I need 40 gallon breeder stocking ideas

[Aquarium guy person]

Hi, I recently set up a 40 gallon breeder and I want stocking ideas for a very colorful tank but I don’t want cories or Plecos and I looking to get some sort of Apistogramma in there too. Can you guys help me with this please.

 

[Byron]

Welcome to TFF.

First off, can you provide us with the water parameters of your source water? The GH (general hardness) is the most important to fish, then pH. Most of us do not like suggesting this or that fish only to later find it won't live well in the water.

Are plants intended? This can impact fish choices too.

 

[Aquarium guy person]

Sorry, I couldn’t test for hardness yet but my ph is at about 7. I do not intend on having live plants but will definitely have artificial plants and cave hideouts

 

[Essjay]

We need to know the hardness more than the pH. Look on your water provider's website for hardness. You need a number and the unit of measurement rather than a vague word. If it's not there, you could phone or email them to ask, or take a sample of tap water to a fish store and ask them to test for GH and KH. Again you need numbers not words.

 

[Aquarium guy person]

I asked and they said the hardness is 72.3 mg/l

 

[Byron]

Good. That is soft to very soft water. The common units used in the hobby are ppm (parts per million) which is the same as mg/l, and degrees GH (or dH) which here works out to 4 dGH.

Almost any fish from South America or SE Asia will be suited as far as water parameters are concerned. An Apistogramma fits all this. You want a safe substrate, like play sand or a darkish aquarium sand that is inert.

Floating plants would be highly advisable. These shade the light which the forest fish appreciate and under which they will have more intense colouration, as well as being useful in maintaining good water quality. Chunks of wood and branches with or without the artificial plants. Upper fish (Apistogramma remain close to the substrate) can include small tetras, pencilfish, hatchetfish, and/or rasboras that are small to medium sized.

 

[Aquarium guy person]

what about bottom feeders and algae eating fish that are compatible?

 

[Byron]

what about bottom feeders and algae eating fish that are compatible?

First, on the algae-eating fish...if you like the particular species as a fish, there are some suited. What I'm really saying is, do not buy a fish to eat algae, unless you actually like the fish in its own right. The small snails will do a better job of "cleaning" and have no impact biologically (everything they eat is already in the system so they add no more). Now, on these "algae" fish, Otocinclus are effective but need a group so this will impact the bioload. There are some loricariids, like Bristlenose Pleco, or Farlowella vitatta (the common and smallest Twig Catfish) or Rineloricaria parva (the smallest Whiptail Catfish) that can be kept singly. All of these only eat common green algae and diatoms, they will not touch "problem" algae which is why I caution against so-called "algae eating" fish. I happen to be very fond of the Farlowella and the Whiptail so I have them as fish (they have a certain prehistoric appearance which can be interesting) and they eat the common algae though I never see this algae anyway, but they probably help.

Bottom feeders, aside from the above as they are also substrate fish primarily, except for otos, the obvious choice is a group of cory catfish but you said you don't like them. One of the dwarf species of loach in a group could work, but only the dwarf species and the most common is the dwarf chain loach and some people have reported aggressive behaviours.

 

[Retired Viking]

You could go with tetras-neon, ember and glow tetras are small good looking fish that you could have in shoal of 6 or more without overstocking your tank. They are South American fish. You should consider live plants-I had plastic for years and recently went with live plants. There are easy to care for plants that draw what they need from the water so you do not need to add soil. It will help improve the water quality for your fish. Byron is right about snails-nerite and ramshorn snails are great at eating algae.

 

[Brian Bowers]

Some Neon tetras and Gouramis are good choices for a colorful tank.

 

[Aquarium guy person]

With live plants wouldn’t I need like a layer of sand under the gravel I have (it’s pretty fine gravel)

 

[Retired Viking]

You can use just sand or gavel. Many plants like hornwort, moneywort, water sprite and anacharia can be free floating on the surface or "planted" in the grave. Others like Java Fern, African Fern and Java Moss you attach to rocks or wood. They all absorb what they need from the water helping to keep the water clean and adding to the oxygen.

 

[Byron]

With live plants wouldn’t I need like a layer of sand under the gravel I have (it’s pretty fine gravel)

Following up on what Retired Viking posted, plants that root in the substrate will be fine in just about any substrate. The grain size is important, as too large a gravel can bee difficult for plants (and bacteria too) so I would never go larger than pea gravel which can be effective in some aquascapes. But a fine gravel or sand is ideal. Substrate rooted plants usually benefit from substrate fertilizer tabs and this can be better than liquid as the tabs slowly release nutrients which the plant roots take up and the nutrients do not get into the upper water column which means less fish issues and less chance of algae.

 

[Aquarium guy person]

Is there any way I can increase my water hardness? I was going to my LFS and they were closing Down and had no Apistogrammas. The next closest one is really far and no General pet stores have Apistogrammas, I might just have a South American cichlid tank with bigger cichlids

 

[Byron]

Is there any way I can increase my water hardness? I was going to my LFS and they were closing Down and had no Apistogrammas. The next closest one is really far and no General pet stores have Apistogrammas, I might just have a South American cichlid tank with bigger cichlids

You can increase GH and pH, but this is not as simple as that sounds. It means having to prepare water for water changes outside the aquarium so you only add water that is equal to the tank water in parameters to avoid shocking the fish. Emergency water changes (and they do occur, believe me) are very difficult when you have to prepare large volumes of water before you can use it. And it can get expensive.

Aside from all that--there are so many fish that will be fine in your very soft water. About the only fish that will not are livebearers, some of the rainbowfish, and African rift lake cichlids. This is very general, but most all fish from South America and SE Asia (all the tetras, rasboras, catfish, cichlids, etc) are suited.