182 Litre (48 gallon) Stocking ideas

[BigJfish12]

Hello all,
Plan on setting up a 3 foot long 182 litre (48 gallon) tank that I have had in storage.
Ph is about 6.8-7
Water hardness is 62 mg/l as per water suppliers website.
I was thinking of a planted tank with the following fish:
2x angelfish(centrepiece)
6x lemon tetra
6x corydoras (not decided on a exact species but think either, sterbai, salt and pepper or panda)
2x gourami ( 3 spot?)
Or else swap put the lemon tetra for 6x Congo tetra or 6x harlequin rasborra.
Would love to know everyone's thoughts. And would also like to know what people have kept angelfish with thanks.

 

[Colin_T]

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?
You mentioned 3ft tank, so 3ft long but how high and wide?

What sort of filter is going to be on the aquarium?
Angelfish come from slow moving water and a big filter that washes them around the tank won't be the best for them.

Angelfish also do well in groups but your tank isn't big enough for them, and might be a squeeze if you get two males and they reach full size. They can reach 6-8 inches long and even higher.

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Avoid 3 spot gouramis and all their colour forms. They can be an issue to angelfish, especially the male gouramis. Silver/ moonlight or pearl gouramis are more pleasant natured.

Avoid dwarf gouramis because they regularly carry the gourami iridovirus and or fish Tuberculosis. Neither of which can be treated and once the diseases are in your tank, they are there forever, or until you disinfect everything, including the fish.

I wouldn't keep Congo tetras in a tank with angelfish because they are too boisterous and active for the angels. Congo tetras need a tank that is at least 4 ft long (6ft is better).

Harlequin rasboras and lemon tetras are normally fine with angelfish. If you want a group of tetras or rasboras, get 10 or more of each species. They need company.

 

[BigJfish12]

Thanks for your help @Colin_T.
Approx dimensions
Length: 3feet
Width: 16inches
Height 19inches
The filter is a canister filter, rate of filtration is 80 liters an hour.
If angelfish are to big for this tank what other centrepiece fish do you recommend?
It is interesting what you say about pearl gourami being the more present natured species as at a pet shop i recently saw the pearl gourami bullying the three spot gourmai.(Not doubting you knowledge @Colin_T but just thought I wuold share what i had seen)

 

[BigJfish12]

If angelfish cannot fit in this tank my latest stocking idea is:
4x German blue ram
6x corries (once again not decided on species)
10x lemon tetra
10x rummynose tetra
Would this work?

 

[Colin_T]

If the pearl gourami at the shop was in the tank first and a male blue (3 spot) gourami was added to the tank, the pearl gourami would see it as an intruder and attack it. All labyrinth fishes (gouramis & Bettas) should be kept as a single species in a tank rather than mixing different species. This is due to them being territorial. Mature males are a bigger issue than juvenile fish or females. You can quite often add a group of different females or young fish to a tank and they grow up together and get along. If you remove one of these fish it can throw the hierarchy out of order and then fights occur. The same occurs if you add a new fish to an established group, the new fish usually get bullied and picked on until it finds its place.

I don't do center piece fish. Lots of books say you should have one but that is old information. I prefer to have a tank with species that get along and fish that you like the look of. Trying to set up an aquarium based around 1 center piece fish is hard to do.

If angelfish cannot fit in this tank my latest stocking idea is:
4x German blue ram
6x corries (once again not decided on species)
10x lemon tetra
10x rummynose tetra
Would this work?

They would fit in the tank quite well. You could even increase the number of tetras or add one more species, maybe black phantom tetras. A group of 10 black phantoms would contrast well with the other fishes in the list.

 

[BigJfish12]

Sorry do you mean the angelfish would fit in my tank quite well or my second stocking option using herman blue ram instead?

 

[Coryking]

Your stocking seems quite good, however I would recommend a few changes. Firstly, with the angelfish, I would recommend getting just one. As @Colin_T said they get pretty large and can be somewhat aggressive, especially if they breed. If you want to keep multiple cichlids, apistogramma and rams may be better suited.

The lemon/ rummynose tetra's and cory's would work well in your tank. Depending on the species of cory you could probably increase the number to 9 or 12.

With the gourami's if you do decide to go with them, I would get three instead of two. Three spots are quite a mixed bag, some can be very aggressive while others extremely peaceful, I personally wouldn't risk it. I do agree with @Colin_T that a small group of pearls would be better suited. They are often considered the most peaceful gourami species. If you don't like the pearls you could do a small school of sparkling gourami. These are a tetra sized schooling gourami that would work well with the other planned stocking.

If you do decide to leave the gourami's you could add some more tetra's or some other small peaceful fish such as cherry barbs or harlequin rasborras. You could also add some more peaceful bottom dwelling fish such as otocinclus or banjo catfish.

 

[Colin_T]

Sorry do you mean the angelfish would fit in my tank quite well or my second stocking option using herman blue ram instead?

second stocking option, rams, cories, 2 types of tetras would fit well.

 

[BigJfish12]

Thanks everyone for your help, I think I will go with tye second stocking option plus the 10 black widow tetras. My only concern with this stocking option is I wanted the tank to be quite heavily planted and u have read due the the rams need ling high temperatures many plants cannot be used with them, does anyone have suggestions? Also apparently rams will dig around causing plants to come out of substrate?

 

[Colin_T]

Not black widow tetras, they are fin nippers and not nice. Get black phantom tetras because they are peaceful.

Most aquarium plants are fine in tropical conditions. Giant Vallis and hornwort don't do well in tropical tanks especially if you buy them in winter. They grow the plants in ponds and they die from the sudden change in temperature. If you get narrow Vallis it does better than giant Vallis in aquariums. You shouldn't have too many issues with Vallis at this time of year due to the weather warming up. Virtually all other plants are fine and most come from the tropics where the water temperature sits on 30C for most of the year. The plants are fine there and will be in your tank. Just make sure you get true aquatic plants and use a liquid aquarium plant fertiliser.

Blue rams don't dig up much substrate. They lay eggs on hard flat surfaces like rocks and don't cause plants to come out and float around the tank.

 

[BigJfish12]

Thanks for taking the time to answer all my questions @Colin_T and @Coryking