# New Tank, Help Needed!



## XShido (Feb 28, 2011)

Hi everyone,

i have sometime in the forum reading, but never posted anything cuz i wasnt able to complete my project.

Now i can do it and im gathering all the ingredients.

I present you my 120 Gl Tank.










It was occupied by my turtle, panky, for about 5months. She had a smaller 20Gl tank i keep for something that may be needed.
Ill donate her to National botanic garden. Reason? Its a Female (no way to tell until they are quite big), shes starting to have sign of egg lying needs, so she needs to be take out of the tank for 3 hours every day and be put at a land box or something so she gets familiar with it and lay an egg, or she dies. Problem is im working a lot of hours and im not able to do this or watch her, no one at my house its able to do it neither, so i prefer that she passes to better, proper hands.

I know about basics,
Water Nitrification Cycle, had all the newbie troubles already with panky and water changes, cycles, levels, temperature, amount of water and space, correct filtration etc.

Currently the tank is half cuz im using a Rena Filstar XP2 filter, but i just ordered the Rena Filstar XP3 for Tanks up to 175 US Gl. so ill be able to get the tank full to the top as soon as i get the new filter working.

I have readed about fresh water fish cycle but i wonder

-What else do i need as equipment or suggested Decor?

-What Species of fish (small/medium) i can get together at the tank?
The nearest pet store its offering me 12 species, 2 of each kind, Male and Female, 24 fishes, they say these species can be together without any problem, non territorial fishes. But i actually dont thrust them very much, i want a pro experienced opinion, what species should i mix together? Please when you put the name of the fish, put a picture as well. ill explain later why. keep reading.

-I have canister filter.
-I have gravel and rocks.
-Ill buy a nice wallpaper, not using right now, im publicist, may be ill make it on my own.
-Ill make a few tunnels and hide spots with decorated cpvc later

-Heater, i dont need it, im at Dominican Republic, Caribbean Island, here the temps are... HOT the whole year. Right now i have 2 termometers for panky and the water is always warm, between 25c and 34c in super hot days. Thats a common factor here, we have a single season from january to december, Summer.
This is also the reason i asked for name and picture when u suggest fish species, u cant get an accurate translation to spanish (more exactly, Dominican Liguistics of Spanish) of fish names anywhere, even when the things have a translation, here in Dominican Republic everything get a "popular" name, sometimes this problem its so bad that youll never get to know the real name of an item, plant, animal, specie, food or anything.

-About lights, i readed they need a common source of light, my tank was used by panky, they dont need a tank top, they need Warm Light (yellow) and UV Light (white) simulating sun together so they bask, what about fish, anything special needed?

-About cycle and PH, Nitrate, Ammonia levels, i dont have access to water test kits, they simply dont exist here. I can actually tell by looking at the water when the cycle its complete, once ammonia and nitrate levels go down and the water stop stinking(cuz amonia) and looking dirty. With panky the water its never supposed to be Crystal Clear, it turns like, transparent with a slight yellow look, something like that, takes about 1 and a half week for turtles, first time i did it took me 2 weeks cuz i was testing on water changes. Turtles, RES (Red Eyed Sliders) are actually incredible survivors and can survive a whole water cycle process being in the water and not getting sick or anything. Learned a lot at HTP Forums (Happy Turtles Pub).

-Decor, ill get some plants, may be a ship or something like that, ill see what i can afford later.

So can you guys help me and answer my questions???


----------



## justinianobrenden (Apr 17, 2011)

Depends on what kind of fish you want whether it be agressive or calm and what not, you have so many possibilityies with a 120 gallons, i personally have an oscar cichlid in one tank and he is agressive you could have 2-3 of these in your 120 maybe 4 but they might fight if they are overcrowded so i would probably do 3 all the same size, maybe a pacu and an oscar they get along as long as they are the same size and not crowded, they arent always agressive but if you want other fish make sure they cant fit into the oscar or pacu's mouth because they WILL be eaten. or if you would like calm beautiful fish consider some guppies,mollies, platies, or swordtails. they are live bearers so if you have males and females in the tank than you will get live babies swimming around eventually if you have enough cover, you can keep 1 of these fish for every 1-2 gallons i beleive so you could have 60-120 of these fish but probably not thatmany because they breed like mice and soon it wuld be overpopulated and be highly suceptable to health issues, they are all tropical fish of south america the oscars pacu and livebearers i dont have pictures of either so just google them  thats all i got any questions??


----------



## XShido (Feb 28, 2011)

Looking around, trying to get a english name, ill show the options im being offered

2 Goldfish









2 Telescopic Goldfish? i think english name is Black Moor Goldfish???
Just like small goldfish but black and with big eyes









2 Angelfish, actually at petstore they are like white and black or more black than white =p









2 Koifish, this variety seems not to growth so much.









2 Tetras, according to the petshop its Tetras Puntu, but i searched and this seems to be the "Dominican Version" of the fish name, no way to ever tell the true name. i Believe by looking at pictures its Tetra Cardinal or Tetra Neon or Painted Tetra, im sure the most common should be. If i remember ok its the Painted of this picture, looks like a Red Dot on the water.









2 Comet GoldFish, nice, im being able to find correct real names by looking at the pictures.









2 Zebra fish?









2 sumatran barbs. god, i took some long time looking for this fish, the Dominican Version has nothing to do with the real name. Also called Tiger barb?









2 Molly fish, they got white and blacks. This was hard to find too. Name they gave me sounded like a person name, the girl sayd Molinet, sounds like Molly Net, but she didnt know how to pronunce in english, i had to take some guess here.









2 Sea rats AKA Guppies








I readed somewhere angelfish and bettas where a good birth control system for guppies, i want to have a few but i know ill have a million in a blink. any suggestion for this possible (for sure) issue?

2 Swordtails









And few other questions unaswered,
What about Lights?
What about Decor?
Should i put Bettas in the water?

Can these species live together? Any other suggested specie or anyone here that should be taken out?


----------



## XShido (Feb 28, 2011)

Anyone answers? T_T


----------



## sik80 (Mar 16, 2010)

Thats quite a wide ranging selection of fishes with varying needs for pH, water temperature etc. I'd avoid the goldfish and koi personally as they prefer cold water and produce a lot of waste

It would be good to know the pH and hardness of your water... Some of these fish will do better in hard alkaline water (guppies, swordtails, mollies) and other will do better in soft acid water (angels, tiger barbs, tetras)

Avoid having angels and tiger barbs together as the barbs will nip the angels fins


----------



## XShido (Feb 28, 2011)

sik80 said:


> Thats quite a wide ranging selection of fishes with varying needs for pH, water temperature etc. I'd avoid the goldfish and koi personally as they prefer cold water and produce a lot of waste
> 
> It would be good to know the pH and hardness of your water... Some of these fish will do better in hard alkaline water (guppies, swordtails, mollies) and other will do better in soft acid water (angels, tiger barbs, tetras)
> 
> Avoid having angels and tiger barbs together as the barbs will nip the angels fins


im not able to check on hardness or ph, like said before, no test kits here. they are not even imported to dominican republic. no way to know T_T

But i get it, no tiger barbs and angelfish together, fin eatin issue.

What about lighting, what do i need? a common lamp? source of light?


----------



## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

As this is the first time I have responded to a post by you, may I welcome you to Tropical Fish Keeping forum. Glad you joined us.

The fish in the photos you posted cannot be combined in the same aquarium. They have different requirements in terms of water parameters, temperature, and their behaviours are different. Decor and plants also enter into this, as does filtration. Water flow (the current) is dependent upon the filter, and some fish need more water movement, others will have trouble with too much. When establishing what we call a community aquarium--which means one in which there is more than one species of fish--we have to consider these things so that the fish will be truly compatible, and thus healthier.

Plants are mentioned in your first post, so I will work on the basis that you intend live plants. Your filter choice is good, i have a Rena XP3 on my 115g aquarium, and I like it. By the way, if you want to see what my tanks look like, there are photos under "Aquariums" below my name on the left.

The fish labeled "goldfish" are stand alone; if you want these, that is all you should have in the tank. They get large and are "messy" and will eat many plants. I won't say more on these. Koi are really pond fish, they get very large. No more on these either.

To the tropicals, which all the others are. What are your water parameters, meaning the hardness and pH? It is easier to select fish that will be "at home" in the water you can easily provide than selecting fish that may need significant adjustment, which is possible but we can discuss that later if necessary.

I see sik80 has posted while I've been typing, and is saying the same thing.

The last three photos are livebearers; these get along well together, they have near-identical needs (hard, basic water as opposed to soft, slightly acidic water) and there are many varieties among the mollies, platys, guppies and swordtails.

The other fish, Zebra Danio, Tiger Barb, are quite different. And the Tigers especially have problems. Rather than go into all that, I will refer you to our fish profiles, second tab from the left in the blue bar across the top of the page; when a name is shaded in a post, that means we have a profile on it, so you can click on the shaded name to see that species' profile. Have a look at the two fish here, Zebra Danio and Tiger Barb.

This will hopefully get you started. When we know the water parameters we can discuss further about specific fish and plants [we also have plant profiles, same place].

Byron.


----------



## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

XShido said:


> im not able to check on hardness or ph, like said before, no test kits here. they are not even imported to dominican republic. no way to know T_T
> 
> But i get it, no tiger barbs and angelfish together, fin eatin issue.
> 
> What about lighting, what do i need? a common lamp? source of light?


Can you find out this information from your water supply people? Or your local fish store? It is important.

Lighting I was going to leave until we sort out the fish, as this affects them too.


----------



## XShido (Feb 28, 2011)

Byron said:


> Can you find out this information from your water supply people? Or your local fish store? It is important.
> 
> Lighting I was going to leave until we sort out the fish, as this affects them too.


i readed ur last post, very informative 

About getting the information from water supplyer or petshop T_T
Here in DR these informations can change from 1 street to the other, here we dont have many safety/health controls, everybody that have and breed fish here use tap water most likely. breeders use river water.

but i can say the water its ok? i had fishes long time ago on a smaller tank and had to give them away, survived more than 6months on tap water (and i didnt know anything about cycle filtration or anything related to proper care). Guppies and bettas.

I want to fill the aquarium with as many different species that im able to.
I actually want
-Small fishes, that dont grow so much, ill get hungry them.
-Non agressive fishes. i want em to live together, not kill each other (except for baby guppies, i dont want to have a million of those)
-Fishes that can live together.

Of the fishes i posted up there, can you suggest me which may apply for what i want =D?
or maybe a suggestion, what would u recommend me to have?

EDIT: About plants, im not planting any. im getting fake plants, plastics, just for coverup and make it look cool =D actually i tryed getting water plants for my turtle to eat and believe me, it was a pain in the ass. Here in DR people, the country, dont have a "Take Proper Care of Your Pet" culture, here pets evolve into ultimate survivors most likely =D, i like to make the best i can for mines, but when it comes to 99.9% of the population, it goes from standar to sad.


----------



## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

I suggest you take a looki at our fish profiles, all of those fish you pictured except for the koi and goldfish are in our profiles. There is information there on their compatibility.

Are those pictured all you can get? Just so I understand.


----------



## XShido (Feb 28, 2011)

those pictures are of the species the petshop its offering me.


----------



## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

With only those fish available, I would suggest these options.

1. Livebearers. You can mix any of them in a 125g tank. Male and female will obviously mean lots of fry. But they are colourful and active.

2. Angelfish, a group of 6-7. They get large, up to 6 inches in length and 8-9 inches in height including their fins. But that would be a nice display. As you are not bothering with live plants, a good habitat for angels (authentic) would be lots of sticks, branches, some wood. Sand substrate (shallow). Dim light. Perfect. But not a lot of small colourful fish as you mentioned once.

3. A similar aquascape to the angels, but this time with Tiger Barb only. You could have 60 of them. That would be quite a site.

Do not mix Tiger Barb with angels, they will fin nip the angels to death. And the Danio with angels might do similar. Angelfish are slow, sedate fish and with their long finnage, quite a temptation for "active" fish.

You mentioned Betta somewhere. Like angels, they are not good match with active fish. And not angels and Betta; both have aggressive tendencies, which is why the angels are best in a group. They develop a social structure.


----------



## XShido (Feb 28, 2011)

ok so, tiger barbs only, angels only, or livebearers.
in case of livebeares (i want to have more than 1 specie to make it look, colorfull ill say), is there somehow to birth control them?
i dont want a million small fish running around. is there a fish i can put only 2 on the tank and will eat guppy swordtail and mollys fry?


----------



## justinianobrenden (Apr 17, 2011)

ya dont get goldfish or koi and the store only has 2 of each fish?? lame well get the "sea rats" mollies and sword tails and eventually they will fill your tank up with all their babies if they give you a male and female of each and lighting all you need is a hood with a standard light nothing special really just you dont want a heat lamp because you dont want the water any hareder than it is and and no do not add bettas with the livebearers i suggested because the males will confuse them with other males and nip and kill your fish.. just have some plant cover so your fish feel secure and really bushy plants like java fern for the baby fry that your fish will have if they are healthy and breeding, also something cool is you might be lucky and if the male guppy feels like it he will try and mate with the mollies and create a cool crossbreed but the swordtail cant crossbreed with either molly or guppy but ya anything else?


----------



## XShido (Feb 28, 2011)

justinianobrenden said:


> ya dont get goldfish or koi and the store only has 2 of each fish?? lame well get the "sea rats" mollies and sword tails and eventually they will fill your tank up with all their babies if they give you a male and female of each and lighting all you need is a hood with a standard light nothing special really just you dont want a heat lamp because you dont want the water any hareder than it is and and no do not add bettas with the livebearers i suggested because the males will confuse them with other males and nip and kill your fish.. just have some plant cover so your fish feel secure and really bushy plants like java fern for the baby fry that your fish will have if they are healthy and breeding, also something cool is you might be lucky and if the male guppy feels like it he will try and mate with the mollies and create a cool crossbreed but the swordtail cant crossbreed with either molly or guppy but ya anything else?


Read slowly please =D

Store have bunches of ea fish i mentioned before with the pictures. But, they made me an offer, 2 of each kind i showed before for a good price.

So, Mollies, SwordTails, Guppies, any other one that i can maybe join the party? what about 2 Angelfish =)?
or Comet Goldfish or TigerBarbs? any other fish that can be there without eating all the guppies in a few days? one that works like birth control may be =D?


----------



## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

XShido said:


> Read slowly please =D
> 
> Store have bunches of ea fish i mentioned before with the pictures. But, they made me an offer, 2 of each kind i showed before for a good price.
> 
> ...


Some of those fish must be in groups to be healthy. I have referred you to the fish profiles, will you please have a read of them? All those tropical fish are in our profiles, with lots of information (and the reasons) why they need a group, compatibility, etc.

The fish names when they are shaded can be clicked and the profile will pop up.


----------



## XShido (Feb 28, 2011)

Byron said:


> Some of those fish must be in groups to be healthy. I have referred you to the fish profiles, will you please have a read of them? All those tropical fish are in our profiles, with lots of information (and the reasons) why they need a group, compatibility, etc.
> 
> The fish names when they are shaded can be clicked and the profile will pop up.


Readed fish profiles =p

On my search for a variety in the community ill go for livebearers. Mollys, Platys, Swordtaild, Tetras and MAY BE guppies, actually, im scared about guppie invasion. Just to many of them so fast, bad experience, omg past comming back Nooooo!!!!

Filter is on its way, ill start gathering plants and cleaning my decor. also ill hurry up on donating my turtle.


----------



## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

XShido said:


> Readed fish profiles =p
> 
> On my search for a variety in the community ill go for livebearers. Mollys, Platys, Swordtaild, Tetras and MAY BE guppies, actually, im scared about guppie invasion. Just to many of them so fast, bad experience, omg past comming back Nooooo!!!!
> 
> Filter is on its way, ill start gathering plants and cleaning my decor. also ill hurry up on donating my turtle.


Sounds good. Just a note, all of the livebearers (molly, platy, swordtail and guppy) produce fry the same, many of them and very often, once the female is impregnated. A Molly female once impregnated will have 50-60 fry every 30 days for several months even if no male is then present. This is a downside (depending how one looks at it) of livebearers.


----------



## XShido (Feb 28, 2011)

Byron said:


> Sounds good. Just a note, all of the livebearers (molly, platy, swordtail and guppy) produce fry the same, many of them and very often, once the female is impregnated. A Molly female once impregnated will have 50-60 fry every 30 days for several months even if no male is then present. This is a downside (depending how one looks at it) of livebearers.


That sounds like hell of a million fishes. Should i go for comet goldfish only or barbs only? Dang.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## justinianobrenden (Apr 17, 2011)

the thing is with all of the different livebearers they will act as birth control for eachother the mollies will eat guppy fry the sword tails will eat mollies guppies eat sword tails ect this is because they want their species to be dominant in the tank and so you wont over populate the tank and you could also see if your etstore would like to buy the fry they have but ya you have a giant tank you dont want there to just be 8 fish in there you are going to want them to have more babies and get cool colors and make your tank look amazing sop the babies are a good thing and if you dont have a massive health problem you may never need to buy new fish as they will always replace themselves


----------



## justinianobrenden (Apr 17, 2011)

and im still confused you have to buy 2 of each kind or can you just get 2 guppies and 2 mollies and 2 swordtails and still get a good price or r they trying to make it to where your fish all die and you have to get more? but i would start out with 4 guppies 4 sword tails, and 4 mollies maybe 6 of each if you want and have 1 male to every 2-3 female livebearers and you should be set. and you cant get goldfish or koi they will die in the heat unless there is like some sort of like tank coler? but just get the livebearers no worries about overpopulation of your tank besides if you dont intervein with the birth most fry will die or be eaten unless you can sell them and decide to watch them and catch and save and care for as many fry as possible for profit but just see how it goes, start your water now before you get the fish so it is cyclesd and get everything ready to deduce stress and health issues


----------



## XShido (Feb 28, 2011)

If you guys says species will combain themselves as birth control managers, ill go for the livebeares them.
Ill just keep an eye on the population. i dont want a million fish.

In the worst case scenario ill give them away or ill try to get credit at petstore.

i can buy as many as i want, i just sayd i wanted many different fishes and they made me an offer, im able to reject it or just get the ones i want. Livebeares are cheaper anyway =p


----------



## alysalouise (Mar 15, 2011)

XShido said:


> Looking around, trying to get a english name, ill show the options im being offered
> 
> 2 Goldfish
> 
> ...


 



THE red ones (3 or 4th picture) are actually hybred Zebra danios. and any Kind of Danios have to be in a school of 6 or more for them to be quite happy
And the ones under the regular zebra fish are Tiger barbs, all barbs are very mean and will nip at your other fishes fins, making your other fish's fins looks bad.... But i do keep cherry barbs in with my fish, and the one i have stays at the bottom of the tank, usually doesnt come up to eat, just picks at the rocks


----------



## justinianobrenden (Apr 17, 2011)

then ya you should just get livebearers okay so i would get 4 of each fish species of livebearer?? and probably 1 male and 3 females the males have a pointed anal fin and the females have a faned out one and a gravid spot the male fin is called a gonorsomething haha just google it and if your petstores employees are experienced they should be able to tell for you but if not u gotta look n tell n they just have pretty decent plant color and shelter so they feel secure n u shuld be good a little salt water would be good but idk how much i would ask one of the more experianced users abpout that i personally dont use it but it is better for the livebearers to have some salt but ya they should act like birth control for others but for the first couple births u culd aget a breeding contraption so you get a bigger population until ur happy with it and they you can continue to do that if your store will give you store credit fo them when they are raised most stores only will give store credit


----------



## justinianobrenden (Apr 17, 2011)

oh and try and get multiple different colors of each species so you get diversified colors and cool color combinations and breds when they mate


----------



## XShido (Feb 28, 2011)

ill try my best, still talking to a few different fish breaders around me to check on species and fish colors. somehow guppies colored are difficult here


----------



## justinianobrenden (Apr 17, 2011)

my fish had babies this morning  i now have 34 guppy fry still waiting for my second female to give birth and my two female platys so expecting more soon


----------

