Hi Everyone!

[mike_980]

hi everyone, im mike from the scarborough/york area in the UK (not sure if this is mainly a UK or US site or whatever lol)

i have a 140 liter tank currently with the following fish:

1 platy (lost the other unfortunatly)
2 silver mollys
1 common plec
1 chinese algae eater
1 red fin shark (quite large now and not aggresive at all hes about 2.5 years old and around 5-5.5" long)
about 5 neon tetras and a few glow light tetra's



i want abit of advice on what fish to put with these really, what i have in mind are the following:

i really wanted a clown loach but dont want it to be short of space in my tank so will give that a miss unless there is a dwarf type or something?
around 4-5 panda corys
a few blind cave fish
4 or 5 male guppies
chain loach or a golden zebra loach maybe?

i also really would like something really unusual like an elephant nose fish. I have researched these quite alot and understand their feeding requirements and tenderness to medication etc however just wondered if anyone had any more information to share as ive read conflicting information about the space they require and about them being kept on their own. Some people say only keep them on their own and some say keep them in groups of 3 or more so its all abit confusing, dont think id have room for more than one to be honest but would it have plenty of room in my tank if i gave it plenty of shelter?

thanks in advance
mike

 

[Wills]

Hi welcome to the forum! Im from Hull so not that far away

140 liter is a nice size tank but a few fish you have just want to point a few things out, the common plec is going to outgrow the tank. How big is he now? If he isnt a foot already he should hit that within the year. Also how is the Chinese algae eater going? They can be pretty nasty as they get older have you had any problems with it?

A stock list I would perhaps consider between the fish you have and the fish you want would be something like

1 Red Fin Shark
1 Platy
2 Mollys
6 Panda corys
6 Blind Cave Tetras
6 Neon Tetras
6 Glowlight Tetras
5 Male Guppies
5 Chain Loach or 5 Zebra Loach

I would rehome the plec as it will get massive, and really messy in your tank. Avoid the clown loaches because as you said they get big but the chain loach or zebra loach are a good alternative. Up your neons and glowlights to 5 though if your not that bothered about them maybe take them back its best for them to be given chance to be in a school rather than in low numbers. Elephant noses get to be about 10-11 inches so again get too big for your tank. If you want something a bit different, though it would mean a bit of a jig around with your other fish would be the butterfly fish? To accomodate these fish would mean to avoid fish that are too small to be eaten and also those that will nip it or bother it too much. So for that I would do

3 Butterfly Fish
1 Red Fin Shark
5 Platy - or one upto you
8 Blind Cave Tetras
8 Zebra Loach - bigger than dwarf chain and cories

Then to that stock list I would perhaps add some kind of medium growing cichlid like cupid cichlids maybe or laetacaras or some peaceful gourami would work like pearl gourami or orange thick lipped?

Wills

 

[mike_980]

my CAE has been fine, he was my first fish in my smaller tank a good 2 years back so ive kind of got attatched to it even though it is very shy, he used to be quite protective over his little cave that he used to hide in but since i have the bigger tank now i dont have any ornaments as ive got for the more natural look with bog wood etc, he swims about when he cant see you but as soon as you go in the room he darts off to the darkest most hidden place he can find! same with the plec really although thats getting abit more tame in the larger tank. I know about the issue with the plec growing, ive have it for a few months and it doesnt seem to have grown much but ill see how it goes, i can easily re-home it at my work as we sell tropical fish so i can fob it off with them

i really like tiger barbs, the secret with these is to keep them in groups of around 5 ive heard to stop them nipping other fish. I dont want something that will eat other fish like angel fish, not keen on that butterfly fish to be honest but i might think different if i actually see one... deffinatly the kind of thing im after though!

thanks for the great advice though

 

[Wills]

Yeah like I say the CAEs are sometimes nasty sometimes not - where abouts do you work I was wondering where the fish shops were out that way? I go there quite a lot and always like to pop into places to find.

Your quite right with the tiger barbs being better in groups, though its really like 5-6 minimum in a group as they are shoaling fish to prevent them nipping other fish you need to start thinking of 10-12 best kept in these numbers for their own sake as well as if they start nipping each other in bigger numbers the nips get spread so not as much of an issue. In the wild they are found in the hundred so they have to be nippy and aggressive to each other to stay high enough in the pecking order for food etc. Angelfish are sometimes predatory but only towards neons and at that size of fish most fish will eat an other fish if it fits in its mouth.

Wills

 

[mike_980]

Yeah like I say the CAEs are sometimes nasty sometimes not - where abouts do you work I was wondering where the fish shops were out that way? I go there quite a lot and always like to pop into places to find.

Your quite right with the tiger barbs being better in groups, though its really like 5-6 minimum in a group as they are shoaling fish to prevent them nipping other fish you need to start thinking of 10-12 best kept in these numbers for their own sake as well as if they start nipping each other in bigger numbers the nips get spread so not as much of an issue. In the wild they are found in the hundred so they have to be nippy and aggressive to each other to stay high enough in the pecking order for food etc. Angelfish are sometimes predatory but only towards neons and at that size of fish most fish will eat an other fish if it fits in its mouth.

Wills

i work at the steam and moorland garden center in Pickering and i'm in charge of all the fish and stuff, its a job i like doing but to be honest we shouldn't sell tropical fish as we dont have anyone that knows enough about them to justify it. I do all the ordering for them now and feeding of them and do my best to keep them all healthy though because if i didnt they would literally starve as on my days off no one else even checks on them. I try to just order in tetras and stuff which are easy to look after but we have about 5 common plecs which we have had for ages now which the perso who did the fish before me ordered in stupidly!

If your ever in malton and norton then i would suggest norton aquatics i think its called in norton, has really helpful staff that really know their stuff!

just out of interest how long will the elephant nose take to outgrow my tank because i will be getting a bigger tank when i finish uni in 2 years (maybe less) i bought the bigger tank especially to buy an elephant nose but this was the biggest i could get hold of around here really lol, all my fish seem tiny in it after they where all squeezed into a 40 liter before!

 

[Wills]

Elephant noses are best kept in something like a 5x2x2 really maybe a 4x2x2 but it needs to be a wide tank as the turning circle of the tank has to accommodate them, if they spin fast and bash their beak and damage it it will be an absolute nightmare. They are often kept best in about 5s so getting them is quite a commitment to them. Im not sure how long they take to grow though, perhaps post the question in the oddballs section?

Oddly enough I might be getting a job in Malton soon but dont know much details about it at the moment haha.

If you dont know much about fish you have come to the right place, ask as many questions as you want and someone will be able to help you out. And thats all stuff your going to be able to pass onto your customers.

Wills

 

[mike_980]

thanks wills youve been really helpful, yeah i only started taking such an interest myself when i got my own tank, i joined tropicalfishforums.co.uk but it doesnt seem as friendly as here in my opinion but im only a newby on that as well. Well yeah if you get a job in malton youll need to pop in to my work and check up on me haha

thanks again

 

[luckyliam13]

how about upside down cats theyre a bit unusual ?? note there a schooling fish so need 3 +