Starting up again. Advice needed please

Hey. I'm new to this forum but have been looking around for a day or two now. I've just bought a Juwel Rio 240 and want to set up a tropical tank. I've decided to have a community tank. I had a tank with 5 or 6 beautiful tinfoil barbs about 10" each, one or two bala sharks, a catfish and a pleco up until a few years ago. Had the barbs for about 12 or 13 years. I havent bought fish in a long time though so I was wondering where are the best places, preferably around dublin, to buy some tropical fish? I'm in clondalkin village and went up to newlands garden centre today to have a look. They have some nice fish up there but I've no idea of the prices and whether they are expensive or not. A large cichlid was €25 I think. Had some beautiful guppys and other small fish as well. I know of the place up in brittas, got some really nice koi up there before. But other than that I dont know

If I go for something like a mix of guppys, cardinal tetras, danios/rasboras, angel fish (would these try and eat some of the smaller fish?), how many fish roughly would go into a 240 litre tank. I dont want to overcrowd it but give the fish plenty of room while have a number of different types of fish. I understand that some fish tend to occupy certain parts of the water like the bottom, middle and top. Can anyone recommend a suitable mix of fish I could go for to occupy all levels of the tank given its size

And lastly, once I get the water into the tank and leave it for 10-14 days. What kind of hardy fish could I start to put a few in while waiting for the water to settle fully

Thanks

Hi Darren,

For starters - welcome.....

Shops - you will finds that everyone has their favorite. Brittas and Newlands you mentioned - The Trop shop and Wackers are another 2 worth considersation from my knowledge. As ever with these this the best is to shop around.

Suggest you get the angels while small. The belief is that if they grow up with the smaller fish they are less likely to see them as food. But there are no guarentees. The mix of fish you are suggesting will cover most of the tank other than the bottom - here you can consider cory's, plecs, loaches - there are a number of each which will suit a community environment. They have the added benefit of rummaging around and eating fallen food - but don't just rely on this for feeding, use sinking pellets too. If there is something you are looking for in particular try posting it and see if anyone has any available stock.

How many fish - this is the question which often occupies people. It's not necessarily just related to the volume of water but to the surface area where the gas exchange occurs. More surface area allows for more efficient exchange meaning more oxygen - meaning more fish..... Looking at Practical Fishkeeping - they have a nice on-line calculator for this sort of thing, your tank should be able to handle approx 51 inches or 130 cm of fish but remember you would need to build this up gradually and this is just a guide. 6 one inch cardinals put less stress on a system than a single 6 inch plec for example.

Put the substrate and water etc into the tank - don't forget to dechlorinate the water - some views of the best product to use are in another thread under misc called 'Product Rating' where people are voting for their favorite. I normally put in a starter for the bacteria - some stress zyme is my favorite - bring it up to temp and leave for a few days.

Starter fish - assume you are using a fish as opposed to a fishless cycle. The general recommendation I have come across is the zebra danio as they are hardy - never use them myself as I didn't want to keep them. However since you are looking at danios they might be right for you. I have never done a fishless cycle - so maybe someone who has can provide information on this.

After putting in the starter monitor the water parameters until you have the tank cycled before putting in more fish. This is where the patience comes in as this will probably take weeks.


Monty

Hi Darren,
I have a community tank and have luckily escaped my fish feeding on one another. The danio's are hardy as mopnty mentioned but go for the small ones and dont get giant ones as they are the most stressful fish to watch and are a bit bullyish.

I have angel fish that i got small enough and they have grown up fine with the smaller fella's. If you are going for small fish just make sure to find out if they survive better in shoals and most times it looks nicer if they are in shoals. \

G

Thats a good sized tank mate.

Would mate a cool Malawi or Tanganykan cichlid tank. Personally I think it would be a waste to put community fish in a tank that cool.
You already had a Community tank so why not upgrade to cichlids.

Not in to community fish but thats my opinion so nobody slate me please.

Good point harry, I'd love to keep discus but my tank is too small...Boo....

i would go for either 6 discus 30 cardinals 3 plecs.....(not mad about angels) or an african cichlid tank....
check this site out...this sections on stocking but if you go to the profiles sections it has pictures of all the types of fish.

www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_55g.php

Thanks everyone. After a quick look at that link panda, I am heavily considering some Malawi cichlids now. They look fantastic, my wife isnt too keen on the whole fish tank thing but she likes those "shiny fish" (neons) and the colorful ones with the nice tails (guppys) which is why I was considering a community tank so I think if I can get some visually nice fish she wont mind as much if I go for a select few, nice but bigger fish.

So it seems about 9ish fish for my tank depending on the size of the ones I go for. Ok so assuming I go for a malawi cichlid tank (does it have to be only one region per tank?), what kind of stuff do I need to know for keeping these fish. I've read that they take more looking after than a community tank but I'm looking forward to that. Anyone know any good websites with articles on keeping cichlids? Anyone have any recommendations for some malawi cichlids which are colorful? Any and all tips welcomed

Thanks

that website has good species on articles aswell

Hi I have set a Malawi African Cichlid tank and it is going well. I find a lot of information on the website below. Their forum is quite helpful too

www.cichlids.com/info/Beginner

Thanks. What fish have you got yourself?

I have a 180 Litre tank and I am keeping African Cichlids. I got all the fish from the Aquatic Viilage. I used to have a community tank previously but wanted a change so I gave all my fish away to a friend. Here is the list of all my fish. I have over staocked my tank to reduce the level of agression in my tank. I am up-grading my tank to a 1000 l by the end of the year as quite a few of these fish grow to 6 inches minumum and some grow to 10 inches

3 Red Zebras between 1 to 2.5 inches
2 Albino Zebras 1.5 inches each
5 electric yellow labs between 1.5 to 2.5 inches
2 blue dolphins, 3 inches each,
3 trewavassee, 2.5 to 3 inches,
2 Brichardi, 1 and 2 inches,
2 Black Acei, 1.5 inches each
2 Peacocks 2.5 inches each
1 Elongatus 1.5 inches
2 Rusty cichlids 1.5 inches each
1 Livingstoni 3 inches

Cool. Just out of curiosity. Where would you go about getting a tank so big? Is it a custom built job or can you buy them somewhere?

I am getting it custom built for me. The largest tank I have seen available is a 630 l tank and it is available online at www.petshoponline.ie. It is a Jinlong RRA 1500.


www.petshoponline.ie/customer/product.ph...p;cat=646&page=1