Going A Different Direction :d

[Fishkrazy1]

Ok so I've notice at both my favorite and LFS that Cardinal tetras are around $4 each! and Harlequins are about $3... So I've decided to go in a different direction from these guys to save some cash (I don't get paid till next week and my tank looks like crap empty, full cycled only got 1 pleco and 5 cory cats in it ) anyways... what do you think of this idea for my new stock??

10 Lemon Tetras
10 Head and Tail light Tetras
10 Black skirt tetras
10 Bleeding heart Tetras
5 Angle fish
10 Corry cats (already have 5)
1 Pleco...

Would this work? I know in the long run this will probably be more money... but if my dad will help finance my fish, , then I'll get this

20 Cardinal (or neon) tetras
20 Harelquin Rosbaras
10 Cory cats
1 Pleco
and 3-5 Blue rams

which one do you guys think would look better?

Also... another stocking scheme is this!!

1 Ghost Knife
1 Pleco
20 Tiger barbs
20 Rosy barbs
10 cory cats
and mabye 3 blue rams...

 

[Miss Wiggle]

what size tank? what sort of pleco?

 

[Fishkrazy1]

Everyone asks that lol... it's a common Pleco... and a 55 gallon tank... YES I KNOW common plecos get too large for this size tank... don't worry he's already 10-11" and I'm selling him to the store soon so I'll get one bristle nose pleco for this tank...

 

[kniesh]

If the tank is at least 55 gallons the one with the Tiger Barbs would look amazing. I had a school of 8 of these and they loked great so a school of 20 would be amazing. Plus in these numbers they wouldnt bother any of ur other fish.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

you need to aim for roughly 55" of fish then.....

20 Cardinal (or neon) tetras - 20"
20 Harelquin Rosbaras - 20"
10 Cory cats - 20"
1 Pleco - 4" assuming it's a BN
and 3-5 Blue rams - 9-15"

i reckon you'd need closer to 80g to do this, although it'd look nice, could work if you just cut down to say 15 tetras, rasbora's and cories.

1 Ghost Knife - too big for a 55g
1 Pleco - 4"
20 Tiger barbs - 40"
20 Rosy barbs - 40"
10 cory cats - 20"
and mabye 3 blue rams... 9"

need an even bigger tank and the ghost knife is too big for a 55

 

[Fishkrazy1]

If the tank is at least 55 gallons the one with the Tiger Barbs would look amazing. I had a school of 8 of these and they loked great so a school of 20 would be amazing. Plus in these numbers they wouldnt bother any of ur other fish.

alright so I'm pretty sure it's going to be my clown knife and Tiger barbs stocking scheme....... unless anyone else can make some valid points? Also I might just get 30 tigers and 10 rosys I like tiger barbs anyways... rosys are just there cause they'll eat some algea if theres a huge breakout... and they look "alright"... also yes the tank is 55gallons

 

[Fishkrazy1]

Everybody says this... I've had a few ghost knives now and kept them (full grown) in a 50 gallon tank with 1 oscar and 3 convict cichlids, and they all lived hapily... also... the rule of thumb , 1" of fish per gallon of water, I apply that VERY losely as it isn't always accurate... For instance... if I follow that then that means that I can keep a goldfish in a 10-12 gallon tank?? 1 gold fish can get to a foot long (yes they can as I'm sure somebody will say they can't... some species can my feeder goldfish are all 11" long in my pond) so according to that rule a foot long goldfish would be happy in a 12 gallon tank??? I think not... thanks for the input though

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Everybody says this... I've had a few ghost knives now and kept them (full grown) in a 50 gallon tank with 1 oscar and 3 convict cichlids, and they all lived hapily... also... the rule of thumb , 1" of fish per gallon of water, I apply that VERY losely as it isn't always accurate... For instance... if I follow that then that means that I can keep a goldfish in a 10-12 gallon tank?? 1 gold fish can get to a foot long (yes they can as I'm sure somebody will say they can't... some species can my feeder goldfish are all 11" long in my pond) so according to that rule a foot long goldfish would be happy in a 12 gallon tank??? I think not... thanks for the input though

no, but it's a good enough guideline to use for fish under 3/4"..... which is the majority of what you want to stock with.

IMO it pretty much applies for the size tank your talking about and fish you want to stock.

I think you'd be massivley overstocked if you follow that plan. however i strongly suspect your not gonna listen to a word i say and will do it anyway.

ah well, your tank so it's up to you

 

[annka5]

I don't know much about ghost knives, so that one is for someone else.
If you're not mad keen on rosy barbs, don't get them - there are plenty other fish which you do really like. You'd be way better off to stop an algae outbreak from happening than to stock fish you're not so keen on.
Your very first option IMO (Lemon tetras, angel fish et all) would definitely have too many fish in it for the size of tank. It would just look cramped and awful, as well as the impact on the fish.

 

[Fishkrazy1]

sorry wiggle... not that you opinion doesn't matter to me... but I've got this tank set up with 100 gallon air pump and 110 gallons of filtration... so water quality won't be an issue... also I read an article recently about "overstocking tanks" and believe it or not, a tank isn't overstocked with small fish untill theres pretty much a wall of fish surrounded by like 20 gallons of water... all 3 of my schemes allow for space for the fish to swim, also cory cats are always (usually) on the bottom and my tank is densley planted, my ghost knife won't be out until the lights are off (or he gets to like 8") and I'm not even sure with the blue rams ... Also corry cats have a labrynith so they can breath air if the water quality is poor early sign thats why I love the little buggers


But anyways, thanks for your opinion and taking the time to post here , my "new" scheme for stocking (yeah wiggle I know I didn't follow your advice )

1 clownknife
1 Pleco (BN)
25-30 Tiger barbs
10-15 Rosy barbs
10 cory cats
and MABYE 3-4 blue rams or anglefish... (my angles are currently with 5 tiger barbs and they seem to leave them alone)

 

[kniesh]

I very rarely use the 1' to 1 gal rule. Although if you follow it you will generally not be overstocked (large fish in small tanks on their own as exceptions), it by no means is the limit of your fish tank and certainly doesn't allow for filtration etc...

 

[Fishkrazy1]

I don't know much about ghost knives, so that one is for someone else.
If you're not mad keen on rosy barbs, don't get them - there are plenty other fish which you do really like. You'd be way better off to stop an algae outbreak from happening than to stock fish you're not so keen on.
Your very first option IMO (Lemon tetras, angel fish et all) would definitely have too many fish in it for the size of tank. It would just look cramped and awful, as well as the impact on the fish.

Ya... I realized that like 5 minutes after that post so option 1 is out 2 and 3 are left....... still want to know what you guys think of my new scheme... Except you wiggle Just kidding your opinion is every bit as important as anyone elses... including mine

Alright so the rosys might be out then... so my new scheme would be...

30 Tiger barbs (max of 30)
1 Clown Knife
1 Pleco (BN)
10 Cory cats
and 4-5 Angles or blue rams... (might try discus... but I've heard they're a bugger to keep... and I know my tigers SHOULD be ok since they're in a large school but still...)
If I try Discus it'll only be 2-3... (if I can convince my dad to buy them, they go for like 35$ each here )

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ha ha no worries, you have the right to make your own mind up

i well udnerstand there's a lot of other issues around stocking than 1" per gallon, and yes with adequate filtration, maintenance, mature filters etc etc etc you can push the boundaries of 1" per gallon.

however i still think bearing all that in mind...... your gonna be well over!

but i'll shut up now

 

[Fishkrazy1]

no need to "shut up" it's fun getting information from experienced people like you I'm an idiot sometimes... Okay most of the time how else am I going to learn

 

[Breeze7050]

I would say no, no, no on the discus. They should really have a species only tank and they require very, very clean water and precise water conditions. I know your tank is over-filtered but I think the bioload with all the other fish would be too much for the discus to overcome. Plus, as you said, they are very expensive!!
You may also want to bare in mind at some point that clown knife may be able to eat the smaller fish in your aquarium!
And I do have to agree with Miss Wiggle (as I usually do!) that you will still be overstocked. ESPECIALLY if you add on top of all your thoughts 4-5 angels!!
Anywho, just my opinion!