Caca. tank

[leamos]

Quick piccy of the tank i've setup for a pair of triple red caca's coming tomorrow(hopefully). It's a 40L - 50cm x 30cm floorspace Temp. 28, pH 7.2 (tap 7.4) water softened with driftwood, coconut caves and a little BW tonic just to make them cozzy and apprently its good for the fish and the plants. Java ferns, an anubia and java moss mainly, some grassy thing (starts with C). There's 4 coconut caves and a terracotta cave, all with small openings, and the driftwood is hollow. May have to remove male after breeding(might go for a holiday with the bolivian rams as it has similar parameters). I have a gold mystery snail in there for algae and detritus cleanup and is too big to fit in any of the breeding caves, should i take it out?
http://i483.photobucket.com/albums/rr191/leamos/cacatuoidestank.jpg

[Rod]

Looks Great!!

Leave the snail!...(I'd add more!)...Malaysian trumpet snails clean up uneaten food....they process it into plant food and then dig it into the gravel!! You just need to thin their numbers....often!

Don't worry too much about soft acid water for cacs....Mine spawned and raised fry in similar size tank with treated Brisbane tap water
I didn't remove the male....he kept his distance and he is 3 times her size!

I'd add some dither fish....I have endlers in with mine....but any small schooling(fast swimming) fish will do....your choice!

[leamos]

Thanks rod, how did u treat the water? There's a few more little ones that came in to the java fern. i was thinking of a short finned male guppy(and a female or two) with a similar colouration and pattern of the male cac, that way its a dither and a rival in the colour stakes

[Rod]

I age the water for a week...(let it sit in a bucket )and add Prime at recommended dose...

My tank is heavily planted.....including duckweed that needs to be thinned weekly....30% water change weekly...simple sponge filter washed every water change

short finned guppies might work....long finned males would be killed by female cac....females guppies get quite big but can take a hit or two every now and again.....but I have endler fry growing in my tank too!

Be careful with pond snails.....but female cac wont let them near her eggs!

[leamos]

They are here.....finally 3 days and 2 order stuff arounds by the supplier later. The male has solid orange/red , with no spots or marking(looks more like a orange flash then a triple red) and the female went yellow within minutes of being in the tank. I also manage to get some endler's too, the lfs owner wasn't sure what they were and he ended up giving me about 4 or 5 males and atleast 6 or 7 females......for free. happy days