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Hey all, just wanting some input from some of the resident experts on my current stock. This is a list of my current livestock :
6 Platy (2M / 4F)
10 Guppies (1M / 2F / 7 babies)
12 Ghost Shrimp
2 Ottos
2 Julii Corys
10 Flame Tetras
This is in a 55gal med planted (for now) tank, power filter w/ dual bio wheels & heater. Pics of the tank are here : http://picasaweb.google.com/dreemweaver66/PicsOfOurFishTank#5342053121235215874
I am looking for opinions as to whether or not I am, AT, ABOVE, or BELOW my stocking limit?
As always I appreciate any & all input. Thanks all, Dan

Hi,
Let me step out on a limb and suggest that two of the
species prefer a small shoal rather than a group of two.
I'd go with three or four more of the Otto's and Corie's,
each.

It's an adequately filtered 55G tank and I think it
should house that group of fish quite well.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Sounds fine to me, and as per frank I'd consider fleshing out those two groups of fish to around the 4-6 per species The cories especially show quite different behaviour when you have more of them in the tank

(If the "for now" thing is because of plant dramas, I'll just mention that I've never had much success with pennywort or elodea in heated low-light tanks, and I can't get the hang of hairgrass for the life of me! If they are doing strange things and putting you off, maybe try some other types before packing it in I do love the look you have now and it would be a shame not to stick with the plants )

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

FRANK Wrote:
Hi,
Let me step out on a limb and suggest that two of the
species prefer a small shoal rather than a group of two.
I'd go with three or four more of the Otto's and Corie's,
each.

It's an adequately filtered 55G tank and I think it
should house that group of fish quite well.

Thank you for your reply, Frank. So, are you saying that with the additional Corys & Ottos, that I will be at my stocking limit?

Callatya Wrote:
Sounds fine to me, and as per frank I'd consider fleshing out those two groups of fish to around the 4-6 per species The cories especially show quite different behaviour when you have more of them in the tank

(If the "for now" thing is because of plant dramas, I'll just mention that I've never had much success with pennywort or elodea in heated low-light tanks, and I can't get the hang of hairgrass for the life of me! If they are doing strange things and putting you off, maybe try some other types before packing it in I do love the look you have now and it would be a shame not to stick with the plants )

Thanks Callatya, & no I am not thinking of "packing it in".
The "for now" phrase meant that I am trying to achieve a much denser planted tank. I just don't have the $$ to do it all at once
What plant(s) were you referring to as "Pennywort", the ones in the back corners? If so they are actually Mint Charlie & not doing so well, which is really disheartening because they are quite attractive plants. I just got through replacing the ones on the right with Hygrophila Difformis (Water Wisteria) & Bacopa Monnieri (Moneywort).
I hope that they do better, which according to Tropica's plant profiles, they should

Hi,
Callatya picked up on the "For now" comment which I
interpreted as meaning that you had the "token couple"
of plants in the tank and were undecided as to weather
or not to add more or to just leave things as they were.

I love the background, and think that with some good
fast growing plants such as the Wisteria that you could
turn the tank into an even neater tank that took advantage
of the great looking background.

To figure out what might be the problem(s) with the plants
you would have to tell us what you have for lighting.
What kind of bulbs (what does it say on the bulb itself)
how many bulbs, and for how long are they turned on.

This my 30G tank. I used 100% Sachem Flourite for a
substrate, and have a single 65 watt, 8800K light turned
on for 10 hours a day and am injecting CO2 at a one bubble
per second rate.

In the picture you can see the predominate plant is Wisteria.
A couple of Crypts are to the left growing out of the
wisteria, and on the right is a small sword plant.
The black object on the left is the CO2 reactor and in the
background is a small Aqua Clear 150 HOB filter.

The wisteria I "charmed" out of the sales person at a nearby
Warehouse type of pet store. It was dying and I wanted to
see if I could bring it back to life. That whole tank, as
you can see, is filled with wisteria that I grew from four,
two inch sprigs that were on their last legs. The plants
are doing so well that every other week I throw a couple
of pounds of plants away.

In the tank, I have MTS snails plus what I call a pond snail,
8 zebra Dainos, and 5 black skirt tetras.

Frank


Attached Image:


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

FRANK Wrote: ...To figure out what might be the problem(s) with the plants
you would have to tell us what you have for lighting.
What kind of bulbs (what does it say on the bulb itself)
how many bulbs, and for how long are they turned on.

Hi Frank, thank you for the compliment on the background. I love it too.
I currently am running at 1.89wpg via 4x26w (medium based) CFLs, 6500k. (a DIY lighting system). I keep them on for 12hrs per day. I currently have no CO2, but am thinking heavily about dosing w/ Seachem Flourish Excel, as there is no way I can afford pressurized CO2 injection. My substrate is 100% Flourite (50%red/50%regular)

Hi,
I found this while rummaging around:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f60/150w-screw-in-cfls-115335.html

I didn't know they came this high in wattage and in a
temperature that we can use to our advantage in our
aquariums.

I assume your hood is a DIY setup for the 26 watt CFLs,
can you mount two more in the current hood? If so, then
your wpg would 2.8 and should be great for the plants that
you have and get you solidly into the the "medium" range
for plants. That would give you all of the low light and
all of the medium light plants to choose from.
If they are the "hairpin" tubes, 4 pin base, they
also come in 65 watt or 96 watt sizes for the 22
and 24 inch tubes.

You may not need the Excel as this is primarly a source
of "liquid" carbon. Usually, when you have a tank with
low to medum light, carbon is not a problem. However,
when you "drive" your plants with high amounts of light
3+ wpg, or you have huge amounts of plants ( so that you
cannot see the bottom of the tank for all the plants) then
you would have to add carbon in either the liquid or
gaseous form. Otherwise, the organic waste products will
provide the needed carbon and the plants simply break the
Carbon-Hydrogen bonds of the organic compounds (waste
products) and use the carbon.

With a lightly stocked tank you may, instead, need to add
a general liquid fertiliser such as SeaChem's flourish.
Once the tank is up and running for several months
and seasoned, you might even be able to eliminate the
liquid fertilizer as well.

Folks seem to travel in two circles with plant fertilizer
and its use. Some overdose, such as with the "EI" method.
http://www.barrreport.com/estimative-index/62-estimative-index-dosing-no-need-test-kits.html?highlight=estimative+index

While others wait for the plants to "talk" to them and
fertilize as needed.
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm

Hope all this helps... Seems like you sort of opened the
flood gates and we all came crashing through!
It is truly amazing how many branches of science the
"simple art" of fishkeeping and aquatic gardening cover!

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Hello there!

First of all, took a look at the pic. Nice aquarium!

Now for suggestions.

[1] Bump up the Otocinclus to 6, the Corys to 8. They'll reward you with a fine display of frolicking, active behaviour if you do.

[2] You've also room in there to bring the Flame Tetras up to 16. That will give you a nice gene pool for breeding.

[3] As for plants, if your problem is insufficient light for some of the species you have in there (Bacopa tends to like fairly high light intensity, and eventually suffers if it doesn't receive enough intense light) then one way to solve your problem is to adopt my solution that I use for the Panda Fun Palace, as I call my Panda Cory aquarium. Find some nice, gnarly, twisted pieces of bogwood or Mopani wood, especially pieces that you can stack to make caves and grottoes that look nice and natural. Find some Java Moss and a couple of pieces of Java Fern, and temporarily tie them down to the wood. Once they've rooted and taken hold, they'll produce, in time, that "underwater rainforest" effect that you're looking for. Indeed, you'll find yourself having to sell off surplus Java Ferns and Java Moss if yours end up growing like mine - my Java Moss in particular is currently staging a campaign for world domination!

The advantage of using the bogwood like that isn't just that Java Moss and Java Ferns will grow in ridiculously low light, and in any half decent illuminated aquarium will grow like stink, but the bogwood arrangements make the whole thing removable for gravel vac operations. I can remove parts of my decor for gravel vac operations and replace it when finished, and when the tank cleaning is done, no one need know that the bogwood was ever moved.

The great advantage of your 55 is that you can have some pretty spectacular bogwood arrangements, with stacked "bridges" onto which you can grow your moss and ferns, and the result will look stupendous once it's established. Plus, you won't have to worry about nutrients, because Java Moss and Java Ferns seem to thrive on the bare minimum. Once you've added some bogwood grottoes with added moss and ferns to the setup, and they're established, your fish will thank you kindly for providing them with a nice underwater Disneyland to frolic about in - at least, mine do in my setup!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002