Blank Slate - 30G Long

[taylorodw]

Hello,

I haven't posted in a while as my tank has mostly been humming along merrily. I will be moving a considerable distance (300+ miles) and as such will be adopting all of my fish out.

So, I'll have a blank slate. My old 10G tank I'll probably keep as a QT tank. What should I put in my 30G Long tank?

I'm a semi-experienced fish owner. I know the cycle, have the API test kit, done live plants and had a tank for about 7 months now.

I loved my Tiger Barbs but I got sick of them limiting my options so much! Now that I'm starting over, I want to make smart decisions instead of just picking random ones at Petco.

I've never owned cichlids and I would be interested in any small enough for my tank (apistos?). But really, I just want fish that exhibit some cool behavior, and that get along!

I'm not really into gouramis, guppies, danios, or plecos... So hit me with your ideas!

Thanks in advance.

 

[meegosh]

Could do angels, apistos, pair of rams or something along those lines. There are lots of cool tetras out there, my favorite being the Diamond Tetra. They look awesome when they get older and really sparkle and when they are in a school they are neat fish to watch.

I have a 30g long with one 6" koi angel, some diamond and neon tetras, some guppies, a clown loach and an upside down catfish. FWIW

 

[Nippy Fish]

Bolivian Rams. Definitely. They are very cool. I have 3 and they are very entertaining! And they are a type of cichlid. They stay small, around 3", they are colorful, interactive, and funny. They tussle with each other all the time, but it is harmless, they are so funny. I love to watch mine. They stay near the bottom so there is a lot you can put with them. I have some tetras and badis with mine. They only rumble with their own kind. They are cute, too. I would definitely recommend them. I have 7 tanks and they are my favorite. Don't get them confused with the German Blue Ram, you don't want them.

Apistos require soft water so if your tap isn't naturally soft you'll need to provide R/O water.

 

[taylorodw]

Bolivian Rams look awesome! Are they supposed to be paired, or what's a good size group?

Also, I have heard that they require peat in their water? Is that true?

I'm considering this stock list:

2-3 Bolivian Rams
5 Hatchet Fish
11 tetras (rummynose?)

But I really have to test the water down there to see what will thrive in my tank.

 

[severum mama]

Bolivians do not require peat IME. They are hardy fish given that the tank is established, and will thrive in a variety of water parameters. I think it's best to stick with a pair in a 30 gallon. The hatchets and rummies will really set them off and your tank will look awesome IMO. I think you could add another hatchet or 2 to your list as long as you stock slow. Remember, you'll need a well-covered aquarium. I had a glass canopy on my 55 with hatchets and they still managed to jump, one by one. Now HN1 and I keep pygmy hatchets in a JBJ 180 nano (totally covered) and they are doing great.

 

[taylorodw]

Fingers crossed that the water conditions at my new place are good for Bolivian Rams, I really like them.

I am reconsidering the hatchetfish, what other good top-dwellers are there? I don't like many others aside from white clouds, which I think might be too similar to the rummies.

Edit: This is still all up in the air so I decided to post a more complete profile of my tank.

30 gal long, with brown sandy substrate. Low light, will have java fern, java moss, anubias nana. Manzanita driftwood, haven't found the right rocks yet though.

Still waiting to get down there and observe water conditions, I can start on Tuesday.

 

[meegosh]

Make sure you have a lid with no big spaces in it if you go with hatchets. I have heard they are good jumpers. Sounds like you are on the right track! Post some pics when you start to make progress, we all love pics!

 

[Nippy Fish]

Bolivian Rams are very hardy and can deal with a range of water parameters. My trio live in a pH of 8.0 and water that is off-the-charts HARD. You can keep only a pair if you make SURE you have a male and female. I keep 3 males and they do fine. I wouldn't keep 2 males.

Since you have a 30g "long", you may want to skip the tetras. You won't have much water depth, I'm guessing. The rams will occupy the bottom and a little of the middle. The hatchet fish will occupy the top, and they get to a decent size, about 2.5" and with their body depth they'll seem bigger. I've had the rummynose and they tend to stay in the middle and there won't be much middle for them swim back and forth in, I don't think. Anyway, maybe you should think about it and maybe stock them last after you get a chance to see how the others fit in and settle out?

 

[severum mama]

A 30 long is 16" tall. The Bolivians, rummynose, and hatchets should be completely fine. IMO they will have plenty of space; I've kept them all together in the past.

 

[taylorodw]

Just set it up and put the sand in... I at first rinsed the sand 2x and wasn't getting much clouding. So I rinsed it once and got a lot of clouding, too bad. I guess I'll just have to let it settle.



Also have the light from my 10G up there just to help with the lighting.

In tank right now:

1 rock, 1 piece driftwood (already soaked and been in other tank for a while), 2 fake plants, 1 Anubius Nana plant, 5-7 java fern plants, and some java moss.

Also a bunch of driftwood is soaking up at the top, it's not even soaked enough to sink yet

I kept the filter from my 10g and have it sitting in the new tank's filter right now to seed it... since I may not be actually getting the fish for a little while, how can I keep the bacteria colonies good? Will throwing food in do the trick?

To Do List: Aquascape tank
Test parameters
Stock

 

[kaiofcanada]

Looks like a fun project!

I would not soak the wood in the tank, rather boil it for a couple hours on low and them soak it in a bucket of dechlorinated water until it stops changing colour. Then it will be ready to put in your tank.

As far as keeping bacteria growing, there are a number of threads on preferred methods...some use ammonia, some use the shrimp method, others use flake food. Since you will not be stocking the tank for a while, maybe read up on the different ways to decide for yourself. They will all work, just a matter of preference.

 

[severum mama]

There's no need to soak driftwood if you don't want to. It may leech some tannins out into the water, but it will go away in time. You can ignore it if it doesn't bother you, or else use carbon or extra water changes to remove the color. It's really your choice.

 

[taylorodw]

Yeah, the driftwood I bought is blasted and then frozen to kill any nasties, so I'm not concerned about anything but the harmless tannins. They lower the pH but I'm hoping for some acidic water anyways.

Water has sat for ~24 hours now, I'm going to let it sit the full 48 so the pH is really stable before I test.

 

[kaiofcanada]

You might want to check out Dizzcat. She has some great video's and threads on her cichlids. She is very creative with her video's and shows breeding of her fish (really nice footage of the colour changes and behaviour), remodeling of tanks (by the fish), and even some cute videos or the fry growing up in a DIY chamber.

 

[kaiofcanada]

Here is a post from Dizzcat with links to her videos. I think you will enjoy them.

Thanks for the feed back! It is a bit depressing when I offer so much advice and time only to have my posts ignored

I have a few remixes I put together. I wish I could do that on You-tube because I can't get a Photo-bucket video to embed in any forums. I have a video program I need to sit and mess with one day soon.

Here are a couple I have done.

This is my Bolivian Ram making a family video. Its kind of long. It starts with the pair flirting, then the spawn, wigglers, and follows the fry as they grow.
Ram Vids :: Ram Family remix by dizzcat45 - Photobucket

This one is the fry as they grow. It too is a tad long. I am going to be making a shorter version soon. This is my favorite, its so cute!
May Spawn 2009 :: Best Remix Free Swimmers remix by dizzcat45 - Photobucket

In this one they are almost 2 months old. Its short but sweet!
May Spawn 2009 :: Kids at 2 months remix by dizzcat45 - Photobucket

These are much shorter.

This one is my male Greshakei digging out a spot to spawn in. Look at him dumping sand all over!
Ice Blue Metriaclima greshakei :: Chewy Digs remix by dizzcat45 - Photobucket

This is my Egg Tumbler video. I stripped the eggs from my Red Zebra Mbuna after she had held for 6 days and raised them in a tumbler. It shows from newly hatched to free swimming. We never get to see that because the mom holds them the entire time.
Tumbler Remix :: Egg Tumbler remix by dizzcat45 - Photobucket


And this one is just a cool slide show of my tanks and inhabitants. I made it for a web site I am working on.
Tank Slideshow :: Site Remix remix by dizzcat45 - Photobucket

Please let me know what you all think! Feed back will be wonderful!
Thanks.

 

[spoonman]

Her Videos

 

[kaiofcanada]

Her Videos

Opps Didn't know...thanks

 

[taylorodw]

Excellent videos! I watched them all.

I tested the water parameters. After letting water run for 48 hours, adding lots and lots of fish food each time:

Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
pH 7.4-7.6

60% water change...

Ammonia 0-0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
pH 7.2

So the water here is slightly basic. I'm about to go check out the closest LFS and see what sort of stock/goodies they have.

 

[taylorodw]

I'm still not getting any nitrite or nitrate... However, the LFS nearby has Bolivian Rams! Lately I've been considering doing just a straight South American tank, it seems like the simplest solution to my questions of fish compatibility...

So the tank I'm imagining now looks like this:

4 Bolivian Rams (2 pairs hopefully)
7 Cardinal Tetras
7 Hatchetfish

I'm worried that this will be too large of a bioload... but water changes are easy as 1-2-3 in my tank's location, and I also have two spare HOB's from 10gs I could throw on to help with the filtration.

 

[severum mama]

That won't be too much of a bioload at all IMO. None of those are heavy bioload fish, especially the tetras and hatchets. Actually, I think you could easily go up to 10 cardinals since your tank will be planted and you seem dedicated about maintenance. I'd caution you about conspecific aggression from the rams though. I find them almost impossible to sex (other folks don't seem to have nearly as much trouble as I do) and I once kept 4 in a 29 thinking I had 2M/2F. I never did get a pair out of them, but I had to move one to a different tank because the others were picking on it. Then again, the 30L has a larger footprint so you may be able to get away with it. Just a thought.