New Parent jitters: SAP Q's

[J-P]

I will be obtaining some SAPs and am having the jitters.
They will be feeding off pond snails and red cherry shrimp that are already in the tank. My snail breeder tank is not fully stocked as of yet.

They are going into a 210 long and apparently have different feeding cycles (high feeding periods and low). They are adoptees from another member on the forum.

I want these little guys (3 of them) to have the best home possible that I can provide.

Any recommendations? All input is welcome!

[Nick]

Essential to SAP happiness is a combination of a complex backdrop of plants to examine for food, and a high-current clearing up front to allow them to zoom the length of the tank like it is a fast moving river. Breaking up lines of sight is completely unimportant for SAPs - they're shoaling fish that enjoy company, and the more the merrier as long as water quality is maintained.

I recommend a powerhead about 2/3 the way up on the side of the tank, blasting current longways along the front, something BIG - like an aquaclear 110 powerhead.

For plants, I'd say a bunch of groups of slightly spaced out stem plants(wisteria is my fav) in the back, some "bushy" plants like cryps in the middle, and whatever you may like as foreground, maybe Anubias nana. You'd only need moderate light for these particular plants too, which is nice on such a big tank.

[J-P]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvYb92eJWL0


they are going into the bottom half of that tank. There are 2 power heads in there. 1 for the skimmer that lets out at the far end (not shown) and one in the center (shown in the vid)

[Nick]

What kind of skimmer is it that works on a FW? Most pond skimmers I've seen are odd beasts.

[J-P]

actually it is a mod. I took an HOB overflow and drilled it. The inlet, I connected to the pump and the outlet crosses the tank (along the back) and outlets near the fuge.

It works really well with a high powered pump, but if there is water evap (and that is a problem) it just blows bubbles. Very easily corrected by lowering the "skimmer" but I am lazy

[Nick]

Ahh, a surface skimmer, not a pond skimmer, I understand. Those are eggcellent, give the water a nice polished look, especially when it's super-clear in the water column.

[J-P]

yes and they get clogged quickly in a planted tank.

only about 20% of the drilled intake actually takes on water (in my set up).

Have to unclog daily .. for those that are reading for future ref.

But we are off track

Is that tank going to be ok?

[Nick]

Honestly my eyes are too bad to see where the powerhead in the tank is - is the current running longways? That's the most important part, a strong directional current, it seems to give them a sense of purpose instead of them just darting about randomly or glass surfing. Looks like plenty of tall interesting plants though.

[Flutter]

He's getting my fishies I'm gonna miss them but they aren't happy in my tank and I'm not comfortable keeping an animal in captivity that is obviously unhappy with it. They'd be much happier in his tank I believe, it's more than 4x the size of mine. Currently they've got a strong directional current and they don't use it. Hopefully that'll be different in a larger tank

I'm looking for some irrubescos and maybe some DPs.

[Nick]

I think the current thing is specific to tanks long enough to take on a "river" like behavior, ideally with tall plants for a "planted bank" for them to dart along hunting for food. Thats as close to a microcosm of the way they live in the wild as we can get.

I'm proud you were able to decide it's better for them to have a better home than for you to be able to watch them, that takes guts.

[Flutter]

Heeyyyyy. PP is changing our words! She'd better not yell at me for keeping SAPs in a marine environment

ETA: I'm sure he'll take good care of the puffers too.