Help With Tank!

[Rogue4Fish]

Hello!

Okay, so I have an "odd" shape tank, it's not extremely conventional...I didn't really think about it when I bought it, but now I have it, i'm stuck with it for the time being!

So this is it:

The tank itself is doing ok, nitrates, ammonia etc are all fine. It's currently got 7 Rummy Nose's in. - I read somewhere on the site that they are not ideal as starter fish, but they seem lively, and generally happy!

So now i'm stuck on what to stock due to the shape if anything. The Rummy Nose's tend to swim around the bottom, so ideally i'm looking for some fish that swim around the middle of the tank.

I've been looking at Dwarf Blue Gourami's or Dwarf Neon Rainbows....are these suitable?
I would also like a Cory Catfish, and Neon/Cardinal Tetra's and some Zebra Danios. The tank is 110L, so at a guestimate, I can stock around 20 or so fish in a conventional tank. I have no idea what it might be for one this shape, but I think it might be less. I'm well aware that the Neon Rainbows/Danios and Tetra's need to be kept in shoals. I'm wanting more of the same fish than lots of different types, but would like some colour.

What i am concerned about is my pump seems quite...fierce. It's down to it's minimum setting, but it still has a hell of a spray on it.

Can anyone give me a little advise?

Many Thanks,

Pete

 

[Gytas]

male guppys are very nice looking and very easy to take care of fish

 

[Carlovel1]

The tank is too tall for corys. Corys frequently go to the surface to gulp air and anything less than 40cm is too tall for them. Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish/Danios are far too active for tank of that width. Here is what I would do:
8 Dwarf/Chain Loaches
3 Angelfish
7 Cardinal Tetras/Rummynose Tetra/Celebes Rainbowfish
6 Silver Hatchetfish
And a pair of Honey Gouramis or Apisto or Kribs or Rams

 

[hillmar77]

male guppys are very nice looking and very easy to take care of fish

I agree guppies would be pretty nice in there...maybe a few platy's too! Get some really colorful ones like dark red or orange!

 

[Rogue4Fish]

I did think about Platys, my LFS have some really nice orange ones.

Wasn't sure about Angle Fish. Although I like them, i haven't read particually good things about them? Can they be a bit aggressive?

Quick look at Dwarf Loaches, the PH range is probably too low for my tank. I have a 7.5 - 8PH, it looks like they like 6.5 - 6.8.

Any other suggestions???

 

[hillmar77]

My experience with angelfish is that they are aggressive! They seem to go after everybody but thank god my parrots are around to keep them in check! I'm not sure if your lfs has some Bolivian rams, dwarf flag, dwarf rainbow fish but they would make nice tank mates.

 

[Rogue4Fish]

Got one person saying Dwarf Rainbows are not good and one person saying they are ok.

Opinions, opinions, opinions!

 

[Shovelman]

Angel fish are generally NOT aggressive (it may just be that your angels are for what ever reason because of the condition of the breeder or place you got them from etc) Note: If the ngels get big, they WILL EAT SMALL FISH LIKE NEON TETRAS! For the most part there not too aggressive, and can be kept in community tanks....just not small fish unless you were intending a tasty snack...

 

[Rogue4Fish]

Probably not a good idea to mix them with my Rummy Nose's then.

Shame, because I liked the idea of Angels.

This stocking malarky is hard work!

 

[Shovelman]

Probably not a good idea to mix them with my Rummy Nose's then.

Shame, because I liked the idea of Angels.

This stocking malarky is hard work!

Yeah its just a matter of knowing and getting to know the different species, or at least a general idea.
Ive had a couple of big ideas, only to be smashed by research done on the desired fish.

 

[waterdrop]

Probably not a good idea to mix them with my Rummy Nose's then.

Shame, because I liked the idea of Angels.

This stocking malarky is hard work!

Yes, good stocking plan creation is very hard work and something of a black art even, in that every aquarist I've known has continued to refine their opinions throughout their lifetimes based on experience. It really never ends.

That said, I really feel you've possibly reached the wrong conclusion about the rummys. They actually get to be quite a bit larger than neons/cards do and I've never really thought about them as fish that would be food for Angels (I admit to never having had rummys *with* Angels though, so this is not coming from direct experience.) I just think rummys get too big even for old Angels who have large mouths! The reason I'm bothering with this comment is that I really rather like Carlovel's stocking suggestion. Three Angels with a shoal of rummys and a shoal of silver hatchets seems like it could potentially be quite beautiful in that tank.

One minor problem might be related to a possible current problem: the rummys staying low. I wonder if they're actually feeling like there's not enough "cover" for them, either not enough plants or that the tall round tank with high water movement is just not their kind of water area that makes them feel safe. The Angels and hatchets I suspect would be less bothered about this than the rummys, which is yet another thing I like about that suggestion (although its tricky and the jury may still be out regarding all of them liking the upper areas as it might be a flow rate thing ultimately, hard to tell.)

Speaking of the fish feeling relaxed.. Pete, I get the feeling you may be pretty experienced already and I did see you were correcting your test kit choice in another thread but I get nervous whenever we have a newcomer to our beginners section here and we don't "go through the motions" so to speak of verifying all the information about water and cycling (the members who hang around here a while get sick of hearing this I'm sure ) and in your case its that picture of the tank with a bit of a milky haze that sort of triggers it. Of course it could just be new tank haze or an earlier picture or new substrate dust or whatever but I just want to check that we aren't looking at a bacterial bloom there and I'd hate to think that you saying that your water parameters are just fine for the rummys is not really a situation where they are being exposed to too high ammonia or nitrite in a fish-in cycling situation due to some LFS just -telling- you that things are fine. (?)

I guess the thing to do would be to both post your latest test results from a good liquid-reagent kit (I assume you found the right kit after selling the marine one) and to run through the amount of time the tank has been filled and how long the fish have been in, water changing details etc... then the members could be of extra help in case there were some misunderstanding between you and your LFS. Anyway, just checking.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

I am going to disagree with Carlovel1. Cories are very capable of not only surviving but thriving in tanks much deeper than 40cm. I have seen that same kind of number quoted on many fish forums but my own 60cm deep tank simply says that it is wrong. My cories, of 3 different species in that tank, are all thriving and having no problem doing what cories do and swimming to the top for a gulp of air. I have no idea why they do that but must admit it is quite a common occurrence. I would not worry too much about the small surface area in your tank. If you are using something like the inch per gallon guidance, your fish will be fine in that tank. The real worry about tall narrow tanks is not for people who observe conservative stockings like you will have using the inch per gallon. The concern about small tank water surface areas becomes far more important for people who tend to overstock a tank. Those people may actually overstock to the point that fish start suffering a lack of dissolved oxygen for them to breathe. Many people will ignore or discredit the inch per gallon guidance and proceed to stock at what I would call 2 inches per gallon or even more. Those people may get away with their stocking in a conventional tank if they do enough water changes but will not have good fish survival rates in a tank shaped like yours. Those people would be well advised to revisit the inch per gallon guidance and stop worrying about the shape their tank has. At proper stocking levels, the shape almost doesn't matter because the stocking level is light enough to accommodate any reasonable tank shape.