Jaster
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Hello all.
Let me introduce myself... My name is Rich and I'm you guy's newest newb just bursting with questions. I've been wanting to do this for a long time and I finally have a good opertunity to get myself started. I'm getting my hands on a 80gallon bowfront. Now I am very new to this... my last tank was about 20 years ago and it was nothing but a goldfish killer. After about a couple weeks of reading posts and such from all kinds of places I think I have enough of a clue to start planning this. I'm not actually getting my hands on the tank for about another month so I have plenty of time to learn more and it keeps me from filling it right away and blindly tossing thousands of fish in it.
The tank itself comes with a heater (no clue what size or type. I'm assuming *cough* that it should be ok for tank), a mirrored single bar flur. light and hood setup (sorry.. again no idea what wattage), and a Marineland Emperor 400 filter. And lastly the array of plastic plants, bubbling treasure chest with bell diver (lol), and a small net. I know there is more I will need and I'm already planning on once I find out whats really in/on the tank. Like the light and probably another Emperor 400.
I have come up with a plan of what I would like to do with this and what I want to add as far as fish. So I'd like to run that by you all and get some opinions and thoughts to see if I'm on the right track here.
Well for starters I plan on a mostly gravel bottom but I like the idea of sand as well. So I will probably do a split with some kind of barrier to keep the sand in place. Something like mounded gravel to the back and sides with a "beach" in the front of the tank. (hope that made sense) I also plan on some kind of formations to make caves and hiding places in the graveled areas along with maybe a plant or two.
As far as plants go... I'm not really sure. I'm a little intimidated by this part at he moment. I'm considering 1 or 2 real plants right now. I don't have the money to upgrade the lights (if it's needed) at this point first off and the whole CO2 thing confused the heck out of me. I want to be able to wrap my head around caring for the fish and the tank before I jump to plants. I would prefere to keep the plant life to a bare minimum but I want happy fish too. (also don't want this to grow into a forest) I've read about the additives for plants too. This seemed like they type of thing that cound more complicated then it really is. Is that true? So I guess the real question here is what kind of plants can I get away with and are pretty much monkey proof to keep alive and maintain if I go that route and what am I really getting my newb self into with thinking about plants?
My new friends... Well I thought of starting with a group of 5-6 Zebra Danious, and a couple Bristle Nose Plecos. After that (and over a good amount of time between additions) 6-8 Black Skirt and/or Penguin Tetras and 2-3 Rosey and/or Gold Barbs. I'm thinking 3-5 Swordtails, 4-5 Guppies (maybe orange sunshines), I've thought about Angelfish and Dwarf Gouramis (because I love how they look). I've been getting mixed opinions from other sites over those two in a community tank. The end result though, I would like a couple nice schools of small to med sized fish, a couple of medium fish, and few big boys.
So thanks in advance for putting up with the looong post and any thoughts, opinions, and guidence you have to offer about my thoughts and plans!
Let me introduce myself... My name is Rich and I'm you guy's newest newb just bursting with questions. I've been wanting to do this for a long time and I finally have a good opertunity to get myself started. I'm getting my hands on a 80gallon bowfront. Now I am very new to this... my last tank was about 20 years ago and it was nothing but a goldfish killer. After about a couple weeks of reading posts and such from all kinds of places I think I have enough of a clue to start planning this. I'm not actually getting my hands on the tank for about another month so I have plenty of time to learn more and it keeps me from filling it right away and blindly tossing thousands of fish in it.
The tank itself comes with a heater (no clue what size or type. I'm assuming *cough* that it should be ok for tank), a mirrored single bar flur. light and hood setup (sorry.. again no idea what wattage), and a Marineland Emperor 400 filter. And lastly the array of plastic plants, bubbling treasure chest with bell diver (lol), and a small net. I know there is more I will need and I'm already planning on once I find out whats really in/on the tank. Like the light and probably another Emperor 400.
I have come up with a plan of what I would like to do with this and what I want to add as far as fish. So I'd like to run that by you all and get some opinions and thoughts to see if I'm on the right track here.
Well for starters I plan on a mostly gravel bottom but I like the idea of sand as well. So I will probably do a split with some kind of barrier to keep the sand in place. Something like mounded gravel to the back and sides with a "beach" in the front of the tank. (hope that made sense) I also plan on some kind of formations to make caves and hiding places in the graveled areas along with maybe a plant or two.
As far as plants go... I'm not really sure. I'm a little intimidated by this part at he moment. I'm considering 1 or 2 real plants right now. I don't have the money to upgrade the lights (if it's needed) at this point first off and the whole CO2 thing confused the heck out of me. I want to be able to wrap my head around caring for the fish and the tank before I jump to plants. I would prefere to keep the plant life to a bare minimum but I want happy fish too. (also don't want this to grow into a forest) I've read about the additives for plants too. This seemed like they type of thing that cound more complicated then it really is. Is that true? So I guess the real question here is what kind of plants can I get away with and are pretty much monkey proof to keep alive and maintain if I go that route and what am I really getting my newb self into with thinking about plants?
My new friends... Well I thought of starting with a group of 5-6 Zebra Danious, and a couple Bristle Nose Plecos. After that (and over a good amount of time between additions) 6-8 Black Skirt and/or Penguin Tetras and 2-3 Rosey and/or Gold Barbs. I'm thinking 3-5 Swordtails, 4-5 Guppies (maybe orange sunshines), I've thought about Angelfish and Dwarf Gouramis (because I love how they look). I've been getting mixed opinions from other sites over those two in a community tank. The end result though, I would like a couple nice schools of small to med sized fish, a couple of medium fish, and few big boys.
So thanks in advance for putting up with the looong post and any thoughts, opinions, and guidence you have to offer about my thoughts and plans!