Tropical Fish Keeping - Aquarium fish care and resources

Tropical Fish Keeping - Aquarium fish care and resources (http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/)

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Hello every body :-P
im joe and im a newbie haha
I just came across this site n thought oh what the heck n decided to join up!
ive always had a passion for aquariums n such but ive only just went out and purchased a set up for myself, i got a 50L Aquatopia neptune and stand and basically im in dire need of help and advice hahah
im thinking of doing a tropical set up ( been researching fish a bit ) and a community type tank, im aiming for a natural look kinda like a creek or river type thing.
id also like to buy proper aqua plants, ive got a million questions i wanna ask haha but firstly since i work at a plant nursery would miniature terracotta pots be a good idea to put in my tank ? any recommended easy to maintain plant types?
also im stuck on the substrate type/and how much i would need for a 50 litre tank, i dont want anything too big or too small, as i said im fairly new to this and any help would be greatly appreciated
hope to hear from yas soon and when i get camera and stuff set up will post pics of tank in process
thanks ppl
Joe:-D:lol::-D

Hey Joe Welcome to Tropical Fish Keeping. Glad you found us. Just answer some of your questions. I know ppl use terracotta pots and its fine. I think they are just not suppose to be coated. As for as plants You should have a read on this Four part Sticky one of our members wrote: http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/a...um-part-34861/ The rest of the series can be found under the Aquarium Plants at the top. It has lot of great info in there. As for substrate if you are going with plants then you will need anything as fine as sand (which ppl use playsand and it works great) to gravel no bigger the Pea gravel (and that's probably too big for plants. I had some in Pea gravel and they did poorly).

thanks i appreciate the reply :-D

ive only quickly jotted through ur reply as im kinda in a hurry to head off somewhere (will read it thru later on) if i put my plants in the pots then the substrate type wouldnt matter as much would it??

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe1985 (Post 1027307)

Well no in that instance the substrate type wouldn't matter plant wise. Types of fish can still determine substrate types so depending on what kin d of fish you get you may have to/should get substrate best for.their needs.

thanks for your help mate, im slowly building up my knowledge base, im in the process of selecting fish and looking to buy ornaments,decorations etc ill have to look into the fish and if they like to burrow and all that kinda thing

how much substrate would u recommend for a 50Litre tank? im thinking between 1-2 inches deep

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe1985 (Post 1027460)

how much substrate would u recommend for a 50Litre tank? im thinking between 1-2 inches deep

I would say that is fine if you are not going to be putting plants in the substrate.

cool cool, would there be any restriction for me in the type of plant i get? whats a great simple common plant? if theres such thing lol

Got to ask a question here Is there a reason why you want to plant the plants in tie pots instead of just in the substrate? As for for plants go I would check out so of the plants in the profiles they are located under the Tropical Fish Profiles in the blue bar at the top of the page. That will give ya an idea of some plants. Do you know what kind of lights you have?

all i know is that its a 24W lamp built into the top of the hood/tank, how can i tell if it would be good for the palnt? well i just figured by putting plants in the pots itd be easier to clean? looks cool too haha ill check it out thaks