50 gallon (200 litre) stocking ideas

[Dd10]

Hi there,

I'm looking for some ideas/advice on stocking for my 50 gallon.

The tank is well established and currently contains 10 ember tetras, 10 cardinal tetras, 10 bronze Cory's, 1 BN pleco and 2 amano shrimp. Water in my area is quite soft.

I was thinking of adding an individual or small group of 'centerpiece' fish (e.g gouramis) , or perhaps a small school of larger tetra (lemon or diamond maybe) - but I'm not sure if this would be overstocked. Any ideas?

 

[Byron]

What are the dimensions, particularly length and width? The fish you have are not active swimmers, but some you are considering are, so length especially is important. Do you have plants, especially floating species?

Welcome to TFF.

 

[Dd10]

What are the dimensions, particularly length and width? The fish you have are not active swimmers, but some you are considering are, so length especially is important. Do you have plants, especially floating species?

Welcome to TFF.

Thank you! It's roughly 40"l x 16"w x 20“h. I have a lot of anubias, some crypts, java moss and (unintentional) duckweed

 

[Byron]

OK, now we can consider fish better. First, if you go with gourami, it depends upon the species. Some are incredible aggressors, and very territorial. These would limit tankmates to other slow sedate fish. On the other hand, a group of two of larger tetras may provide more interest, depending how you see this, it is your tank. But a grop of diampond tetras (Moenkhausia pittieri) would be beautiful, or a similar larger tetra the Congo Tetra (Phenacogrammus interruptus) is worth considering. You have just enough tank length. Both of these swim mid-tank or a little above. The cardinals are lower half, the Embers basically top half, and cories of course substrate--so these give you a nice balance. You want 10 of the Congo, and roughly 50/50 gender mix; 11-12 if the Diamonds, and here also depending upon their age the male/female are pretty obvious so a split.

I would try to get some substantial floaters. Substantial means larger, like Water Sprite, Frogbit, Water Lettuce. These really make a difference to the tetras, as none of them like overhead light and believe me the Congos or Diamonds will really sparkle with a good cover of floaters blocking the light.

I consider there is room for another species or two, but let's see which way you go before that. No point in recommending a fish that may work here but not there, if you follow.

 

[Acorno]

If you want something fast and active then you could look into rainbow fish. Some of the medium sized ones could be quite the show.

 

[glyn]

Envious of your soft Scots water! Down here at the foot of the chalky South Downs the water's always hard, and high in nitrates from the agricultural fertiliser run-off. Tetra-friendly it ain't. The suggestions above are very useful. Without knowing your filtration set-up, or your water change regime, I would also add Bentosi White-fin Tetras, which would carry on the red theme, and be a bit bigger than Cardinals. If, instead, you want a colour contrast, there seem to be quite surprisingly hardy Electric Blue Rams coming into the shops now. Your soft water would suit them.

Or, if you could get a pair of Pearl [ie., Lace] Gouramis, that would create a reasonably peaceful centrepiece effect.

 

[Dd10]

OK, now we can consider fish better. First, if you go with gourami, it depends upon the species. Some are incredible aggressors, and very territorial. These would limit tankmates to other slow sedate fish. On the other hand, a group of two of larger tetras may provide more interest, depending how you see this, it is your tank. But a grop of diampond tetras (Moenkhausia pittieri) would be beautiful, or a similar larger tetra the Congo Tetra (Phenacogrammus interruptus) is worth considering. You have just enough tank length. Both of these swim mid-tank or a little above. The cardinals are lower half, the Embers basically top half, and cories of course substrate--so these give you a nice balance. You want 10 of the Congo, and roughly 50/50 gender mix; 11-12 if the Diamonds, and here also depending upon their age the male/female are pretty obvious so a split.

I would try to get some substantial floaters. Substantial means larger, like Water Sprite, Frogbit, Water Lettuce. These really make a difference to the tetras, as none of them like overhead light and believe me the Congos or Diamonds will really sparkle with a good cover of floaters blocking the light.

I consider there is room for another species or two, but let's see which way you go before that. No point in recommending a fish that may work here but not there, if you follow.

I'll look into the floating plants, I also tend to keep the lights a bit dimmer. I do like the idea of some diamond tetras, they're quite beautiful. Thanks for the advice

 

[Dd10]

Envious of your soft Scots water! Down here at the foot of the chalky South Downs the water's always hard, and high in nitrates from the agricultural fertiliser run-off. Tetra-friendly it ain't. The suggestions above are very useful. Without knowing your filtration set-up, or your water change regime, I would also add Bentosi White-fin Tetras, which would carry on the red theme, and be a bit bigger than Cardinals. If, instead, you want a colour contrast, there seem to be quite surprisingly hardy Electric Blue Rams coming into the shops now. Your soft water would suit them.

Or, if you could get a pair of Pearl [ie., Lace] Gouramis, that would create a reasonably peaceful centrepiece effect.

I'm a fan of tetras and corys so the water here is perfect! I did see some Bentosi white fin tetras for the first time at the LFS recently and they looked really nice. I have also considered either electric blue or golden rams, but have heard they can occasionally be aggressive

 

[Essjay]

Those rams (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi) need warmer water than most fish to do well. It is usual to base a tank around them, with fish which need the same temperature rather than fit them into a tank with fish which need cooler water than the rams. There other dwarf cichlids which do fine at typical tank temperatures - Bolivian rams (Mikrogeophagus altispinosus), apistogrammas, nannacaras etc. All dwarf cichlids will defend eggs and fry if they spawn but other than that they usually ignore other species. Two male cichlids of the same species won't like sharing 'their' territory though.

 

[Byron]

I'm a fan of tetras and corys so the water here is perfect! I did see some Bentosi white fin tetras for the first time at the LFS recently and they looked really nice. I have also considered either electric blue or golden rams, but have heard they can occasionally be aggressive

Hyphessobrycon bentosi are nice, a group of 12 (or more). @Essjay mentioned the ram temperature issue, their range is 27-30C/80-86F which means they do best in the middle of that. This is much too warm for your cories which are in the 23-25C/73-77F range. Temperature is a crucial factor for fish, as they are ectotherms and the water temperature drives their metabolism. As @GaryE reminded me recently in a post, fish outside their preferred temperature range have digestive issues.

I won't go into details, but the temperament of the rams makes finding a bonded pair not all that easy, they are best in solitude or in a group of 6 minimum, from which pairs may develop. in which case you have to decide what to do with the rest.