# Fish in low tec tank



## LAKA (Feb 11, 2007)

I am currently cycling my low tec heavily planted tank. No CO2, low light, soil
substrate medium . Water changes I intend on minimal if all else well. Say 25% every 2-3 months.

ALL fish thrive in a closed system with regular water changes. 
Will I have trouble with keeping fish alive, healthy, exhibiting vibrant colors in a tank with minimal water changes?


Fish I am thinking of adding to my 66gal tank:
School of cardinal or neon tetras, school of rummy nose tetras, one flying fox, one red tail shark, four ottos and 3-5 ram cichlids.

Laka


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

For a tank that you wish to minimise water changes, I personally think cardinal tetras, neon tetras and rummynose tetras are not the ideal choice. I find cardinal and neon tetras not so hardy. Rummynose tetras are known to be sensitive to bad water condition. 

I find the less popular tetras such as pristella tetras, lemon tetras, ember tetras, black phantom tetras, etc to be hardier. Cherry barbs are also hardy provided you do not overfeed them until they grow too fat (they tend to over eat until bloated to death). Beckford's pencil fish is very hardy too. These are the fishes I would try if I were to setup a tank with minimum water changes.

Flying fox and red tail shark could be nippy. You may want to think twice.

Ottos - only add them when the tank is established. 

I can't comment on Ram as I have no experience with this cichlid.

To minimise water changes, I suggest you keep the number of fishes to the minimum too and get yourself a good filter. During initial set up, you may need to change the water more often than what you plan for. I assume you're heading for NPT route, am I right?


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

I would not recomend rams, they tend to like clean water and can be very territorial when they pair off. A pair could easily take over most of the tank.

Sent from my SGH-T599N using Tapatalk


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## LAKA (Feb 11, 2007)

Thanks for your prompt replies.
I do have my mind set on the cardinals and rummy nose.
I am prepared to do weekly water changes, say 50%, which I know the fish will love.

My only concern is that I read doing frequent large water changes in a low tec tank can lead to wild swings in CO2, that can induce algae bloom.

LAAKA


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Frequent water changes will not cause an algae bloom, so don't worry about that.


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

I actually have a semi-NPT (not a pure NPT because I have decided to inject CO2 and I opt to change the water on weekly basis). The soil part I actually follow Diana Walstad's method.

I inject CO2 because I notice that the plants grow nicer.

As for the weekly water changes, it's a long story. I had problems keeping fishes healthy initially. I kept seeing dying fishes whenever I skipped changing water for a week or so. So, that prevented me from stop changing water. The platies that were introduced to the tank seemed to grow thinner and thinner even though they're eating. They were dying off one by one. I finally decided to separate some healthy ones into another tank. I had made the right decision as they are still alive today with some offspring. If I didn't separate the healthy ones, probably I won't have any platy today. When all the unhealthy platies died, I replaced them with Beckford's pencilfish which are still with me today. After running that NPT for about 2 years, I decided to add some swordtails. So far I have not faced any issue similar to the platies. I guess the tank is very stable now. My casualties these days from that NPT are suicidal fishes - they are likely to jump out of the tank when the light is turned on/off. Along the way, I actually killed more plants than fishes. I think I killed more than 10 varieties of plants in that tank. 

So, the conclusion is weekly water changes is in fact helpful.


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## jrIL (Apr 23, 2005)

If i were loosing fish without weekly water changes I think I would take a close look at my bio filter. I would suspect ammo spikes.
I keep 22 neons in a 20 long low tech with no losses and small(less than 10%) monthly water changes.


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

Look at where the schools of fish swim. Select something that will swim higher in the tank and a group for mid tank. Look at the body shape. Do not get all torpedo shaped fish. 
Cards and Phantoms would be an idea. My Black Phantoms are mid-tank. Not great at schooling, though. Very handsome fish! 

"one flying fox, one red tail shark" These two will tend to fight. Why not get Siamese Algae Eaters?
"3-5 ram cichlids" Start with the 3-5, but when they pair up remove the odd one(s). There is enough room in a 66 gallon for 2 pairs if the fish will set up their territory away from each other.


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## LAKA (Feb 11, 2007)

OK
I will do water changes, say 20% weekly should strike a good medium between the plant ecology and fish health.
As for Diana's proposal to add siamese algae eaters, yeah up to two days ago i was going to add this fish. 
I read on another forum however that these fish may be good algae eaters for first six months of their life, then they turn to fish food only. Thay also grow to 15cm. I think ottos would be my preference here.
Regards
LAKA


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Ottos and Siamese algae eater actually consume different algae. Siamese algea eater are good at getting rid of BBA and hair algea. Ottos are good in eating brown algae (not too sure about green spot algae). One algae that I think nobody will eat is blue green algae (BGA) as it has annoying smell and it's not a true algae. So, make sure you don't get BGA. Just beware that SAE (Siamese Algae Eater) is a jumper. All of my SAEs died because they jumped out as I had opened top for all of my tanks.

Yes, I agree that my tank might have ammonia spike initially. To be very honest, it was over crowded with plants and fishes because I adopted all the plants and fishes from my friend. His tank broke, so I had to adopt everything. There was no filter too - it was meant to be an NPT. The filter was added at later stage after my problem was solved and when I found my Eheim 2215 was too weak for my 55 gallon tank - so I used it for my 15 gallon NPT.


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

There is another way to spot whether a fish is bottom dweller, top dweller or mid dweller. If the mouth is facing upwards, they are top dwellers (you can easily see the mouth of adult Molly or Swordtail facing upwards). If the mouth is facing the middle, they are mid dwellers (example: Black phantom tetra, pencil fish & Pristella tetra). If the mouth is facing the bottom, they're bottom dwellers (example: the huge catfish, cories, ottos & pleco). Hope you got the idea.


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

My suggestion of SAE was not because of their appetite for algae, but because they are the most peaceful of the 'shark' type fish. The two originally listed (Flying Fox and Red Tail Shark) can be argumentative, especially toward each other. They get as large as the SAE, too, which is not always a great idea with the smaller fish listed. 
I have kept the Flying Fox as a single with other non-shark shaped fish of similar size and it was fine.


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## hardcorehansolo (Nov 8, 2011)

I think the ottos would be great for that tank. 

I've had ottos before in a low tech tank and they were great. 

The only problem I ever have with my low tech tank is getting the fish adapted to the tank. After that, I rarely have problems. Ottos, in my experience, can be sensitive so I'd be slow with it.


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## Rusty (Apr 18, 2014)

I also suggest sticking to one type of tetra for effect instead of a few of each kind. rummies would be my suggestion  nice schooling effect


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