Freshwater Ecosystems (General Chat)

[nanu156]

Plecos can get pricey if you get into really nice ones, or you can go with less expensive ones, choice is up to you. Personally fancy plecos are a passion for me.

So on the less expencive side you have:

-clown plecos 6.00 or so
-Bushy nose 10-15
-Bristle nose 10-15
-Rubber lip 5-15
-common 1-10 (I DO NOT SUGGEST COMMON PLECOS EVER)

But if you are looking for some show piece fish well then I have other suggestions for you
-Leopard frog (smallish but very active and gorgeous) 35-65
-Gold nugget (my avatar is a gold nugget) these vary depending on size 35-150 would be a price range, they are generally available in the 4" range at the lower price, they grow to 18" BUT are super slow growers, 18" fish are generally 10+ years old. They won't breed under 18" and thus command really high prices at that size, if you could grow yours up that big he would be worth a bundle to a breeder or a petstore.
-Green or Blue phantom 35-100 I have both they are really pretty and really nice
-Magnum pleco 007 they are AWESOME and very cute
-Galaxy pleco also get big but are worth a ton if you can grow them up to over 12" 80-150
-Royal pleco, they get big too and can be sorta destructive when they get over 8" Really REALLY cool fish

I mean your options are really limitless, these are some of the more popular fish I have seen in stores etc, if you can locate a local importer/breeder you will find even more fish!

Rams are cichlids but they aren't aggressive, your other community fish will be just fine.

Electric Yellows are also cichlids who do well with appropriately sized community fish and tend not to be aggressive.

Killi fish are AWESOME, and something that not too many people on this forum keep. I really like them.

Tetras are cool and probably where I would start with your tank if I were you, start a school of them and then add from there.

If you are going to plant like that I would add snails, large snails or nerite snails. They won't eat your plants and are the hardest workers in all of aquarium in my opinion.

Ummm deer antlers may be a mistake... They are organic and will break down over time, they are just something that i don't think will do good things in your tank to be honest.

If you are going to plat that heavy I would just PAINT your background black, so you can really showcase your plants, too much in the background will make the plants sort of blend in. Think photo in front of black background vs photo in front of busy background.


A 70g tank would be about 3ft high by about 4ft long. Thats a great sized tank and you could do some really cool stuff with it. Measure and post dimensions.

Plecos will all munch your drift, but i don't have a problem with my drift wood even with all the plecos i have in each tank (I have more that are not listed) they eat such a small amt that it really isn't noticeable.

 

[ValRasbora]

it collapsed when the mosquitoes decided they'd die on me. And as we know, mosquitoe larvae is a very delicious food, therefor it didn't last long once the main mosquitoes were gone.

 

[SLZM]

@nanu156 thanks for the list man, I know of a couple on there (like the gold nuggets, i've always liked those) but it'll still give me a nice list to check out. btw Magnum-007? Coincidence that the name and number sound so bond-y? lmao

anyways, I know a lot of cichlids aren't aggressive, used to have a couple good community ones.
tetras have always been in my tanks as the starters before I really add the cool stuff. like plecos, lmao. Although I had no idea what kind they were. (plecos, not the tetras(neon mostly, couple rummynose))

I knew adding a deer antler would be bad, it would decompose and release calcium and whatever else into the water, but I'll be coating it in the same stuff they coat aquarium decor in after they paint them. additionally, I'm adding it beforehand, friends have found ways to make them work, but I do want to be sure.

The background will be very dark, we're making it out of paper mache and bits of stick to make it look like a rock riverside with some tree roots. I didn't want to use those fake wallpaper-y backgrounds, as they don't fit the natural look i'm going for.
But yeah, it'll be very dark coloured.

Thanks for the great list. I've heard of most on the top list, but the bottom list will be nice to search and research through.

 

[SLZM]

it collapsed when the mosquitoes decided they'd die on me. And as we know, mosquitoe larvae is a very delicious food, therefor it didn't last long once the main mosquitoes were gone.

tskk, just when you want mosquitoes to survive and prosper, they go and die on you? haha figures.

have you thought about adding more?

 

[nanu156]

what is your state and the closest major city? really the best place to buy fish of any kind is a fish club, or a breeder/importer.

I like craigslist for these types of things, If you want a fleet of smaller plecos I would go

Leopard frog
Flyer tails
Colombian zebras
king tigers

They are all really cool and max at about 4"

Nuggets are awesome they tend to come out quite a bit in daylight and eat like hogs. I absolutely adore mine.

the 007 I believe is related to the name, they are green and have a yellow tail they also have a round head. I really like them.

You can check planet catfish out to see tons of plecos. Planet-catfish dot com. just be aware that there are lots of them that are endangered species and thus banned for import so if you find some that you like make a list then call a breeder/importer to find out what actually can be obtained.

 

[ValRasbora]

Yes, I have thought about adding more mosquitoes... but unfortunately it's minus 30 here so I doubt I'd be able to find any XD. And I doubt I'll stoop so low as to get them shipped in haha. It just goes to show that mosquitoes are here to annoy us LOL!

 

[SLZM]

@Val, oh yeah lmao, pretty cold here too. lmao, oh canada.

@nanu, I live near edmonton (so my "state" would be Alberta lmao), and I know a few jewels. I doubt I'll use the internet unless I absolutely need to though. I like the word you used there too, "fleet" haha, thats always the word I thought of when thinking about how many plecs i wanted. That was the plan, have a cloud of tiny plecos. I've always had two big brutes and wanted to try something new this time around

 

[SLZM]

oh i was thinking... how did the mosquitoes feed? and how will they feed once you re-add them? I'm guessing thats why the ecosystem fell.

my advice is that you should stick your arm in the tank once a day to let them drink hahahaha

EDIT: oh god, all those plecos you posted are beautiful. especially the phantoms. i want some green phantoms now

 

[nanu156]

well craigs list (do they have that where you are canada? I know they have it in windsor/toronto/london) is like a giant garage sale, people post ads you call/email them and then go to where ever they are to buy your goods. It can be interesting.... But I found the most rock star fish lady there (300+ tanks super crazy chick with like a dozen cats to go with the tanks, she also sells food and equipt, all this in a 1200 sq foot house! YIKES) craigslist: edmonton classifieds for jobs, apartments, personals, for sale, services, community, and events is the link for your local craigs list, you can buy tanks, cars, furniture lol anything, it's like an online garage sale. Be warned you will have to make a few calls and when you get a real fish person on the phone start asking questions about other breeders etc. you will find a real gem im sure. check the pets section and the for sale section regularly.

So even with mid sized plecos you could house a ton as long as you provide enough hiding spots, I have a tank with a dozen or so plecos 4-8" each. I also really like little plecos, and again honestly as long as you provide slate hiding spots for each one you won't have issues with em picking on each other.

I keep both a blue and a green phantom, as a side note don't buy anything that maxes out over 4" under 4" they tend to die pretty easy. When plecos are young it's hard to see if their bellies are shrunken they also stress to death

Have fun plecos are my passion! PM me if you have specific pleco questions or if you find one and want to check prices to see if you are getting a good deal.

 

[SLZM]

haha I know what craigslist is. and as an internet thing, its basically everywhere someone has a computer and internet. lmao.

what do you mean by "don't but anything that maxes out at over 4", under 4" they tend to die pretty easily?" that sounds like a contradiction (in wording)

 

[IThinkTherefore]

I think nanu156 means that it's better not to buy a large pleco while it is still less than four inches in length.

 

[SLZM]

ohh, I see. I was thinking in terms of max size when he said both. i saw it like, "don't buy a pleco that maxes larger than 4", or under 4"" haha brain fart moment.

anyways, we got the driftwood battened down and the frame built (for the backdrop)

 

[nanu156]

exactly, particularly because very few fancy plecs are bread here they are wild caught, they catch them small to save on freight from South America. So what you have is a wild animal that was in a bag for 3-5 days in a LFS for less then a week and now is headed to your tank.... What do you estimate your chances for success are with that critter?

If you find a breeder (very different from an importer) your chances are some what better with the larger plecs who are younger and thus under 4"

Basically the larger they are when you buy them the more costly they can be, but if you are going to shell out 50 for a fish that isn't very big or hearty or 65 for a slightly bigger and heartier fish that is much less likely to kick the bucket well we can all agree that is 15.00 well spent.

Again Im absolutely MAD about plecos so would love to help you out when you decide to stock.

As a side note most of the smaller plecs are omnivores with a preference for meaty foods... meaning that they are beautiful and cool but aren't the best worker bees when it comes to cleaning up your algae issue.... (seriously a dozen plecos in my big tank and I still had to scrub the bejesus out of it today with a scrubbie) meh.... need snails I guess...

 

[SLZM]

"Again Im absolutely MAD about plecos" ahhaaha YOU DON'T SAY? lmao they are freaking cool little things. They were the last survivors in my old tank. (when fish began to die because of age, disease, disappearances, I didn't replace them, so now it's empty)

anywho, I'm going to try to get a "fleet" of pitbulls and a single green phantom (heard they were agressive to other phantoms)

of course, if I find any of the others I like on that list, and I can't find the others, I'll get a couple.

 

[SLZM]

hey, should i use plaster of paris or paper mache for the backdrop? I buil a wooden frame that slides onto the back of the aquarium, so I'm going to fill it with my backdrop

 

[nanu156]

I have a green and a blue in the same tank, they are both sexually mature and don't fight I also have a Royal and a Nugget in there, no pleco aggression in my tanks. It's all about "cave space" see the way i stacked the slate (home depot special) it gives each pleco a place to hide.

Blues are hard to find tho

 

[SLZM]

thats a beautiful setup. Lmao cat.

anywho if thats the case, I should be fine with multiple phantoms. huh.

 

[cherry shrimp kid]

if its a planted tank get cherry red shrimps thay are peaceful small shrimps that scutel obout the tank in serch of food get them but get a lot cuz thay are small*thumbsup2

 

[SLZM]

lmao, did you get an account just to make that comment? I ask because your username is cherry shrimp kid and you have one post. However, cherry shrimp are great choices for inverts, im thinking of getting some

now we're almost done the backdrop, and just curious about how to go about substrates. Im thinking a fine substrate along the whole bottom, then in some places, make it higher, and in some add rocks/gravel

 

[nanu156]

ummm i am not a plant girl, any plants i have had have been potted and eventually eaten by fish but I like homedeopt pea gravel.

I have given some thought to re-doing a tank in play sand, I think when it gets warm enough I may do that.