Anyone here have experience with aquariums?

sezra

Arachnosquire
Joined
Apr 23, 2012
Messages
62
I have just been given a small tank (approx 70l, 17.6 US gallons) that measures L 24" x H 13" x D 13".

I've kept fish in the past, but this was many, many years ago so was just after some advise really. I set the tank up this evening, so will let it cycle for a few weeks, but I was just after some suggestions on what fish to go for.

I have fluval 305 external filter which is suitable for tanks up to 300l/25 US gallons so my filtration is fine. I also have a heater.

Now, i was thinking of going for a few green tiger barbs, as ive always liked them, but not sure how many I can get for a tank this size. Also, another species or 2 to go along side the tiger barbs would be nice.

What fish combos/amounts would you recommend?

EDIT: I have never kept live aquarium plants, but they look so much nicer so some advice on some easy to care for live plants would be nice as well. My substrate is a fine gravel.
 
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klawfran3

Arachnolord
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 6, 2013
Messages
645
Tiger barbs can be a bit snippy and aggressive and are known to nip fins. Thus you shouldn't keep any longer finned or passive fish with them, as they will be bullied in to submission. I would really recommend a shoal of neon tetras and corydoras catfish. Then add a german ram or two and MAYBE an angel. Lots of plant cover is needed and some easily grown plants would be anubias, crypts, dwarf sag, and java fern/moss. Those are mid-low light plants, but middle would be most recommended. The gravel could be a little bit of an issue, but you can easily douse with plant fertilizers in the water column.
 

sezra

Arachnosquire
Joined
Apr 23, 2012
Messages
62
thanks for the advice. i'll look into the plant species you mentioned and do some reading on how to keep them properly fertilized.
 

Cavedweller

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Messages
1,064
I'm gonna second klawfran3's suggestion. Cories are adorable and easy to keep, a 70l tank would be plenty of room for a little school of them. If you're interested in learning how to make a planted tank, The Planted Tank Forums are a good place to start.
 

pyro fiend

Arachnoprince
Joined
Dec 29, 2013
Messages
1,216
+1 on cave. i personally only have 1 tank without live plants.. and its cuz my axies tear it up [cursed aqua-lizard lol] they are super simple.. def check out tptf and maybe tropical fish keepers.. with very little research you can find the proper lighting for you and what you think works.. i myself keep all levels of light, low, med and high each requires their own things [ie high usually needs co2]

as far as what to put in there.. i agree with barbs being a bit nippy..for new people to the hobby especially new to plants too. i recommend guppies.. [hold on guys dont question my insanity] male guppies at that..most beginners want the pretty flashy pets and arnt as pleased by dull similar looking fish. males keep you happy with their blues reds and yellows wiel your plants pop off with greens, maybe some reds[med light usually].. or even endlers are realy awesome for that. throwing off neon orange, yellowy greens and some reds.. to name a few orchid, snakeskin [both my fave] and black bars.. endlers are smaller so in theory they have less of a bioload [my tanks are 2x to 3x filtration tho so not sure if works as well for you my 33long has nearly 100g of filtration] and with enough plants it is self sustaining [also why i recomended all males. no babies ;) lol]

cories are a great option tho need a school. some clain they can be multi colored and still school i know i seen my albinos stay with albino but my panda salt and pepper schooled togeather.. and when i tried 2 of each color.. they was in pairs... *shrug* maybe mine had shaken bag syndrome lmao... but if its clasified as a us 20 TALL you will need an air pump most likely, from my understanding they may drown [never had luck with them in my 55s they constantly zoom up to the surface and seemingly breath and flash back down..which makes me believe it a bit]

as far as plants id recommend going with a med light setup. iv found most newbies go INSANE with anubia, mosses and java fern..as they grow sooo slow.. tbh what id say is find some swords, dwarf hair grass. hornwort and ancharis if your just starting. dont get too crazy.. maybe some guppy grass if your the lazy type of gardener [you WILL need to trim all plants at times so they are extra work.. i spend a hour my buddies 75 i upkeep for him] but its not the prettiest.. and id say stay away from duckweed.. get frogbit, hornwort or red roots for a floater duckweed is such a pest!
 

Tongue Flicker

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jan 26, 2014
Messages
462
Cories are sitting ducks to tiger barbs waiting to be pecked. Why not get a more peaceful barb species? That way you can squeezs in a couple of cories or 3
 

skar

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 19, 2010
Messages
434
I have too recommend a planted tank as well. I am a fan of rams especially German blue rams.
But for a gbr you need to have an established tank :/.
 

Draketeeth

Arachnoknight
Joined
Mar 22, 2015
Messages
209
I am a fan of rams especially German blue rams.
But for a gbr you need to have an established tank :/.
I'll have to side with this: rams could be fun, but they're not a fish for a brand new cycled tank. They like a well established tank that's had time to sit and age.

The recommendation of cory cats is one I support. I have a tank with several in it and I enjoy having them. I got Julii cats, but any of them would be good for your tank. However, as mentioned by another person, if you like the albinos, they will only school with other albinos, while other cats will school together decently well across species lines. Something about the albino gene made them funky in the head.

Tiger barbs do best in groups of six, and that doesn't do well in anything under 20 gal., though the bigger the better with these guys. They're active and nippy and can use all the space they can get. Maybe go with the more peaceful cherry barb since you sound like you want a community tank? Or do some peaceful fish and a show fish? I kept my cory cats with a dwarf gourami in my tank, and when she passed, I got a betta as my new show fish. The cats don't get in the way of my show fish, but it's not totally a lifeless background for the rest of the tank. Ghost shrimp would be a fun addition too.

Java fern, anubias, and java moss are all pretty hardy plants. They've some of the few I haven't killed, so I know they're good. I have an Amazon Sword too which started out kinds sketchy, but it's really taken off recently, so I'd recommend that too if you want live plants. Plants for me have grown best under fluorescent lights.

Good luck with your tank! :D
 

Sentinel

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 10, 2015
Messages
42
Tiger Barbs of any kind are schooling fish who need to be kept in a bare minimum school of 4, ideally 5+. They require a minimum of a 20 gallon LONG tank and can be aggressive. They've never been aggressive to my other fish, though. They WILL eat invertebrates such as snails and tarantulas. (I do not know why you would put a tarantula in a fish tank). But joking aside, barbs are good fish. With the appropriate room. You should check out my profile for what I have all in the same tank. And they're all wonderfully fine together. Have been for over a year.

I would not recommend a planted tank unless you are an advanced keeper. And I consider myself one, even I don't do it. Most of the time it's harder to keep the plants alive than the fish. The plants will decay and cause PH to rise, causing Ammonia burns on your fish.
 

pyro fiend

Arachnoprince
Joined
Dec 29, 2013
Messages
1,216
I would not recommend a planted tank unless you are an advanced keeper..
i dont personally agree with this one.. if we was talking corals yes. but most plants are superbly simple.. so long as your willing to do research on your plants and do some trimming most beginer plants can be okay... now i woudlnt say go ahead and add yourself some Ludwigia and expect them to live in low light, be as splended looking without ferts or even high light without co2 [dono how many times iv seen somone do this one -.-] a few simple beginer plants are nice to get them the hang of it..

to me so long as the OP realizes hes not going to be able to set up a self sustaining system, especially not in his first tank, and willing to look around to find out what plants suit him best and meets his fancy. this can be a fun learning curve for a keeper...
i have a supervisor at work who has a 190 and kept only a few same sexed small sp [10ember tetras and 5-6 sword tail males as well as a few ghost shrimp].. he hated the amount of poo everywhere..as well as the price and sparcity of decent looking fake plants... he had decent lights i pointed him to a few specific plants that met his likings like amazon swords, Cabomba caroliniana and hornwort.. and this made him see fish in a whole new light.. he used to gripe and moan about all the leaning with 'nothing to look at' but it kept his wife happy.. now.. he says he bought a chair to sit in front of his tank and he watches it more then he does tv. he used to just do topoffs not knowing what was goining on chemically. now he knows what ph is, ammonia etc etc turned him from a casual "im keeping my wife happy with this thing" kinda keeper to a now avid lover.. because its something that now catches his eye
 

Sentinel

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 10, 2015
Messages
42
i dont personally agree with this one.. if we was talking corals yes. but most plants are superbly simple.. so long as your willing to do research on your plants and do some trimming most beginer plants can be okay... now i woudlnt say go ahead and add yourself some Ludwigia and expect them to live in low light, be as splended looking without ferts or even high light without co2 [dono how many times iv seen somone do this one -.-] a few simple beginer plants are nice to get them the hang of it..

to me so long as the OP realizes hes not going to be able to set up a self sustaining system, especially not in his first tank, and willing to look around to find out what plants suit him best and meets his fancy. this can be a fun learning curve for a keeper...
i have a supervisor at work who has a 190 and kept only a few same sexed small sp [10ember tetras and 5-6 sword tail males as well as a few ghost shrimp].. he hated the amount of poo everywhere..as well as the price and sparcity of decent looking fake plants... he had decent lights i pointed him to a few specific plants that met his likings like amazon swords, Cabomba caroliniana and hornwort.. and this made him see fish in a whole new light.. he used to gripe and moan about all the leaning with 'nothing to look at' but it kept his wife happy.. now.. he says he bought a chair to sit in front of his tank and he watches it more then he does tv. he used to just do topoffs not knowing what was goining on chemically. now he knows what ph is, ammonia etc etc turned him from a casual "im keeping my wife happy with this thing" kinda keeper to a now avid lover.. because its something that now catches his eye
Never been a saltwater fan, too expensive, both in labor, and money. Heck, even the spacial requirements are extensive for SW tanks due to the size of most saltwater fish and invertebrates.

He MIGHT be interested in a brackish setup, I've heard people have mixed results, a lot claim it's "the worst of both worlds" when it comes to disadvantages, but there are some cool fish you can keep in it.

My biggest pride is that I've kept Black Moor and Pearscale goldfish with Ghost Shrimp and a Figure 8 puffer for over a year at a tropical 75F. Goldfish being coldwater, puffers being brackish-saltwater, and ghost shrimp being prey, this is like the miracle 55 gallon. I also had a VERY unique breed of crawfish. A Thunderbolt Crawfish, and man, was this thing cool. 8 inches of electric blue, pink, and green.

Another thing. I generally don't cycle my tanks. They do it on their own, however. Seachem Stability is like wonder-super-mega-hyper fish crack for jumpstarting a tank to be cycled. Mine cycled in less than a week, maybe 5 days, I kid you not.
 
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