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Well the past few months i have been researching and i am 2wks away from having my tank here. its a 3ftlong 2ftwide 3fthigh 70ltrs. I had a thread here not so long ago about what speices i am going to put in the tank went to reply to it but had computer problems.. So I am starting a new thread.

I have the gravel which is a brown to show up the colours of the fishes i am getting and ornaments i have some coming with lots of hidey holes in there i am sure the cories and the bristlenose will love.

The question i ask is when i fill the tank up after washing the gravel and ornaments and setting it up what temp do i put my heater at?

And also do i fill the tank up with cold water then heat it up or bit of warm water as well.

And as for the fishes i am planning to get

10 Pearl danios (these are the first to go in when the tank is ready and i will start with 5 of them)
10 Black neon tetras
6 Bronze corys
2 Bristlenose plecos
1 Moonlight gourami(the last fish i will add to the tank)

Again any advice and tips will be great.

They say fishes are dumb, because humans need to be smarter in keeping the fishes alive.

ok...first off i am confused. a 3x2x3 foot tank is 135 US gallons... 510 liters... so if the tank is 70 liters then your measurements are off. so, i will give advice in case its a 70 liter or a 510 liter...but first, lets talk about your other questions.

ok,as far as the temp you put your tank at, it depends on the fish you are keeping...with the stock list you wanted, mid to high 70s farenhieght should be good. use a seperate thermometer to check the temperatures at various parts of the tank so you can dial in the heater and ensure its working properly.

as far as what you put in the tank it doesnt matter because the heaters will adjust for whatever.

also, if you are truely running a 135g tank, you might consider using twin lower wattage heaters, its safer. if one heater goes on the fritz it wont fry or freeze your tank occupants. it also disperses heat better instead of warming just one side of the tank.

now, as far as the decor...make sure you get driftwood if you are getting a BN pleco...its also helpfull if you get a piece that goes near to the surface of the water, corys like to "climb" up it to get to the surface to take a quick gulp of air(digestive purpouses).

as far as the stock, i dont see a problem with your list as far as space is concerned...as long as its a 135 gallon tank. if its a 70 liter (18.5 gallon) tank, then NO NO NO!!!!

a tank under 20 gallons is too small for that stock list.

there may be one problem with your list however...moonlight gourami's are timid normally and shy away from boustrus activity...and all the danios i have ever seen have been very rowdy. and keep in mind the delicate "feelers" and fins of the gourami might get munched on by your schooling fish. that stuff happens when you get a timid big fish and rowdy small fish.

also one thing i noticed when i had a BN pleco(which i took back for this reason). it bullied the corys to no end. it would even stick its sucker mouth on them if they wouldnt move. it kept chasing the corys away from food even when it wasnt hungry...the specimen i had was quite the bully...it was a female BTW.

hope i helped out some!

61 x 31 x 46cm
Approx 70L

Rekord 70 Aquarium - All the work is done, all you have to do is add the fish, plants and stones!

Remember, Rekord 70 Aquarium comes complete with:
* complete internal filter system -Compact
* waterproof lighting system - 1 x 15W
* heater thermostat - 100 watt
* powerhead - 400l/h
* digital temp guage

is the tank's details. And as with the themometer's I am having one on the outside of the tank and a digital one on the inside of the tank which i feel is a good idea.

Can I get that for free off the beach and sterilise it.

And as my stock list are you saying I need to go back to the drawing board again????

They say fishes are dumb, because humans need to be smarter in keeping the fishes alive.

You could use sand from the beach if you sterilize it, but it's going to make the water hard and limit your stocking choices. I'd use silica based playsand, it's great for bottom-dwellers and really cheap. I got enough to fill my 55 gallon (4ftx1ft) tank 3 inches deep for 5 dollars. I believe it comes in either white, which I got, or tan.

Here's a stocking list that should work:

6-8 Black Neon Tetras
6 Pygmy Cories OR 3-5 Kuhli Loaches
1 Dwarf Gourami

That should work. If you wanted to skip the Cories or Loaches, whichever one you choose, you could get a Bristlenose Pleco, but I'd suggest looking at a Clown Pleco if you could find one. They stay smaller and are much better looking in my opinion. If you do get a Clown make sure you have some driftwood in the tank, and position it so you can see it on all sides. This is what I did, so I can see my Clown anytime I want and he feels secure on his piece of driftwood. Everybody wins!

yeah, i am afraid its back to the drawing board. the rule of thumb which doesnt always work is 1 inch per gallon of tank, meaning you have 18" of fish to work with.

you have ALOT more than that planned. 4" each for the plecos...2" each for the corys, 1.5" each for the neons, 2" each for the danios, 4" or more for the moonlight gourami...thats ALOT of fish, i would say you would need at the minimum, double your tank size, maybe triple.

pygmy corys may or may not be readily available in your area, i would suggest if they arent that you consider some loaches if you want bottom feeders, either than or get one BN pleco and forget the bottom feeders. BN plecos are very messy and they poop alot. i put a 2" one in my tank that had been stable for months and had a mini ammonia spike.

the tetras or danios are fine, but only one school, not both, and prolly a school of 7.

DG's are fine, but dwarf gouramis in the states where i am tend to have a genetic disease, and they die a few days or a couple months after purchase. keep that in mind. and when you do find a healthy specimen it may be agressive to your smaller fish, especially in that tank size. I had a sunset DG that wasnt diseased and lived several years. the little bugger was mean as heck though.

Ok why I said the moonlight gourami (that is my centrepiece, or was) is I like the look of it and its personality.

And this is the funny bit in my months of research I have been told that the moonlight gourami is a good choice. And even a pet shop told me two of them told me this.

And had no adversed comments about the BN and the cories together.

Truestar what I meant about getting it from the beach was the driftwood looking at my post I can see where you thought I meant the sand. I am getting gravel,ornaments in the same shipment as my tank.

Reun when you say I have ALOT more than planned what did you mean..

*goes back to the drawing board* who said that setting up fish tanks was easy


They say fishes are dumb, because humans need to be smarter in keeping the fishes alive.

I don't think I've ever heard setting up a tank is easy

Especially if you want to do it the right way

Don't worry, this is the fun part before the really fun part .

Umm, when you mentioned driftwood from the beach, is this saltwater ocean type beach, or river or lake type beach?
Wood from the ocean won't be good in a FW tank, the wood will have absorbed too much of the salt and other things from the ocean to be good in a FW tank. I really wouldn't suggest it.

I don't have a problem with corys and plecos together, the problem is that the tanks too small to take both. I think you're pushing it with the school of corys, so would suggest the BN instead. However if you do wish corys, some of the smaller pygmy corys would work, just be very careful with them. I've read plenty of people find them very delicate. Weekly siphoning of the gravel (which you should be doing anyway as part of your weekly water changes) may help.

^_^

Lol babelfish yes and with two tanks of coldwater you would of thought i should have known by now..

And as with the driftwood i will look at getting some from the pet shop then, Because i meant from the sea beach hence why I checked.

Why i stated putting the danios in first is because they are hardy fishes and can test if the tank is ready or not. Even though the tank will be cycling without the fishes for a good week or 2before hand could even be about a month or two because when the tank is set up the other fun part the places that has the fishes i am after.

They say fishes are dumb, because humans need to be smarter in keeping the fishes alive.

well, i must have had a very agressive BN pleco then. and sorry you have to re plan the stock list, but its just too many fish for such a small tank.

anyway, i would say that danios are fine, and they are tough so a good starter fish. make sure you cycle the tank before you drop them in though!

babel is correct, small corys are ussually very sensative to water peramiters, making them a bad starter fish...their barbels are very sensative and require very carefull substrate maintanece. i would be looking at just the BN pleco instead, a school of danios, and a DG if you can find a healthy specimen.

and yes, i am sure the pet store folks told you the moonlight gourami are fine for your tank. i have listened to various pet stores try to sell clown loaches to people with a 5 gallon tank, or sell one of each kind of tetra to another. my favorite was a pet store clerk selling a oscar to someone with a 3 gallon tank and telling her they stayed at 4 inches and would be fine in the tank.

a very common practice is the selling of common pleco's to people with small tanks. it happens. dont trust what anyone tells you, do some research, even when it comes to peoples opinions on the forums...people have been known to be wrong a time or two.

With the Dwarf gourami you can get nice blue ones cant you..

And now i am trying to decide which i want a school of cories or a BN the reason this will help me to decide though i will keep the algae down but i'd like something to help keep the gravel clean and algae down but not to rely ont it.

And also are the black neon tetras or any of the tetras hardy fishes as to first be put in the tank or will i be better to go with the danios?? After the fishless cycle

Thanks for helping me go back over my stock list I could of had a heart break.

They say fishes are dumb, because humans need to be smarter in keeping the fishes alive.

After a fishless cycle you should be able to put in either, the ammonia and nitrite spikes should have passed and you can do water changes to keep down nitrates. The Danios are hardier, but choose the fish you like best and it should work out fine.

My BN did wonders for the brown algae (which isn't actually algae, but diatoms) in my 20 gallon. Also, they will eat some flake food that falls to the bottom, just not as much as a school of Cories would. You won't need the Cories to keep the bottom clean anyways, regular gravel vacs work fine for that. So, just choose the fish you like better. I believe I suggested a Clown Pleco earlier in this thread, they're very nice to look at but won't do much for algae. Also, I believe they're more sensitive that BN are, but you could always look into one of those instead as well.

And yes, you can get very nice blue Dwarf Gourami. I got a pair for my local library's tank (I run it) and it is absolutely stunning, as is the red/orange one it shares the tank with. They're beautiful fish, it's no wonder they're so popular. Hope this helped.

yeah, it wont matter which of the schooling fish you drop in after the tank has cycled, both those fish are tough.

i would really advise you away from the corys and would say go with a BN pleco and a DG instead. it will make for a happier healthier tank.

http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/250.htm and http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/640.htm when i go to the pet shops how can i be sure i get the smaller one not the bigger one..

And with the review of my list it is

10 black neons
1 Dwarf Gourami and
1 BNS

I am happy with that list.

They say fishes are dumb, because humans need to be smarter in keeping the fishes alive.

There really isn't anyway to tell for sure. But all of the ones that I've ever bought from stores don't get more than 4 inches. I wouldn't worry about it, the size difference isn't that much. The stocking list looks good, I'm glad you're happy with it.

I don't think it makes any difference if the driftwood comes from the beach, and in fact is where I prefer to get it.

The amount of salt absorbed by the wood is going to be fairly small, a good amount of it will be washed away if you give it a good rinse. And if you soak it in another container to get it to sink before putting it in your tank it will be pretty much gone...And a bit of salt isn't harmful anyway.

Thanks for your help. And as for the sizing thanks for that too. And next time i am at the beach i will look for a good driftwood .

Now water treatment for the goldfishes I use cycle,melafix and conditioning salt is this the same which of those treatments would i not need to use

They say fishes are dumb, because humans need to be smarter in keeping the fishes alive.

young bristlenose pleco's ussually have a couple little knobs on the top of their head near their snout, later on they develop lots of little bushy growths that give them the name of bristlenose pleco. in my experience though, when they are under two inches if there is any knoby growth its ussually only a couple little ones. that is just in my experience and what i have seen in fish stores.

thanks I will know what to look for.

What sort of food would i need or would the best qual trop flakes be fine among, bloodworms,spiriluna flakes and disc be fine and also the feeding of live foods like daphnia and boatmen be fine.

They say fishes are dumb, because humans need to be smarter in keeping the fishes alive.

the pleco's also like to nibble on zuccini (i cant spell) as well. get some sinking disc's high in vegtable matter, and provide some freshwater safe driftwood for it to scrub. the other fish will do fine with the food mentioned.

Can you get filter media from your goldfish tanks to put in the new filter? Or can you install the new filter on a goldfish tank while your setting up the new aquarium? This would jump start the cycling process.