# Tinfoil Barbs & Golden Severums?



## JohnC (27 Jul 2012)

Hi,

Can anyone confirm my id's here. 






BIG fish. I think Tinfoil Barbs and Golden Severums with a loach at the bottom there. 

Am I correct?

Thanks,
John


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## Ady34 (27 Jul 2012)

Hi,
look like parrot cichlids (http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=parrot ... s:76,i:348) to me, as opposed to the golden severums (http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=golden ... s:108,i:78) which have a less 'humped' head shape. Clown loach and Tinfoil barbs look correct id.
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## JohnC (27 Jul 2012)

Ady34 said:
			
		

> look like parrot cichlids to me, and a clown loach. Tinfoil barbs look correct id.



Parrot Cichlid looks right. 

I'm looking into revamping this tank but think i'll have to try and persuade the owner to get rid of these fish if he wants to go the planted route. 

Not only is the tank way too small for the 4 tinfoils and 4 parrots, in my opinion, the tinfoils will destroy any plants I put in there from what I read.

I did some testing, it seems to have coral sand as a base, with extra shells and coral type rock chucked in. The TDS meter came in over 700ppm. The tap water was about 40ppm.   

I've got a funny feeling he wants to keep the fish the same thou. Bit of a head scratcher. 
John


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## Ady34 (27 Jul 2012)

poor fish....tds 700 doesnt sound quite right for these...but hey, theyve got that big in there  :silent:


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## JohnC (27 Jul 2012)

Ady34 said:
			
		

> poor fish....tds 700 doesnt sound quite right for these...but hey, theyve got that big in there  :silent:




He assures me nothing has died in ages other then a huge plec.   

The volume of the tank is only 150 ish litres.


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## Ady34 (28 Jul 2012)

JohnC said:
			
		

> The volume of the tank is only 150 ish litres.


must be one of those very narrow tanks is it?


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## JohnC (28 Jul 2012)

Ady34 said:
			
		

> JohnC said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Too narrow.

120cm x 28cm x 45cm

A plus point on the tinfoil barbs. It looks like there are two kinds and these are Barbonymus altus, which are the smaller of the two. Still too big though.

http://www.seriouslyfish.com/search/tinfoil+barb


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## JohnC (28 Jul 2012)

Anyone have any experience with the Red-tailed Tinfoil Barb & Parrot fish and plants at all? or am I just mental for considering it?

I'm musing over a lid mounted root dangling in the water with java ferns and anubias glued to it.

Additionally, since both these species will eat oto's and amanos are bristlenose plec's the next best thing for clean up crew?


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## sanj (30 Jul 2012)

Um wow, I would say 150 litres is way too small for these. Hopefully he is using an external filter. 

Try the Anubias route, if they dont work then no plant will.


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## JohnC (1 Aug 2012)

sanj said:
			
		

> Um wow, I would say 150 litres is way too small for these. Hopefully he is using an external filter.
> 
> Try the Anubias route, if they dont work then no plant will.



Alas no, from what I can tell it is a Eheim Biopower internal 160 (it only has the two baskets). That would have the a performance of around 380 l/h max.  No room for an external.

I'm doing him a quote tomorrow and think i'll have to stick down a filter upgrade too. There is no room for an external as the tank is on a raised pillar surrounded by stairs making maintenance a bitch. I'm no expert on internal filters but i'm thinking a fluval U4 is the way to go with it's, on paper, 1000 lph. Possibly too much flow for the fish?


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## OllieNZ (3 Aug 2012)

Id be tempted to try the largest eheim aquaball the 180 I think, not as much flow but from tests I've seen they dont loose flow even when incredibly dirty.


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## JohnC (3 Aug 2012)

OllieNZ said:
			
		

> Id be tempted to try the largest eheim aquaball the 180 I think, not as much flow but from tests I've seen they dont loose flow even when incredibly dirty.



Currently i'm thinking i'll add a couple of modular baskets to the existing 160 as all reports i've read is they don't loose much flow. This would give the extra media volume of the largest of the range but only cost £20.


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (4 Aug 2012)

*Re: Tinfoil Barbs & Golden Severums?*

I wouldn't worry about 'too much flow'.

Because one you can turn it down if required and two the high turnover (if you discover not too powerful) will keep a good flow around the tank & provide good bio filtration and oxygenation. Which will undoubtedly lead to better quality of water for the fish.

I would be pointing to the U4 for ease of maintainence and versitility of different water distruibution methods. Inc. a full height spraybar funning up the face of the filter.

I don't own one, but have seen good things about them in the past.


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## JohnC (6 Aug 2012)

Whitey89 said:
			
		

> I wouldn't worry about 'too much flow'.
> 
> Because one you can turn it down if required and two the high turnover (if you discover not too powerful) will keep a good flow around the tank & provide good bio filtration and oxygenation. Which will undoubtedly lead to better quality of water for the fish.
> 
> ...



I did not know you could turn it down. The other solution I was looking at was this APS box filter.

http://www.allpondsolutions.co.uk/aquar ... 50l-h.html

But the dimensions indicate it's bloody massive. 25cm x 15cm x 37cm.  Plus point would it be cheaper and I could use my own media solutions. 

I'm leaning back towards the U4 thou, at 9 x 9 x 32cm.


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