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help needed on new tanks

2K views 14 replies 7 participants last post by  Deadstroke174 
#1 ·
So I will be picking up 2 new tanks (125 and 55 gallon) either Friday or this weekend. They come with stands, 5 canister filters(can't remember what kind), a T5 light, and regular lights all for $400. Sounded like a very good deal to me.

So with my first tank I pretty much did everything wrong and have learned a lot from reading these forums and others helping out. However, the more you learn the more questions you have so here goes. :)

I think with the 125 I am going to go with a medival theme with a lot of live plants and for the 55 gallon i plan on doing a more natural look.

For both:

What are the best fish to cycle with?
I have a python clean and fill already, can i use it for all my tanks or do i need one per tank?

For the 125 gallon:

Any advice on what to stock it with?
This tank has the T5 light so what plants would you recommend?

For the 55 Gallon:

Any advice on what to stock it with?
Any advice on what to buy to go for a natural look would be very much appreciated.

Thank you in advance. Once i get the tanks i will start posting pictures.
 
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#2 ·
So I will be picking up 2 new tanks (125 and 55 gallon) either Friday or this weekend. They come with stands, 5 canister filters(can't remember what kind), a T5 light, and regular lights all for $400. Sounded like a very good deal to me.

So with my first tank I pretty much did everything wrong and have learned a lot from reading these forums and others helping out. However, the more you learn the more questions you have so here goes. :)

I think with the 125 I am going to go with a medival theme with a lot of live plants and for the 55 gallon i plan on doing a more natural look.

For both:

What are the best fish to cycle with?
I have a python clean and fill already, can i use it for all my tanks or do i need one per tank?
Do the fish a favor and do not use them to cycle. Take a look at this page, it gives several different methods to achieve a cycle without poisoning fish.

http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/...inners-guide-freshwater-aquarium-cycle-38617/

You can use the same fill hose for all tanks, no reason to keep them separate.
For the 125 gallon:

Any advice on what to stock it with?
This tank has the T5 light so what plants would you recommend?
T5 or T5HO? Big difference, but most likely it will be HO. That means they are bright (usually for marine reef tanks). For freshwater you will need floating plants to diffuse the light. Keep the duration at no more than 8 hours a day, a timer will be necessary. Too much light = algae.

For the 55 Gallon:

Any advice on what to stock it with?
Any advice on what to buy to go for a natural look would be very much appreciated.

Thank you in advance. Once i get the tanks i will start posting pictures.
Sand or fine gravel. Malaysian driftwood and rocks for decoration. Lots of plants, including floating plants.

Fish... that's too open of a question. Pick something you really want and have the tap water parameters for (pH, GH, and KH). Read up on it in the fish profiles (Tropical Fish Profiles) and it will usually give good tank mates. Go light, rather than heavy on stocking. At least to start, light stocking is more forgiving to mistakes.
 
#3 ·
Don't necessarily agree on the fishless cycle, but that's only because I'm usually much too impatient to get some fish in the tank! If you have lots of live plants, you'll have minimal cycling issues. Start with very few fish, feed lightly and build fish stock slowly. Danios and white clouds are noted as being tolerant of high nitrate levels. One issue using Danios or white clouds is then catching them in a planted tank - it can be tricky in a large tank with lots of plants!

NOTE: I recommend using a quarantine tank for any fish before introducing into your larger tanks Treating 10 or 20 gallons with meds is much less expensive! Do not mix drain and fill hoses or nets from your QT tank with anything else unless you know the QT tank is "safe", or you'll be sorry ....

If you have T5HO bulbs, you'll probably need to suspend the lights some to reduce the light levels or use a single bulb on the 55g.
 
#6 ·
I am planning to have a lot of plants in both the 125 gallon and 55 gallon tanks. I really like the way the live plants look in a tank versus the fake plants.
In that case, plant the tank and when planted decently (meaning, planted with several plants including some reasonably fast growing species, not just a stem or two:lol:) introduce a few of the fish you want. If this is your first time doing this, select the "hardier" of the fish you intend to start with. I do not recommend putting in some fish you don't intend having, just to start things; this can cause various problems. Planting a tank and introducing fish the next day does not cause any more stress to most fish aside from that of being added to a different environment. Some fish should only be added to an established tank, so I would not use those.

Back to your initial post, plan the fish you want first, then select the plants. The decor should accomodate the fish too, for example, some fish need chunks of wood, some rock, some caves, etc. All these things should be in the tank so the plants can go around them naturally.

Byron.
 
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#7 ·
Ok I think i have figured out the fish I want in both tanks which i hopefully will pick up this weekend. so it will still be awhile before everything is set up, but a little planning never hurt anything :)

125G
15 Black Ruby Barb's
12 Branded Dwarf loach
8 Angelicus Loach
15 Marble Hatchet Fish
8 African Dwarf Frog's

Not sure about Alge eaters yet

55G
10 Black Phantom Tetra's
10 Cherry Barb's
6 Angel Fish

Not Sure about the Alge eaters.

From what i read on the profile pages they are all in the same range of ph, temp, non aggessive, and like plants. Do you think it is too many fish in each tank or am I about where i should be to have fully stocked tanks? Any suggestions in regards to this mix and/or plants that might be good with these fish is greatly appreciated.

I really appreciate everyone's advice.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Ok I think i have figured out the fish I want in both tanks which i hopefully will pick up this weekend. so it will still be awhile before everything is set up, but a little planning never hurt anything :)

125G
15 Black Ruby Barb's
12 Branded Dwarf loach
8 Angelicus Loach
15 Marble Hatchet Fish
8 African Dwarf Frog's

Not sure about Alge eaters yet

55G
10 Black Phantom Tetra's
10 Cherry Barb's
6 Angel Fish

Not Sure about the Alge eaters.

From what i read on the profile pages they are all in the same range of ph, temp, non aggessive, and like plants. Do you think it is too many fish in each tank or am I about where i should be to have fully stocked tanks? Any suggestions in regards to this mix and/or plants that might be good with these fish is greatly appreciated.

I really appreciate everyone's advice.
A couple suggestions on these lists, off the top of the bean. Marble Hatchets would be better in the 55g. The angelfish shouldn't bother them, especially since the angels will presumably be relatively small when acquired. The barbs are very active, and this would un-nerve the sedate hatchets. This will also add some upper interest in the 55g which as someone mentioned is lacking.

Branded is meant to be Banded dwarf loach I presume...and rather than this species in so large a tank with the Botia kubotai I wold suggest Botia striata. Both of these are peaceful (not all loaches are); the possible fin nipping mentioned in the profile would only likely occur if you had fish like angels with them. The barbs will be fine. You might want to lessen the number of both loaches though, 6 B. kubotai and perhaps 8 B. striata?

You could reverse the tanks. Angelfish etc in the 125g, barbs etc in the 55g? Angelfish do grow to 6 inches with 8-inch fins and 6 would I think look more "natural" in the larger space.

Plants. Echinodorus (the larger species, a couple are in our profiles) in the angel tank. Pygmy chain sword on the substrate. That could be fairly simple; we often like to have too many plant species and trouble ensues. Fewer plant species tends to enlarge the space visually, and angels cruising among the tall swords is a beautiful sight.

Black Phantom is fine with angels; I wold also consider one of the red related species, Hyphessobrycon bentosi or H. rosaceous for some colour. If you go with these in the 125, you have more space for larger shoals and these fish definitely are better the more there are.

I agree with previous comments on the "algae" fish. Don't get fish just for this, it sholdn't be necessary. But if you like a species that happens to eat algae, fine. Someone mentioned the whiptail catfish, they will eat common green algae. A small group of oto cats in the angelfish tank would be nice, they will keep the sword leaves clean. Remember that almost all of these algae fish only eat common green algae.

Byron.
 
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#8 ·
So you have soft acidic water?

On a side note, how high is the 125? African Dwarf Frogs need air to breathe. If they have trouble getting to the surface they will drown.

In your 55g, all those fish listed are mid level swimmers I believe. Going to be a crowded tank yet so empty at the same time.
 
#9 ·
I can maintain a roughly 7 pH balance. Not sure about the height only remember the length which is 72. I have two of them in my 55G and they are doing good, but i will check as the last thing i want is to put them in a tank that they can't live in.

I really like the Cherry Barbs for the 55G, what would you suggest besides the tetra's or Angel's?
 
#10 ·
Get some bottom fish in place of the tetras. Either some loaches, or cory catfish. Maybe a whiptail catfish. With loaches, make sure they are not nippers because of the angels.

I'd keep the angels though, they are one of my favorites.

For algae, don't get fish to try and control that ... it often just dosen't work well. Snails can help, you may end up with snails regardless as they often come with plants ;) The best defense against algae is to control your light, put them on timers for ~8 hours a day to start.

For everyone's sake, don't get something like a Chinese Algae Eater, those suckers are awful in more ways than one!
 
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