more south american tank

[panboy]

im trying to make my tank more south american, plus i still have plenty of room to add more fish. i have a 46g.

im going to move my platies, and im hoping to have.....

1 bristlenose
2 angels
6 corys (3pandas/3 of another type)
5 rummynose

the problem is that that adds to about 5+12+12+10 = 39 inches of fish! which is pretty much all i can tank.

i like that setup but seems like my setup is kind of boring. i love the bottom with the corys and a pleco. that sounds great. but my mid and top of only angels and rummys, seems like it might be a little on the empty side.

any ideas? i could take max 2 corys out add 1 or 2 of some mid-top type fish. suggest anything. thanks

 

[modernhamlet]

Maybe you could start with that (or rather build up to that), wait a few weeks and see how the filtration is handling things? If all looks well, I imagine you could at least bring the rummy school up to 8.

Just take it slow and don't push it further than you're comfortable.

Great sounding tank, btw! Let us know how it works out!

 

[drobbins27]

each rummy doesnt need 1 gallon, you have room for more fish. You should get some rams

 

[panboy]

ive thought about rams, but tap water here is hard, and ive heard rams are hard to keep, and having hard water wont help.
ive searched and it says ideal is below 7ph and gh of around 10.
tap water here is 7.8-8ph and a soaring gh of 150, and more.

ill ask the local stores and see if they ahve had success with them.
if so, i would certainly get them, ive always wanted them

 

[waterwatereverywhere]

My new set-up is going to be very similar to yours. I'm planning to go for cardinals and rams instead of your angels - as you're saying, having a couple of angels doesn't leave loads of room. Depends what your 'must have fish' are, I suppose, and if you're building it all round the angels you won't want to lose them.

Good idea to ask local stores about the rams; I think lots of rams are captive bred and so in theory may adapt better, but not having kept them yet I can't speak from experience.

 

[ryan]

You have quite abit of space left. You must consider that the Corydoras and the Bristlnose are bottom dwellers that are usually less active during the day. Providing you keep on top of water changes and checking the parameters it would be fine to add some more fish. Maybe a school of Cardinals or Marbled Hatchets?