Plantless Tank

Howdy all.

As some of you may remember, I was blethering on a while ago about a new tank set up when I got into my new house.

Well, I'm in!

So, just after moving in the larger empty tank, my current Jewel tank 54l, and 20l Clearseal Betta tank.

I'm thinking about transferring the remaining fish from the Jewel into the larger tank. All I have left now are:

1 Siamese Catfish - Pseudomystus siamensis
1 Clown Loach - Chromobotia macracanthus
1 Oto - Otocinclus

The rest have been lost to natural die off, and haven't restocked.

I plan to stock with

Corys
Tetra or Barbs
Kuhli Loaches (or similar)
and current stock.

Now, I'm planning on setting up the tank as a plantless tank, river bank style, pretty much just what I posted up before, with lots of bogwood and mopani, and a white sand substrate. I'm going plantless as I don't have any lights for it at the moment, and just cannot afford to get a luminiere or similar at the moment.

The filter will be the Tetratec EX 600 (or 700, can't remember of the top of my hat) that I have at the moment, running on the Jewel. May possibly need a powerhead for behind the bogwood.

Herself did want me to get rid of this larger tank, but I now have her convinced that its a good idea.

Can anyone offer any advise, or forsee any problems I may have with this set up? Cheap is, as ever, the name of my game, as I just don't have much spare cash with a new house, and our wedding coming up.

EDIT: Link to original thread (was it THAT long ago?!?!) with pic.

Advice..... Don't get married

You say you don't have any light....not sure if the fish will apreciate this.
Plants are not a must, and a few pieces of bogwood will certainly be attractive.
Best of luck with it !

If you google Apisto setups you will see some really nice plantless Tanks using wood and leaves like Oak and beech, Oak is great because it keeps it's shape and consistency over a longer time than Catappa Leaves. It softens the Water and gives the fish areas to graze on micro fauna.


Kev

Cheers Kev.

Would the amount of bogwood in the tank not soften the water anyway?

Had intended on a bit of leaf litter as well, was thinking beech? Oak can be got as well, the joys of working on an estate where there are HAPES of trees!

I never found Bogwood or any Wood for that matter softened Water significantly , especially if the Water from the Tap is anything like mine on the North Side. The Wood will release Tannins into the Water causing that lovely amber colour but to soften the Water to any degree you would require RO Water and Tap water to buffer it. You can also put a sock of Fertiliser free Peat to help to drop the Ph.

Now is the time to grab Beech Leaves as the Beech Hedges keep the dead leaves until the new ones push them off, this way they haven't been on the ground long enough to pick up any nasties from the soil.

Kev.

Cheers Kev.

Will get out and about tomorrow with a bag.

We've fairly hardly water down here in Cavan.

So...

I've set up the tank. Much to my surprise, no cloudy sandy water. My secret? Wash the sand, wash it again. And again. And again. And have it damp putting it in.

Most of the wood has been saturated enough to not float, and I've put in some stones to weigh down what did/may shift.

One query, would a 100w heater be sufficient? It's a 3 foot Clearseal tank, so, 120l?

Pics will follow shortly. (Tomorrow, hopefully) I think it looks really well, wasn't sure until I put the water in what it would look like, but I think it looks quite like a river bank. Going to have a bit of flow in it as well. Have the EX filter, and one or 2 more power heads pushing water from right to left.

Stocking, I am now thinking of:

Corys. Maybe a shoal of around 10. Specific type? Not sure. Something a bit hardy.
Siamese Catfish. Currently have one. I've gotten quite fond of him.
Barbs or Tetras. Not sure of what. Thinking something colourful. South American. A large number of them. Not ridiculously hard to find or expensive. Cardinals or Neons, maybe. Only problem is the Catfish does snack on them.
Maybe a couple of Bulldog plecs? Just saw that some other people had great success with them. But not sure how the Catfish will get on with them. He never bothered the oto's, (the last one died, didn't survive the move. ) So I'm guessing that the bulldog plecs may be something similar.

Can anyone think of anything glaringly obvious that I've missed, or any suggestions for fish?

sounds as if its coming on nicely.

a 100w heater will be fine in your tank,

bulldog plecos are nice, i have kept them before, with not alot of luck i have to say,
they can be very delicate and do not travel well,
they do best in a cooler set up similar to that of hillstream loach,
can be picky feeders and wont always take wafers,

not trying to put you off but just so your aware,

good luck either way..

steve.

And to give everyone an update on how it's going.

I let the tank cycle for quite some time, transferred the loach and the catfish across, both happy and loving it. I also got a light sorted, took the one from the Rekord 60 I had, and set it on top.

I went and got some more fish yesterday, 12 corys, and 14 neons. The corys were a mix of pepper, albino and bronze, quite young and small, about the size of a thumbnail.

However, this morning, as expected I am down some. What did surprise me was that the neons were all there bar 1. The corys however were down to about 8. Catfish had a lovely midnight snack. Am quite surprised at him taking the corys though. Unless they are just hiding.

Going to have to rethink this, if he is snacking on them.

Don't really want to get rid of him, but he's proving difficult to get tank mates for. The Neons look well in the tannin coloured water, they really shine. The corys are really nice, scurrying about the bottom. Picked them up for €2.50 a piece.

Gah, dilemmas.