My First Tank...

[Studz]

Hey there,

I have been looking through the forum and seen many very nice tanks, as some of you may know I'm new to Aquariums and so I though I would post a message which shows you my first tank, all but a few weeks old.

Spec:
Volume - 59ltrs (13gallon)
Size - 60x30x32cm

Contents:
1 filter
1 heater
1 large 'tacky' Treasure Chest
3 plastic plants

Fish:
CoryDora Cat (bronze) x 1
CoryDora Cat (albino) x 1
CoryDora Cat (peppered) x 1 <<NEW>>
X-Ray Tetra x 5
Neon Tetra x 5 <<NEW>>
Red Finned Black Shark x 1 <<NEW>>

Here is a quick snap shot of the tank:

will keep you posted on the evolution of my newest venture,
not quiet as fun as catching fish, but they look pretty... :wink:

edit: Added new fish to list

 

[Anonymous]

Welcome to Reefs.org...This is the first time ive seen a FW tank in this forum...That red finned shark is gonna out grown that tank rather quickly...its gonna get around 4-6" roughly maybe larger and can be quite agressive..Other than that, you are keeping small fish, it will be interesting...

PS dont add any more fish, your tank will become unstable if its biologically overloaded

 

[Bojangles]

I've had fresh water tanks for 12 years and still have a few, 55g and a 80g. Some of my coolest tanks were planted with just a few plants like swords and java fern with alot of small neons, whiteclouds, danios ect.

My favorite tank is still running. Its a 55g planted tank with a 5" blood parrot, 7" bala shark that I got when my aunties tank broke, 3" pearl gourami and about 30 white clouds. The bio load doesn't even remotely scratch the surface suprisingly. I'll post pics if you want them after tuesday when I get my camera.

 

[Studz]

pictures of your tank would be cool.

I'm not going to be adding any more fish to my tank, I may add some more plantlife. but apart from that nothing else.

The shark is aggressive correct, but he isn't as bad as some people have said he would be.

from what I've read sharks are much like people and each one is totally different. some are placid and some are over active.

My shark seems to be happy, he does chase some of the other fish, from time to time. but he never does any damage. he is getting more confident in the tank now and he is coming out of his hide, more often now, to swim about amongst the other fish.

could anyone tell me how many different breeds of CoryDora there are?

I know of 4

- Albino
- Bronze
- Peppered
- Julli

are there any more?

thanks

 

[Anonymous]

Wait til that shark gets older..It'll get more aggressive as time goes by...Ive kept them before and arent really made for smaller tanks..However good luck with it...

Bojangles, considering you have a planted tank maybe the reason why the load isnt affecting your tank...good supply of oxygen...

 

[Anonymous]

There are tons of different corydoras...There is a green cory(not sure of scientific name may fall under the same category as bronze C. aeneus), Sterbas(C. Sterbai), "leopard"corys(C. julii falls into this catagory along with C. agassizi, C. luecomelas and C. melanistius), skunk corys (C. arcuatus, C. melini, C. metae, C. rabauti), panda corys(C. panda),elegance cory(C. elegans), pygmy corys (C. habrosus, C. pymgaeus and C. hastatus) and the big guy of the group which i know of no common name is C. barbatus (5in)..Too name a few most of which im not familiar with..the ones i am familiar with are the albino, green, julii and skunk...

 

[Studz]

thanks for that.

some people say the corys are boring fish, but I think they are great to watch, especially the albino one, which seems to be one sandwich sort of a pinic basket, as he swims like a mad 'fish' at high speed all over the tank in bursts, where as the bronze and peppered just chug along slowly.

 

[Anonymous]

Try putting about 6 together and theyll semi shoal...Thats how cory cats perfer to live anyways...in small groups....

 

[Studz]

I don't think I have room in the tank for another 3 of them.
at least not at the moment, I may buy another tank, a smaller one, for the shark to live in on its own, IF it start to damage my other fish.

then I would have enough room for 3 other corys, which would be nice.

 

[Studz]

Finally I have managed to calm the shark down, he doesn't chase all the fish now, he joins in with two of the newest additions to the tank, which they seem to enjoy.
The two I speak of are Tiger Barbs (1 male, 1 Female) the shark did chase the barbs aggressively when they were first put into the tank, but they seem to be getting along really well now. The barbs even tease the shark when he is hiding in his new cave, they swim down and poke their heads into one of the enterences until the shark comes out and then he chases them.

the additions have been:

Terrain:
A large arizona style rock cave
An air stone (with air pump)
2 model frigs (don't ask, blame the girlFriend she bought them) lol

Fish:
Julii leopard corydora x1
Clown Loach x1
Tiger Barb x2

After these additions the tank seems to have settled out a little more, the tetras are shoaling better now, The Shark as said earlier is now calmer. and the Corys have all taken a shine to the julii cory and they all spend a lot of time swimming around together.

I am putting a stop to buying anymore fish at all now, until I get a bigger tank, which wont be for a long time yet. seeing the tank is fuly populated and wont take anymore fish.

I may buy some more plants, but this is a 'maybe'.
I will get a picture of the tank up here asap.

 

[Studz]

here we go:

 

[nazzy_016]

Welcome to Reefs.org...This is the first time ive seen a FW tank in this forum...That red finned shark is gonna out grown that tank rather quickly...its gonna get around 4-6" roughly maybe larger and can be quite agressive..Other than that, you are keeping small fish, it will be interesting...

PS dont add any more fish, your tank will become unstable if its biologically overloaded

yes but this will take time, i had a red tail in my 10 gallon (my first tank) a few years ago with some harlequins and he was fine for about 4 months until he died, but they dont grow overwhelmingly fast. If i still had a FW i would definetly keep a red tail, cool fish

 

[Anonymous]

They grow pretty moderately and will quickly outgrow a ten gallon..Ive kept them before but arent for the community tank...If it aint out growing a ten gallon within a year, then you are having water quality issues or something else...Of course this is in my experience