2ft tank inspired by forum

I got that piece of perspex finally and plumbed the return nicely and the stand will be done tomorrow evening...wooohoooo.....
Also took the plants out the baskets and planted them, not final placements though.

Couple of pics for you all.

 

Very nicely done! Looks good... What fish are you planning?

 

Thanks dude, I'm quite proud of my first DIY tank....
I'm not sure about what fish yet but I would like fish with as much character as possible....I've been told that puffers are full of character. What you reckon?

Cheers Rob

 

Dwarf Puffers are awesome, but keep in mind that you can only keep them in a species tank i.e. ONLY puffers. They are territorial, and are a lot like Jack Russels. They'll take on any size fish. I've been shouting Celestial Danio on the forum since I saw them at Pet Stop. The are beautiful, and since your tank is rather small you can add a load of them which will make your tank appear way bigger than adding one huge fish.

Then of course theres always tetras... ;-)

 

Thats a bit of a bummer, I'm not that keen on a species tank...Was really aiming for a nice community tank, I'd like some kind of a shoal/school of fish to start with and then a mixture of other fish that dont necessarily shoal.
I reckon a fair amount of research is going to have to be done in order to find exactly what I'm looking for..

 

get harlequins! they school really well, peaceful and are some what hardy! for other fish, get some dwarf gourami's and some dwarf chiclids (apistograma agassisi from the prof)

*pls note.. there may be some spelling violations..

 

Okay cool, I shot out to the lps and bought 10 neon tetra's for the meantime...Just introduced them to my tank and they seem really happy and at home. I saw those harlequins there and really liked them but didn't get any yet but I definitely will. Also saw the dwarf cichlids and gouramis but wasn't sure what I could put together.

Thanks for your advice

 

Harlequins school beautifully. At one point I had a group of 19 in my 3ft. A few years later I'm down to 9 but they're still schooling.
Alternatively you could try get some galaxy rasboras, mine stalk through my rocks and plants in a group.

 

got a small issue that I though you guys might be able to help me with. During the week unfortunately 2 of my neons got sucked over the overflow into the sump, I had to obviously get them out the floss and put them back in the tank and one of them died. Pretty bummed about it. But anyways, in messing about with the floss tank is now merky and has been for about 4 days now, doesn't seem to be getting any better. I did about a 40% water change and added tetra safestart to the new water before putting it into the tank and that didn't help so I replaced the floss and that hasn't seemed to help much either.
What do you guys reckon?

Thanks
Rob

 

sorry, not tetra safestart. I used tetra aquasafe.... The charcoal I added seems to be helping a bit, so we'll see tomorrow how it looks....

 

it could be your non aquatic plants rotting?

 

Hehe, I've been conned with that same non aquatic plants! Mine is still in there, but not causing any cloudiness. I think the charcoal will clear it up.

Rob, I see you are in Durbs. So this wholesaler is getting around hey. I bought mine in Klerksdorp. Exact same stuff. It is time someone give him a jerk in the mouth! (In die bek ruk?)

It also shows the expertise in the LPS's. If they new what they are doing, this wholesaler would not get away with it.

About the overflow. Check the prof's thread http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?6105-Filtration-rates-flow-and-other-questions
as well as this one where the prof explained what to do with that overflow.
http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?6529-Angelfish-fry-question&p=92544#post92544

 

Ya, eh that bugger has obviously caught loads of store owners....
I pulled out the plants that were dying, there are 2 plants that are growing well though so I've left them in.. Keeping a close eye on the others as well so if they start to die I will pull them out as well.

Ya, a mate of mine has a bunch of spare mesh that I'm going to use to make safe the overflow, dont want to loose any more fish!!!

 

I just stuck a piece of coarse sponge in behind the holes as a first line of filtration. It keeps the fish in the tank and it's easy to clean

 

Ya I actually like that idea, I'll see if it can work for me, I cant have the level of my tank raised any further....Thanks for the tip though

 

@rogburr: i really like your substrate , so i went to the lfs today to see what they have , but the closest thing they have to yours is a fine black substrate and it costs R37.50 per kg.. I asked the owner if he could get volcanic substrate and he doesnt even know what im talking about , so what i actually want to know is: Would it be possable for you to pm me the make and name of the substrate , and maybe the lfs you bought it from?
Tanx
Johan

 

Finished work early today due to rain so I went past the local PS and picked up some new mates for my tank...
Got 5 red eye tetra's
2 Juli Cory's
and a algae eater, donno what type....long skinny bugger that follows other fish around, pretty funny actually!!!
And one epic piece of mopani wood that was cured already and was perfect for my tank.... I'll take some pics and put them up as soon as possible!!!Looks pretty rad

Just to confirm with you all that gave me advice that my tank has cleared up, it just took some time. Must of just been a bacteria bloom from messing about with the floss. Thanks for your help on that one!!!

 

hmm.. red eye tetras will chow down on your softer leafed plants.. and the algae eater becomes agressive when it gets bigger.. esp if theres another fish in your tank thats of similar shape and size..also he stops eating algae when he grows bigger too...

 

And don't forget he can grow to 15" !!!

 

Umm.. mine only grew 13cm.. are we talking about the chinese algae eater?