Setting Up A Freshwater Aquarium
 

Setting Up A Freshwater Aquarium

I have very limited experience and am setting up my first tank. I am interested in an Asian tank and would like to know if this info is accurate.

I'm pretty sure Byron keeps an Asian Biotope. Maybe he'll see this or you can send him a PM?

Hi Sophie,

The information you linked is fine, very general about setting up a freshwater tank. Some things may or may not be relevant when it comes to decor (wood, rocks, gravel) depending upon what sort of Asian tank you're wanting. Filtration and heat also can be different.

There are mountain stream tanks: more rocks and stones, small gravel, probably slightly cooler water depending upon fish species which could include white cloud minnows, zebra and other danios, some of the loaches, though not necessarily together. If the fish chosen are from flowing streams, some current from the filter would be authentic.

Or a lowland stream/flooded forest/swamp tank that would be warm, no rocks but wood, sand or very small gravel, and fish from among the gouramis, betta, rasbora, loaches, though again not all together; just indicating some species. Filtration in this setup should be minimal, the fish are quiet, lots of plants and floating plants. My 70g is desinged along the stream/swamp concept, although it is not finished bcause I'm waiting for some special plants so I can arrange the wood and plants together.

Just some initial thoughts; several of us have SE Asian fish so more suggestions can follow when we know the type of fish/tank you'd like.

Byron.

I actually noticed your tanks after posting this. They are absolutely beautiful. I listed the fish I was thinking of in another post but here is my list as of right now. Still doing some looking around though.

white clouds
blue gourami/pearl gourami
yo yo loach
barbs

These are the fish that I am interested in but they are absolute yet.

Thanks for the kind words,much appreciated.

A thought on your fish list: there are some temperature differences among those fish, and while many fish can "tolerate" higher/lower temp, I believe for their overall health they should be kept with fish that prefer the same water temp and parameters. Less stress comes from sharing like parameters, as well as behavioural compatibility.

We can go more into things, just wanted to mention this while it occurred to me. I'll be offline shortly until tomorrow. If you want some good sites for research on fish requirements re water, try
Seriously Fish - Tropical Fish, Aquarium Fish Tanks, Fishkeeping Info [click on "knowledge base"].

This is an excellent site on loaches: Loaches Online - Community Edition — Loaches Online

Byron.

I have been thinking on what to do with my 29G and have decided to just make it a general community tank. As of today there are 8 zebra danios, 6 black skirt tetras, and 1 pleco. The stats have been very stable and nothing out of the expected has happened. Well, except for my antisocial tetra. I am taking notes down about creating an asian tank and will be doing that in a 55G or bigger tank. Hopefully soon :-D