New 32 gal planted/fish

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bozco

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Dec 4, 2003
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I went and picked up my Christmas present yesterday (the 26th). We went with a 32 gal because thats all we can afford and find space for this year. I got it as a kit because the whole thing was on sale and I got a string of questions that I'd like some imput on.

It came with the floresant canopy and two tubes. One is sun-glo and says its good for fish and the other is aqua-glo and says its good for fish and plants. As this will be my first planted aquarium (my smaller tanks have some random plants tossed in but they don't do so well under the incandesant canpoies) sould I replace the sun-glow with another aqua glow?

The filter that came with it is an aqua clear 200. I soaked the media in water from my old tanks. Will this help get the bacteria set up in the new tank? I also put a couple of buckets of my old water in the new tank as well. Will this do anything or was it a waste of my time?

The plants I'm starting with are pennywort and java fern, the jaa fern of course is attached to a piece of driftwood. I also pulled some runners from my 10 gal, from a grassy looking plant that I got because someone was throwing it away. (vaslia spiralis?) I got all these settled in last night and today, as the temperature is now perfect and the water is clear of chlorine and chlormine I added some fish.

Here is where I hope I didn't make a mistake. I added my two red tail sharks who were the first fish I ever owned. I had great luck with them when I started my 10gal tank and thought I should start this one the same way (that and they are the biggest) A book I got all about planted tanks says that its a good idea to put an algae eater in to a new setup and not feed it for a week or two to prevent algae from settling in before the plants manage to establish themselves. I put one of my japanese algae eatrs in and he's been doing his stuff.

Thats all I got for you now. Any advice, or suggestions would be great and I'll probably have more questions later.

Thanks
 
Something terrible happened after I introduced those three fish. I went to the movies and when I came home (about four hours later) I looked in the tank and couldn't find my biggest Red tail. After searching for a few minutes I finally brought myself to look behind the tank and found him on the floor. Poor guy was dried out like a potato chip, if he had still been moist I would have thrown him back in the water and held my breath.

Captain Wedderburn (that was his name) and his buddy Jack Hinks (still alive) were my very first ever fish and got me hooked on the hobby nearly a year and a half ago. I actually cried. (It sounds silly to cry over a fish only until you actually do it)

I think something must have scared him, probably a dog running past. But I am pretty sure it was a horribly unlucky accident because my poor fish had to jump nearly two inches out of the water to reach a hole that is only about 1 inch square (He was a big fish, but a narrow fish)

Anyway. Again if anyone has any advice for running my new tank please drop a line.
 
Sorry to hear of the loss..... :(


The filter that came with it is an aqua clear 200. I soaked the media in water from my old tanks. Will this help get the bacteria set up in the new tank? I also put a couple of buckets of my old water in the new tank as well. Will this do anything or was it a waste of my time?
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According to this site, the do not recommend transferring water:
http://www.aquaworldaquarium.com/NewAquarium.htm

Some ways to speed up this process is to add gravel from an established aquarium, and/or add a bacteria booster. This will introduce beneficial bacteria to the aquarium. Since the beneficial bacteria live on the surface area in an aquarium, transferring water from an established aquarium will only add phosphate and nitrate. Aquaworld does not recommend this unless you are moving fish from an establish aquarium where you may be concerned about the fish getting pH shock if they are introduced to all new water.
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Bozco! I got the same tank as you just reccently. Rimless right? It's a beauty. Anyways, i don't think soaking the filter media in water will help any. You should have just taken the filter media out of your old tank and added it to the filter of the new tank. With Aqua clears that is easy enough to do- even if they aren't the same size.

The lighting should be okay for now. I have an mbuna tank so there are very few plants- but within a week i had lots of algae growing in there. The lighting seems to be substantial. Sun-glo doesn't do much for the plants- so you may want to get another plant bulb. I would suggest either getting flora-glo in combination with one of your existing bulbs. That way you have a bulb that helps the plants and one that highlights the fish.

Your red tail shark probebly jumped out because of the stress the new tank inflicted on him. Maybe you should have fishless cycled for a little while- or cycled with some fish like danios. It's sad and i see how it would be next to impossible for the fish to jump out the little hole in the back- but accidents happen.

The algae eater might not find enough food right away, because you don't have any algae growing. Maybe give him some spiraluna discs to munch on for the time being, until some starts to grow.

I think i got all your questions? :)
-Diana
 
Red tail sharks and rainbow sharks seem to have a habit of jumping. When I used to have a rainbow shark, every time I tried to move him to a different tank he would jump non-stop until he was moved back. His nose would be all scratched up and exposed by he kept right on jumping.

I would keep an eye on your other one and cover up any holes in the canopy until you absolutely certain he won't try to do the same thing. These guys will look for holes to jump out of.
 
Too Late

Red tail sharks and rainbow sharks seem to have a habit of jumping
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I wish I'd have gotten that message sooner. I was on my way to the computer to check actually and I turned my tank lights on on the way past. No shark. I looked on the floor behind the tank and he wasn't there either. I thought he was hiding so I decided I'd check again later. But my dog was playing with something when I turned around and I yelled at him. Well he ran off there was Jack Hinks all dried out and covered with dog hair. I was shocked. I didn't understand it. At least now I know why.

I feel really bad though. That my fish died because I didn't know enough about them. I was really attached to them.


~*LuvMyKribs*~ and Gulp

Yes it is a nice tank. Except for the holes in the canopy. I didn't even like using the water from my old tank because it has a major algae problem. Its in the gravel and in the filter media and it grows like fire weed. I have to scrape the sides all the time, snails and algae eaters can't keep up. I did not want that stuff in my new tank. There is food for the algae eater in the new tank though, there was some algae growing on the mystery plant that I put in there. Thats how bad the problem in my 10gal is, it even grows on the live plants.

The reason I used the sharks to cycle (or was going to) was because they did so well when I started my 10gal tank.


After finding Jack I covered all the holes down to the tini tiny ones with window screening, held on with packing tape right now but I will probably glue it on later. I'm a little late I guess, but I will be getting new sharks soon, they are my all time favorites. I also added some ammonia remover to the filter. The algae eater seems to be doing just fine.
 
First--learn about cycling. Sharks are not good for cycling.

Second--research the fish. Sharks tend to do best when kept by themselves. They can be real buggers and beat the heck out of anything that is the same shape as themselves.

Third--if you are wanting a planted tank--not a tank with a few plants that are low light tolerant, you will need to upgrade those lights. NO fluorescent lighting does not penetrate very deeply into the water, so light loving plants will wither and die.
 
I'm afraid I don't agree with some of what OrionGirl said about the red tails. They worked wonderfully to cycle my 10gal the first time because they are waste eaters (catfish you see)and very hardy and they were perfect gentlemen in my community 10gal, only the algae eaters bothered them and it was the algae eaters who were the aggressors. The only thing I didn't know was that they'd jump because they'd never done this before.

I am going to work on the lights though. ;)
 
No, they are not waste eaters--they are omnivores. So they will eat meaty and veggies, but waste--no. There are not fish that eat waste by choice, and if your fish are eating waste, it means you are not meeting their nutritional needs. Oh, and sharks are not catfish--they are top minnows.

As for aggression--um, gee, sorry, but your experience, with 2 fish in a cramped tank, versus what I've seen in all of my own shark tanks, plus what others report.... How long did yours live? My rainbow is about 5 right now, and in great shape--and he will beat the heck out of anything that is similarly shaped. In a small tank, survival is more important than territory, so doubtless they will put up with one another. Is this natural and normal? No.

I will freely and willingly admit when I am wrong. I'm normally polite about it. But, when I am right, and comfortably in that, I see no reason to be polite. Sorry--you are wrong.
 
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