Adding light, plants, and kubotai loaches to stable 55gal freshwater community 11/2/2009
Dear WWM crew, I love your site and the information you provide. I want to be a conscientious aquarium owner!
<Great!>
Two months ago I adopted my first aquarium--a stable 55 gallon freshwater community aquarium established for about 4 years--from a friend who lost his job and had to walk away from his mortgage. I already raise 1 husband, 2 dogs, 80 orchids and hundreds of succulents. I wanted to help my friend (and his creatures), so I welcomed this new addition to our family.
It's going great so far. The tank is clean, the fish look happy. I love them!
<Cool.>
I made one impulsive addition to the community (1 *Botia kubotai *and then 3 more when I learned they like to shoal in groups), and my question is whether this stock is sustainable for now.
<Botia kubotai is reasonably good in community tanks, but like all Botiine loaches, it tends to be on the boisterous side. By no means the worst in this regard, but still, mixing with nervous or slow-moving fish might have risks. Furthermore, since it's a stream-dwelling fish, you need a very strong water current and plenty of oxygen. I'd be aiming for a turnover rate of at least 6 and preferably 8 times the volume of the tank in turnover per hour. So for a 55 gallon tank, your filters should total up to 330 - 440 gallons/hour. Turnover rates will be quoted on the filter pumps and/or packaging.>
Also, I want to upgrade the lights, plants, decorations and substrate for greater natural equilibrium and beauty, and I have a few questions about my plan. (I read WWM *Tips *about splitting multiple issue into separate emails, but the basic, holistic question is, "*Do you see any big problems with THE PLAN?"*)
SETUP: The tank is 48"L x 15.5"W x 17.5"H. The substrate is 3.5" of plain washed gravel (1/8" to 1/4" in size). Decorations are 3"x8" ceramic cave and small, ceramic, fake coral arches. Filtration is Emperor 400 Power Filter (with 2 bio-wheels, charcoal and mechanical filters) and at the opposite end of the tank is a Penguin 1140 Powerhead (the outflow is aimed around the middle level of the tank) for greater flow. The heater is Aqueon TA150 and I have a floating thermometer.
<Sounds fine, but check the turnover rates as mentioned above.>
FISH STOCK: 4 common Plecos (2 medium 4.5", 2 small 2.5"), 5 serpae tetras, 3 swordtail (2 breeding and 1 female offspring), 4 red-eye tetra, 3 scissortail Rasbora, 1 rainbow platy, and 1 unidentified (livebearer? 1.75"). I know 4 Plecos is probably too many
<Yes... can be aggressive towards each other.>
--they were combined by their previous owners because of a housing change a few years ago. In this community tank, they seem to get along well at this stage. The biggest Pleco runs to his cave whenever I approach (so he has comfortable retreat), and everyone seems to get along. I also learned from your FAQs that the serpae tetras can be fin-biters, but they are kept calm by their numbers (5) and even calmer since I added more plants.
<Again, don't bank on this... have seen these nasty fish shred gouramis, angelfish, fancy guppies, etc.>
They like to school low, half-hidden among the midground plants. The Scissortails and red-eye tetras school high in open water, and the swordtails range the entire tank--high and low, mostly keeping together.
<Fine.>
STOCKING QUESTION: I really like the new *Botia kubotai*. Speaking just of the bottom-dwelling fish, the Plecos are tolerating the Botia just fine, and the Botia are a joy to watch. But if I have made a mistake and overstocked this system, I'm willing to trade in or adopt out some of the other fish, or eventually buy another (or a bigger) tank.
<Even one adult Plec (up to 45 cm in length!) will overstock a 55 gallon system, so while the other fish aren't really that big of a deal, the four Plecs certainly will be.>
I added some chunks of red lava to the other fake-coral decoration to make an ersatz cave for the *Botia*. They like it! However, I have read that lava can be too hard on Botia mouthparts. THE PLAN is to trade out for a smoother cave and a medium-large piece of driftwood. (I bet the Plecos would love some real driftwood, too!)
<They also eat wood, to a degree.>
MAINTENANCE HABITS AND TEST RESULTS: My vacuuming and water changes are monthly. My ammonia & nitrite are 0 ppm. pH is 7.4. Nitrate is around 5 ppm. I keep the temperature between 77 and 80, aiming for 78. I haven't tested hardness.
<pH largely irrelevant, so would check the hardness at some point soon.>
I *have *added some aquarium salt (a couple teaspoons with the 30% change).
<Salt is at best useless, at worst a stress factor, for freshwater aquaria.
You'll notice that the only people telling you to add salt are the aquarium salt manufacturers; not one aquarium book written in the last 30 years advises it.>
I also add liquid aquarium plant fertilizer with micronutrients. I see from reading WWM FAQs that for freshwater fish, adding salt might be a mistake unless I am treating for illness or overly soft water.
<Salt has no effect on water hardness; this is another misconception. Yes, you use salt for treating whitespot, and yes, marine salt mix is used as part of a water hardness recipe (along with Epsom salt and baking soda).
But in and of itself, salt does nothing to harden water whatsoever. Repeat after me: salt raises salinity, not hardness.>
So THE PLAN is to stop adding aquarium salt unless it's needed, right? THE PLAN is to start testing for water hardness and maybe phosphates, which brings us to the *live plant upgrades.*
LIGHTING: I started with 6 to 8 sad little plants and one old T12 30W 36" tube in an old 48" hood. I decided I wanted more plants and, after researching, decided that I needed more light, so from Craigslist I bought a 48" Coralife 4x56W (2 actinic and 2 10,000K color). I realize this fixture is more for marine & coral, so THE PLAN is to change out for more visible-only tubes soon.
<Actually, the type of lighting used couldn't matter less. So by all means use the tubes you have now, and only if the plants are obviously unhappy swap them for something else. Plants actually adapt to a wide range of lighting types, what matters more to them is intensity. In this case, strong lighting used for marine tanks can promote algae as well as plant growth, so you'd want to add some fast-growing floating plants to prevent this; Indian Fern and Amazon Frogbit would be ideal.>
(The seller recommended WetWebMedia, which is how I found you!) I have been keeping these on about 15 hours per day, but from reading your FAQs, THE PLAN is now to reduce this to 12 hours per day. Right?
<10 to 12 hours is fine for plants.>
PLANTS: I have steadily added plants until I have about 25 to 28 plants of various heights, widths, and growth habits. With each purchase, I have tried to stick to easy-care aquatics compatible with medium light and no CO2 (for now), such as *Egeria densa. (*I have avoided non-aquatics from chain pet stores. Heh heh.) HOWEVER, none of the plants are floating thus far. When any *Anacharis* floats up, I just stick the sprig back into the gravel.
<Do bear in mind Egeria needs hard water, and this is doubly so when kept at tropical rather than (its preferred) coldwater conditions. It can dramatically alter the pH of soft water, and if exposed to soft water conditions for long, eventually dies. Spend some time reading through the requirements of aquarium plants. They ARE NOT all the same, and you need to look through temperature and water chemistry requirements carefully.>
I see from the WWM FAQs that I should have some floating plants! So THE PLAN is to add lots more plants (and to replace them as my omnivores munch them) and to include floating plants in the mix.
<Good.>
FINALLY: I like the gravel substrate just fine, but I would like a darker color to highlight the fish. So after reading WWM FAQ on plant substrates, THE PLAN is trade out the 1/8-1/4" natural gravel for 1/8" charcoal-slate or green-slate gravel (or some other small, natural, dark, mixed gravel), and to mix in Fluorite or some other plant-oriented solid substrate and solid fertilizer.
<Do bear in mind catfish and loaches like to dig, and the more coarse/sharp stuff you add, the unhappier they become. Smooth silica sand is the optimal, with pea gravel being almost as good, and unless there's a darn good reason to do otherwise, I'd not overlook those two options.>
Final question about THE PLAN: should I test for phosphates to get a handle on other limiting factors for plant growth?
<No need.>
How about liquid CO2 supplementation?
<Pointless.>
Maybe someday I'll add gas CO2, but that's not in THE PLAN, yet.
<Importance of CO2 depends on various factors including the type of plants, the hardness of the water, and the light intensity. Under very bright lighting, CO2 can become the limiting factor very quickly.>
Very best regards and thank you for your work. As I learn, I hope to be able to give back someday!
<There is indeed a "tip jar" on the front page.>
--DC
<Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Adding light, plants, and kubotai loaches to stable 55gal freshwater community 11/2/2009
PS According to THE PLAN, I also close the venturi on the Penguin 1140 powerhead in the morning and turn it on at night (to boost O2 at night but leave some CO2 during the day).
<This will make little/no difference.>
I feed 1/8 tsp flakes in the morning and 1/8 tsp granules at night (to give the Botia a boost). My plants are pearling up slightly for the first time ever, which I find exciting!
<Indeed!>
Also, regarding charcoal, I think charcoal filtering will remove CO2 which my new plants will need (under their new bright lights).
<Charcoal removes dissolved organics rather than carbon dioxide, so this isn't really an issue. But that said, in most tanks, most of the time, charcoal is redundant. Water changes are a much better way to control the
build up of organic chemicals in the water.>
So should I trade out the charcoal filtering stages in the Emperor 400 Power Filter for Zeolite or some other CO2 neutral stage?
<Zeolite is even more pointless.>
Right now, I traded out the chemical filtration stage with charcoal for a couple extra mechanical filter pads, but they seem to have charcoal in them, too. So maybe I should just replace the charcoal in that stage with
something CO2-neutral and put them back.
<Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Adding light, plants, and kubotai loaches to stable 55gal freshwater community 11/2/2009
PPPS LIGHTING: According to THE PLAN, I also turn keep 2 x 56W actinics (soon to be traded out for visible light tubes) OFF except during midday (for 4-6 hours). So most of the 12-hours is just 2 x 56W 10,000Kelvin plus the old 40W 36" T12 fluorescent. THE PLAN is to aim for medium light levels overall since I'm not supplementing CO2 (particularly for the Pleco's and Botia's sake--they don't like too much light).
<Floating plants will produce the shade the loaches need, and the loaches are nocturnal anyway, so if they find the daytime too brightly lit, they'll just hide. Since you have a very strong lighting system, I suspect CO2 will be the limiting factor. Floating plants couldn't care less, since they use CO2 from the air, but submerged fast-growing species like Vallisneria and Egeria certainly will. Without CO2, you might elect to stick with floating plants for fast growth, and for the submerged plants, just slow-growing species that aren't too fussed, such as Java fern and Anubias and some of the hardy Cryptocoryne spp. On the other hand, these plants can become algae-magnets if exposed to strong light but not given adequate shade.
Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Adding light, plants, and kubotai loaches to stable 55gal freshwater community 11/2/2009
PPPS (last thing, sorry!) SNAILS: I have a bunch of little pest snails (Ramshorn or dwarf Ramshorn?), but they don't seem too bad.
<Botia spp. will eat the small ones. Snails generally not that big of a deal if the plants are otherwise healthy.>
(They seem fewer in number lately. I think the *Botia kubotai* loaches might be snacking on them--that was part of THE PLAN. The circle of life!
Heh heh heh.)
<Indeed.>
ALGAE: Algae levels haven't risen yet--even with the brighter light--which is understandable given the number of algae eaters in this aquarium!
<Indeed.>
I could probably afford to trade away 2 of the 4 Plecos and still have no algae problem.
<Sounds promising. Cheers, Neale.>

Freshwater Community Tank  7/4/09
Dear Wet Web Media Crew,
<Hello,>
I find this site very helping and thank you for the same. anyway i would come to my question straight - I am from eastern part of India and have a semi-tropical climate (min. 5 degree C in winter and max. 36 degree C in summer). i have a 60 gallon tank which i have got recently and is under cycle..i hope to get a cycled tank around august end. As a starter fish i have 5 fancy goldfish which i will return to their owner after cycling as i wanna
<...I want to...>
make a tropical tank.
<Wouldn't have selected Fancy Goldfish for "cycling" a new tank...
Now i see in WWM articles that goldfish and tropical fish r
<...are...>
not compatible..but my main doubt is that. all these fancy goldfish AND angels and guppies and mollies and goramies etc etc are raised and bred here by local dealers in pond water of SAME TEMPARATURE...
<Quite often the case in the subtropics.>
they use very large concrete tanks as i saw..so in that case may i keep some tropical fish with my sweet fancy fantail goldfishes. as the temperature issue seems insignificant here, doenn't it
<...doesn't it...>
plz
<...please...>
tell me if its possible to keep them keeping in mind the aggression issue only and if yes what species should i keep..
<Since your locally-bred Goldfish will be used to warm water, then yes, they will do fine at up to, say, 25 degrees C for extended periods. The lethal temperature for Goldfish is reported as 41 degrees C at Fishbase, but they do much better at middling temperatures, around 15-24 degrees C, and the warmer the water, the more critical good filtration and water circulation become. Warm summer temperatures are tolerated much better if they're accompanied with cooler winter temperatures, and I'd expect your climate in subtropical India to be just about perfect. On the other hand, tropical fish don't do well if the temperature drops below a certain point, typically below 20 degrees C, though this varies. Certain subtropical species such as Danios, many Barbs, and Peppered and Bronze Corydoras catfish thoroughly enjoy seasonal variations, and temperatures below 15 degrees C in winter will cause them no problems at all. Do use a heater though; if you have a subtropical climate, and try to keep tropical species at room temperature, you're likely to end up with stressed or sick fish.
The heater will switch itself off most of the time, but during the winter, it'll switch on, and keep your fish nice and warm.>
as i learned GF will turn large over time?
<Yes.>
thnx
<...Thanks...>
again for ur kind help :-)
--
Deeptam
<Most welcome. Do please try to avoid English that looks like it was written by an American teenager; how about copying us British Imperialists instead? Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Freshwater Community Tank 7/9/09
Dear Neale,
I would like to sincerely thank you again for the suggestion on Serpae Tetra. I shifted it to a separate tank along with the live plants and so my main tank is left with artificial plants only, to which the goldfishes seems to have no objection.
<So long as you give your Goldfish some plant material to eat, they are fine with plastic plants as decorations. Good green foods include cooked peas and soft aquatic plants such as Elodea.>
Well the matter I would like to bring to your notice now is that very recently I noticed circular white spots with a hollow center on the tank glass pane...5 or 6 of them...with little filamentous growth..looks like a Rhizopus fungal colony...but I may be wrong. Anyway I cleaned those but are now worried that if they were actually fungal colonies...so please tell me if its normal or if not what adverse symptoms I should look for in fish and the antidote also.
<Could be fungus, if there was organic material on the glass. But fungus ONLY grow where there's something organic for them to digest; they don't simply encrust solid objects the way algae or corals do.>
And will you please tell me about some home made food recipes for goldfish as I learned that it helps to get them fit. Thank you again for the help
<Do see here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWsubwebindex/gldfshmalnut.htm
Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Freshwater Community Tank   7/10/09
Dear Neale,
Thank You very much for the help :-) I'll certainly get back to you again in case of any problem.
have a nice day....
<Happy to help. Good luck! Neale.>

Mis-stocked 29 gal. FW... swordtail pop. control, maint...    6/10/09
Hello crew. I would first like to say that I am thrilled to have come across your site! After checking for several hours, I was unable to find an a to my q. Though I worked part time in a pet store approx.10 yrs ago, and am familiar with terms and such, I am a noob when it comes to actually keeping a tank. I set up a 29 gallon tall and let it cycle. I placed in it 3 Neons that I had in a 10 gallon for a few months, when the 10 gallon sprung a leak.
<Yikes>
After cycling, the family took a trip to the somewhat local Pet Smart.
We purchased 2 dwarf Gourami,
<Colisa lalia... an especially problematical species now-a-years>
I male swordtail, I female swordtail (which I was mistaken in thinking it was a platy as they were in the same tank with platy), 2 balloon bellied mollies (unsure of sex), 2 hatchets, 3 x-ray tetra,
<Mmm... the livebearers and tetras "like" very different water quality/chemistry>
I albino Cory, and a Bala shark.
<Zow~! Gets very large... not suitable here>
Long story short, we now have baby swords swimming around. (I purchased breeding grass for them to hide out in when needed.) Now that the fry are 3-4 days old, I am wondering when and how
to vacuum the gravel, especially since they seem to like to hang out under it. Do I wait until they are bigger?
<Mmm, I'd just be careful re not sucking them up...>
Is that safe for the tank and the rest of the fish?
<I'd stick with weekly maintenance myself>
And also, since the babies are unexpected, will we soon be overcrowded?
<Perhaps... though "nature will take its course" and many, most of "too many" young will be consumed... the mix of fishes you have is untenable in any case...>
And If you have time to address another q, do I need another tank cleaner such as a snail, another Cory, etc?
<Maybe. Corydoras spp. are very social... need to be kept in groups to be happy, healthy>
Thank you so much for your time and your help.
Angela
<Please set aside some quiet time when you can gather information re each of the species you list... their system/water quality needs, compatibility, ultimate size... Bob Fenner>

Re: Community Tank stocking (following up from Bob's reply)  6/11/09
Thanks so much for your help! What would you recommend that I do?
<Difficult to say. If you have too many fish, or the wrong fish for a community tank, then there are really only two solutions: [a] Buy a bigger tank that will accommodate the species in question; [b] return or sell the
surplus fish via your tropical fish shop, online forums, or your local tropical fish club.>
I am quite attached to all of these fish now. I am considering getting my hands on a much larger tank in the future, though not very near future.
<Then the risk of problems developing is proportional to the amount of delay. While the fish are very small, you might be fine for a month or three, but all too often people don't realise they have a problem until
something gets sick or dies. So be realistic about this, and either re-home surplus fish as soon as possible, or get another tank to house whichever fish need their own quarters.>
How would you disperse all these guys I do have? If the shark does get too large, I may try to sell him. Especially if he's not compatible with most of the others.
<Bala Sharks, Balantiocheilos melanopterus, are big, up to 35 cm, schooling fish with mildly predatory instincts, certainly big enough to eat Neons.
It's hard to recommend them for tanks below 75 US gallons in size, to be honest. Kept in groups though, they're stunning, and look spectacular in well-planted tanks, really very like "proper" sharks, but without being difficult to keep!>
I'm not particularly interested in killing any of my fish due to my ignorance.
<Quite. Some of your fish, like X-ray Tetras and Corydoras, if kept in groups, are superb aquarium fish that will delight you for many years. In fact X-ray Tetras are one of the species I routinely recommend because they are exceptionally tolerant and peaceful; keep in groups of 6-10 specimens for best results. While it isn't always clear when shopping, having "one of everything" ends up with a tank that looks a bit of a mess; keep one group of six specimens though, and the fish school together and look lovely. A 30 US gallon tank for example would look great with two schools of 6-10 tetras, perhaps Neons and X-rays, and one group of 5 or more bronze Corydoras. That's only three species, but the tank would look much better than you might think, because those three species would all school together, showing their brightest colours which, despite what we might think, exist for communicating to their own species, not to look pretty!>
Unfortunately, I asked 3 different people in 3 different stores how these guys would go together, and they all seemed to think it would go fine.
<The thing is that you really should own (or borrow from the library) an aquarium book before shopping. None of what Bob said earlier, or I've said here, is news. Since Bob and I both write aquarium books, we're about as reliable as you're going to get, but the thing with people who post web pages or say things in shops is that you have no idea of their experience level. Their work isn't edited or checked by others. So while you're welcome to write back and ask us any questions you like, perhaps about a fish you'd like to buy, you'll probably find it very convenient to have one or more aquarium books on your bookshelf at home. There are good titles for under $10, so cost really isn't an issue; for example, my first book was
'Community Fishes' by Dick Mills, a book still in print! It's very specifically about small fish for relatively small community tanks.>
My guess, they just wanted to sell me some fish... argg!
<Quite.>
Thanks again for your time and much needed advice.
<Cheers, Neale.> <<Thank you Neale. RMF>>

Filter Slime, FW    12/10/08 Hello All! Just a simple and easy question this time! I have a 60 gallon long tank w/ 2 Whisper 60 filters. I've had the tank for over a year. Anyways on to the question: I was just curious ... Every time I do a water change and rinse my filters there is always this brownish slimy gunk on my filter media and in the intake tubes and on the overflow outlet of the HOB filters. I've always had it since I first setup my tank. Every time I pull the filters out to rinse them some of this slime flows into the tank. I was just wondering what this is and if its harmful to my fish. Thanks guys (and gals)! - Nick - <No it's not harmful, and yes, it's quite normal. It's mostly bacteria with a bit of decomposing organic matter and inorganic silt throw in for good measure. You can buy bottle-brush type cleaners for scraping pipes and hoses clean. Fluval, Eheim and all the usual brands sell them. Never bothered myself. Freshwater waters are typically laden with silt, and the fish are quite used to it. In fishkeeping, it's important to remember that it's the invisible stuff -- ammonia and nitrite -- that harm the fish, not the stuff you can see -- like silt or solid wastes. So long as you have good biological filtration and a steady pH, most everything else looks after itself! Cheers, Neale.> Slime build up   12/10/08 Btw ... My tank is a FW tank. Here's a pic of what it looks like now. And here's my fish list: 2 Bamboo Shrimp 4 Black Neon Tetras 2 Cardinal Tetras 5 Dwarf Golden Puffers 1 Dwarf Gourami 8 Emperor Tetras 4 German Blue Rams 2 Mickey Mouse Platys 10 Neon Tetras 3 Otocinclus Catfish 3 Peacock Gudgeons 2 Swordtails <Tank looks nice. Not convinced the Golden Puffers will work out in the long term: they're notorious biters. It's also time to beef up some of those groups: two or four tetras does not a school make! Six of each, at least, please! Peacock gudgeons are great. Ram cichlids, likely won't work in the long term; they need MUCH hotter water than Neons or Otocinclus will tolerate, so either the Rams will get sick and die (weakened immune system) or the Neons and Otocinclus will become stressed and die (too warm). There's not much of a happy medium between what warm water and cool water tetras want; but at about 25 C (77 F) you will be at the MAXIMUM than Neons will take and the MINIMUM that Cardinals will accept. It's really a case of choose one, but not both, when it comes to Neons and Cardinals. Platies and Swordtails also need quite cool conditions, particularly by contrast with Guppies and Mollies, which thrive on warmth! Getting the temperature wrong is one of those slow burning mistakes people make; while the fish don't keel over at once, you will find fish dying much quicker than they should. So instead of lasting 2-3 years, as Neons should, you'll find them dying off, one at a time, every couple of months. By the way, there is ZERO chance Dario or Badis spp would work in here. If you want an oddball Perciform, you're much better off looking at one of the smaller anabantids, perhaps Microctenopoma fasciolatum or maybe Betta unimaculata, though these larger Betta species can sometimes be surprisingly predatory. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Slime build up   12/10/08 Hey Neale thanks for the quick response as always. I am writing this in response to the temp comment you sent me. Here is a list of temps for the fish in my tank that I have found. As you stated, my tank is currently at 77F. I was considering turning it up to 80F. (Oxygen is not an issue I would think bc I have the 2 Whisper 60 filters, 1 mag drive power head, and 3 airstones in my tank). Bamboo Shrimp: 70-80 Black Neon Tetras: 74-80 Cardinal Tetras: 75-84 Dwarf Golden Puffers: 72-82 Dwarf Gourami: 72-82 Emperor Tetras: 72-82 German Blue Rams: 78-85 Mickey Mouse Platys: 68-79 Neon Tetras: 73-79 ; 68-85 (min/max can tolerate) Otocinclus Catfish: 70-80 Peacock Gudgeons: 72-82 Swordtails: 70-80 As I said in a past email I sent you, I have not bought up to 6 of each tetra bc the cardinals school with the tetras, and the black Neons school w/ my emperors so I didn't see it as an issue. If it still is I will address it. In terms of the puffers ... YES absolutely they have been nipping at my emperors BUT I had 2 @ that time. AFTER I added 3 more (to make 5 bc I read on the internet they were less aggressive in groups) my emperors have shown 0 signs of fin nipping at all. In terms of the tetras and rams, its possible you are right about the rams; I won't know till they die, but the rams and Neons are all over a year old (in my tank age b4 purchase is unknown) I have not had any die at all. But if you are suggesting that I need to change something, I have no problem getting all cardinals instead of Neons and getting rid of the swordtails if that's what I have to do to raise the temp for the others and be able to purchase the badis badis. <Nick, the temperature range is informative, but the place to keep a fish isn't at its extremes but at the centre of its tolerance range. That's where you'll get best results. Hence Platies certainly do best around 75 F/24 C, gouramis around 77 F/25 C, cardinals around 82 F/28 C, and so on. In the wild Neons experience water temperature up to 25 C and down to around 22 C, so they're very much cool-tropical fish compared with Rams, which live in shallow, sun baked pools where temperatures between 28-30 C are typical. Each species evolved for specific conditions, and you abuse those requirements at your peril. If things are fine, then I have no problem with that. What I'm trying to say is that you're not keeping all your fish at their ideal conditions, and so you're more likely to encounter various health problems or overall shortness of life. On the whole aquarists tend to keep their fish too warm, which not only causes problems, but also wastes money (and increases global warming, I suppose!). Cheers, Neale.> Re: Slime build up   12/10/08 Also, I'm not too worried about the puffers bc after Christmas they will b moved to a 30 gallon puffer only tank <Okay. Cheers, Neale.>

Various Questions (Community tanks; cichlid selection) 12/01/08
Hello all, Hope things are going well for you there. I have several questions, please. I start reading and hearing too much conflicting information about some freshwater aquarium fish (not from you there) and it starts taking all of the fun out of trying to pick what tank inhabitants I want. I hope you will help me. I am still in the process of setting up a 75 gallon fw aquarium and wanted to make sure that all levels of the water were utilized and also make sure that I had slow and fast swimmers. For the faster swimming fish I had thought about rainbow fish. I know they school and stay around the mid level I think.
<Excellent fish; they don't like real soft water, but beyond that most species are hardy, peaceful and long-lived.>
My choice for the top level was going to be several pairs of pearl gouramis since I love their color and I know they occupy the top region of the tank. I also heard that the pearl especially was peaceful. Now I have read in several different places that gouramis can be aggressive as they get older, even the pearl. So now I am not sure if I should forget them or not.
<Easily worth the risk in a 75 gallon tank. Often reports of aggression with gouramis comes from two males in a 20 gallon or smaller tank. In your tank there's really no risk of trouble.>
I had also thought of using angel fish and Severums in place of the rainbows, but then I read that I should get at least 6 smaller angels at the same time and let them grow up together because getting 2-4 would cause them to fight. I also read never to buy a large angel to start with because as a fish gets older it does not acclimate well to a new surrounding.
<A school of Angelfish should be fine; yes, pairs become territorial when spawning but in large tanks groups of six or more usually balance out okay. In groups less than six bullying can occur. Certainly worth the risk.>
And as far as the Severums I read that they got extremely large.
<They do get big, and they're also plant-eaters. Another thing you might consider are Discus (surprisingly good community tank fish IF you choose tankmates carefully. Festivum cichlids are nice too, but you might also check out a pair of Hypselecara temporalis ("Emerald Chocolate Cichlid").
Kept these before and they're just amazing fish, with unique colours that constantly change from green to purple to chocolate brown. Smaller options including Blue Acara and Flag Acara. African Jewel Cichlids can be an option, though you need to choose tankmates carefully; I'm fond of Hemichromis lifalili.>
Now I am confused and about ready to just give up and do a species tank so I don't have to worry about any of this stuff. If you could help me with correct information and maybe some suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. And as always, thanks for all you do. James Hall
<Hope this helps, Neale.>

Re: Various Questions (Community tanks; cichlid selection) 12/01/08
Thank you Neale, I appreciate your time.
<No problems.>
Please bare with me on a couple more questions, please. I know you said that bullying with angels could occur with less than 6. Do you think I could get by with less, and if so does it matter whether all male or female?
<In theory females might be fine as a group -- but sexing Angels is impossible.>
And is it OK to put large ones in the tank or does that indeed stress them out more than buying and moving them when they are younger and smaller?
<It's usually best to get small Angels and rear them together. Mated pairs are the other ideal -- but often expensive.>
Do you recommend a particular species that is hardier than others that swims in the upper level of the water column?
<Many options here. Would investigate oddball livebearers such as Limia nigrofasciata or Poecilia salvatoris if you're interested in algae control. Halfbeaks are great. Danios are good, but sensitive to very high temperatures above 75 F/24 C. Rainbowfish are an ideal all-around choice.
Do also consider Splashing Tetras, even Congo Tetras.>
And as far as pearl gouramis do you think I could go with more than 2 in a 75 gallon tank and is it OK to buy all males or should they be paired up?
<Best in pairs; easy to sex, and the males and females are both pretty.>
Thank you again for all your help?
James
<Cheers, Neale.>