How does this tank setup look?

[Rsquared333]

I have done some research and I want to post the results of my desired tank. It is a mid to heavily planted freshwater community tank. I would appreciate any comments, corrections, or advice.

Tank- 50 gallon

Filter- Filstar XP3

Heater- 200 watt Ebo-Jager or Tronic

Lighting- Triton Flourescent lamp

CO2- DIY

Substrate- ECO-Complete for plants

Fish- 7 Zebra Danios
7 Rainbowfish
6 Otocinclus Catfish
3-5 Kuhlii Loaches
3-5 Singapore Flower shrimp
Algae Eating Nerite Snails (Subject to avaliblity at LFS)

Plants- (Subject to avaliblity at LFS)
Asiatia Valliseria
Small Amazon Sword
Micro Sword
Java Fern
Moneywort
Anacharis
Cabomba

 

[Menagerie]

For a planted tank, you will not want a ton of surface aggitation and may only want to use the Filstar.
As for your pygmy cats, I have 5 in a ten gal and never see them. Definitely add many more if you want to see them (trust me, you will want to see their cute little faces). I also encourage you to increase the numbers of your schooling fish.

 

[Rsquared333]

ok. What would you recommend?

 

[Menagerie]

*If it were my tank* I would add all the pygmy cats I could find!!
But it's your tank and you want serious numbers. I woul dgo with a minimum of 10 pygmies (20 would be better!). 7-9 zebra danios and 11-15 of the Glowlights. You may not want to do that all at one time. Once all the plants are in there, you will hardly see your fish and there is nothing better than watching a schooling fish actually school or shoal.

 

[TankGirl]

I agree completely - sounds like a great setup! What is going to be the wattage of your lights?

The only comment I have, and this is just my experience and not necessarily true across the board, but when I kept valisneria in my community planted tank with CO2 and ferts and light and all the wonderful stuff, it floundered. I put it in my ARLC tank with hard, alkaline water and a sand substrate, relatively low light, and it just went nuts - I was pulling gobs of it out every week.

 

[Rsquared333]

thanks I had the low numbers because I was worryied about overstocking. The wattage will be a total of about 120

 

[Rsquared333]

bump please

 

[Fruitbat]

Personally...I'd leave the freshwater clams out of the mix. They're notoriously difficult to keep alive in a 'clean' aquarium as they are filter feeders and must have an adequate supply of suspended particles of food. This isn't exactly conducive to a 'nice' aquarium. In addition....it can be quite difficult to determine if the clam is even alive or not. Frequently when they die they will close up 'like a clam' and will begin to decompose before you know it....playing merry hades with your water parameters.

Other than that...I'd say your proposed setup looks just fine!

 

[Rsquared333]

Thanks. The clam just seemed like an interesting addition that i have not seen many people have. But if people have that much trouble with it I guess it is not worth it. Maybe in several years when i am more advanced in the hobby i can take a crack at it.