I'm going to set it back up again

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THE V

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Nov 25, 2007
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Well the seam on my 125g tank popped about a year ago now and I lost all of my goldfish. After a couple of decades of keeping fish I took the last year off.

But now my new position has given me a nice pretty bonus check and it's burning a whole in my pocket. My wife has already spent her portion by having the exterior of the house painted (It's not pink anymore yeah!!!!). I still have dog called Marshmellow though.... I really don't feel that manly when I take a fluffy little dog for a walk.

Now I have my portion of bonus to spend. What better way to blow it than to get back into keeping a few fish.

Unfortunately I'm not going to do goldfish again because I lost too many old friends last year. So I was thinking of doing a planted tank with little short lived fish.

Here's what i'm looking for:

Nothing over 3-4" in length.
Colorful mix that will not destroy plants.
Must get along with a bushynose pleco (my boys love them).
NO MOLLIES, Platy's, etc.. - I just don't like them,, guppies are okay...
Nothing tricky to feed, I travel 20-25 times per year and my wife will sprinkle fish food in if she must (at great personal sacrifice).

Any idea's for what to get. My bank account needs some damage done to it.
 

platytudes

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Are you planning on tough plants? Plecos generally tend to nibble and uproot delicate stems. Bushy/bristle nose may be better than a common pleco, but I wouldn't exactly call them plant safe.

How about a barb tank? Gold barbs, black ruby barbs, rosy barbs and tiger barbs :)
 

THE V

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Are you planning to cycle this tank?
Nope :evil_lol:

Actually I'm going to purchase a ton of plants let them get established and then add in fish. When I say established I mean overgrown of course. I'm keeping my filtration setup for goldfish of course: a C-360 & two Mag 350's on the tank.
 

ssuchem13

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Oct 4, 2011
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that actually makes alot of sense from a chemical perspective. the ammonia excreted buy the fish in form of waste will be absorbed buy the plants since ammonia NH3 is a common part of plant fert. also if he does plant fert any extra in the water will feed the bacteria to grow.
 

THE V

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Nov 25, 2007
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^Close but not quite correct ssuchem.

When using a planted tank you always want to avoid using ammonium nitrate. Generally most aquarium fertilizers do not contain any ammonium (KNO3 is generally used). This eliminates the danger to any aquatic fish.

Planted tanks also have another advantage. They come with innoculum on them. Remember Nitrifying bacteria double in numbers every 20 hours or so. So if there is any NH3 or NO2- that the plants don't gobble up the bacteria quickly grow to take care of it.

Of course I do plan on doing a few waterchanges just to keep the water clear during the inevitible blooms.
 

nerdyrcdriver

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Sep 1, 2011
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Of course I do plan on doing a few waterchanges just to keep the water clear during the inevitible blooms.
Sure, now I know that most people get them. I thought I was doing something wrong with both of my tanks in order to get the blooms.
 

Ratlova30

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So what size tank will you be setting up?
 
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