Hi

[bhags]

So I was fishing and saw a cormorant come up with some sort of catfish looking creature. I casted my jig at it and it dropped the animal. A mudpuppy came up shortly after. I’ve always wanted one so I scooped it up and bought a 36 gallon right away to house it back to health. It died the next day due to damages. So I purchased a bunch of fish. About a week later I realized I would need a bigger tank due to the size the fish would grow to. Got a 75g Marineland glass tank for $140 and they messed up and I got the whole setup. Normally I would let them know of this error, but after the way everything has been marked up twice as much since covid I decided to bite my tongue. Anyways, I am all in on the fish tank life. Have had a snapping turtle for 12 years not sure how I didn’t do this before. I think I got very lucky, because I only have a few of several different species but they all eat and school together like they’re the same. Maybe someone can warn me of future problems that could occur but this is what I have in a 75g

2 gold barbs
3 Odessa barbs
2 melon barbs
2 rosy barbs ( basically crackheads that don’t stop )
3 black ruby barbs
5 cherry barbs
4 glo tetras
2 glo tetra pristellas
1 black neon tetra
1 von rio tetra
1 glow light tetra


Everyone is happy. I want to get 3-5 kuhli loaches and maybe a few more black neon, von rio, glow light tetras if I can find them.

Sorry for the AA meeting introduction. But with my setup and these species, if there is something wrong please make me aware.

Thank you!

 

[emeraldking]

Hi and welcome to TFF...
Looks like a nice combo of fish you've got there... Would be nice if you could also post a picture of your tank.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Welcome! Sorry your mud puppy didn't make it--they are really cool. Cormorant damage is hard to recover from. I once rescued a huge goldfish from a blue heron, with similar results.

Do you know how hard your water is? You can get a test kit or check with your water supplier. You have a lot of tetras that need soft water, and some barb species that prefer harder water, but barbs as a whole are fairly adaptable, so unless your water is hard or super soft, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

The big problem I see with your stocking is that all of these species are shoaling fish that greatly prefer to live in large groups of their same species. They will all school together and probably be "ok," but they'll do better and show more interesting, natural behaviors in large groups of their own kind. If the pet store will trade some of them back, I recommend choosing two or three of your favorite species, get at least ten of each (fifteen is better), and get rid of the others.

 

[bhags]

Hardness is 75-150. The color is like in between those two on the stick. I want to get at least 3 of each species. The Odessa’s and rosy barbs swim together a lot of the time. The melons and golds join occasionally as well. And the glow tetras do as well. Cherries kind of do their own thing as well as black ruby’s. I wish I didn’t get the solo tetras because I can’t find anymore currently but they aren’t hiding and seem to be doing good. I think I have the space for a few more of barbs I already have. Figured the loaches don’t count as much because they’ll be bottom of water column. I’ve read that rosys and melon can both reach 6”? That’s where I’m not sure how much more room I have. I have a 110g filter and two aerator stones, hornwort, several pvc pieces, driftwood and a few fake trees with cover.

 

[bhags]

Here’s tank. Just fed them so kinda cloudy

 

[bhags]

Substrate . Would that be okay for loaches? Sand / gravel / smooth river rock / smooth glow rocks

 

[Essjay]

I want to get at least 3 of each species

3 of each is not enough, you need a lot more than 3.

get at least ten of each (fifteen is better), and get rid of the others.

Byron was a well respected and very knowledgeable member of the forum who sadly passed away earlier this year. But we can still benefit from his knowledge. This is what he said about numbers of shoaling fish

Effect of group size on behaviour and welfare of fish

The number of fish needed for species "x" to be healthy and less stressed in an aquarium is a topic that enters quite a number of threads on TFF. Some of us realize how vitally important the number of fish for a particular species really is, but having scientifically-controlled studies that...

www.fishforums.net

 

[bhags]

Well , I greatly value animal lives. More than humans majority of the time. Hence, why I didn’t and will never get Tiger Barbs. I don’t want my fish stressed ever and will do what’s needed. I am very new to this but I don’t know why anyone would even try to put other species with Tiger Barbs and things of that nature. But to each their own. Maybe it’s because these fish are still immature , but melons and black ruby’s hang around each other all the time making a group of 5. The Odessa’s/ Rosys were in the same tank in the pet store and shoal all the time making another group of 5. The cherries, are kind of the odd ones. I got 3 from one store (I believe all females) and then a week later I got 2 really bright ones(males or albinos?) and they all kind of do their own thing but are eating and healthy and active. I don’t know, but I don’t think I could bring myself to the store to return these guys to go right back into some tiny aquarium, that would suck. I appreciate your concerns and I will continue to watch and try to make this all correct slowly with fish happiness/lack of stress as my biggest concerns, as well as water parameters obviously. Thanks again

 

[bhags]

PS. I do have a 36gallon I originally bought still so maybe I will move the Tetras in there if things go south. Then I would have room for more of similar barbs I already have. Thanks

 

[bhags]

Well I went ahead and got 2 more gold barbs, 2 more black ruby’s barbs, a checkered barb and 3 kuhli loaches.

I am currently cycling the 36 gallon and will move all the tetras there and keep soft water.

Thanks for your help. Hopefully will have 5-6 of each type of barb at some point, if not more.

 

[bhags]

Now have
5 Gold Barbs
5 Odessa barbs
4 checkered barbs
5 black ruby barbs
2 rosy barbs
2 melon barbs
4 glofish tetras
2 glofish pristellas

All of them get along great. Very enjoyable. Wish I was told about cycling ahead of time and diseases but read a lot and kept losses to a minimum. Lost 5 snakehead barbs (the ones I wanted the most) but 95% sure they were sick from the online seller. Going to keep just these fish for awhile, would eventually like to add a few more melons and checkered.