Aquarium question adding live plants

[griff7373]

So I bought 4 neon tetras and 5 zebra danio yesterday and they are doing well today. Going back Saturday for some black fin tetras, doing all the small fish first before adding some bigger ones. I want to stick a couple dwarf cichlids in there to but am leary I would hate for my kids fish to get eaten.

 

[grgbulldog]

Be patient. Let it cycle. Don't kill everything with the ammonia spike. I wouldnt add anything else for 2 weeks.

What kind of dwarf cichlid are you talking about? Rams? Apistos? Kribensis?
I have a large Bolivian ram that got a neon in his mouth one time when the were pecking at his food and he spit it out. Very peaceful.
German blue rams are beautiful and I hope to get some apistogramma's soon.

My almost 4 year old mature mikrogeophagus altispinosa, or Bolivian ram cichlid.

 

[slowngreen]

Always hated the initial cycle. Some times the wait for your numbers to drop is too suspenseful.

 

[grgbulldog]

Always hated the initial cycle. Some times the wait for your numbers to drop is too suspenseful.

The saltwater side got me started on fish less cycles with pure ammonia.

 

[slowngreen]

Best way I think.

 

[griff7373]

I will wait a couple weeks it's driving my daughters crazy though, they are happy they have something in it at least. Not sure on the Cichlid choice yet I need to go see what I can get locally and let them pick a couple of course. Do the Dwarfs eat the same food flake that the others eat or will I need to put the cichlid pellets in there for them?

 

[grgbulldog]

Either food. My Bolivian will surface and so will my cousins German blues. I'd just get 1 ram if you go that route unless you can sex them (impossible with bolivians). 2 males will most likely end up in a fight with 1 scared into a corner.

 

[griff7373]

Cool thanks for the information, I will check around and see what I can get locally.

 

[griff7373]

Check my local Petco today and since I was buying community fish they wouldn't sell me the ram since it was a cichlid. I will wait a couple weeks and try again, the ram was almost $19.00 and was a juvenile.

 

[grgbulldog]

Whoa. What kind of ram was it? Never just go with advice of chain pet store staff. Pets mart sells Bolivian often for like 8 dollars. 12 is the most I'd pay. German blues are usually much cheaper than Bolivian.

 

[griff7373]

I will check petsmart the description just said ram cichlid and it wasn't advice they just wouldn't sell it to me. Since I was going to put it in a tank with tetras, I was a little aggravated by that. When I had my python I always used Petco they would sell me the feeder mice where as petsmart told me it was inhumane to feed my snake mice. I kind of gotty really nasty and said so it's ok to let my snake starve to death instead, needless to say I never stepped in to that petsmart again. I was living in Atlanta then so maybe things are a little different up here.

I just noticed you are from alpharetta, I stayed there for a bit in the AMLI at North winds apartments before moving to Sandy Springs nice area. I used to hit the BMX track over in cobb county behind a school it was a park and BMX track. There was another that was a little smaller with a bunch of soccer fields around it, I can't remember what either one of them was called.

 

[grgbulldog]

Wow. That's great. I lived in amli also when I was in elementary school, so I guess 01-04. What a coincidence. I live in Canton now.

PetCo was supposed to get better when they aquired drfosters&smith and liveaquaria. It got worse. Every time I go to Petco they have section's of tanks closed for ich outbreaks. Pets mart is hit or miss down here depending on which you go to, I tend to stick with petsmart for fish stuff. I also quarantine the fish for 3 or 4 weeks. I bought 8 Agassizi''s corydoras that were in a tank with rams that had ich this way. They never got sick.

I'm indifferent on the snake's because I feed frozen.

 

[griff7373]

See I really enjoyed the live feedings it was sometimes a challenge for the snake to catch the mouse, made it interesting. Funny was I lived in AMLI in 2003 for a year before moving to Sandy Springs doubt we ever crossed paths though I generally kept to myself LOL.

I will hit up the Petsmart Tuesday I promised my daughter another fish run for Tuesday.

 

[grgbulldog]

You don't have any non chain lfs' near you?

 

[griff7373]

Not to my knowledge where I live the closest chain store is about an hour from my house. Living in the country definitely isn't about convenience, I will do a search in a bit and see what I come up with.

 

[grgbulldog]

I see. I didn't know you were so far from civilization.

 

[griff7373]

Yes but the advantages of living out here are well worth it, the peace and quiet are the best part.

 

[griff7373]

So I did find a mom and pop store today in Great Bridge still an hour away from me, unfortunately there selection was pretty slim due to the weather they haven't ordered alot of fish and where out of bolivian rams. I rode back to the Petsmart and surprisingly they had one and sold it to me even though I was buying red platys and was looking at black mollys. Times have changed LOL

 

[grgbulldog]

How's the tank going

 

[griff7373]

So far so good after I got rid of the snail infestation that came with those plants. We ended up with several red and blue platys, neon tetras, zebra danios, dalmation fish, black and white skirts, chinese algae eaters, placos, catfish, loaches, and 3 bolivian rams which seem to get along pretty good surprisingly. The rams usually keep to themselves and you will sometimes see them swim together so it is definately an interesting tank. I will try and get some pictures up this weekend.Oh yeah we have black mollys to