[ptaneja]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

You have to keep in mind that Oscars are like Bullies. They use their bulk to intimidate other fishes. But when faced with other aggressive which can take the bully head on, like in real life, the bully often gets thrashed.

American cichlid tank needs a lot of stones and wood to cut off line of sight and helps weaker ones space to retreat to.

Bigger the cichlids, bigger the tank and larger the hiding space required.

Also try getting all fishes together so it's all new for all of them. In your case the GT is well established and suddenly it detects a threat. The oscar is new and stressed and gets thrashed up.

Nipped fins will heal by itself. Just keep water healthy and lots of aeration.

Hey Dude !

24 Hours have passed, Oscar was feeding, but noticed it was taking time to reach the top for dried bloodworms - kind of effort it was putting up.

Attaching the snap of poor Oscar and bitten off fin
Sincerely hope it gets better ... will get 50% water changed tomorrow.

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Hey torquey,

read this:

http://www.wikihow.com/Cycle-a-Fish-Tank

Again thanks deathwalkr. Nice info!

Originally Posted by toiingg

Hi Torquey,

I feel that IPF is not sufficient filtration for the bio load in your aquarium. There is no biological filtration, only mechanical filtration going on in there.

I would suggest you get a canister filter with good bio media for your ciclids. Please read up on them (plenty of Youtube videos available) and then buy one.

Yep, I did have that in my list to buy and mentioned the same to the person. He said thats not needed as there are clown leaches and that along with filter should suffice. I will check once more with him as well!

Couple of question guys.
1. Noticed that some of the cichlids keep circling each other for quite some time. Why is it so? Anything to worry about?

2. Fishes have become very active and keep swimming very fast from one end to other! They also tend to concentrate on one part of the tank? Is this normal?

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by ptaneja

Hey Dude !

24 Hours have passed, Oscar was feeding, but noticed it was taking time to reach the top for dried bloodworms - kind of effort it was putting up.

Attaching the snap of poor Oscar and bitten off fin
Sincerely hope it gets better ... will get 50% water changed tomorrow.

You need to break line of sight in your tank. Otherwise that terror is just going to keep on harassing the Oscar or vice versa later on.

Looks like it's a long finned variety. Those do well on solo tanks. All that long finance is just Oh so tempting for others to attack.

You can try Hikari sinking cichlid pellets.

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

Again thanks deathwalkr. Nice info!



Yep, I did have that in my list to buy and mentioned the same to the person. He said thats not needed as there are clown leaches and that along with filter should suffice. I will check once more with him as well!

Couple of question guys.
1. Noticed that some of the cichlids keep circling each other for quite some time. Why is it so? Anything to worry about?

2. Fishes have become very active and keep swimming very fast from one end to other! They also tend to concentrate on one part of the tank? Is this normal?

Torquey, clown loaches are not magicians. Sure they do a fantastic job as cleanup crew but only leftover food and other food stuff on the tank bottom.

An internal filter will suck in junk.

But neither does anything to bring down harmful ammonia and nitrate pile up in tank due to leftover food and fish excrement.

You need bio filtration to break those harmful stuff down.

Invest in a canister filter or good hang on filters loaded with ceramic rings or seachem matrix and let them run 24/7.

That along with periodic water changes ensures that your tank water parameters stay within acceptable conditions for the fishes to thrive.

[narayanang76]

Dear BLR folks, just came across this, some items such as 3 ft tank, canister filters, top filter etc available in BLR, some gentleman is giving it away for free.

http://indianaquariumhobbyist.com/co...=353715#353715

Check it out, in case interested, pls contact him directly. I don't know him BTW.

cheers,
narayanang76

[LonelyPlanet]

Originally Posted by narayanang76

Dear BLR folks, just came across this, some items such as 3 ft tank, canister filters, top filter etc available in BLR, some gentleman is giving it away for free.

http://indianaquariumhobbyist.com/co...=353715#353715

Check it out, in case interested, pls contact him directly. I don't know him BTW.

cheers,
narayanang76

Sent a message to the individual. This is all gone :(

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Invest in a canister filter or good hang on filters loaded with ceramic rings or seachem matrix and let them run 24/7.

That along with periodic water changes ensures that your tank water parameters stay within acceptable conditions for the fishes to thrive.

Yep deathwalkr. I did mention the same thing to him as well as I would have liked to get all the required accessories at one go. But he mentioned that he is sure that it is not required for my size of tank.

Anyways, I did have plans of buying and had kept the below options (all hang-ons) saved in my cart. Can you suggest which one is good.

1. http://www.amazon.in/SOBO-Sobo-Top-F...XCYM8VQW8REP95

2. http://www.amazon.in/ISTA-HANG-FILTE...r+for+aquarium

3. http://www.amazon.in/SunSun-Aquarium...r+for+aquarium

My aquarium size is 3*1.5*1.5 which is close to 200lts.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

Yep deathwalkr. I did mention the same thing to him as well as I would have liked to get all the required accessories at one go. But he mentioned that he is sure that it is not required for my size of tank.

Anyways, I did have plans of buying and had kept the below options (all hang-ons) saved in my cart. Can you suggest which one is good.

1. http://www.amazon.in/SOBO-Sobo-Top-F...XCYM8VQW8REP95

2. http://www.amazon.in/ISTA-HANG-FILTE...r+for+aquarium

3. http://www.amazon.in/SunSun-Aquarium...r+for+aquarium

My aquarium size is 3*1.5*1.5 which is close to 200lts.

Any tank with fish in it requires biological filtration. Some less some more but none with no bio filtration. It really helps keep your water parameters under check.

A really good hang on filter would be this:
http://www.ebay.in/itm/AquaClear-70-...QAAOSwo3pWfQ4V

Expensive yes but they are the best. And will last a real long time.

Or you could try canister filters like this:
http://www.ebay.in/itm/KW-Zone-DoPhi...IAAOSw0HVWFC7o

Remember that when you look at flow rate of filters, you need to be looking for flow rates upwards of 5 times your tank volume. 6-7 times would be ideal.

[lucifer1881]

In my experience, hang-on filters do not work. I suggest one invests in a good canister filter. They are the second best thing out there. The best, of course, being a sump filter. But sump filters need a lot of planning before the installation even begins. Canisters offer a very good alternative to them. No other filter type comes close to the kind of filtration needed to keep water crystal clear and free of the ammonia that is produced as a result of natural digestive processes.

Keeping your tank clean and fish healthy is more engineering than biology. Filtration is the single most important investment one can make for a fish tank. Do not skimp on this. There is no short-cut. There is no jugaad. Invest in a good filter.

EHEIM is the best out there. It is expensive. On the bright side, you get spares for this filter. So you are future proofing yourself against break-down.

Altman, Boyu, Sunsun etc. are good enough. They work well. But you don't get spares for them. If they go kaput then you need to get a new filter unit.

There is no way around it. Hanging filters, top filters, power filters, under-gravel filters, etc. are all inefficient. They don't do much.

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

A really good hang on filter would be this:
http://www.ebay.in/itm/AquaClear-70-...QAAOSwo3pWfQ4V

Expensive yes but they are the best. And will last a real long time.

Or you could try canister filters like this:
http://www.ebay.in/itm/KW-Zone-DoPhi...IAAOSw0HVWFC7o

Thank you. I will have a look at it over the weekend and check.

Originally Posted by lucifer1881

EHEIM is the best out there. It is expensive. On the bright side, you get spares for this filter. So you are future proofing yourself against break-down.

Altman, Boyu, Sunsun etc. are good enough. They work well. But you don't get spares for them. If they go kaput then you need to get a new filter unit.

Thanks lucifer. I did check Eheim but as you mentioned it was quite expensive and I had dropped the idea. I do not have so much budget right now to invest in an expensive one but I do not want to sacrifice the fishes as well. So let me try and research some more . Hopefully will buy something quite soon.

[narayanang76]

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

Thanks lucifer. I did check Eheim but as you mentioned it was quite expensive and I had dropped the idea. I do not have so much budget right now to invest in an expensive one but I do not want to sacrifice the fishes as well. So let me try and research some more . Hopefully will buy something quite soon.

Check out this. Comparatively cheaper rates to what is listed on Amazon, eBay etc. I have bought their products twice, delivery to Bangalore. Worth it.

https://umino.in/58-aquarium-accesso...nai-india.html

In addition to what Lucifer has mentioned, watch this advice reg canister filters:

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

Thanks,
narayanang76

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

Thank you. I will have a look at it over the weekend and check.

Thanks lucifer. I did check Eheim but as you mentioned it was quite expensive and I had dropped the idea. I do not have so much budget right now to invest in an expensive one but I do not want to sacrifice the fishes as well. So let me try and research some more . Hopefully will buy something quite soon.

You need not buy Eheim. Fluval and Eheim are amongst the best but you can get by with chinese brands like Dophin and Sun Sun.

And as he said, canisters are the best option other than sumps when it comes to bio filtration. HOBs come after that.

Originally Posted by narayanang76

Check out this. Comparatively cheaper rates to what is listed on Amazon, eBay etc. I have bought their products twice, delivery to Bangalore. Worth it.

https://umino.in/58-aquarium-accesso...nai-india.html


In addition to what Lucifer has mentioned, watch this advice reg canister filters: [/url]

Thanks,
narayanang76

Been window shopping in that site for some time now. Glad to hear good words from a customer

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by narayanang76

Check out this. Comparatively cheaper rates to what is listed on Amazon, eBay etc. I have bought their products twice, delivery to Bangalore. Worth it.

https://umino.in/58-aquarium-accesso...nai-india.html

Thank you narayanang. I will surely check it out.

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

You need not buy Eheim. Fluval and Eheim are amongst the best but you can get by with chinese brands like Dophin and Sun Sun.

Thanks deathwalkr.

[swift_guy]

Question : What grade/thickness/type of glass should I use for a 45" long, 15" wide and 20" high tank? Main concern is that it should be strong and sturdy enough to hold the water quantity inside as I am planning to keep the same tank for a long time.

Also, does glass top (lid) one have any benefit over the conventional fibreglass cover?

How many fishes shall I go for? I have 3 goldfish already (around 2-2.2 inch long) and plan to add one small sailfin pleco. Which fishes go well with the ones I have (and pleco also), i.e. which ones need similar environment, temperature, etc.? Budget for this new setup is around 12k, but can be stretched to 15k tops.

Tank capacity would be around 225 L and I have no problems with keeping more goldfish. Just that fishes should not get too big for the tank. Even if they do, I have an option of exchanging but if I can have smaller varieties, I would be happy.

BTW I am going to place an order for tank and related stuff in February. Will be asking a lot of questions in the coming days, ranging from filtration to live plants to substrate to fishes to lighting.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by swift_guy

Question : What grade/thickness/type of glass should I use for a 45" long, 15" wide and 20" high tank? Main concern is that it should be strong and sturdy enough to hold the water quantity inside as I am planning to keep the same tank for a long time.

Also, does glass top (lid) one have any benefit over the conventional fibreglass cover?

How many fishes shall I go for? I have 3 goldfish already (around 2-2.2 inch long) and plan to add one small sailfin pleco. Which fishes go well with the ones I have (and pleco also), i.e. which ones need similar environment, temperature, etc.? Budget for this new setup is around 12k, but can be stretched to 15k tops.

Tank capacity would be around 225 L and I have no problems with keeping more goldfish. Just that fishes should not get too big for the tank. Even if they do, I have an option of exchanging but if I can have smaller varieties, I would be happy.

BTW I am going to place an order for tank and related stuff in February. Will be asking a lot of questions in the coming days, ranging from filtration to live plants to substrate to fishes to lighting.

One of the few fishes i hate to keep

But regarding your tank. I would suggest you get a 48"x24"x20" tank. 12mm of course. Would need bracing as well. That extra foot print really gives more surface area and obviously more area for the fishes.

Are you sure it's a sailfin pleco? Or is it a common pleco?

Going by what's mentioned on the internet, a tank of your size would be ideal for 3-4 Gold fishes i guess. One pleco and a few loaches would not hurt.

Be sure to budget in canister filters as both goldfish and pleco are waste factories.

Always welcome to ask any questions

[swift_guy]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

But regarding your tank. I would suggest you get a 48"x24"x20" tank. 12mm of course. Would need bracing as well. That extra foot print really gives more surface area and obviously more area for the fishes.

Tank dimensions can not be changed since I have a study table lying around (no longer using it ) which will be used as a stand for the tank. Height can be changed but I think 20" would be enough.

Are you sure it's a sailfin pleco? Or is it a common pleco?

Yes sailfin pleco. To be sure, I will post a pic from fish store some days before getting it.

Going by what's mentioned on the internet, a tank of your size would be ideal for 3-4 Gold fishes i guess. One pleco and a few loaches would not hurt.

Will clown loaches live peacefully with goldfish? I do not want them to nip fins of other fish. What about current 3 goldfish + 2 plecos?

Be sure to budget in canister filters as both goldfish and pleco are waste factories.

Sure. What would be the starting price for a decent canister filter?

Always welcome to ask any questions

Thanks.