Angelfish Amazon Blackwater Setup

[Ashley Morgan]

Hey guys,

New to this forum but have been reading through it for a long time. Hope I got the subject title right, but basically I would like to set up a black water setup ever since I saw George Farmers Cambodia biotope. I have kept tropical when I was young and have recently kept a marine reef setup for the past four years with a reef setup and a seahorse only reef setup successfully, but due to my Master Degree studies I had to strip them down as I did not have the time to dedicate to them like I once did and did not want the livestock to suffer. Thankfully I have now only got until September when I finish so i plan on jumping back into the tropical scene first i decided to do a high tech planted tank but then decide to try something different hence the black-water setup. I was wondering if anyone could help me with the planning of the new setup as I prefer to research and plan ahead for the benefit of the fish instead of rush and create a mess etc and potentially hurt the fish as this is all about them not the tank haha so all help, opinions and views welcome! i would rather ask questions and look like an idiot than not ask and do the wrong thing

I currently have the following equipment:

- 200 Liter rectangular open top aquarium and cabinet (removed cabinet lid as I had ceiling mounted Metal Halide lighting )

- x2 Fluval 305 external filters

- TMC Vecton 300 UV Sterilizer (would this be beneficial for trops too for preventing disease?)

- TMC 400 Protein Skimmer (i amm pretty sure this is not needed for a trop setup right?)

- 75watt i think or maybe 150watt Metal Halide light setup (will check and update as in storage haha)

- assorted powerheads of varying power

so is there any other equipment I should aquire?
also I was wondering with regards to my filtration ( i blame it on keeping marines ) I always prefer to max out on filtration as you can never get enough for marines, does this also apply to trops? as I don't mind seeing equipment in the tank (again due to marines ) my Fluval 305 are both 4 years old and were in constant use for 3 1/2 years...so would it be ok to use these again after a good clean out? or I was wondering would it be worth investing in a Fluval FX5 as this beast of a filter should keep it all in check? or should I use two separate filters like before in case of break down etc? (that is why I had two before)

The next piece of advice i need is on stocking levels...

I should note now i might considering getting a juwel rio 400 in september if finances allow so could the adivce on stocking be suggested for a 200 liter tank and 400 liter tank so I can compare and plan for both if anyone would be so kind and either way I go 50% weekly water changes would be undertaken

I know that with marine fish, stocking rates are lower per inch compared to that of tropicals and I cant seem to get my head around it so advice again would be grateful with my chosen fish, I would like to have the centerpiece of the tank to be Angelfish, after much research there are many different views and stocking suggestions, is two ok to avoid mating aggression etc (in the 200 liter) of if in the case of a 400 liter what would an ideal shoal number be? after research I also decided on following the general senses of tank mates which go best with angels (they also are all my favourite types of fish WIN! ) so how many of the following could I keep in shoals to compliment the tank: (again id be gratefull if suggestions could be made for both tank sizes )

- Marble Hatchet Fish
- Rummy Nose Tetra
or
- Cardinal Tetra (some reports of angels eating neon tetra but many people report success of cardinals?)
- Corydora (undecided on type yet any sugesstions welcome )
- Bristle Nose Plec

Almost there people I realize this is a long post

Finally the hardscape lol
I plan on using either mopani wood or sumatra driftwood and I intend to let it leech tannin as I love the color and fish benefits. a small sand based substrat with the addition of:
JBL catappa (almond leaves) for appearance and also keeping the tannin going with water changes etc
http://www.thegreenmachineonline.com/pr ... no-catappa

also has anyone had experience of these?:
http://www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/ ... -3087.html
as above id like to keep the tannin as much as possible

well I think I have covered everything now haha again sorry for the long post but id be very grateful for any help or advice

Just to give you all an idea of what I would like to achieve, I saw this on youtube and plan on setting it up like this but obviously with my on aquascaping and arranging:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnamvJaW ... re=related

again thanks in advance, looking forward to your reply's

Ash

 

[RudeDogg1]

the lower stocking levels in marine aquariums is due to the salt water being able to hold less oxygen (in laymans terms). Some tropicals have low stocking rules to like discus they recoment 10 gallons per adult fish

 

[bigmatt]

Hmm...good post and good plans! If you're going high tech with halide you'll need to add in CO2 and ferts (EI is best and cheapest esp. on larger volumes) As for stocking i'm not sure on the exact numbers - but remember you're turning over high volumes so you can stock relatively heavily. having said that i love seeing fish (esp. angels) with plenty of room to swim and show themselves off. As for tank mates i'd avoid hatchets as they'll jump out of your open top. Go with a decent shoal of cardinals for my money.
I'm interested - be sure to post pictures!
Matt

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
You don't need the protein skimmer, some people have a UV filter, but most don't. I prefer 2 x filters for some redundancy if one should fail.

I think Cardinals tend to be eaten less often because they are a bit bigger than Neons, if you start with small Angels and Cardinals you should be fine, if you add small Cardinals later they may be eaten. Rummy-noses are fine as well, but Marbled Hatchets definitely jump, but if you have the water level down a bit and have floating plants this tends to negate this as an issue. There are some nice Pencil fish and "Splashing Tetra" type tetras about at the moment, give me a PM if you want a contact for some-one who has some.

Most people keep Corydoras sterbai with Discus, because it is happy in warmer water. Bristle-noses are good and adaptable, but they are egg eaters. There are also some Ancistrus ssp. from "blackwater", A. ranunculus, A. dolichopterus and L088 come to mind, but there are almost certainly others. If you want a dwarf cichlid, for the tank floor, either Rams or Apistogramma baenschii would do.

I don't like too many fish in a tank either, so I'd keep the stocking fairly light. It gives you a bit more room for growth and room for manoeuvre for filter failure etc. How many you keep depends upon whether you want them to breed, even if you only want a pair I'd recommend buying 6 or 7 to start with and letting them pair naturally. Another reason is that Angel-fish are difficult to sex. I'd look on the British Cichlid Association forum for a source of fish (and for any dwarf cichlids), you should be able to get some good quality stock from some of the members there.

Terminalia catappa leaves are good, if you don't want the expense, either Alder (Alnus spp.) cones or Oak leaves also produce humic and phenolic compounds. Same with the peat, in that case white sphagnum peat is actually much more efficient than the aquarium peat, the ability to exchange H+ ions for other cations is a property of the sphagnum moss cells, and it doesn't matter whether the moss is dead or alive as long as it isn't too decomposed. A 100 litre bag of peat is cheap, but workable sphagnum peat reserves are a non-renewable resource, and many people prefer not to use if on environmental grounds. You don't need it if you use Indian Almond leaves or Alder cones.

cheers Darrel

 

[Morgan Freeman]

As mentioned, peat isn't exactly environmentally sustainable. I have however discovered (accidentally) that eco earth (coir) is very good at tanning water. Stick a netted bag in your filter and voila. Cheap as hell.

 

[Fred Dulley]

I don't understand how after 4years of keeping marine that you would think a freshwater tropical tank would need a protein skimmer :?
Albiet, this is going to be an awesome project.