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R. and I were supposed to go see Up last night, but when we got to the theatre, the projector had broken, so we went to the petstore instead. Looked at kittens, got a laser pointer for our cats, looked at fish and fishtank stands for the new 20-gal. aquarium that Thrud gave me before she moved, which I am going to start running through the nitrogen cycle this weekend. Met J. and W., who are thinking about getting a parakeet, and learned a lot about parakeet sexing.
I am thinking of making a tank full of tetras and other Amazonian fish. What do you think of this stocking scheme? (It's a 20 gal. long tank).
- Black Neon Tetras (6) - for cycling
- Neon Tetras (7)
- What kind of fish, snail, or shrimp should I get for an algae eater? I am thinking about 2 Oto catfish.
(no subject)
31/7/09 15:38 (UTC)Yay!
I have no input on the kinds of fish whatsoever, but I approve very much of a twenty-gallon tank.
(That said, the Malaysian Trumpet Snail is beautiful.)
(no subject)
31/7/09 17:12 (UTC)(no subject)
31/7/09 17:29 (UTC)(no subject)
31/7/09 17:48 (UTC)(no subject)
31/7/09 19:05 (UTC)(no subject)
31/7/09 20:02 (UTC)If two is a problem, be ready to return one to the pet store and get something like a mystery snail. :)
(no subject)
31/7/09 22:13 (UTC)Also, I did not know you wrote a poem about cephalopods! That is awesome! ;^)
(no subject)
1/8/09 13:23 (UTC)(no subject)
1/8/09 01:06 (UTC)(no subject)
1/8/09 13:23 (UTC)(no subject)
1/8/09 04:24 (UTC)Your stocking scheme sounds fine to me, even a tad conservative. If you do regular water changes, say 25% every week or 30% every two weeks, you can probably sustain two dozen of that size of fish. I'd work up to 8 each of the two kinds of tetras for starters, one species at a time so they won't be lonely. I had (still have, I guess) a forum account on aquahobby.com, and I found the advice I got there to be helpful and reassuring.
I think black neon tetras are quite attractive. I had those, cardinal tetras, and glow-light tetras, and my clean-up crew was about four Otocinclus catfish, if I recall correctly, and some Caridina japonica shrimp. I liked cardinals because they have more red on their bellies than neons. The Otos were a nice size, comparable to the tetras, as opposed to some other algae-eating fish that seemed to dwarf the tetras. They weren't very interesting to watch, though. The japonica shrimp were more entertaining, plus they ate leftover fish food crumbs that the fish didn't want.
My first fish were actually four panda corydoras, but they died one by one over the first month or two. Then I started buffering my water with NaH2PO4, which gradually brought the pH down from the tap water's 8 to 7.2, and I didn't have a problem with multiple deaths for the next two years that I kept the tank running. Occasional single deaths, but not multiples. So I blame the pH. Panda corys are really cute, cuter than Otos, but probably more delicate.
Sometimes I miss having a fish tank, but starting it up again seems like a bad idea until I expect to be in one house for at least two years. In my current location, I'm planning to just set some potted plants in the empty tank. At least they'll benefit from the hood light.
(no subject)
1/8/09 13:25 (UTC)I was thinking about getting a shrimp instead of or in addition to the Otos, but I've never dealt with invertebrates before and am afraid I'm going to screw it up somehow.
(no subject)
2/8/09 00:48 (UTC)