Fish Advice?

[Mr-Xoc]

I am going to be setting up a tank and was wanted some advice about possible fish. I am going to be starting a fishless cycle next weekend or so and thought I might as well think about what kind of fish I am going to aim for. This way I know if I will be needing any specific plants / rocks / hidey holes etc

My tank is a Juwel Rio 180 - 101cm long / 41cm wide / 50cm deep and is 180lites (47 us gallons)

The fish I was thinking about so far are:

1 Bristlenosed Plec - Am I right in assuming he will be wanting some bogwood and a cave?
1 Red-Tailed Black Shark - I have read that they also like caves so will he try and evict the BN if I dont have 2 caves?
8 Tiger Barbs - Are these guys ok standing up to a fully grown RTBS?

In theory this should add up to 36 inches so far and the fish seem to be mainly middle / bottom dwellers. I was wondering if anyone can see any problems with the above combination and know of any top dwelling fish that may be able to fill the last 10 inches?

Oh and out of curiosity do invertibrates also count towards the same inch per gallon rule?

Thanks in advance for any help that you kind folks can give

Mr-Xoc

 

[toppman]

i wouldnt get tiger barbs, there 2 much hassle, not sure about compatibility with the shark but they will nip any fish they feel like

 

[Chuka1212]

About the tigers, you can sometimes curb their fin-nipping habits by keeping them in larger groups, which looks like what you plan on doing. They do limit the possibilities of putting certain species that are slower or have long fins. About the Red-tailed shark, I don't know too much about... it's one of the few I havn't kept but I hear they can get somewhat aggressive and quite large. If you are going for tigers for sure you could put in some other types of barbs, rosy barbs are cool. Danios, gourami's, and possibly some larger tetras could go too.

 

[Mr-Xoc]

If the Tigers are going to be too much hassle I can drop them np, I do quite like the idea of the RTBS and the BN Plec though. I only added the tigers as not only do they look good but I assumed they wouldnt be bullied by the RTBS too much. I guess I will look around a bit more and see if their is anything else that could take their place

Mr-Xoc

 

[dthoffsett]

Go for the tiger barbs, they are a great fish, you just need to stock appropriately. With 8 of them, they should spend the majority of their time chasing each other. You could get a single male gourami, or two males and a female.

You'll want plants, whether fake or real, and having some plants will also break up the tiger barbs sight line some to limit the chasing, but you'll want to leave enough open area for swimming as these are very active fish.

I don't know about the RTBS as I've never kept one.

The pleco will definately thank you for driftwood and a couple of caves.

 

[mommyof2bettas]

if you want a barb similar to tigers you can get pentazona barbs- look alike but more peaceful.