Newbie confession: overstocked my first tank on LFS advice — is a R5,500 180L upgrade worth it?

Hey everyone,

I feel like such an idiot, and a cliche. My daughter wanted a fish tank for her birthday, and being a responsible pet owner, we talked to the guy at the pet store extensively about our plans. He recommended a 15L tank as a "starter" setup for our planned neon tetras or betta. The guy helping me seemed to know his stuff, we had a good rapport, and I trusted him completely — which in hindsight was the mistake. He knew this was my first tank, so I didn't realize that something was wrong when he sold me a betta, 6 neon tetras, 4 lemon tetras, 3 corydoras, and a snail.

Fourteen fish plus a snail in 15 litres. Yeah.

It went about as badly as you'd expect. During a water change the temperature dropped and shocked the tank — lost 3 neons, and the survivors have been stressed since (hiding, some erratic swimming). The lemons started bullying each other, they nipped one's fin until it couldn't swim anymore and it died, and I ended up taking out the lemons altogether. I'm taking them back to the store today. Things seem to be settling now, but the neons are still hiding and the corys don't seem happy.

I've done a lot of reading since and I feel like such an idiot. That stocking list needed close to 10x the water volume I have. I also understand that a bigger tank is easier for newbies - more water is more forgiving for stupid newbie mistakes.

Current plan: I'm getting a 100-180L tank at the end of the month, cycling it properly, and moving the neons/corys over once it's ready. Betta and snail are staying behind in the 15L, which works fine for a solo betta, right? He seems very happy at least - I added floating plants for him to hide in, and he loves that. I haven't seen him get near the other fish, but I am keeping a really close eye on him to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone.

I've looked on FB Marketplace, etc. for a new tank that I can afford right now, but there's nothing suitable. I can only afford to buy a proper tank at the end of the month - single mom, one income, and all that.

What I'd love input on:

• Is R5,500 fair for a 180L, or should I shop around more? (Happy to share the exact brand/specs if useful.) This particular tank was recommended by McMerwe and the glass is really thick. It's a beautiful tank - 225L in total, 900mm x 50mm x 50mm.
  
• Stand - I'm getting a pine workbench and painting it acrylic paint so it'll last.
• Anything to prioritize on filtration or lighting for a tank this size? I'm trying to decide between the Zetlight MS Series LED light (freshwater series) and the Chihiros WRGB II Slim.
• For filtration, I am thinking the Dophin C1000 will be good enough since I'm doing the Warstadt method. The guy at McMerwe recommended the Oase Biomaster, but it's a bit outside my price range and honestly, it's all a bit overwhelming, but I want to make sure that the filtration is good enough for the fish.
• Any obvious gaps in the plan before I commit?

I would love to do the Warstadt method with a planted tank, and then schools of small community fish like the neon tetras, but I don't know if this is too ambitious.

Appreciate any wisdom — clearly I need it.

 

Get a 4 foot tank.big but not to large to plant out is best. or calculate what you willing to spend as Warstadt needs you to plant out 70 odd % of the tank on the start to out compete algae growth.I spent alot on plants that died off.... you can go wild on swords. val and then spend the big bucks an anubias and bucephalandra moss and java fern wood and stone.

 

Hi,

A 4ft tank should be plenty for those fish. I have done the Walstadt method, would not recommend it as you cannot move plants around without creating a mess. Akadamia is a nice substrate that works on low- and high-tech setups and doesn't break the bank. In terms of filtration - depends on your preference. A HOB (hang on back), powerhead or canister filter will work. Lighting - i recently bought a Chihiros A series 120, very nice light, doesnt have separate red, blue, green control but unless you are really into plants and aquascaping/competitions it is plenty good enough. Unless you are planning on going the pressurized CO2 route, this may also just be too much light. It really depends on the plants that you want to grow.

Thats my 2c, hope it's helpful.

 

Just a bit of wisdom from years in the hobby...

Are you sure you want the commitment of a 4ft tank and all the work and maintenance that comes along with it?

Its very easy to get caught up with this hobby and to start getting bigger and bigger setups until you realize in a year that the hobby isn't for you. Resale on the freshwater side of things is also really poor, you wont even get half of what you paid for everything new.

Why not look at a 2ft tank? You can get a really good quality Aqua Japan one thats 84 liters for just over a grand. Youd be able to have a nice school of tetras and maybe a couple others. You also won't have to break the bank buying as big of a light, filter, heater ect. Much cheaper with regards to hardscape and plants too.

I hope that I'm not raining on your parade, not meant to be at all. A smaller tank is much less work and much cheaper, it could also help give you a good guage of whether this hobby is indeed for you or not . With a 2ft, you got room to play around with aquascapes as well.

Its an awesome hobby that I've enjoyed for years. Ive just often seeing people start up and dive so far in only to regret it later when they want out.

 

Thank you so much for your comment. I completely agree with you and after reflecting on it for a while, I think I should rather go for something smaller that doesn't cost me R20k to setup.

I ended up returning the rest of the fish to the shop instead of investing in a bigger tank. I really like bettas so I think that's what I'll focus on for a while - the tanks are much smaller and cheaper to set up, and I really enjoy watching them. That way, if I feel like going bigger, I can get another tank instead. So I picked up a 47L squarish tank, some plants, heater, pump and a crowntail betta.

Now I want more bettas. I do want to take my time and learn, and have it be fun, not overwhelming and over my budget.

So far I'm really enjoying it - even the cleaning!

 

Thats a great choice! Yeah bettas are lovely fish and easy to care for. Some even can be housed with dwarf shrimp which could be something to look into too !

You can do a lot in those small tanks and make them really beautiful with plants. Here's a pic of my old 20 liter tank. Had it running about 2 years back and its was one of my favorite tanks.

 

This is awesome, your tank is beautiful! Which types of shrimps can we get? I'd love to add some, but read that they could become fish food?

I also read that pygmy corys could work with bettas - have you tried those?

 

Thank you.

Have a look for Neocaridina shrimp. Some bettas will snack on them, others wont. It's really hit and miss. But with a well planted tank, the shrimp can hide and have a better chance

Pygmy cories are one of my all time favorite fish. Currently got a breeding school of 12 in my 84l tank. I had a little school of 6 in that 20l tank and they did great. Lovely personalities and would work perfectly with a betta.

 

Amazing, thank you for the advice! I'll see about adding shrimp and pygmy cories at the end of the month, I want to give the tank more time to cycle first. But it's exciting to know that I can add something else into the tank, especially the 50L.

Last question - any specific light you would recommend for 50 to 60L planted tanks? I'm looking at the Zetlight Marine Space MS Series LED Light. I need one for the 50L and then I want to do two 30L cubes next to each other sharing one light.

 

I’m sorry to hear about your experience. It’s par for the course unfortunately at most pet shops.

If you are set on Zetlight, the Lancias are intended for freshwater. The marine space ones are not great, and intended for marine tanks. They won’t work for your intended use case.

You can’t go wrong with Chihiros WGB2 Slims. It’s the best bang for buck out there and does give you options to expand if you do end up enjoying the hobby. It’s also got the better end of resale value (of the poor resale we see in freshwater). Remember to set the lighting quite dim on Chihiros if you are not running CO2 - as they are intended to run on CO2 supplemented tanks where the lighting is needed.

They also give you amazing colour rendition for plants and livestock (which is why I recommend them regardless of CO2 usage) - that you don’t see on cheaper lights. I always use this pic. Top is Fluval Flex stock lighting, bottom is Chihiros slim. Same fish.