Loaches Online Forum

Hi

I'm looking to set up an aquarium for the first time (excluding goldfish years ago)

Been doing a bit of reading on this site and seems to be very usefull, the one thing I'm not sure on is stocking a tank. I'm going to be making my own tank which will be a volume of 180cm x 60cm x 60cm (648l)

I'm planning to get about 7 Clown loach, 9 Zebra Danios or Tetra's, 9 Tiger Barbs and a Pleco.

From what I can find they all like similar sort of temperatures and Ph levels, would this be overstocked or ok for a tank that size?

Thanks

Adam

Hi Adam,

Welcome to Loaches Online!

Your proposed tank sounds fine, except for the Zebra danios which prefer slightly cooler temperatures. If you'd rather keep fish of Asian origin together, you could just stick to the barbs and have a larger group of them. Or else you could go for something like the slightly larger species of Rasbora. Garras are a great alternative to the south-American plecos.

You'll need a good amount of filtration, flow, and oxygenation in the aquarium for the Clown Loaches. As an example, we have 3 Eheim external filters on our 1000 litre aquarium for them, plus two large powerheads for extra water movement. Clowns also prefer the tank to be fairly dimly lit.

Water changes on a large tank may take a bit more planning than on a smaller aquarium, but you should be aiming to do partial changes 2 - 3 times per week, of around 15% or so.

I'd recommend that you stock the tank gradually and add the Clown Loaches last (they are relatively sensitive fish). Seven is a good number, but you'd probably find you could keep a few more than that. They really enjoy the company of their own kind, and you'd get to see a lot more social interaction.



Emma

Thanks for your reply

One thing to change from the tank size above, since spoken to a acrylic supplier who has quoted £430 for the materials to make a 180x50x60x1.5cm tank as he can get it all from 1 sheet which reduces the volume down to 540l

I was thinking 7 to allow room for future growth, or would there still be a lot of room even with a few more?

What limits would you recommend on a tank this size?

I've not been able to find anything on the Rasbora. Garras are they similar to the Harlequin Rasbora?

That's still a fair volume of water, and you would have room for a few more, even with their growth potential.

adampetherick wrote:What limits would you recommend on a tank this size?

That would all depend on the amount of filtration you go for, species of fish, amount of maintenance you carry out etc etc.

Rasboras were just another idea for 'dither fish' for your aquarium. They are a species of fish from the Cyprinidae family (the same family as barbs) and are found throughout Asia. Have a search on somewhere like http://www.fishbase.org to bring up a huge list of species. Some maybe a bit small for your set-up, but there are some lovely medium/large species available, such as Rasbora daniconus and Rasbora caudimaculata.

With regards to the Garras, these are primarily algae eating fish that hail from many parts of Asia. I was suggesting these as an alternative to the pleco you suggested, to keep the aquarium on an Asian theme. You obviously do not have to do this, but many fishkeepers do prefer to keep fish together from one continent. Quite a few species of Garra are becoming available in the aquatic hobby, and many are very beautiful fish. Again have a search for them on fishbase or other sites. A tank the size of yours would suit Garras very nicely. I have a couple of Garra fuliginosa in the 8ft clown loach display tank at work, and at some point would like to introduce some of those or a similar species to our tank at home.

Hope this helps,

Emma

these images are in alphabetical order and have some garras in there...
takes a while to load, but it's, well, there.

sophie wrote:these images are in alphabetical order and have some garras in there...
takes a while to load, but it's, well, there.

Where?

Sophie, you been on the wine? tut tut!

Thanks for the advise and sorry to mess you around but as I'm now moving house shortly the big tank will be going on hold as we're just gonna be renting for 6 months before buying somewhere so think it's best to wait till then as I don't fancy moving a tank that size!

Instead it's gonna be the Fluval Due 1200 Deep kit, what are people's opinions on this and stocking levels, looking for Clown's still to be the feature fish, with a few small ones in too possibly?

Thanks
Adam

argh.
here:
http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/identifica ... &areacode=

though today I can't get at it. yesterday I could.
sigh.

and no, it's not wine, though I wish it was; I'm pretty unwell at the moment and the other half is off playing at the Glade festival and has left me at home with two small children and a broken washing machine. oh, and th boiler stopped working.
gah.

but there are some nice pictures of fish there, anyway.
lots and lots of them.

adampetherick wrote:Instead it's gonna be the Fluval Due 1200 Deep kit, what are people's opinions on this and stocking levels, looking for Clown's still to be the feature fish, with a few small ones in too possibly?

That's not a bad size to start with. But you'll need to stock it slowly and plan to add the Clowns as the last additions due to their sensitivity. Ideally the tank should have been set up for a few months before they go in, and you'll need to buy small sized ones, say around 2.5". I don't think you'll want to put any more than 5 in a tank that size, and then when you get the big tank set up, you can move them across and add some more friends for them. The filtration that this tank comes with is a Fluval 4 plus internal filter. For the Clowns that isn't really powerful enough, and you'd do best to swap that for an external model. The other downside with the internals is that they will need to be cleaned out more often (due to their small size) and that means you will have to keep going into the tank and disturbing the fish every time you do this. Externals, as the name suggests, are situated outside the aquarium (in the cabinet) and will not need to be opened up all that often. Having the filter outside the tank also frees up more space inside the aquarium. Remember to try and opt for a sand substrate if you are planning on keeping loaches. Many gravels are sharp and can damage their delicate sensory barbel area. One other thing, the Fluval tanks have a couple of small gaps at the back of the hood to allow for cables etc. You'll need to make sure you cover these over with something so that the loaches don't jump out.

Good luck,

Emma

Thanks Emma

Was thinking that by the time they outgrow this tank the new one will be set up and ready for them, and since it will be there for a while I could go a bit bigger than previously spec'd in my first post, in the mean time I assume I can start upgrading the filter, heater etc from the fluval setup so they can go straight into the new one when it's built with the advantage of a healty supply of bacteria. Can you over filter a tank, i.e using a 600l tank rated pump being too much for a 200l tank as the clowns like it clean? Same with a heater.

Sophie i think its the internet thats on the wine at the moment. i tried the site you suggested, and thats not working, but so are some of the other sites i use - if when these work they are good for pictures and info, and the second one is very useful for thinking about an aquarium from a specific region.

http://www.jjphoto.dk/fish_archive/karp3.htm

http://fish.mongabay.com/data/India.htm

there is info on garras on the page that should come up on mongabay - if the internet hasnt got too sloshed today.

Adam isnt it fustrating having to downsize for a bit i sympathise with you! good luck with getting everything set up, and have fun with it.

i havent kept tetra, but other people i know do, and they seem a bit dull compared to rasboras (sorry but i am biased), as the rasboras seem to be so much more lively and have really lovely delicate colouring. i would definately consider the species Emma suggests.



sophie i hope everthing gets better for you soon!

It is certainly more than ok to have a larger filter on the smaller loach aquarium, so that you can eventually use it as part of the filtration in your bigger tank. As an example our 1000 litre tank is filtered by 3 Eheim externals, 2 of which are the 'monster' Professionel 3's which are rated for 1000 litres of water each. The other one, a Professionel 2, does 600 litres. So the tank is well 'over-filtered', but the Clowns really appreciate the excellent water quality and powerful currents within the tank.

Emma

So having the filters draining at 1 end and re-filling at the other?

helen nightingale wrote:
Adam isnt it fustrating having to downsize for a bit i sympathise with you! good luck with getting everything set up, and have fun with it.

It is rather but gives me more time to come up with something even better for when I do get it made

adampetherick wrote:So having the filters draining at 1 end and re-filling at the other?

You can do, yes. We've actually got ours draining at both ends and refilling via spraybars along the sides of both ends plus along the back of one of the ends too. With the 2 big powerheads as well, there's a great deal of current within this tank coming from all directions. The surface of the water is always 'churning' and they love swimming in the flow.

Emma