thekoimaiden

Hey lady, so I've gone mad with my stocking plan... I'm adding a bichir and possibly 3 ropefish. However aqua advisor warned me about the rope fish- watch out for the congo tetra and kribensis. So I'm really confused because I can't find ANY other info on if they'd be safe with rope fish or not. I'm really into the rope fish, but I at least need the congos because the top of the tank will be empty without them (minus butterfly fish). I don't think a rope fish could eat a 4" grown congo so I may have to just let them grow out first.. However the kribs, they will be 2.5" for the girl and 3" for the boy... tiny, but I know cichlids should be more than able to defend themselves, but then again I have no clue about that! :s I know that is no where near your area of expertise but I'd like to hear from you anyways!

Okay. I'll keep up with the weekly water changes (I've had to do 2 a week with her in the twenty) and keep an eye on the water parameters. It took FOREVER to fill up this tank!! We got it all running yesterday afternoon. How long will it take to age the water? We still have some conditioner, but not that large of an amount. I was going to wait until it aged then add some of the conditioner to help with stress before adding her.

That reminds me of how skittish she was when we first got her. She warmed up after she realized I give her food. (: Now, when we try to siphon the tank, she just sits right in the way! Lol. She's so sweet.

Thank you!
Edit: How much of a water change do I need to do for just her? My hubby said she looks about 3 inches. (I can't estimate size worth anything.)

Elephant nose... Well maybe once I have a full time job. ;)
I can see myself going down the "monster fish keeper" path some day.... :p

Okay. Thanks! (: I'll put up a mirror or something and keep my eye out for unwanted fishies. If I found one, what would be the best way to quarantine it? The only empty tank I have is 10g.. would that be big enough?

Hello, it's me here to ask you questions again. (: I just trust your feedback so much! There is a 75g on craigslist I'm hoping is still up for sale, and it's just in our budget! If I manage to get it, which I am really hoping for, would I need to keep Comet alone? I'm checking because I seem to remember you saying that goldfish were social or liked company I think. I certainly don't want to overcrowd, but if getting her friends would be a good thing, I'd gladly do so. The goldfish will be in the tank for about 5 years, and then moved to a 220g pond if everything goes as planned.

Synodontis is the genus of catfish from Africa. Search it on seriously fish, they're all pretty similar. They include the common African featherfin catfish & the upside down catfish. I just don't know which type I want yet, because I've got no limits in that category.
The elephant nose will obviously have to wait. Can't even add them later on to this tank because they'd cause conflict with the knife, something about mixing electric fish.

I'm worried about driftwood for this tank.. It's not realistic for me to spend like, $100+ on wood big enough for this tank, so I may have to go hunting for it. :s

Well if you remember my elephant nose fish obsession, you'll know I wanted to do an African tank all along. I don't feel that the tank is room enough for a school of 5-6 9" fish (plus they are like $20 a piece!).
On my 75 gallon tank thread jaysee was helping me, then he showed me his African community, then I rekindled my love of them... He has the butterfly fish, the African knife, the congos, the ctenopoma, and a synodontis. What I want pretty much. He also has a bichir in there which I want to trade off for 1-3 ropefish. Then I added a pair of kribensis onto the list..
Also the tank grew 4" "overnight" and it's now 90 gallons so I may be looking into adding a school of debauwi catfish in the future, but I want to see how the current plan plays out, I don't want a crowded look (which may already be the case with the bottom dwellers at least).
I'm trying to make it different, but African stock is very limited!

Water sprite is from Africa, South America, Asia AND Australia! Woah! That's perfect, I was just going to throw some hornwort on top!
Yes, I will have a variety of plants, but if I can get all those African species I'm hoping they'll slowly take over so I can eventually pull the non African stuff. But of course all the African plants are crazy slow growers.

I'm really pumped for them too!
I've been searching for African plants.. anubias, African water fern (super pretty!) and crinum natans seems to be it.