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I seriously doubt tadpoles will be eaten by any of those fish.

However, the cardinal tetras may be at risk from the angel. After all, neons (look almost identical to cardinals) are their main food source.

You'll have to feed algae wafers. Especially when it is first set up, there will not be enough algae to sustain any of your catfish. You should also put a rock in a jar of water in the sun for a few weeks to coat it in algae. This way, there is a little bit of algae for the catfish when you first put them in.

How would I go about catching these shrimp? I live in Wollongong (about 80km south of Sydney). My house backs out on to bushland/temperate rainforest on an escarpment (I think its national park). There are several small creeks, ponds, a largly inaccesable billabong way up in the bush, a small old dam and a large old dam around my house. The small creeks and especially the ponds dry up when there hasnt been much rain. But the creeks usually still have small pools of water left in them. The creeks, dams and the billabong are home to yabbies. The large dam may be homed to some freshwater fish as well. So where would the best place to find freshwater shrimps? Would I need some sort of trap?

Thanks
Shaun

Hey thanks for those links! Those Paratya & Caridina shrimps look nice. I don't think I've ever seen them in stores though. Any idea where you can get them?

-P

"15 ghost shrimp
10 amano shrimp
A few cherry shrimp
2 FW clams
2 zebra Neritina snails"

None of those species, as referenced by North American species, are available in Australia. By some sources, all importation of live FW shrimp to Australia is, for recreational purpose, prohibited (or at least equivalently regulated). However, you should be able to collect native substitutes (Australia possesses an amazingly broad range of indigenous FW shrimp - see http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/21803/20010913/members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/Shrimp.htm).

"Atyidae live in many types of water body but prefer comparatively still waters where they congregate under banks, large submerged boulders and aquatic vegetation. Most prefer surface-waters but the genus Atya comprises more robust, coloured forms that walk on the bottom.

The Palaemonidae (prawns) differ from Atyidae in having the second pair of legs greatly elongate and ending in rather slender claws. The Parasticidae (crayfish) differ in having the first pair of legs robust and ending in strong claws.

Atyidae are distributed in every State but are most common in the eastern half of the continent. The Australian Atyidae are placed in genera Paratya, Atya, Caridina, Caridinites, Stygiocaris, Parisia, Pycneus and Pycnisia. Paratya australiensis is the most widespread species of small freshwater shrimp in eastern Australia. Keys to genera are given by Williams (1980) and Choy and Horwitz (1995)."

From http://www.lucidcentral.com/keys/lwrrdc/public/Aquatics/adcrust/html/CRUS__.htm.

....and an angel. I decided to not get the bristlenose because the otos can eat the algae. Do angels stay near the top of the aquarium? Who thinks this is overstocking?

12 cardinal tetras
6-8 lemon tetras
4 otos
with a 30% weekly water change?

Plus the 4 Bolivian Rams, 6 corys, & a pair of dwarf gouramis? Sounds good to me.

-P

Hi there,

How much water volume do you think you will get from this tank size?

I have the same size tank, 4'x14"x18" and l thought that after the gravel, driftwood, rocks (minimal) and equipment l would be able to have at least 180lts of water volume.
But at the end of the day.. l only had a max of 160lt + 5lt in my canister.

l'm just wondering if your over stocked or not.

Cheers
Wayne

so-

12 cardinal tetras
6-8 lemon tetras
4 otos

with a 30% weekly water change?

Ottos really are a great algae eater. And they stay small. Mine won't eat algae wafers, maybe because there is always algae to eat. My BN on the other hand is always at the bottom of the tank at feeding time waiting for his algae wafer, even though he should be cleaning off the glass. :%) I think you should get the ottos.
Like djtj suggested, the rock in the jar thing is a good idea to get algae started for them. I haven't tried it yet, only because I added the ottos after I had algae.


*Kristin*

i would say no to the firemouth. I have read that there not super mean. However i had one that bullied a red devil and a dovii before they outgrew it. I would guess that if the firemouth was to small to eat the other fish, it would just harass them till they died.

If you scale back the cardinals to a dozen, you should be able to fit 6-8 Lemons with good water changing maintenance. Lemons look great with cardinals and planted tanks.

I'd still get the otos though if you are going to have the tank planted. They're really the best algae eater IMO.

I don't have any experience with Firemouths, but I would stick with just one kind of bottom-dwelling cichlid (Bolivian Rams) to minimize any territorial issues.

-P

Could I get a school of about 6-8 lemon tetras instead of the otos? Or would that be overstocking? Also could I get a firemouth cichlid instead of an angel?

Shaun

The only clams I've seen for sale here or online are golden asian clams. These do not have parasitic offspring and I have kept many of them. At one point there were 50 in my 55g. I also never had a problem when any died under the substrate. The empty shell would eventually work it's way to the surface. However golden clams are quite small not getting any bigger than 2". The only problem with clams is keeping the darn things alive. Unlike other filter feeders such as filter feeding shrimp clams don't really move to find a food source. They just sit there or sometimes when they do move they wander into caves or areas of no current where they starve to death. It takes quite a bit of current and feeding foods that break down into small pieces or they all starve. You also can't treat the tank with anything or the clams die off in massive groups. Even a half dose of melafix will wipe them out. Eventually my numbers dwindled and I only found 2 alive when I took the tank down. I have about 100 shells though of all sorts of sizes. They must have multiplied a little cause I only bought 50. I really haven't seen a point in trying to keep them again. You never see them except maybe the tip of a shell and the holes they suck water into but they make tank setup and treatment more complicated.

djtj I have herd that if you put all the cardinals in first, then buy a small angel and raise it with the cardinals in the tank its supposed to not eat them. Also cardinals grow larger than neons. Im going to feed algae waffers which are the HBH veggie waffers, the main ingredient is spirulina algae and they are supposed to have the highest and most diverse vegetable content on the market. Thanks for the algae idea. I will start that right away.

Calilasseia. So would one clam be OK then? I will have to keep an eye on it. Dont they gape when they die? Yep I have a hospital tank. Does it matter if its the same tank as the quarantine tank?

Shaun, only one thing made my alarm bells ring about those plans.

The freshwater clams.

Quite a few species of freshwater clams (most notably those from American waters, but I would hazard a guess that members of the same Family live in other parts of the world) produce young that are parasitic on fishes. The juvenile clams spend part of their lives as creatures known as Glochidia, which attach themselves to the fins and gills of fishes.

Unless you can be absolutely certain that you'll only ever have individuals of one gender, I'd give the clams a miss.

Plus, with quite a few of them, you will have a hard time telling whether or not they are alive or dead. And dead clams can foul even a large aquarium in pretty short order.

Do you have a hospital aquarium for your fishes, by the way? Only quite a few standard fish medications will wipe out your invertebrates if you treat the main aquarium with them.

Other than that, I have no worries at this point.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

G'day

Im going to set up my first aquarium very soon. Here is the plan-

tank-
120cm long, 35cm wide, 45cm high, 190L (about 50G)

fish-
15 cardinal tetras
6 leopard corys
2 dwarf gouramis (pair)
4 bolivian rams
1 bristlenose pleco
1 baby angle (added last)
2 otos

invetebrates-
15 ghost shrimp
10 amano shrimp
A few cherry shrimp
2 FW clams
2 zebra Neritina snails

plants-
dwarf anubias (anubias nana)
tape grass (Vallisneria spiralis)
amazon sword (Echinodorus amazonicus)
maybe some more later on
No CO2

lighting-
A double aqua one reflector with 2 40 watt gro-lux tubes
A single aqua one reflector with 1 40 watt gro-lux tube
About 2.4 WPG

Finish rest later
Shaun

Mosquito larvae would be a nice treat. You'll probably find daphia too if you have a pond - my fish love daphnia.

-P

What about feeding baby tadpoles, small invertebrates, mosquito lavae etc found in a pond up the back of my house? Would the fish eat them?

yes, 4 ottos would be ok. That way 1 or 2 would not get lonely.
Sounds like you have a great plan.:%)

*Kristin*

Shaun,

Not sure where you are, but here in Brisbane you can get laterite from Pet City. They have 3 kinds - the Red Sea brand, the Dupla, and a cheap, generic one that just comes in a clear plastic bag. I got the last one of course. Ask LFS's near you that carry a decent selection/quality of plants - they should either carry some or know where you can get some.

I've only seen one shop here that carried ghost shrimps once (got the lot). They're very rare according to all the LFS's since there's only one supplier who breeds them and not regularly either. I think you might have better luck in some of the bigger LFS's in Sydney or Melbourne.

Don't know anything about the palatability of garden insects to aquarium fishes, sorry. I have ants on top of my tanks (they love the fish food remnants I suppose ), but my fishes are not interested in the ones that accidentally fall into the water.

-P