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Hi all, i'm pretty new to this website, i only discovered it yesterday via equarium.com.au... excellent site ok, now down to business... i was just wondering if people would mind looking at my new-ish tank http://au.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dana_e_m/detail?.dir=/7197&.dnm=4c3d.jpg&.src=ph and telling me what they think... It is a 2 foot glass tank. i have a 50w heater (upgrade to 100w heater happening as soon as it gets here), undergravel filter and 10" airstone. It is stocked with 2 dwarf gourami, 1 pearl gourami (its partner died a little while ago when i had them in my old tank), 1 black neon, 3 cardinal tetras, 2 kuhli loaches (which are currently hiding under the gravel by the heater), 1 glass catfish, 2 baby bristlenose catfish and 1 red finned black shark (which isn't aggressive to any other fish). any ideas on improvements, etc? cheers

Last edited by pfaft at 22-Jun-2005 10:30

Hi Welcome to Fish Profile i'am a newbie too.i think your tank is great, i think perhaps u would move the plant in the centre to the left so it would look more appealing( otherwise the tank seems to be divided strictly into 3.Overall i think once your plants fill out it should be a awesome tank.

glass catfish sohuld be kept in schools of atleast 5

yeah importfan.... i realise this... but my boyfriend insisted on getting one for my tank, even though i told him it probably will be uber lonely. i *may* be able to get a couple more glass catfish in the very near future, but i'm afraid of overstocking my tank

and thanks amazingpuffer! i might just try that

Last edited by pfaft at 22-Jun-2005 09:59

Last edited by pfaft at 22-Jun-2005 10:00

That is quite possibly the most eclectic stocking I have seen for a while.
Next time, handcuff the BF to the car and go in by yourself


I'm having trouble telling how large your tank is Pfaft, it looks less than 2' long. Can you measure it at all?


Judging by the size of what looks like a dwarf gourami, i think its actually a bit too small to hold all those fish.

There are a few problems that jump right out.

*the pearl gourami is going to get a bit big for that tank
*the tetras are schooling fih, and do far better with their own kind, preferably 5 or more.
*the glass cats fret and worry when they are by themselves, so he needs a new home or more companions. Sorry, but you are going to have to put your foot down on that one, show that BF that you mean business.

i'm pretty sure the kuhlis will be ok, but they are frightened, and need somewhere secure to hide. give them a new terracotta pot or a piece of PVC piping or something. they should prefer that to a heater

I wouldn't add any more to the tank. With that filtration you are sort of pushing it as it is.


Do you have ammonia and nitrite testing kits?


For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

the tank is 2'x1'x10". i don't personally have testing kits, but i go into the local aquarium to get the water tested and it reads fine and the whole problem when i bought fish was i didn't get the credit card unless i brought the bf to control my spending.... were it not for that supervision, i would quite happily have bought every fish in the shop and every tank they had to support those fish... the whole tetra schooling thing was alot better before i had an absolute plague of white spot through my tank due to a bad fish shop. i lost 5 fish in a night before i could do anything :#(

and what would be a good filtration upgrade in your opinion (thanks heaps btw) i lost all faith in corner filters a few years back after my zebra danios pretended they were lemmings and the corner filter a cliff...

and the kuhlis only come out after the light has been out for an hour or so, they just don't seem to like the light

Last edited by pfaft at 22-Jun-2005 10:31

oh my....ur overstocked...ur tank is just roughly 12g...i dont think the pearl or the rtbs or the glassfish should be there at all. if u can give it back to ur lfs and get a store credit for it...u better stay with small fish. HOB is fine with that tank.

Last edited by tankie at 22-Jun-2005 10:34

i will be setting up a new tank when my fish outgrow the current tank, but for the moment, they are young, happy and now very healthy too...

That outgrowing thing will be about 3-6 months, so save up your credit card brownie points

A HOb filter would be good, something like an Aquaclear 200 or a penguin or even the AquaOne hang on filters would be good.

If you aren't going to change the stocking, i'd suggest running the HOB as well as the UGF that you have on there now to try to squeeze as much out of that tank as you possibly can.

I know it sounds bad, but I wouldn't add anything more to that tank right now. Even if something dies, don't add anything just now. Its horrible I know, I'm a shopaholic and a fishgeek, you should see the BF shudder when he sees me browsing Aquabid but in all honesty, its going to be a struggle keeping this tank anywhere near stable with that many fish, and adding more is likely to tip the scales to the point where you will be fighting disease and trying to keep the water right only to have it dive dispite your best efforts.

Next time you get your water tested, ask them for the actual numbers. you need tests for ammonia and nitrite, and preferably nitrate too, so thats 3 separate readings you should get (the numbers should be something like 0, 0, 10)

water tests being *fine* can mean any number of things, including 'nil reading' or 'some reading but within tolerances' or 'fine for now, but by tomorrow it will be toxic', so numbers are good

what type of dechlorinator are you using? something like AquaPlus or something like Ammolock? this is going to be a bit important as time goes on as if you are using an ammonia-locker, you can get a bit of a nasty shock in a few weeks when things start moving on.

Its all so horribly complicated but once you have it down, your fishie love you for it (and you can squeeze more $ out of the other half cause well "look nothing dies! Its an investment in my happiness!" )

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

thanks heaps callatya