Cycle Nearly Complete Stocking Questions !

[webbo87]

Hi people as the topic says my tank is basically cycled YEYY !! got readings of 0 for ammonia and nitrite today and nitrate off the chart im going to keep doing my dosing and checking for a few days to make sure and untill im off work haha first question does it need to go back down to zero for ammonia and nitrite within 12 or 24 hours ??
 
Now on to the stocking, my tank is a roma 200 and my ph on last chck is around 7.2 now i have read up and researched which fish are around for me to buy just wondering if anyone can answer these few question or look and see if my list are compatiable with each other and possibly how many of each fish to get and what to put in first
 
List
 
1 Tetra shoal seen and liked the rummynose, glowlight tetra and liked a few of the bigger tertas wondering which is best with my list ?
 
2 Cherry barbs are they peaceful enough to go in a community tank ?
 
3 Corys/Kuhli Loach, like both of these especially the corys (reason i put a sand substrate down) are kuhlis compatiable with corys or just stick to one type ?
 
4 Harlequin
 
5 Dwarf Gourami was looking at just one in the tank
 
6 Rainbow Fish
 
7 German Blue Ram havent seen any around my way but would love to be able to have one
 
Basically could anyone put me a list together from these or adding a few more to have a look at and how many of each and what to place in the tank first and last please thanks in advance

 

[fluttermoth]

You want zero for ammonia and nitrite, twelve hours after dosing, for a week and you'll be completely done
 
Sorry, I'm not going to give you an answer about your stocking right away; I'm going to ask you more questions!
 
Is your water hard or soft, what are the dimensions of the tank and from how far away will you mostly be looking at it?

 

[webbo87]

Ahhh whats the best way for this testing another test kit (i currently have the api master) or is there another way ? Dimensions of the tank are 100x40x55cm and will be viewed from close as its in spare room so plenty of space to watch or view from any distance

 

[webbo87]

Does going on my local water supplier website an putting in my postcode to find my hardness enough or do i need a test of sorts ?

 

[fluttermoth]

That'll do

 

[webbo87]

haha thanks well ive been on my water supplier website with my pstcode and has come back as moderately soft would love some advice if this is good enough to go off

 

[fluttermoth]

Yep, that'll do
 
I'd go for tetras or harlequins rather than rainbows then; most rainbowfish prefer slightly hard water. A larger shoal of one species looks better than smaller shoals of a few, so go with whichever one you like the best.
 
Cherry barbs are pretty peaceful and do well in small groups, rather than actual shoals.
 
Kuhlis are one of the few loach you can keep with cories, so you could have both but, again, I think you'd be better off picking one or the other.
 
Dwarf gouramis you could certainly do (although they are prone to illness these days); either one male or a 1m : 2F trio.
 
I would advise against the ram; a very delicate fish to keep these days, and they'd prefer warmer softer water than you have, tbh.

 

[webbo87]

Cracking stuff thanks for the replies and advice much appreciated could you recommend another fish if i didnt go for the gourami say as a centre piece for the tank ? also would any of the bigger tetras do well with the corys cherry barbs and a centre piece ? If i went the other way with a group of barbs (possibly denison barb) a rainbow or red tail shark is there any shoaling fish and bottom feeders in the semi aggressive range which would go ? sorry for the questions haha thanks again

 

[daveg6529]

When deciding on a shoal of Tetras I would suggest a minimum of 6 or more. I have a 260 ltr with a shoal of Neon's, Penguin's and Glowlights (11,9,& 9 respectfully). I also have 7 corys (originally 8 but 1 died recently).
They all get on really well.

 

[fluttermoth]

Cracking stuff thanks for the replies and advice much appreciated

could you recommend another fish if i didnt go for the gourami say as a centre piece for the tank ? also would any of the bigger tetras do well with the corys cherry barbs and a centre piece ? If i went the other way with a group of barbs (possibly denison barb) a rainbow or red tail shark is there any shoaling fish and bottom feeders in the semi aggressive range which would go ? sorry for the questions haha thanks again

I'm not sure your tank's big enough for Denison barbs; they do get to at least 6 or 7 inches; they also do better in temperate tanks, rather than full on tropical. Spanner or filament barbs might be better.
 
Something like yoyo loaches would go with a rainbow or RTBS.

 

[webbo87]

Im leaning towards a shoal of harlequin, shoal of tetras (not sure which yet would some of the bigger tetras go well with harlequins ?), few corys but i would also like something a bit larger in there anyone reccommend me something with a bit of size in a community tank ?

 

[Noahsfish]

Well, I'm probably going to recommend hard to find and expensive plecos, but if you go that way there's a few optioned. You could just go with a longfin or regular bristlenose pleco. Or, if you want to step it up a gold nugget would be nice, I think they sell those on a lot of fish sites. Orrrr, if you want someing smaller you could try to find an l134, which are "cheap" compared to zebras. Not too sure if any/all of those would be fine withmyour fish, it depends on water chemistry, aggression, etc. But I'll leave you to find out more if you do decide on getting one of the above.

On another hand, you could also get shrimp, those always look nice. But again, watch out for aggression, if you're unsure than I would get red cherry shrimp as they're not too expensive and adapt easily.

If you really want rams please don't get gbrs or ebrs, instead go for Bolivian rams or apistogrammas.

As a center piece either angels or a pair of gouramis would do well.

 

[webbo87]

Thanks for the response ive fancied some dwarf gouramis but have heard from a few now that they are suspect to health problems ! As one of my other posts say id love a ram if my chemistry is correct the bolivian rams are a lot more hardy are they not ?

 

[fluttermoth]

Bolivian rams would do very well; or any of the apistogrammas.
 
Tetras should be fine with harlequins, but do read up on whichever species you're thinking of; some tetras can be nippy.