[mickeyirish]

just acquired a 30G tank and was wondering what would be a good way to set it up. i will be using a biowheel penguin150 as my filter with a bubbler as well. i plan on being patient with this one and setting the plants up and getting the water completely cycled prior to adding fish for this one.

what are some good starter plants? this tank will hold 2 or 3 blood parrot cichlids... at least thats the plan

 

[eklikewhoa]

Nothing, since the blood parrots would probably uproot everything and a penguin 150 probably gonna be insufficient for two blood parrots along with a 30g.

Just my opinion on the idea but a 30g would make a killer planted tank.

 

[mickeyirish]

well my 150 is rated for a 30 gallon tank

 

[Lupin]

well my 150 is rated for a 30 gallon tank

Mickey, whether that is rated for a 30 gallons or not, it is still insufficient for blood parrots. A blood parrot alone will require 55 gallons minimum, not 30 gallons. IMO, 30 gallons is far too small to hold 2-3 blood parrots. They can reach 25 cm and possibly more.

Eklikewhoa hit the nail on the safety of plants and insufficient filtration. I agree with his statement. No plants will ever survive your blood parrots. Perhaps Javan fern will do? The size of the tank and blood parrots are the main concern here.:smile:

 

[eklikewhoa]

cichlids bring on a much heavier bio-load which would require you to overfilter a bit. I also feel that HOB filters aren't as efficient when it comes to bio-filtering since it doesn't have much surface in it for beneficial bacteria to host on.

Parrots like to thrash around and are curious of everything so the plants would have a hard time rooting itself and like Bluebell stated the tank space is not suitable for them and probably not even one of them

 

[aquarium boy]

3 bloddyparrot cichlids will require atleast 55 gallons apeice as they get older
dont make the same mistake i did and thing well once they out grow the tank ill just get rid of them. it never works one reason being lfs's dont want bp cichlids in the first place but they carry them to make money.

why such a big tank for some small cichlids? they can grow to over 12" in a very short amount of time.

and if you want to make something of the 30 gallon do some research on some 20-45 gallon setups and then setup your planted tank.

 

[mickeyirish]

hmmm ok. guess ill rethink my whole idea.

my other thought was to make this a strictly barb tank... the different tigers with a couple cats on the bottom. maybe then plants will work? or ill just design a hardscape in it with no plants.