180L Budget Tank

[MrHammonds]

Afternoon,

Back to the hobby and starting up the Vicenza LED 180.

Keeping it budget, used a binbag for backdrop and collected some rocks/ gravel locally for substrate

Going to get some really easy no CO2 plants that will take direct from the water column rather than needing a soil substrate.

Just need to scavenge for a nice piece of driftwood from one of the lakes (being careful not to pick up something that's going to kill any fish I put in

Cycling tank at moment, heres pictures so far, any suggestions on fish? Not sure whether to go a couple of centrepiece fish, single species or community?

[Martinspuddle]

What's your water supply parameters again?

[MrHammonds]

What's your water supply parameters again?

West Cumbria, so it is usually soft, but i think it's using 20% borehole water so it's moderately soft now

[Martinspuddle]

If it was me I'd thinking either Tetras or Rasboras.

[Andys temperate tank]

Nice tank.

I'd go for a south American theme. Tetra, and an appistogramma pair.

[Redpanda]

Big school of ember tetras would look great against black background. Or if you want something bigger, diamond tetras would be nice

[Wishafish]

any suggestions on fish? Not sure whether to go a couple of centrepiece fish, single species or community?

What was your favourite tank from before? Do you want something you’ve never had before? Or are there some species you really miss and you’d like to do the same again? I recently started up a new tank (last autumn) and for me I’ve gone half and half - half stuff I know I like and half new species.

[Stephen]

Cycling tank at moment, heres pictures so far, any suggestions on fish? Not sure whether to go a couple of centrepiece fish, single species or community?

Hi Olly

The Fluval Vicenza 180L LED is a very nice 3 foot 180L aquarium. Did it come with the default Fluval 206 External Filter ?

Your soft/moderately soft water is good for south American fish species and many Asian fish species.

The gravel looks a bit sharp for corydoras, so I'd rule them out.
A nice shoal (20+) of a small torpedo-shaped tetra would look good (one species). I'm thinking either Ember tetra (Hyphessobrycon amandae), Green Neon tetra (Paracheirodon simulans) or Coffee-bean Tetra (Hyphessobrycon takasei).
Then a shoal of a bigger tetra or barbs of a different colour and shape such as the Black Widow tetra (Gymnocorymbus ternetzi) or Five-banded Barb/Pentazona Barb (Desmopuntius pentazona).
Then maybe a feature fish (pair or two pair) which could be a small cichlid or something else as long as it's not a substrate eater (earth eater) due to the coarse gravel.

Maybe a community aquarium with a mix of south American tetra and Asian barbs.
20 x Ember tetra (Hyphessobrycon amandae), a nice red but small tetra or 20 x Green Neon tetra (Paracheirodon simulans), a nice small blue/green/red tetra (similar to neon tetra).
9 x Five-banded Barb/Pentazona Barb (Desmopuntius pentazona) a five banded barb. All at 23/24C
This would represent about 55% stocking and 130% filtration (based on the Fluval 206)

Ember tetra - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Green Neon tetra


Five-banded Barb


There are lots of options.
All the best

[plankton]

Just don't get drawn in by the strong colours of any of the livebearers who NEED hard water to support their osmotic systems.
Some of the killifish are brightly coloured if that's what you're looking for. Most are basically softwater, except for a couple like the Florida/American flag fish.
Not sure what to suggest for the bottom with that gravel, other than a couple of South American dwarf cichlids who tend to stay lower. Keyholes and Bolivian rams are less aggressive than apistos and blue rams. (each individual cichlid can prove the opposite though ) I wouldn't have more than one species if you go that way, and only one male of either.

[MrHammonds]

Cycling tank at moment, heres pictures so far, any suggestions on fish? Not sure whether to go a couple of centrepiece fish, single species or community?

Hi Olly

The Fluval Vicenza 180L LED is a very nice 3 foot 180L aquarium. Did it come with the default Fluval 206 External Filter ?

Your soft/moderately soft water is good for south American fish species and many Asian fish species.

The gravel looks a bit sharp for corydoras, so I'd rule them out.
A nice shoal (20+) of a small torpedo-shaped tetra would look good (one species). I'm thinking either Ember tetra (Hyphessobrycon amandae), Green Neon tetra (Paracheirodon simulans) or Coffee-bean Tetra (Hyphessobrycon takasei).
Then a shoal of a bigger tetra or barbs of a different colour and shape such as the Black Widow tetra (Gymnocorymbus ternetzi) or Five-banded Barb/Pentazona Barb (Desmopuntius pentazona).
Then maybe a feature fish (pair or two pair) which could be a small cichlid or something else as long as it's not a substrate eater (earth eater) due to the coarse gravel.

Maybe a community aquarium with a mix of south American tetra and Asian barbs.
20 x Ember tetra (Hyphessobrycon amandae), a nice red but small tetra or 20 x Green Neon tetra (Paracheirodon simulans), a nice small blue/green/red tetra (similar to neon tetra).
9 x Five-banded Barb/Pentazona Barb (Desmopuntius pentazona) a five banded barb. All at 23/24C
This would represent about 55% stocking and 130% filtration (based on the Fluval 206)

Ember tetra - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Green Neon tetra


Five-banded Barb


There are lots of options.
All the best

Thanks for taking the time with such a lengthy reply, given me a good deal to think about.

You're correct with the filtration, external 206.

You've actually swayed me towards a community tank now.

Like the idea of some small tetras in a larger shoal, then some bigger tetras/ barbs then a feature fish. In regards to introducing the fish, would I want to introduce barbs last (I'd be looking at a phased introduction of fish over several weeks). I've kept all sorts in the past and found barbs to either be totally fine or the absolute opposite and frighten everything else in the tank.

I'm pretty meticulous when it comes to tank admin and cleaning substrate etc, and it might be controversial but I'm not a cory fan, would a large species of shrimp added to the tank be possible as a general cleaner crew (I had success in a 60l tank with shrimp who kept it immaculate in the past), or would barbs see them as food (then possibly go for a larger tetra over the barb).

Plants wise, as I've mentioned, I'll be getting very easy, none co2 plants that don't need to root in substrate. I'm happy to glue mosses/ java/ anubias and have frogbit or water column feeders though.

Any suggestions on hardscape? I'm thinking large manzanita with moss/ 2 smaller bits intertwined. I'm keen to keep the sides of the tank totally clear from obstruction for easy cleaning as that's something I hated trying to clean round in my older tanks

Thanks again!