Need some advice before buying first tank

[danielb]

Hi,

I'm looking to get my first aquarium, nothing too big. I was thinking of either a Juwel Rekord 60 or Rekord 70. I want to have live plants in it and the following livestock: smaller shoaling fish & shrimp and maybe some frogs and a algae eating snail or two. I want something that will be teeming with life and interesting to look at as I want to have it by my computer so I have something nice to look at while coding. I'm especially interested in keeping the more exotic creatures like shrimp, frogs and snails.

Can you give me any advice on what I will need or anything I will need to consider? As I'm fairly new to the fish keeping hobby so I'm not 100% sure what I will need! What sort of gravel do I need so I can have live plants? I was thinking about getting a plant set from Java-Plants.com.

Will it be possible to get shrimp and a snail to keep the algae under control? What should I avoid doing/buying? I'm getting this tank to see if I will enjoy it or not and to see if I would want to go on to get a larger aquarium or not. The Juwel aquarium kits come with heaters so would it better to go for a tropical set-up or fresh water?

Cheers.

 

[daveedka]

First of all Welcome to the forum!

You have a lot to figure out, but you are taking the best approach in researching first.

Tank size In my opinion comes with two major factors, budget, and location. In other words find the biggest tank you can afford that fits in the space you have, and won't be too heavy for the floor below. Bigger tanks provide more options, and more stability so they are usually easier to work with. If you are going to have shrimp, frogs, fish and want a busy tank, I would suggest 30 gal as a minimum. If you want plants, shorter tanks are easier like the 40 long, 20 long etc.

Live plants are awesome, and add a whole extra aspect to the hobby. First determine if you want to go high tech or low, low is easier but you'll be limited on types of plants to some extent. High is fun for some people, but requires some money and some serious attention to your tank. Either way you can have nce plants and enjoy them immensely. I prefer the low tech but I am new to plants and catch myself leaning towards the high tech side of things far too often.

Frogs shrimp and fish are all fun. I have no experience with the frogs, but have kept plenty of fish and some shrimp through the years. Do some research and see what you like. pay close attention to compatibility, maximum size, and special requirements. Search the species profiles here and elswhere and take a lot of notes.

Substrate size is largely dependant on plants, and filtration. but as a rule the best all around option is fine gravel, sand is used by many for planted tanks, but poses some difficulties (not impossibilities) Large gravel is hard to work with, and you won't have as much success with plants. As a rule darker substrate makes your fish's colors stand out better. I use natural flint. dark blue and black in my tanks.

You will want to do a lot of research on the nitrogen cycle, lighting, fertilization, water chemistry, filters etc. These things will all come into play, and the more you know up front the easier your life will be later. DON"T get scared, these things all sound complicated but really they aren't, and this hobby IMO is very relaxing and fun. Ask questions about anything you aren't sure of and people here will answer you. Good luck
Dave

 

[danielb]

Ok I will look into substrate too. I have a concrete floor in my house so weight should not be much of a problem it will more be £££s that will dictate how big a take I get in the end! Although I am tempted to buy the tank and make my own stand.

I've heard that snails can 'breed like bunnies' I know they are asexual (I think) so is even 1 snail a safe bet to stop a snail take over of a tank?

Daniel

 

[daveedka]

Snails can and will breed rapidly in the right environment, They are really a good indicator of tank conditions. If you keep your tank clean and don't overfeed your fish the snail pop will stay in control and help with any algea issues. If you Provide too much food, the population will explode. This goes for pond snails and MTS's. The bigger snails aren't as much of a problem with reproducing, but many of them will eat some plants. Ramshorns, and mystery snails seem to be popular for larger snails, I raise pond snails to feed my fish, and MTS's to eat the algea and help clean the tank. The MTS's are great. they hide in the gravel during daylight hours, and come out at night to work. they won't harm your plants and they are next to impossible for most fish to eat. Pond snails seem to do the most for Algea, but they are easy for fish to eat so in my big tank they don't stand a chance.

 

[phanmc]

For a planted aquarium, you'll need to consider a couple of things: substrate/gravel, lighting, and CO2.

Most plants, with the exception of floating and those you don't actually bury, need a nutrient rich substrate in order to live. Gravel and sand by themselves do not have nutrients in them. There are several substrate materials out there specifically for planted aquariums like Flourite, Seachem's Onyx Sand and gravel, and my favorite- CaribSea's Eco-Complete. These are a little pricier than regular gravel and sand.

The lighting is very important to plant growth. Some plants prefer low light enviroments (1watts per gallon or less), like java fern, java moss, and anubias. Other plants require alot of light (2watts per gallon or more) like glossostigma. Generally speaking, low light plants are easier to take care of but if you really want a colorful tank, you'll need a brighter setup. To see how much light you'll need, look at the amount of gallons in a tank and compare it to the wattage from your light bulbs. If you have a 50 gallon tank then you'll need a 50 watt bulb for a low light tank, or 2 50 watt bulbs (or more) for a high light tank.

CO2 is required for plant growth as its a catalyst for photosynthesis, and normally a tank full of fishes don't generate enough for rapid growth. The plants will grow, but it won't grow very fast. Lots of aquascapers inject CO2 into the water to increase plant growth. There's alot involved in CO2 injection so check out some of the sites like www.plantgeek.net and aquaticplantcentral.com. CO2 isn't required, so its not something you'd have to worry about if you're not planning on having an "aqua garden".

In terms of fishes, good shoaling fishes are tetras, barbs, cory catfishes, and loaches. A favorite among lots of people are neon and cardinal tetras because of their color, and many tetras have some very distinct features. Tiger barbs are very active schoolers and are a favorite for many, but they can be aggressive towards each other and other fishes. Cory catfishes and loaches are active bottom dwellers that prefers to swim in groups. Some loaches can grow pretty big and you probably don't want them if you want snails, because loaches love to eat them.

Shrimps and snails can be kept in a tropical aquarium and will help keep the tank clean of algae. Fishes like siamese algae eaters or plecos will also do that. Some nice shrimps are ghost, cherry, and amano shrimps. I'm not familiar with snails and frogs.

Two important things to learn as a beginner: the cycling process and not overstocking the tank. There is a sticky about the cycling process so you should definately read up on it so your fishes don't die on you within a couple of days. Regarding overstocking, there is a simplistic rule of thumb for beginners, and that's 1 inch of fish per gallon. So if you have a 50 gallon tank, you don't want to put more than 50 inches of grown fish in the tank. This is a very inaccurate rule and doesn't work in many situations but it's a safe one to follow u until you learn more about the fishes.

 

[danielb]

Originally posted by daveedka
I raise pond snails to feed my fish, and MTS's to eat the algea and help clean the tank. The MTS's are great. they hide in the gravel during daylight hours, and come out at night to work. they won't harm your plants and they are next to impossible for most fish to eat.

Thanks for the info but what breed is an MTS? Not heard that acroym before...

Daniel

 

[daveedka]

Malaysian trumpet snail, They have a very thick, pointed shell shaped like an ice cream cone, the also have an operculum (trap door ) that they can close over the mouth of their shell. essentially the shell is too thick for most shell crunching fish, and the trap door protects them from slurpers like the loaches and demseys. Combine that with the fact that they burrow during the day, and they are pretty hard to stop. They breed slower and grow slower than pond snails, but they do an Ok job of cleaning algea but like everything else they don't do it as fast as pond snails. They reproduce without exterior eggfs, and one can eventually populate a tank, it doesn't take two to tango. they will not hurt plants and they keep the substrate loosened up a bit, they only burrow as deep as the o2 levels allow, so they won't go clear to the bottom of the substrate unless you have an undergravel filter. Many people feel they are the best snail to have in your planted tank, and although my experience is still limited, I tend to agree.
Dave

 

[happychem]

Malasian Trumpet Snails. I've got a few in my planted tank, no clue how many!) I've also got a ton of Ram's Horn snails. They do good work at keeping the tank clean and are actually fun to watch for a while.

Don't go for a plant kit right off the bat. Start with lots of stem (sometimes called "bunch") plants. They're the fastest growing aquatic plants and will help your tank equilibrate and keep down algae. After you've got a handle on those, pull some out to make room for some slower growing plants.

For the tank, I'd advise you to look around and see what's available locally. Decide how much you're willing to spend is step 1. Look at tank kits and individual components. IME, a diy hood is the best way to go for planted tanks. You can buy the multi light hoods offered by tank suppliers, but they cost mucho $$$.

You can often save a lot of money and get better quality components if you buy things seperately, plus it allows you to spread it over several paycheques.

It may seem like a lot of work, but I truly believe that it's the way to go. If you have the tools and ability to build your own stand, go for it. Stands are one of the most expensive parts, at least so far as I've seen.