Tetra Tank. From scrath

Well Ill have the room painted next week. So will be then setting up my tank. Its a 160 litre tank and Ive nothing done yet to it. Ive been thinking for a while what to do and while tangs would of been lovely I think the tank may be somewhat small for them.
So I then came up with an idea of keeping a tank for just tetras. Which bring me along to several questions that I hope some of you can answer.

Firstly Im going to have a sand substrate, what type of sand do I need to get and how much?

Secondly Id love the idea of some plants maybe carpet grass but I wonder then will I need to get ferts for them to grow and Co2 etc. Id prefer maintaince to easy on the tank and havent actually done many live plants before.

In relation to the external filter,Im going to get the tetratec Ex700. The tank is upstairs in my house,is there a chance that the external filter can overflow and hence destroy my house!!! What precautions can I take to avoid that.

The tetras Im thinking of keeping will vary. I already have cardinals and neons in my existing tank and was somewhat surprised that they grew large compared to when I got them at firt. This time I will keep neons only as they are somewhat smaller.
Can tetras mix and do they all shoal together then, I would imagine not ? Anyone able to recommend some interesting tetras ? Im also hoping to add something to the tank to make it look more interesting,perhaps a piece of mangrove root,whether natural or fake. (eg.from zooplus). Also Ive read that the tank needs to be v established for alot of tetras to survive ?

Finally, when all the tetras are in, and I will defo get a few corys also for the bottom of the tank. Can anyone suggest a good centre piece fish, I was thinking a Siamese fighter may look good but she will probably get nipped by some of the tetras, and if not would an angel look good or is it likely to lunch upon some of the neons! Any other suggestion appreciated.

Sorry for the amount of questions but I want this tank to look really good. Im also hoping to do a photo log of it if possible.


Gavin

Hi,

I think 160m litres will be huge for tetras and you could have a very large shoal of maybe 30 neons which would look great when they shoal together.

Silver tip tetras are also very nice.

I imagine that the separate species would shoal together with their own kind so you could have 2 or 3 nice big shoals of fish in the tank.

I'm no expert, and maybe someone will correct me but good lool with it anyway.

Hiya,

Tetra tank will be cool. I've just broken down a 50 litre tetra tank last week.
To be honest they don't often shoal together, best shoalers Ive found are rummy nose (which are also one of the nicest tetras)

Siamese fighter with tetras is a no no as is an Angel.
IMO you don't really need a centerpiece fish, lots of small fish look great either way.

A nice fancy plec would go well too once you get one that will stay small enough.

For any of those carpet plants you do need a C02 system & plenty of light.
Neither of which are my thing at all.
I've found some nice pieces of wood with Anubious/Java fern looks great & is no hassle to grow.

Re: The external upstairs - sure if you are going to have a tank upstairs you are already running the risk of a leak so I personally wouldn't worry too much about it.
Generally if a filter starts leaking its a small amount around the seals at first so you would notice it.
I suppose you could stand it in a container or something if you were really worried.

hi. yeah tetras in lge schoals are great. ive 15 rummy nose and i love them, they schoal great. im going to get more.
as for plants im using tropica plant food and my plants have grown like crazy since i started using it. 1 bag of aquarium sand would be loads, well its 25kg so prob. too much really maybe you can get smaller bags though. good luck with tank. sat it'll be fab.

If you are worried about the external leaking there are a couple of things you can do.
If you drill a small hole about 3mm in the uplift tube (in take) about 50mm below the surface of the water. If the filter leaks the water from the tank will only drop to this level. Once it drops to this level air will be sucked in causing the impeller to jam and/or the motor to stop working. Better a couple of gallons on the floor than the whole tank.
You could also place a water alarm beside the filter. This will sound off like a siren when it gets wet.

I agree with the rummynose tetra. A true shoaling fish.
I wouldn't go for loads of different tetras. Better with just 2-3 groups.

Instead of Angels have a look at Festivum's. A little bigger bodied than Angels and more peaceful. I never had any problems with these mixed with small fish. The only draw back is they may take a fancy to soft leaved plants.

You will get nice sand out in AV. PM serretas for a price.
I have never grown pants in sand so i cant comment.
I would go with real bog wood instead of the fake stuff. The fake stuff tends to fade and can look bad in a year or two. Besides you can attach some plants like fern's, anubius and moss to your Wood for a real natural look.

Best of luck with the new tank.

Sounds good, Im looking forward to it now I must admit! Sourcing the tetras now is the next part! Depends on the shops in Cork area but I think Ill get my hands on them alright. The plants arent a must to be fair, I dont want to have to use Co2 systems and have alot of light etc. I could add one or two smaller plants and they most probably do fine in the tank in the stand they come in.
I think I will have to get some neon tetras anyhow to colour up the tank. Ive been looking at another tetra that appears very nice, an x-ray Pristella tetra.Looks really good to me. Then again Id keep every fish If I could !

know what you mean about keeping every fish if it were possible. think id like a second tank now! the pristellas are lovely too. best of luck