70 gallon stocking

R

ryansarge

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Sep 4, 2006
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Hi all,
tried asking this on the beginner forum, but maybe it'd be good to get some more experienced knowledge on this:


after several years away from the aquarium world, I am now getting back into it. I have purchased a 70 gallon freshwater tank with a double filter system with 2 biowheels and have been letting a few goldfish build up the bacteria levels for the past couple weeks. There is a good size cave, a couple of rocks and several fake plants. I have a good idea of what all I would like to stock and am just curious on everyone's advice. Here are the ideal fish and order of stocking I have planned:

In 1 week, the goldfish will have been in for 3 weeks. The ammonia levels are already low, but want to let the nitrate build up a bit more. After 3 weeks, I plan to return the goldfish and replace them with perhaps 6 rainbows (red irians and bosemanis). Let these guys get settled for a week or two.

Next, I would like to add a school of neon tetras (maybe 8 or so).

After another week or so (when levels are fine), I would like to add some fancy guppies, probably some of the tux varieties. Not sure of a good quantity, maybe 6 or so.

After a while longer, I would like to add some German Blue Rams. These are the fish that I am most excited about and have told to make sure the tank is well established for them. I would like to get as many as will work, maybe 6?

Next to last, I wanted to add some clown loaches (maybe 4 or 5). I figure these guys will end up getting too big, but a nice little school of them would look nice.

And lastly, an algae eater of some kind. Haven't done a whole lot of research on the different ones yet, figured it would be a couple months until the aquarium would be ready for them. I like the Royal Farlowella, but haven't done much research on it yet.

Ok, sorry for the long read. Just trying to get a good plan worked out here. Please let me know any thoughts on the setup. I'm especially interested in what everyone thinks about the quanitites of each of the groups. Thanks in advance for all the help and I'm very excited to get this all going
 
add your fish slowly...

try not to double your bioload everytime you add fish or you'll get mini cycles ... adding 2 fish when you ahve two fish is a lot worse than adding 4 fish when you have 8 already

that first few times be prepared to waterchange ab it more to keep things in check or buy some bio spira
 
Add some bio spira. I added fish 3 days after set up and running my tank system and making sure the temp was constant and all filters were working ok. In less than 2 weeks, I have 3 neon tetras, 2 long fin zebra danios, 5 male guppies, 4 neon tetras, and 3 spotted corys. Water check yesterday ph 8.0 (my tap is 8.0), ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 5.
 
thanks for the advice. Should I add the bio spira before adding the fish? I've also had a suggestion of adding amazon rain since my water is a little hard. Any advice on the order I should add the chemicals and how long I should wait after adding them before adding fish? Thanks again
 
I can tell you about rams. Rams like soft water. Very soft. Not pure rain water, but close to it. They like the ph to be below neutral too. I also do not recommend having clown loaches with rams. They use similar water space but the rams are smaller, slower and more fragile. They are just from other sides of the planet and will not get along. They might, but I dont think the rams will be happy at all. If you get 6 rams I would recommend getting 4 females and 2 males. Males can get pretty intense in their battles and you will need lots of little caves and plants for them. Females will battle each other as well fighting over the males. Its awesome to watch them all battle. But be prepared for losses. There always will be with these guys. The dominant pairs will prevail and sometimes gang up on loners but if you have a big enough tank like yours then you should be fine.

Algae eaters; I would go for either ottos or bristle-nose plecos. Dont get any other plecos they will either grow too large or not eat algae properly.

I think you should get twice as many neons though. Or better yet, cardinals.

Another nice tetra u could get is the kerri tetra, sometimes called the king tetra. They look like a smaller version of an Emperor tetra. Kerris are awesome, they are quicker than neons or cards and more along the same speed as rainbows so would look realy good with your rainbows I reckon.

Good luck.
 
The bows' (rainbows) are likely to scare the tetras into hiding, something I'm sure you don't want to happen. The bows' will also do MUCH better if you keep one large school vs. two smaller schools.

Be sure to research the type of algae eater before you buy it- many grow large and/or have specific care requirements (and all will require supplemental feeding). I advise against getting an algae eater if you are not prepared to care for it and I don't recomend you get one if you just want it to eat algae and excess food.

Bio-spira may help a bit(actually, it WILL help if it's been shipped cold and hasn't been sitting on your LFS's shelf for who knows how long), but it's not nessisary, follow twig's sugggestion's for adding the fish as well as water changes whenever nessisary (not whenever you can get around to it) and you won't go wrong.

There is absolutely no way your tank can handle clown loaches long term, it is simply too small. These are BIG fish, capable of producing fast bursts of speed, wich presents a risk of them breaking through the glass.
 
ryansarge said:
thanks for the advice. Should I add the bio spira before adding the fish? I've also had a suggestion of adding amazon rain since my water is a little hard. Any advice on the order I should add the chemicals and how long I should wait after adding them before adding fish? Thanks again
Click to expand...
Add the bio spira with the fish.
 
dorkfish said:
The bows' (rainbows) are likely to scare the tetras into hiding, something I'm sure you don't want to happen. The bows' will also do MUCH better if you keep one large school vs. two smaller schools.

Be sure to research the type of algae eater before you buy it- many grow large and/or have specific care requirements (and all will require supplemental feeding). I advise against getting an algae eater if you are not prepared to care for it and I don't recomend you get one if you just want it to eat algae and excess food.

Bio-spira may help a bit(actually, it WILL help if it's been shipped cold and hasn't been sitting on your LFS's shelf for who knows how long), but it's not nessisary, follow twig's sugggestion's for adding the fish as well as water changes whenever nessisary (not whenever you can get around to it) and you won't go wrong.

There is absolutely no way your tank can handle clown loaches long term, it is simply too small. These are BIG fish, capable of producing fast bursts of speed, wich presents a risk of them breaking through the glass.
Click to expand...
Bio spira does not need to be refrigerated. If I bought it somewhere that had it on the shelf I would be a little concerned as to how long it may have been there. It does have a shelf life but contrary to what people are saying it does not have to be refrigerated to remain effective.

Obviously, bio spira is not a necessity as there is the standard way of cycling your tank. I merely suggested it because I think all people setting up a tank are anxious to add fish. Bio Spira provides a way speeding up the cycling process allowing you to add fish immediately. I was a little skeptical however my experience was totally favorable. I began stocking my 75 gal immediately with the aide of bio spira and it has worked perfectly. ;)

Quote:
Originally Posted by rohnds
Does BioSpira really needed to be refrigerated at all time? Here is what Marineland has to say about this.



Here is the link
http://www.marineland.com/cus_faq.asp#48


Nitrospira, Nitrosomonas, and Nitrosospira bacteria can survive at temperature as high as 90*F or as low as 50*F without dying. They become inactive at at 39*F and die at 32*F or below or 120*F and above.
Here is the link to verify this data,
http://www.bioconlabs.com/nitribactfacts.html

BioSpira doesn't need to be refrigerated at all times.

Rohn


Rohn - You are the man. Thanks for sharing this informative info about Bio Spira. From the information I received on this forum, I read that Bio Spira needed to be refrigerated or it became ineffective. I had lost confidence in my local fish store who told me it didn't needed to be frigerated and that refrigeration just extended its shelf life which is exactly correct. I used it to cycle my 75 gal tank and it worked great. I have had zero ammonia and nitrites and am now just beginning to see some nitrates. This was with adding fish immediately after setting up my tank.
 
Just a thought because nobody has mentioned this yet...
With a tank that size (and the fact that you plan on stocking slowly) I'd get a quarantine tank going too. After all its a really devastating thing to stock your tank for weeks (months) and when you place the last fish in you realise they had internal parasites, flukes or (worst)TB.
This is something that can really take all of the joy out of the hobby, and made people quit for good.
 
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