what to put in 55L tank?

vibe666

my community tank has been fully migrated (and moved house in the mean time) from it's old 55L tank to the 260L Juwel Vision and I'm looking to put something nice and new (and a bit different) into the smaller tank.

I'm thinking maybe crayfish or something like that, as i saw some nice looking pale blue ones in seahorse aquariums today and i figured they'd be something a little different.

I did ask about them, but neither of the two guys who were working knew much about them as they were new in (the crayfish, not the guys:)) and they couldn't even tell me how many i could put in my tank or how long it would take for them to outgrow it or pretty much any of the questions i asked, so i think i'm just going to go back when i can speak to keelan, since he's the main man, so to speak.

other than that, i'm not really sure what i would do with it, but i'm open to suggestions.

originally, i was thinking of setting it up a brackish tank and get a couple of green spotted puffers, after falling in love with one when i got it from my local pet shop, which they had sold to me as a tropical fresh water fish before i knew enough to look into these things rather than take their word for it. the poor little bugger did fine for a few weeks too.

i'm not sure if a brackish tank would be the way to go though, or if it's even big enough and if it was, i might as well just go all out and get a new marine tank and then i'll end up spending a couple of grand on it like Paddy has, which i'm trying to avoid!

i know my wife would love seahorses, but i really don't think i'm ready for a marine tank just yet and i'm sure my 55L one would be too small anyway.

so, any better suggestions than a crayfish tank?

Silverfish

A nice planted cherry shrimp / crystal shrimp tank with a few nerite snails and some rasboras?

vibe666

well, like a lot of threads that start like this one, my next sentence is going to be very similar...

...i went to seahorse today and spoke to keelan and...

...it looks like i might be turning it into a (modest) marine tank and spending a lot more money than I'd originally planned!

don't worry, i'm not going all out like Paddy147 and making it a sump on a big tank, I'm just going to have the 55L one as a small marine tank.

I didn't think it was a realistic option (i'd assumed a sump and other stuff like that was essential, but apparently not), but keelan seems to think it'll be fine and it's currently cycling in some nice salty water provided by seahorse) with some nicely established live rock & live coral sand in it.

i'd always assumed that a marine tank would be out of my league, but keelan assures me i'll do fine based on my current freshwater experience and i'm totally stoked that we'll have an interesting little marine tank to go with the larger tropical one.

pics to follow...

Silverfish

We're in a recession now. I think we're all going to have to not go to Seahorse and not talk to Keelan any more.

Everytime I go up there I come out and look at the bags in my hands and go ".........Dammit.."

A wee marine sounds nice, and it's always fun to try something new.

vibe666

Silverfish wrote: »

Everytime I go up there I come out and look at the bags in my hands and go ".........Dammit.."

did they get you with the loyalty card? you just HAVE to round of those extra few quid to the nearest €50 to get the next stamp in it so you can get to the mythical €100 voucher.

i feel like i just bought a €1000 stereo to go in my €200 banger of a motor, except it's 200 quids worth of marine gubbins in an 80 quid tank. :pac:

(and there's not even any fish in it yet!)

i was trying not to spend too much, so i didn't go for an external pump just yet as the one i was looking at would have been another 100 quid, but i know i'll have to eventually, so i just want to squeeze the last bit of life out of the old pump whilst its cycling and then get the new one later on and use that in tandem with the smaller internal one for a while.

it's like geting a tiny taste of Paddy's marine caused wallet pain.

Silverfish

Yes, yes they did. I have 3 full cards. And one that went in the wash.


I think pretty much once the tank has 4 glass sides that's all you need to worry about, what's in it is more important than the tank itself!

I think marine might be next for me as well, if I can't get a big oscar tank. I really like the fire shrimp and crabs and the other leggy stuff.

mattjack

I'm getting two new tanks tomorrow , even have clearance from mrs Mattjack for them , one of them is a 55l too I,m on top of the world tonight

just wanted to share that

fred funk }{

You should think about putting some African shell dwellers in there. I have some Neolamprologus multifasciatus also known as Multi's in my tank. They're small Cichlids and live in snail shells. They are very interesting fish and breed quite easily and build up their own colonies.

vibe666

Silverfish wrote: »

I think marine might be next for me as well, if I can't get a big oscar tank. I really like the fire shrimp and crabs and the other leggy stuff.

the plan is for 2 small seahorses and a couple of clown fish and maybe something shell dwelling and a bit of soft coral and some shrimp.

here's the tank as of about an hour ago in it's new (basic) marine clothing.



the live rock is quite well established and there's lots of little hidey holes for things to shelter in, so i reckon it's a good start.

talking of leggy things, I actually got half a dozen mini red crayfish for the community tank and one of them has a bunch of eggs (or possibly capers from the look of them! :pac:), so who knows, maybe i'll end up with a few more (if they don't get eaten). i should probably get her in the hatchery and see if she'll drop them.



they seem to be getting on very well anyway and nobody has tried to eat anyone else yet, so fingers crossed everyone makes it through the night in one piece and we might well have a new bigger family with (collectively) a lot more legs than they used to have.

the (other) dude in seahorse says these ones will stay pretty small and are pretty placid, so fingers crossed.

Cameron Poe

Totally irresponsible to be selling those crayfish.

http://invasivespeciesireland.com/most-unwanted-species/potential/freshwater/north-american-signal-crayfish

Silverfish

Looks more like a dwarf orange to me?

Cameron Poe

I'd imagine they are a colour variant of Procambarus Clarkii. They should not be in the trade at all.

Silverfish

Ah, I thought they were Cambarellus patzcuarensis, they look exactly like them.

Surely it's more likely that it would be a dwarf orange if it was for sale, rather than a colour variant of an invasive species?

I'd hope so anyway, but then again, there are a hell of a lot of species for sale that I don't believe should be in the trade either.

Cameron Poe

It does indeed look like they are Cambarellus patzcuarensis. The red ones are a colour mutation as well. It doesn't look like these ones could survive our winters.

There is a lad breeding Clarkii on one of the fish forums which is why I jumped to conclusions on these ones.

vibe666

Cameron Poe wrote: »

It does indeed look like they are Cambarellus patzcuarensis. The red ones are a colour mutation as well. It doesn't look like these ones could survive our winters.

There is a lad breeding Clarkii on one of the fish forums which is why I jumped to conclusions on these ones.

i'm pretty sure they're not the invasive ones, they're only tiny and the one with the eggs is the biggest of them all but is only a tiny bit longer than the length of my thumbnail.

vibe666

here's one today, he seems quite happy in his new home.



that's just regular gravel, so you get an idea of the size of him/her.

Cameron Poe

Great picture.

vibe666

i got another half a dozen mini-crayfish today and got the name of them whilst i was there.

on the tank in seahorse it says "dwarf cpo crayfish". google sdays the CPO stands for "Cambarellus Patzcuarensis Orange".

the biggest one (and it should be full grown itself) i have is about the same side as a full grown blue neon tetra and the smallest is about half that size.

i also got some more dragon rock for them to hide in should they feel the need.

paddy147

Thats a lovely tank setup,lovely pics too.:)

vibe666

yeah, the tropical freshwater tank is coming along nicely now (260L Juwel Vision).

the tank itself was second hand and came with a few bits and bobs which i'm gradually adding to as i go along, but in a few months time when i think i have enough decent stuff for it, i'm going to go all out and re-do the whole thing with a more natural look as there's quite a few cheap plastic decorations in it at the moment, just to stop it looking too empty.

i've got some nice dragon rock for it now though as a good hiding place for the crayfish and to start off my collection and i'll be looking for some nice bog wood to go with it and then eventually the substrate will be coming out to be replaced by something a little more natural looking.

i also need to tidy up the cables and hoses at the back as i've got no backing on it at the moment, just a blank wall, although i quite litle it as it is as i put in a bubble wall along the whole of the back and i think it looks pretty cool.

i do need to get a quieter air pump though, the one i have is almost as noisy as my jeep!

here's a short video of one of the crayfish sitting on a (plastic) rock, whilst the other tank inhabitants try and work out if he's food or not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiyI5Xd1uV4

Silverfish

Saw these guys in SHA last week, fell in love with them. Definitely getting two of them, despite Mr Silverfish's protests.

vibe666

Silverfish wrote: »

Saw these guys in SHA last week, fell in love with them. Definitely getting two of them, despite Mr Silverfish's protests.

they're great little yokes tbh, very interesting to watch and they get on fine with everything else in my community tank.

i've actually ended up with 12 now (260L tank with plenty of other varied fish) and they're going great.