwater will not react to the salt treatement when treating for diseases. It is definately not something that is needed for the well being of the fish. If you decide to stop using the salt, do it slowly. Don't do a big water change all at once to remove it.

Also, what kind of Cichlids do you have?

 

[penpitt]

The F8 will do best in light brackish conditions with a SG of 1.005 to 1.008. I would recommend getting him his own tank because I'm not sure how well he or the cichlids will fare with each other. He can do well in a tank as small as a 15 gallon although a 20 would be better for water quality issues. The only extra items you need in a BW setup would be marine salt mix and a hydrometer. The floating style hydrometer would be better because I think some swingarm styles don't measure SG below 1.010.

 

[Guest]

just wanted to second that the angels won't do good in the 10 gallon and that they will probably eat the guppies once the reach about the size of a quarter.. believe me, i added some guppies to my tank and i had a killifish that ate most of them, but one of the angels ate a small guppy. So if you are going to keep angels one day just keep in mind that a 30 gallon is probably a good size for no more than two and you can keep other small fish, ex. cories and large tetras, but just know that you can't keep like small neon tetras with angels.

 

[Jchillin]

Since everyone has provided you with some good advice, the only thing left for me is:

Welcome to AA!

 

[mr funktastic]

most cichlids come from lakes that are exposed to salt and appertly they will trive better if u have some salt in there. i personally wouldnt go through the trouble of adding that little bit of salt but i know that some pet stores will keep there cichlids in water with salt. big als near me has salt in all there cichlid tanks. i have 1 angel in a 20 gallon with a few guppies and 2 rams and he is huge. he doesnt bother my guppies at all and he is about this ----------------------- big across his body. picture that round lol i thought my guppy would have been a gonner by now

 

[Puriti]

Welcome to AA ^^ good luck with your fish...