bobthop
Aquarium Advice Newbie
I am setting up my second tank 200litres/55gal and looking for stocking ideas.
The tank is for my son who is partially sighted (and unable to speak/sign - so he can't help with decisions).
Key thing is that the fish need to be reasonably large (4-8"), quite slow moving, mostly solid bold colours and against a high contrast against the backdrop/plants for him to see them.
We discovered that he liked fish by watching him entranced by 5-6 Blood Parrots in 300g tank with a dark blue background. We replicated this as well as we could with a blue b/g and golden mollies/platies in a 10g and for the last 10 months he has spent +30 mins a day with his face against the glass. I know he can also see and track the red bellied piranhas at the LFS (they contrast against a dark b/g and cruise around pretty slowly).
My LFS suggested 5-6 Angels and they are beautiful - so it is a tempting option.
I am also tempted by the idea something along the lines of a specimen or two with a species that schools quite tightly.
Anyway I am open to suggestions as I would rather track down the right fish and plants than rush it for whatever LFS has in stock this week.
I don't want complex maintenance (my 10 gal is no problem so hoping 55gal will be safe to leave with wife/daughter etc when I travel with work etc - usually only a week or 10 days). Local water is a little hard here in London, but have been doing ok with the 10g once we got a stable stock/water and tweaked the conditioner qty (lost a few Platies in first 3 months then switched to Mollies and since then all has been good).
Lastly I like the plants and decor almost as much as the fish so want to make sure I have all three perfectly complimenting each other and a design that makes those fish really stand out.
Thank you for taking the time to read all this.
The tank is for my son who is partially sighted (and unable to speak/sign - so he can't help with decisions).
Key thing is that the fish need to be reasonably large (4-8"), quite slow moving, mostly solid bold colours and against a high contrast against the backdrop/plants for him to see them.
We discovered that he liked fish by watching him entranced by 5-6 Blood Parrots in 300g tank with a dark blue background. We replicated this as well as we could with a blue b/g and golden mollies/platies in a 10g and for the last 10 months he has spent +30 mins a day with his face against the glass. I know he can also see and track the red bellied piranhas at the LFS (they contrast against a dark b/g and cruise around pretty slowly).
My LFS suggested 5-6 Angels and they are beautiful - so it is a tempting option.
I am also tempted by the idea something along the lines of a specimen or two with a species that schools quite tightly.
Anyway I am open to suggestions as I would rather track down the right fish and plants than rush it for whatever LFS has in stock this week.
I don't want complex maintenance (my 10 gal is no problem so hoping 55gal will be safe to leave with wife/daughter etc when I travel with work etc - usually only a week or 10 days). Local water is a little hard here in London, but have been doing ok with the 10g once we got a stable stock/water and tweaked the conditioner qty (lost a few Platies in first 3 months then switched to Mollies and since then all has been good).
Lastly I like the plants and decor almost as much as the fish so want to make sure I have all three perfectly complimenting each other and a design that makes those fish really stand out.
Thank you for taking the time to read all this.
