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Hey everybody, I have been reading these forums for months and the info really helped me when I setup my first tank. I am getting another tank, a 55 gallon. Heres the rundown of how it will be set up. I was thinking about making my new 55 gallon tank and Asian river tank. I planned on having a 1"-1.5" sand substrate, some small river rocks along with a few big rocks and a good sized piece of driftwood. I don't have the money for good lighting yet so for plants I planned on having some java fern on the piece of driftwood and maybe some on the big rocks. There will be caves as well. The filter is a 330 power filter and I was looking at an aquaclear 402 powerhead to provide the current since it's a river tank.

Now onto my question. For stocking I thought I'd go with
8-10 zebra danios
13 tiger barbs
5 or 6 zebra loaches
1 RTBS

I am pretty sure that the tiger barbs would be fine with the current and probably the zebra danios. What about the shark and the loaches. If they don't like the current should I build some rock formations so they could stay out of the current. Also, will that powerhead provide enough current for a river setup. Any help or criticism is welcome.

if i'm not mistaken the loaches you mentioned Botia striata i think, come from swampy systems of slow moving water. They may not appreciate the currents provided by the powerhead.
that is unless you were referring to Botia histrionica or Botia hymenophysa who i suspect might appreciate the currents more since they come from faster moving streams.

as for every black tailed shark i have ever seen they seem mellow. Think they too come from swamp so i suspect that they might prefer calm water.. plus i think they like to hang out, still in some corner of a tank..

Ah, Asian River tanks. That is my favorite type of tank. I had one set up for a few years that was a coolwater tank, so I had hillstream loaches and all that. It was wonderful.

Anyway, your plan sounds really neat. Those fish should be fine together, although I do have one question: do you have a scientific name for your loach? There are 3 I can think of off the top of my head that go by "zebra loach". I'm assuming you're talking about Botia striata. The RTBS gets pretty big and can be aggressive, so keep on eye on him. All your other fish should be able to get out of his way, though, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem, especially if you have hiding places. Now, the RTBS is a pretty strict herbivore, so you'll have to make sure he gets enough vegetable material in his diet, or else he might turn on your plants.

The powerhead will provide a fair amount of flow, although it won't be fast enough to be considered a "river". You can see how the fish respond to it, and if you feel there should be more current, you can always add another.

If you're planning on planting the tank any further, I'd go with small-size gravel instead of sand. Strong root-feeding plants don't do so well in sand because it compacts so much.

The 330 power filter is actually a little small for the 55 (I guess I'm just a big fan of over filtration ), so keep up on your maintenance.

Anyway, it sounds like it's going to be a great tank. I expect lots and lots of pictures so we can all fawn over it!

Edit:

If i'm not mistaken the loaches you mentioned Botia striata i think, come from swampy systems of slow moving water. They may not appreciate the currents provided by the powerhead.

You are correct in that they come from slow-moving water, but in my experience, they actually like a bit of flow. The ones that I had would cruise in the front of my powerheads.

I was looking at the Botia Striata, but they don't seem to appreciate current too much. What about a Botia Histrionica, they might not mind the current.

from what i gathered joe po seems to think that is will be okay. i would definate go with his opinion since hes has attempted the theme before ....perhaps B. Striata would be fine..maybe others would input. any case if no one does i'd go with joe po.

Actually that flow rate is about what I put on a tank normally and definitely not river conditions. The loaches will be fine. Do provide some cover using driftwood or rocks especially on the end near the powerhead but otherwise it won't be an issue for any of those fish. I doubled that turn over rate for my rivertank.

Truestar, check out this DIY river manifold thing if you are going for that type of tank:
http://www.loaches.com/articles/a-river-runs-through-it

Would it be better if I used 2 402's or should I go with the 802's? I will probably use some quickfilters on them to aid filtration. Also, I have heard that Crypts sometimes do well in sand. Is this true. If so how much lighting do they need?

2 smaller powerheads set along one end are better than 1 large powerhead. Plus since each 402 is adjustable to a large degree you could have alot of control over the flowrate. With an 802 you'll have a smaller rate of adjustment. Two 402s turned all the way up is also more than one 802 by over 100gph. Just the 802 I don't think makes good rivertank conditions. I run two 330s on my 55 normally with fish that enjoy slow moving water like gouramis. With the 802 and a 330 your only gaining 70gph above that. Granted a powerhead does blast the water in front of it with a bit more force than a powerfilter but your still not getting that high flowrate of a river tank. Not to say that wouldn't make a good setup for those fish but it's not the conditons you'd find in a stream or river.

If you want a true rivertank then I suggest you plan and build the tank around the flow instead of just cramming all the water movement you can into a setup that isn't built for it with stock that won't really benefit from it. Your first tank setup is perfectly fine for the fish you mentioned and will work well for giving the illusion of a river if you aquascape correctly. There isn't really a need for the full flow rate to achieve the look you want with the stock you want. It only depends if your goal is to achieve recreating a stream in a tank versus making it just look like a section of a stream.

If your gonna go all out with everything running full blast I'd suggest doing the setup linked to earlier with pvc piping and sponges at the far end instead of just sticking the powerheads on one side with quick filters. With the pvc you get unidirectional flow like a river and it makes it easier on the fish along with being more natural. Now you have a rivertank. With just the powerheads your going to have sort of an underwater sideways hurricane with the bottom of the tank pulling one way, the top going the other, and the water at both ends spinning. The fish are going to have to adjust depending how high up they are in the tank and if they get near the powerheads even with the quick filters it could be difficult. None of the fish you've planned really need river tank conditions so you need to decide if you really want to create a rivertank and get the extra powerhead when it's not technically needed.

Yes it is possible to grow some crypts in sand. I do it with wendtii varieties all the time. They need at least 1wpg of fluorescent light to survive and will grow faster with more but watch the algae if you start packing on the light. The flowrate you decide on will somewhat determine the success of the crypts. They might not survive if you do a full unidirectional flow since they'll get blown over. The only thing that really thrived in my rivertank was java fern but I had over 20 times turn over with hillstream loaches. Sand will also blow into hills and valleys with high flow. Normal but it can cause maintenance issues especially if you have to put in alot of sand to keep the glass covered in the low spots. Reason I preferred small natural gravel for mine.

I found that river tank manifold that was linked to a while back and it looks like a pretty nice setup. What other fish besides those hillstream loaches would work in a tank like that?

Okay, I have decided not to make it a river tank or a biotope either. I will be adding a BN and couldn't decide whether or not to stick with loaches or get cories instead. So I thought I would ask you guys what you thought I should get. Or if I cut down on the tiger barb school could I have both? Would like to hear your opinions.

I was also wondering if I could keep more than one BN or if they would fight.

If it were me I'd go with loaches mostly because they come from the same area of the world as the barbs. They seem a little more able to get away from the barbs if they want to as well. Someone else would probably be more able to suggest an appropriate species. I am fairly certain that you could have more than one BN in the tank but you'll need a good hiding spot for each one.

The bristlenose is a peaceful fish towards other species as well as conspecifics. They stay small, don't bother anyone and appreciate a cave for hiding and vegetable matte for food. Conclusion: you can have a littl group of them in your tank and they will happily share any vegetable treats provided

Would it be possible to have about 8-10 Corydoras habrosus and then 3-5 Botia Striata? I also just picked up a Penguin 350 with Dual Biowheels to help with the filtration.

I also need to get some lighting before I set this thing up. I was looking at these lights http://cgi.ebay.com/AQUARIUM-LIGHT-48-ODYSSEA-260WT-POWER-COMPACT-W-FANS_W0QQitemZ250159650588QQihZ015QQcategoryZ46314QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Would they work if I replaced them to make it all daylight bulbs or are the actinics okay? If I did this would it require CO2 or not?

I'm back. I was just reading about the Albino Rainbow Shark and thought it was pretty cool looking. Am I right to believe that they are the same as the Rainbow Shark just a different color? I can't decide whether to get a RTBS, a Rainbow Shark, or an Albino Rainbow Shark. So I thought I would ask you guys since you have all been so helpful. Thanks for reading.

Albino rainbow sharks are the same as rainbow sharks. RTBS and rainbow sharks are very similar and have a lot of the same personality. The RTBS stay a lot blacker when they age and the rainbow sharks are a little more gray. I think the rainbows get a little bigger, we just had a really nice 5-6 inch albino rainbow shark in where I work and it was a very pretty fish. I wanted to take him home but I don't have the proper space for him. It really comes down to personal preference on which of these sharks you want just make sure you don't mix them because they're aggressive towards fish with similar body types.

Thank you. I was just checking to make sure. I'm probably gonna go with the albino. Another question, if I buy a 1"-1.5" shark could I keep him in a 20 gallon tall for 2-3 weeks for quarantine or is it too small? Any info will be greatly appreciated.

2-3 weeks should be fine, especially if they're only 1-1.5 inches long. As long as it gets into the big tank eventually.

Alright, I just wanted to make sure he would be okay. Do you think the 55 will be big enough when he gets bigger?