Dwarf Chain Loach Tank build(pics coming!)

[calivivarium1]

My parent's recently moved into a new house and they decided that they wanted a somewhat large aquarium for their living room. I bought them a 60gal show tank(approx. 50"x13"wx24" tall) and decided to place it on a stand between two rooms instead of on a counter.

The tank will be viewed from both sides, so I am going to work on hiding cords/tubing better as I complete the flora stocking as well as the hardscape. I currently have a Rena XP3 filtering the tank, along with a homemade powerhead/spongefilter combo doohickey for extra current and a bit more filtration. The substrate is pool sand. Lighting is accomplished with a Current USA Orbit PC fixture(running 2x65w 6700k bulbs).

For plants, I am looking to have: hairgrass(Eleocharis sp), I believe I have a some kind of aponogetons, Fissidens fontanus, Rotala rotundifolia, and cardinal plant(not sure on scientific name yet). I will have some more plants, probably Vallisneria asiatica, possibly some swords, and who knows what else.

Fish will be: dwarf chain loaches(Y. sidthimunki), and to be honest, I have no idea what else.

I took pics, but alas I can't find my camera cable. Digicams and I do not get along well, I'll try and put up some pics soon.

[andyjs]

Can't wait to see some pics. I really like sids. I'd do some rasboras or barbs with them. I really like espei rasboras and if you can find them, roseline sharks would be AWESOME in that tank

[calivivarium1]

Mmmm... roseline sharks WOULD be awesome. They are pretty darn expensive though, arent they?

[pinkertd]

A group of about 36 ember tetras would bbe stunning. I have a group that large in my 75G tank. They are almost always together as a group and their color is beautiful! I have about a dozen in the sids tank so they get along just fine, but 12 doesn't look anything like 36.

[calivivarium1]

Thanks, thats a good idea too. Debbi, have you ever seen your sids harass any tankmates?

[pinkertd]

No, not at all. They get into their own little squabbles amongst each other. Now their barbels are stiff and I would think they feel like a tiny prickle. I've seen the albino cories do a little jump when the sids get their faces that close to the cories, but no harm done. They live in harmony.

[fishorama]

I keep my sids with striatas, espei & red tailed rasboras, SAEs & roselines. When I first added the SAE the sids wanted to hang out with him, similar color pattern. They tried to "dance" with him but he's too slow when cruising the glass.

I've never seen them harass anyone, very occaisional sparring between sids. Some live under driftwood with striatas at 1 end, others with different striatas at the other. Seems like 1 fat female is at each end, maybe they have matriarchies?

[jpappy789]

Same here, mine let the single oto cruise around with them.

I kept female bettas and cherry barbs with them with zero problems as well.

Can't wait to see the setup!

[calivivarium1]

Cool, cool. I wasn't sure if they were slightly aggressive or not, I had read that on one or two sites somewhere.

I'll get the pics done up by this weekend

[Jeremy Smith]

Look forward to seeing the pics. On the camera cable I have been looking for mine for weeks. ;)

[andyjs]

Cool, cool. I wasn't sure if they were slightly aggressive or not, I had read that on one or two sites somewhere.

They aren't aggressive, but very active. Mine shoaled with my espei fairly often, but they never really did anything that seemed to bother the other fish

[calivivarium1]

I know, I know, I'm lagging on the photos. I actually forgot to post them last night, i had the camera connected and everything.

I finished mixing up my ferts and added some hairgrass(a tiny, tiny bit), two Cryptocoryne crispatula(to see if I like that or the mystery plant better), and added some floss to my filter. The tank is cycling with dead shrimp(lol) and media from my other tank. With the media from my other tank and the plants, I expect everything to be dandy by next wednesday.

Here's a question: Red tail black sharks(well, actually one), do y'all think one would harass my sids?

[calivivarium1]

hhhMmm.... after reading just a tad more on them, I think it's probably safe to say that the red tail black shark would probably harass the sids too much. I'll find a cool centerpiece fish sooner or later...

[jpappy789]

I wouldn't house sids with RTS, they'd get beat pretty easily if there were any run-ins...which is bound to happen when mixing RTS and other bototm dwellers.

[bookpage]

My Red Tail Shark (1) and sids(9) are doing fine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihXLGDOyNd8

[calivivarium1]

Thats a great looking tank book, but I wonder if your redtail not bothering his tankmates is because he also has lotsa fish his size(or similar) in there. I'm not sure I want to risk it at this point... here is a quickie photo before I went car shopping.

The plants aren't final, and most of the hardscape is not in either. Wood courtesy of mgamer is on the way, and I am currently hunting for more plants. The rotala will definitely be trimmed before the tank is considered "good to go."

[jpappy789]

Thats a great looking tank book, but I wonder if your redtail not bothering his tankmates is because he also has lotsa fish his size(or similar) in there. I'm not sure I want to risk it at this point... here is a quickie photo before I went car shopping.

The plants aren't final, and most of the hardscape is not in either. Wood courtesy of mgamer is on the way, and I am currently hunting for more plants. The rotala will definitely be trimmed before the tank is considered "good to go."
TBH thats exactly what I was thinking. Lots of other distractions in that tank (which looks amazing btw)

[Conski]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0

thanks for that

[Weather Loach]

Looks good so far :)

[Carla G]

Red tailed sharks get more aggressive the older and bigger they get. I have heard reports of RTSs killing every other fish in the tank.

[calivivarium1]

Yeah, I am not too worried about a RTS necessarily killing all my other critters. That being said, I don't think its worth taking the chance of one causing undue stress to the rest of the tank's inhabitants.

Wood came in today, I'll see if I have a chance to put it in this evening

[calivivarium1]

Camera's and I don't seem to get along... I can't seem to get my pc to read my memory card. Anyway, the tank now has 5 chain loaches(more in probably a month or so) as its residents. More fish will be in this coming week.

PLants now include: cardinal plant, asian vals, some sort of aponogeton, Cryptocoryne crispatula, dwarf hairgrass, java moss, fissidens fontanus, Rotala rotundifolia, and a bit of anacharis.

I added a 9w UV sterilizer(the AA Green Killing Machine), we'll see how that works out.

The tank should be basically finished next weekend

[chonhzilla]

That tall plant sure looks familiar.

you said you got "DWARF" chain loaches? from Richard?

[calivivarium1]

Haha, does it? I think I got it from this hmong guy here in town.... I'll have to give you his number. Seriously bro, I need to get you a pic of the Cardinal. I want to give you at least 4x what you got from Richard.

Let me know about the lily....

[chonhzilla]

Haha, does it? I think I got it from this hmong guy here in town.... I'll have to give you his number. Seriously bro, I need to get you a pic of the Cardinal. I want to give you at least 4x what you got from Richard.

Let me know about the lily....

Really?....4X's ......:jaw:......I'll let you know.

-Chonh:crazy:

[calivivarium1]

Some of the cardinal plant has GSA on the old growth unfortunately, but that should be gone as it grows(its not from my tank).

I decided on one of the other inhabitants of the tank: Odessa Barbs Puntius ticto. They will be joining my school of dwarf chain loaches in the near future.

[calivivarium1]

Welp, if I can get a working camera I will get some pics up here. I think the final stock has finally been worked out:

Dwarf chain loaches Y. sidthimunki
Torpedo Barb P. denisonii
Odessa Barb P. ticto
And probably a few red wag platies for mum

[jpappy789]

oooh, some redlines...nice!

[calivivarium1]

Welp, 7 out of my 8 Odessa Barbs (Puntius ticto) are now dead. They were all showing excellent color and eating flakes and frozen food. Water tested A-Ok and no obvious lesions/parasites/etc. No idea what happened

[jpappy789]

That sucks, musta been a bad batch?

[chonhzilla]

Hey Sean were are you planning to get those denisonii's?

[calivivarium1]

Yeah, bad batch I think. It was prolly bad luck from the start. One was DOA when I got them. They were all feeding and colouring up nicely, not quite sure what happened. The five sids and the banded darter are all happy as can be.

Chon, I was thinking from Richard. His suppliers better be able to give me a decent guarantee though, if I am going to drop $100 on a school of fish they better live longer than three days.

[mattskims]

How many denisonii's are you planning to keep in there? They are a very social fish and do best in a group...

[calivivarium1]

Thinking 4-6 denisonii

[fishorama]

Sounds good! I wish all 5 of my p. dennisonii made it through Q, only 2 did. They shoal with my SAEs, until I can get some more, they're lovely!

[calivivarium1]

Thats a nasty chunk of change for them not to make it through QT. Thats a bummer.

Hopefully I will have better luck with them than the Odessa barbs. I am debating whether or not to order another school of them....

[jpappy789]

Still waiting for pics! ;)

IME denisonii are going to be fragile so just do the best you can to minimize stress for the time being. They tend to be skittish and would freak out any time I put my hand in the tank to trim or move plants. One thing though was there were only 3 or 4 at a time so get more if you can. They'll feel a lot more comfortable.

Another thing I noticed is that they had a hard time competing for food. I dont know why but they pretty much let the other fish in the tank (danios, apistos, and I think some corys) get a shot at whatever was for dinner before they where even remotely interested. Maybe that was just the particular personalities, but this was what I noticed. Btw, it wasnt my tank but a 40B at my LFS and the roselines were about 3-5" at the time.

[fishorama]

Hmm, interesting, jpappy. My dennisonii are fat piglets, not nervous except when the even fatter SAE chases them.
I'd advise waiting a week or better 2 after the lfs gets them in, losses from shipping can be high. And yes I was bummed

[loachguy]

When are the pictures coming?


Dwarf Chain Loach Tank build(pics coming!)

[calivivarium1]

That is the question, loachguy. My digital camera is broken, my parent's won't transfer photos, and I don't have any other camera atm. Pics are, unfortunately, on hold till I buy my new camera.

[jpappy789]

Hmm, interesting, jpappy. My dennisonii are fat piglets, not nervous except when the even fatter SAE chases them.
I'd advise waiting a week or better 2 after the lfs gets them in, losses from shipping can be high. And yes I was bummed
I'm inclined to believe that it wasn't the best stock either. Like I said though, this was a LFS tank so I should say that its not a great comparison to the home aquarium. I wouldn't be suprised if they didn't receive any special attention other than what I gave them. Every other employee (including the owner) was a SW person and to be honest knew squat about freshwater no matter what they thought.

[mattskims]

I'm inclined to believe that it wasn't the best stock either. Like I said though, this was a LFS tank so I should say that its not a great comparison to the home aquarium. I wouldn't be suprised if they didn't receive any special attention other than what I gave them. Every other employee (including the owner) was a SW person and to be honest knew squat about freshwater no matter what they thought.


That's sad when a LFS doesn't even realize what they have. I understand being partial to SW, but we are still talking about a vibrant FW on the verge of becoming endangered, if not already.

I believe it was probaly the LFS tank. My roselines would eat 24 hours a day and start stalking the surface everyday at 530pm when I come home from work. They are bright, fat, and personable.

[jpappy789]

The exact opposite of the fish in the LFS tank: skinny, skittish, and fragile.

And I agree, it's part of the reason I did not like the job as much as I would have hoped. The owner and all the employees were great people just very ignorant when it came to anything freshwater. I pretty much decided not to buy fish from them but out of how close they are they receive some of my fish. I just hope they are in a bag and out the door as soon as possible.

[calivivarium1]

Well, here is a real quick FTS. I am still screwing around with different plant combos, so I apologize for the "weedy" look. This is a quick pic I took with my new digital camera, so hopefully there will be some higher quality ones in the future as I figure this camera out a bit more.

Current stock:
1 Pearl Gourami
13-15 Bloodfin Tetras
8 Platys(4 red wag, 4 sunset wag)
1 Banded Darter
5 Chain Loaches
3 True Saimese Algae eaters

[fishorama]

Very nice! Looks like you need a quick scrape along the sand edges with an old credit card to get the algae before the next pics ;)

[jpappy789]

Looks good! Where are the close up shots though? ;)