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Hey do you want to take Herbie off our hands, Ferox?

12cm is pretty big, we don't want to take any chances with the smaller fish. The LFS already told us they'd take Herbie, who knows maybe they'll knock down the price of some replacement fish.

We ordered a background and some sinking driftwood. My husband had to put a magnet and a knob on the cabinet door, because one of our cats knows how to pull doors open.

We can't wait to get everything set up!! Thank you for all of your suggestions, once the tank is up and running I'll take some pics and post them here.

Our tank: 45 gallons
7x Cardinal Tetras 7x Black Neon Tetras
7x Glowlight Tetras 2x Ottos 2x Ghost Shrimp 3x Spotted Corys 3x Panda Corys

With the cats I gave up using cabinets. I have a plastic rubbermaid type container with drawers for fish food and small objects. Then I stack various sized rubbermaid containers in the closet with the larger stuff. Anything left under or on the tank is on the floor by tomorrow unless it's too heavy to move.

Using old tank water only accomplishes adding nitrates to your new tank. Very little useful bacteria is floating in the water and all the ammonia and nitrites have already been converted so you don't really add anything useful. The only time to use water from one tank to another is when you are moving sensitive fish to a new tank or the water your using in the new tank is different from the old. Then it is beneficial to keep them in some of their old water instead of a 100% change.

Now maybe it should be blamed on the sleeping meds I just took that are making me type out words in reverse but I don't really understand where the stocking plan is going for this tank. We need to consolidate stocking options a little. Especially what fish do you already have and are planning to put in the new tank? It does depend on size of the fish but 3 mid-top dwelling schools along with bottomfeeders and centerpiece fish are about the limit in that size tank. If we go with every option that's being considered here plus fix the current schools mentioned this tank is leaning towards being quite overstocked.

There's no way our cats are getting into this cabinet.

As for stocking, we plan on adding a few more of the same fish to our current shoals (see my signature) so there will be 6 in each shoal. We'll get 6 cories as bottom-feeders, as suggested here.

My husband also would like to get a couple of shrimp, he just likes the way they look.

After all that, do we actually have room to add anymore fish? We like everyone's suggestions, it all just depends on what our local LFS stocks and if we have the room.

Our tank: 45 gallons
7x Cardinal Tetras 7x Black Neon Tetras
7x Glowlight Tetras 2x Ottos 2x Ghost Shrimp 3x Spotted Corys 3x Panda Corys

By the time you fill out all those schools you can't really fit another school with rainbows. Some dwarf cichlids (without shrimp) or nonschooling fish that does well single or in a pair would be fine but 4 schools in a tank that size is going to have fish running into each other all over. Your not going to see actual schooler behavior but a crazy mix of fish that don't know if they are coming or going. Now you could leave the cardinals in the 7g and up them to 5 after you move herbie and add something like a betta, some shrimp, or cherry barbs and it would be well stocked but not overstocked. Then you'd still have room to add some rainbowfish or another schooling fish to the large tank. The cherry barbs would also fit but you may not see them. They are not schoolers and would do better in a pair or trio than a large group and at their size and activity level they can get lost in bigger tanks.

If you want shrimp it's going to limit greatly what fish you can have. No loaches aside from maybe kuhlis, no nippy fish even schooling (watch it with the rainbows), no cichlids (the rams would be out), no bettas or paradise fish, and only limited species of gouramis with risks. I've had good luck with larger gouramis like blue/3 spot and similar sized but I know dwarf gouramis, sparkling, and croaking are horrible with shrimp. Cories would be fine or a bristlenose pleco. There's not much in the way of centerpiece fish that get along with shrimp since most are territorial and hunt the bottom levels. Baby shrimp will be eaten by all fish so if you want more shrimp or buy young shrimp of a small species you need to setup a shrimp only tank to grow them out.

Aren't Cherry Barbs schooling/shoaling fish? From my experience they prefer to be in schools. I bought a trio of them and they were extremely shy. I later upped the school to 6 and now they are out and about all day and showing more color. Maybe this is just an isolated incident, but I tend to think of them as schooling fish like other Barbs.

OK, so the plan is to up the current shoals and keep the tank at 3 schools with some cories and a centerpiece fish or two.

So, assuming we don't get any shrimp, what type of centerpiece fish would you suggest, and how many of each?

Should the current shoals be increased to just 6 fish in each shoal or can we put more in each shoal?

We're planning on putting African dwarf frogs in the 7-gallon. Would those get along with shrimp? How many little frogs could fit in that tank comfortably?

Our tank: 45 gallons
7x Cardinal Tetras 7x Black Neon Tetras
7x Glowlight Tetras 2x Ottos 2x Ghost Shrimp 3x Spotted Corys 3x Panda Corys

You can probably do 8 of each schooling fish, 6-8 cories for the bottom, and one or a pair of Blue or Bolivian Rams or some kind of Apistogramma. Sounds like the whole stocking plan is starting to come together, good luck with the new tank.

Thanks, I googled those fish and they're nice! It seems like a lot of people like cichlids, hopefully our LFS has a nice selection.

Our tank: 45 gallons
7x Cardinal Tetras 7x Black Neon Tetras
7x Glowlight Tetras 2x Ottos 2x Ghost Shrimp 3x Spotted Corys 3x Panda Corys

They are nice fish. And peaceful too. I just got some and they are great little fish. That's another advantage, they are pretty small for a cichlid. They are from South America so they make great tankmates for tetras because they are peaceful and have mainly the same water requirements. I hope all goes well with the new tank.

I would think the frogs would be fine with shrimp but the only person I can remember hearing first hand that did it claimed the amano shrimp attacked the frog and pulled it's leg off. I would bet the "amano" was actually a macrobrium species that occasionally gets sold as amano shrimp and could eat fish or frogs. Dwarf frogs are poor hunters that just snap repeatedly in the direction of things that smell and move. I doubt the shrimp would smell strongly enough like food but I'm a little uncertain if the movement would cause the frogs to react. Even if they did I doubt they'd catch them anyway since shrimp shoot backward very quickly when they sense movement and dwarf frogs have bad aim.

Thanks, I guess we'll see what happens with the frogs and shrimp.

My son just looked at the Bolivian Ram and he likes it.

We'll be getting the background soon, then we can fill the tank and start the cycling process. We can't wait to see all the new fish!!

Our tank: 45 gallons
7x Cardinal Tetras 7x Black Neon Tetras
7x Glowlight Tetras 2x Ottos 2x Ghost Shrimp 3x Spotted Corys 3x Panda Corys

Well, we've added the water, the gravel and a few plants and started the cycling process. Tonight we bought some danios (as test fish) and Bio Spira. We'll test the water in about a week and then see about returning the danios and putting our tetras in the tank. If all goes well, we'll then add some new fish.

The danios are cute, they seem very active. One of my cats has taken a liking to them already:

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k16/PanClan06/IMG_2980.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k16/PanClan06/IMG_2979.jpg

This is the tank right now... we're going to add driftwood and some more plants. I'm still not sure about the blue background but maybe once the tank is full I'll feel differently.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k16/PanClan06/IMG_2983.jpg



Our tank: 45 gallons
7x Cardinal Tetras 7x Black Neon Tetras
7x Glowlight Tetras 2x Ottos 2x Ghost Shrimp 3x Spotted Corys 3x Panda Corys

Hi,
In our home we call the aquarium "Fish TV" on the
"Aquarium Channel." Our cat would sit and watch it
for hours. One of them would supervise whenever I cleaned
the tank, and the other would balance herself with three
legs on the rims of it while "fishing" with the other.
I swear that she was going to loose her balance and go
swimming!

You can add more plants, or wait a bit. The anacharis
that you have planted will grow to the surface and then
across it. You can snip the plants in half and plant the
top sections elsewhere.

Frank


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

Danios and other temporary cycling fish are a bad idea. First catching them out of a tank usually requires tearing the tank down because they dash around all over. 2 people, 3 nets, and about 6hours worth of trying to catch them over 2 days I tore up my 55g, pulled the danios out, and then replanted the entire thing.

Second problem is that in a week your tank will be right in the middle of cycling unless you very heavily seed it from another tank. That means your switching fish at the worst possible time. If your gonna cycle with the danios then keep them in there until it's done. No point harming more fish than you need to. Preferably though return the danios right away and if you don't want to risk your tetras start adding a small amount of fish food to the tank with no fish. It will cycle better than with the danios and you won't have to catch any extra fish when your done. When it's finished cycling just do a gravel vac to remove what's left of the fish food and add your tetras. No stress or harm done to any fish that way.

Hmmm... we were going on the advice of the LFS. Thanks for pointing those things out, Sham. We can wait longer for the cycling process if need be. The guy told us the Bio Spira would help the cycling go faster, that's why he told us to come back in a week. How long is the usual cycle, one month?

My son has already taken to the danios, he thinks they're great. We asked the guy at the LFS about keeping them with the tetras, he said that shouldn't be a problem. So we're planning on increasing the current tetra shoals to 6 each and not adding centerpiece fish. Of course we'll add some cories as well.

P.S. The plants in the tank are fake, so they won't be growing anywhere!!

Our tank: 45 gallons
7x Cardinal Tetras 7x Black Neon Tetras
7x Glowlight Tetras 2x Ottos 2x Ghost Shrimp 3x Spotted Corys 3x Panda Corys

Hi there,

This is probably an odd place for a first post, but I figured I'd just jump in with both feet.

I am just setting up my 29 g, after three years without it, so I completely understand the urge to get populating. I must say though that I don't believe in disposable fish. I learned some years ago that I don't like the idea of fish suffering any more than I do anything else, so I try to be patient. Not that I do it gracefully.

One month is the usually recommended cycle time, although I've heard 2 weeks. IME, 2 weeks is too short and you lose fish. I've also found that adding very slowly is key. Just think of it as how much of an addition bio-burden you're adding to your system. That is, if you have 4 fish, and you add 4 more, you've doubled your burden. So, even with schooling fish, it's best not to add a 'full school' at one time.

I hope this is helpful. And I love the pix! Your tank and your cat are lovely.

I vote! Do you?