[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by petrol_power

Hi All, So after having lot of cichlids, a short body flowerhorn, couple of freshwater lobsters, I feel I need more colorful and vibrant ones.

I was looking at Marine aquariums, and so some doubts came regarding the same.

no idea. but if you are looking for colour and vibrancy, why don't you look at african cichlids.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Need your tip from the experts on two points:

(1) What colourful fish can I add to my fresh water tank that will be compatible with medium sized chiclids (4" to 7" long). My tank is 6' long x 2.5' wide x 3' deep.

(2) Where can such fish be procured in NCR.

1) that is a massive tank! good on you. i'm thinking of arowanas, gars, stingrays in that tank

what cichlids do you have now and please oh please do put up pics and videos of the tank.

you can try clown loaches, fancy plecos assuming you have american cichlids.

2) sorry can't help you with that

[R32_GTR]

Originally Posted by jkdas

Oh and I redid the tank once coz I saw r32's thread

Gotta do a better aqua-scapping sometime later.

Addictive isn't it Here's a couple of pics at approximately 3 months before and after a trim. The montecarlo is "carpeting" quickly now that the roots are set.

Originally Posted by petrol_power

Hi, May I know why you left marine tank, because of the difficulty in maintaining (in terms of time allocated?). Is it expensive to buy and maintain?

Yes. It is time consuming and a lot of work. But that's what make this so much more fun and subsequently fruitful. I spend a little less effort now with a much smaller planted tank. I also had an aquarist who used to come in and service the tank every 2 months (while I still had to do weekly waterchanges... so yes, it is a lot of work if you want keep a "Proper" marine set up. Bare bottom marines are much easier but not great to look at. Expensive is a relative term. Look up #AllMyMoneyGoesToCoral

Originally Posted by razorBlades

Need advice from planted tank owners.Is CO2 setup mandatory? how good are the tablets? Do shrimps spoil the plants, as I have just introduced 5 shrimps and the plants are going transparent and broken leaves lately.

I use Co2 liquid additives and Co2 tablets - the do work depending on the plants you have. Read up on Co2 and lighting needs for each plant type before you get them. Proper Lighting, water conditioning and circulation are a default need for any planted set-up. I also tried the DIY Co2 system but it was quite messy - I do intend to move to a proper Co2 system on the next planted scape which would be 3 - 4 times the current size.

Shrimps do not spoil the plants. They are algae eaters and do the tank a few favors especially with moving the nutrients around when the move. Leaves going transparent and breaking indicates rot which could be a result of unsuitable water conditions and/or damage to the stem while planting. Leave the roots on for a week or so though, they can spring new shoots if the latch on to the substrate.

[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by R32_GTR

Addictive isn't it Here's a couple of pics at approximately 3 months before and after a trim. The montecarlo is "carpeting" quickly now that the roots are set.

Beautiful tank you got there! I'm planning on setting up a planted tank and wanted some help regarding LED lighting. Where can you buy one and of good quality ? I see a lot of cheaper ones online and the store I frequent regularly has no LED lights.

Also, did you buy the substrate,fishes,plants,rocks etc online ?

[deathwalkr]

My Java ferns had given up and finally got around to buying new ones and having them fixed onto the driftwood. And some coffee leaf anubias as well. What a difference a few plants make to the fish tank

Shall take a better pic with the tank fully illuminated later today.

[R32_GTR]

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

Beautiful tank you got there! I'm planning on setting up a planted tank and wanted some help regarding LED lighting. Where can you buy one and of good quality ? I see a lot of cheaper ones online and the store I frequent regularly has no LED lights.

Also, did you buy the substrate,fishes,plants,rocks etc online ?

Good LED lights cost a bomb. Easier thing to do is to look at regular home light fixtures and adapt.

I've got most of the stuff from aquarium stores close to home but you can buy most of these things online.

Added some staurogyne repens over the weekend and a couple of pairs of Galaxy rasboras. Will put up some pics next week once they're set.

[ani_meher]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

By sweet water i guess you mean fresh water
To answer you query about "premium" non aggressive fishes, you could look at exotic tetras, barbs, rainbow fishes, rams, angel fishes, clown loaches etc..

Thanks for the answers! Sure cleared some doubts. I read up on the parrot fish, and I agree with your feeling. Flowerhorn/arowana being single in a bare tank is not a happy sight for me! Though flowerhorn can be amazingly responsive.

I saw a planted tank in a shop with dark brown/gray sand. The seller said it was some japanese sand wich doesn't require any fertilizer. That japanese sand was around 1000rs per kg. Was he speaking truth or just sales BS?

I am planning to get an acrylic curved glass tank at home, about 2x2 ft fascia, and hoping to create a planted aquarium with small neon tetra or glass fish if I could find one. I'd appreciate your thought on the same.

[deathwalkr]

For planted tanks you can refer the posts above... He's got the right idea

I lack the patience required to maintain one.

By Japanese soil I guess you mean ADA branded soil... Multiple layers of substrate catering to a multitude of nutrients required for plants to thrive should be ideal I reckon.

2*2 is a good size to start with.

Remember, good soil, good Lighting and a good filtration is required

[R32_GTR]

Subscribe to TheGreenMachine on youtube.

Watch these two video (or any of them on their channel) before you start your planted tank. It'll give you a good idea of what really goes in to Aquascaping (irrespective of size).

Natures Chao's:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZDexLMZFrU

Red Rock Nano:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv0x42x-r7Y

[ani_meher]

I bought a 120liters Boyu tank with built in filter and lights, and after cycling it, I now have a dozen neon rainbow fishes and a pair of blue gourami Returning to fishkeeping after many years, and it's heart warming to see these guys after a busy day!

I had actually made up my mind to buy a school of neon tetra, but these neon rainbows caught my eye. They are of schooling type, and very active. They shine very beautifully with every movement, and overall I felt they were looking far better than neon tetra from a distance.

There were some dyed glass fishes also, which looked terrific. However I have read that their life span is not much, and moreover, the process of injecting dye in them is cruel, and 80% of the glassfishes don't survive this. So skipped purchasing them.

Here's a snap of my neon rainbows, that does gross injustice to how beautiful they look while swimming.

[audioholic]

Reproduction confusion:

Last month, my angel fish had laid eggs and there were plenty of them. Hence I moved the other fish, mainly tetras and left the angels to themselves, guarding the eggs. This continued for two days and the third day the eggs were gone when my dad turned on the light. Not sure what happened. All the while, the other tetras were in a second tank which I purchased used from LFS. I moved these fish back to the tank but since I had kept excess moss in the second tank, I left the water as it is and didnt drain the tank.

After a week, I thought of draining the tank and to my shock, I found that there were small fish, only a pair of eyes and a tail swimming around the second tank. Initially I thought these were baby sword tails. But now, they are getting the neon tetra blue on them.

So now I have around a dozen infant neon tetras. What a twist Never knew they would reproduce. Even if they were doing all the while, I felt bad I couldn't safeguard the babies.

[Mortis]

Hi, angels and discus can eat their own eggs sometimes, especially when they are first time parents or get scared. Some fish eggs are also sensitive to light or catch fungus easily. The parents tend to pick off and eat the bad eggs. One of these reasons is probably why your angel eggs vanished

[petrolhead_chn]

Hi Guys! Hope all are fine and so are your fishes .

A brief

My mother was an active fish keeping hobbyist a few years back. Recently my kid wanted a fish tank very seriously and I got her a small tank with goldies. We both clean the tank and feed them which is real fun and quality time. Now, unconsciously I got myself so much into it the hobby that a need for bigger tank arose in me and yesterday I got myself a 3ft x 1ft x 2ft (LxBxH) glass tank, a stand and a simple roof.

I need help from experts in this hobby on how do I take it further from here. Please advice on the below-

1. May I paint the wooden stand and roof with wood polish/varnish to prolong the life of wood?
2. How do I choose a filter, lighting and heater? I assume an internal filter is good for now as I am just getting started. Any links for online purchase?
3. What the fishes I can put in and any good shops in chennai from where I can buy?

Thank you for reading and appreciate all your responses.

Here is a picture of the new tank and my kid's.

[toiingg]

Indianaquarium.com is a reliable online store.

They are based in chennai also, u can visit their shop in person. Address is there in the website.

I often order from them and currently have a canister filter on the way.

For filtration I would suggest a sunsun 303a canister for u

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by petrolhead_chn

Hi Guys! Hope all are fine and so are your fishes .

A brief

I got myself a 3ft x 1ft x 2ft (LxBxH) glass tank, a stand and a simple roof.

1. May I paint the wooden stand and roof with wood polish/varnish to prolong the life of wood?
2. How do I choose a filter, lighting and heater? I assume an internal filter is good for now as I am just getting started. Any links for online purchase?
3. What the fishes I can put in and any good shops in chennai from where I can buy?

Your tank should hold around 170L of water [45Gallons]. Look for heaters which have sufficient power to heat that volume of water.

For filtration get sunsun 303a as poster above mentioned. it's a good model to begin with. Internal filter is good for mechanical filtration and by itself is not enough.

Coarse sponge, bio media [seachem matrix if you are feeling rich or ceramic rings] and carbon with fine sponge. Those should be the three layers in the filter.

Yes, you can polish/paint the stand. But do it before you add fishes into the tank.

Ideally you decide type of fish learn about it then get the tank accordingly. In your case for a tank that size, i would recommend small fishes like barbs, tetras, mollies and the likes.

Good luck.

[petrolhead_chn]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Ideally you decide type of fish learn about it then get the tank accordingly. In your case for a tank that size, i would recommend small fishes like barbs, tetras, mollies and the likes.
Good luck.

Thank you dealthwalkr. I will work on it.

Originally Posted by toiingg

Indianaquarium.com is a reliable online store.
For filtration I would suggest a sunsun 303a canister for u

Thank you toiingg. I checked the canister you both have suggested and the price comes to approximately 3400/- excluding filter media. Is that fair enough?

And just out of curiosity do you guys think adding live plants with appropriate procedures would be too much for me at this moment? Any guidance here?