New aquarium

[andy]

Recently set up my old 30 x 15 x 12" aquarium. It will be a planted tank and house a large shoal of cardinal tetras, a few catfish and a few shrimp.

The tank was set up last saturday



And yesterday i added a few plants.....more to follow soon.



I'll post pics of the progress

Andy

[Dutchy]

Oh yes do Andy.
Did you not post this site about fishtank contests?
I love the way some of these miniature underwaterlandscapes are made.
What sort of fish are you going to get?

[andy]

dutchy said:

What sort of fish are you going to get?

Cardinal tetras Dutchy...about 50-60 of them

[andy]

Just bought 10 cardinals @ £2.10 each They're a bit small but that's all that seems to be around at the moment.

[snowowl]

Please keep us updated Andy i love fish tanks i have 2 a Jewel 180 and a 120.
They have mainly angel fish some iv breed myself and clown loaches they are realy funny fish and nice to look at .
I have had tetras i the past they love to jump out the tank when you are cleaning it.

[carolann]

That looks great Andy, we used to have marine fish our tank was just under 6foot in length and fitted in the alcove, boy are they relaxing to watch.

[andy]

Now have 22 cardinal tetras and 3 ickle catfish

Looks superb

[MamIDdau]

God I want some fish now lol

[Dutchy]

WOW that is fab Andy.
But those fish are not comming cheap.
Do they breed at all?
I noticed you planted some more plants too.
Keep us posted on the developments will you?

[andy]

Update....

Now got 55 cardinal tetras, 3 panda corydorus catfish, 1 otocinclus algea eater and 3 amano shrimps.

Had a bad outbreak of algea so reduced the times the lights were on and cut down the number of lights from 3 to 2 and all is now well.

Here's a pic i took a few moments ago.

[Deleted]

WOW that looks fabulous Andy, lucky fish.

[snowowl]

Tanks looking well established now andy and the water as cleared from the first photo.
I hate setting up a new tank but its nice when its settled .I love the plants you have got in there.
Have you ever had any success breeding tetras?When i had them i saw a female laying eggs but the other fish were just eating as fast as she was laying them.

[andy]

No breeding i'm afrais snowowl....cardinals are notoriously difficult to breed. I bred some Ram cichlids in my old tank but as they became free swimming, the parents had a more difficult job keeping the little ones safe and they ended up getting picked off by my rummynose tetras.

I've just been to a shop near Eastbourne and they have Asian Arowana for sale (google them) at £330 each and they've been micro-chipped as they're on the CITES banned list. I can get a nice sized tank in the conservatory and they're one of those fish that i've always wanted to keep.

[snowowl]

Lovely fish Andy but i think i would have to win the lotto to get one and would be gutted if it died.
They are expensive.

[andy]

Here's an update. Just got a load of new plants delivered by mail order. Quite pleased with it at the moment

[andy]

Here's an update....18 days after the last pic was taken







Also have 10 new harliquins in there too.....the ones with the little black wedge on their sides.

[andy]

Well....i'm soon going to be hearing the splashing of little fins !!!! ;D

I bought 6 Ram cichlids the other day. Most cichlids will pair off for life and therefore mate for life. They also show parental care that puts some humans to shame.

You can't pick a mate for cichlids...they have to choose their own and will often go through various trials of strength etc so the best mate can be chosen. Any unsuitable suitors can, and often will be killed (females will kill males as well as the other way round if unsuitable)

Once they've paired up, both fish usually show superb colours. Both parents will choose a spawning site...usually a leaf or a stone and they both clean it and guard it. The eggs are laid and fertilized....anywhere between 50 and many thousand depending on species.

The parents then take it in turn to fan the eggs with their fins to ensure good water circulation and they meticulously clean the eggs...emoving any infertile or dead ones.

After48 hours, the eggs hatch. At this point, the parents will start digging holes in the sand and gravel. They will then move the hatchlings...which can't swim yet, several times a day to different pits they've dug....this is possibly to confuse potential predetors.

After a further 72ish hours, the fry start to swim...very cautiously at first under the watchful eye of mum and day who are still defending their prodgeny to the death....and that includes my hands if i put them in !!!!!

This is now where things get complicated especially if they've spawned in your community tank. The fry start to get very bold and swim that bit further out every hour or so. Mum and dad try frantically to pop them back in the shoal but stragglers often get picked off by other fish until the parents give up altogether.

With my Rams, 2 adults died over night leaving me with 4 fish and both have appeared to have paired off.

The eventual aim would be to set up a small tank and let the rams do what they have to do in peace and quiet.

So here's the eggs....unusually laid on the sand (thought the snails might of eaten them over night) followed by a poor pic of Mrs ram.

[andy]

Well...glad you all liked them