Upgrading/converting tank

[Yo-han]

New on this forum but already the proud owner of a 54L (12 gallon) Vietnamese 'biotope' tank for a while, which is running quite good. I keep Tanichthys micagemmae and Sewellia lineolata in there and the Tanichthys have bred multiple times but I never raised any fry. It's main goal was to set up a planted tank and liking the Sewellia it became a Vietnamese tank. But I really like the Sewellia and want to create a more natural habitat for them (more flow! and thus less plants). Reading this main site for a few years I now joined the forum and was hoping to get some advises here. Let me start of with some pictures of the tank:






And my sewellia's:



What I want to do is the following: take out all plants and put in extra kilos of these blue/black rocks. Replace the plant substrate with all sand and add extra flow (so I maybe an breed some Sewellia). The filter in there now is only 280 L/h (60 gph) and I was thinking about adding a flowpump of about 1200 L/h (260 gph) or replacing the current filter with a Fluval U4 of 1000L/h (220gph).
Any advice on that part?

Second advice I'm looking for is whether that much flow isn't going to be a problem for my Tanichthys micagemmae. If it is, I also have a 400L (90G) planted tank where they can live on in. Any advice on the fish would be welcome as well!

[Diana]

In such a small tank any increase in flow is going to affect all the fish.
If you got a longer, low tank such as a 20 gallon long (30" x 12" x 12" or 75cm x 30cm x 30cm = about 68 liters) you could aim the power head along the front, and put the intake at the other end, but still at the front, and have pretty good flow there, and rocks and gravel with only tiny plants (if any) between the rocks like any rushing stream. It is the shape of the tank rather than the actual volume.
Toward the back, especially at the back corners there would be less water movement and perhaps you could split your tall plants, maybe add some driftwood to make it look like the roots of trees coming down the bank. That might make it calm enough for the Tanichthys. Maybe not, though, so hang onto the current tank and set up for them, just in case.

[Yo-han]

I exchanged the filter for the Fluval U4 of 1000L/h (220gph). Aimed the outlet on the rocks and the Sewellia love it for sure. The Vietnamese minnows are mostly swimming in the calmer area's on the top but don't mind to swim in the current from time to time. Right now there are 5 Sewellia lineolata in there and 1 Sewellia that is either an albisuera or sp. 'Spotted'. I will fill the whole tank with the blue stones big and small, so plenty of cover and hiding places but although I'm very familiar with cichlids, dwarf cichlids and community fish, I don't know much about the aggression of loaches. I would love to have some different species (maybe beaufortia, (pseudo)gastromyzon and stiphodons) in there but will this cause trouble in such a small tank. Any idea on how much fish a tank like this can handle?

[Jim Powers]

I don't think I would add any more fish to that size tank. If you are like most of us, you will end up setting up a larger hillstream tank in the future so you can have more of these interesting fish.

[Yo-han]

Little update, I first putted in the new Fluval U4 in the tank for 3 weeks with the old filter media added inside. Next when the filter was running well I redid the tank, took out all the plants and added lots of rocks (algae needs to fill in) and new sand. The Sewellia are more in the open now and the Tanichthys' don't seem to mind the extra flow. In the LFS where I work we had two more Sewellia sp. 'spotted' in the batch Sewellia, really tempted... Also would love to add some stiphodon, but first want to see these Sewellia breed!

[Yo-han]

As mentioned before, I hope my Sewellia will breed in this new setup. But most of them are too small to breed at the moment. My biggest Sewellia is this one:


I know how to sex them and all the others are definitely females, but this one I'm not sure. Looks like a female to me, but he/she is so dominant that it could be a male as well. Who knows whether it is a male or female?

[Jim Powers]

Looks like a male to me from what I can see. The leading edge of the pectoral fin is perpendicular to the body.

[Menu]

Not very much to see, but I agrree looks like a male.

[Yo-han]

Thanks, because when I compared it to this, it looks more female to me:

[Jim Powers]

It still looks like a male to me. I have noticed with Sewellia that the older a fish gets, the more distinct the sexual characteristics.

[Yo-han]

Checked all +/- 20 Sewellia's in our lfs, all seems to be males, except one maybe. Is this common?

[Jim Powers]

I wouldn't think so.

[Yo-han]

How about this one, male or female?

[Yo-han]

Nobody?

[shuwae]

Not sure if it is just me but I cannot see any photos. The photos do not show up on the June 25th post.