Need Advice

[Jamie87]

I think I want to get a 55gal or a 30gal tank and make it a freshwater tropical community tank...with sand on the bottom.

Would I use play sand? Like go to a hardware store and buy play sand?


Also I tend to really like a lot of the bottom feeders..like catfish, cories, and loaches...is having too many differnt kind a bad idea?

This is what I was thinking for stocking plans...
3(or 4) Clown Loaches (Which I have a 125 they could be moved to later on)
4-6 Cories
A pleco of some kind
A stripped Raphael Catfish
5 Red minor tetra
8 Rasbora tetras
2 balloon belly mollies
some other mollies..

I don't have everything down...but that's roughly it.

And I want a male dwarf gourami but how well would he get along with these guys? I've heard they are fin nippers.


Above is the plans for the 55gal..it would be different if I got the 30.



And I would want live plants..do they do well in sand?

I'm sorta a newbie to this.

 

[ox5477]

I use play sand from the hardware store but alot of people speak out against it. I just made sure i rinsed the sand very well, like for 15 minutes atleast until the water was almost clear going through it. But i guess a better sand would be pool filter sand....idk though. make sure you have a thin layer of sand though if your not putting real plants as anarobic bacteria will create pockets of bad gases that if go into your water, make your fishies sick and possibly even die..... but with real plants, you should be ok with a little thicker layer of sand as the roots will suck up alot of this.

I personally don't like tetras but they are beautiful when they shoal. With your clowns, yes, you can move them to the 125 when they get bigger, but just make sure you don't put to much else in the 125 so there is room for them when they get bigger. you have the oscar and the two tin foils. I wouldn't add anymore to that tank if you plan on moving these in the future. But beyond that, plan looks pretty good.

 

[Jamie87]

There is also a pleco in there..hes kinda big..so eash..would that be bad. He's about 7/8 inches

 

[ox5477]

No, I don't think they would bother the plec. I would just be careful putting to many more fish in. Your talking about having 7 to 8 12" + fish in a 125 gallon aquarium. Like i said, 120G is big, but when your filling it up like that, your making it feel very cramped. Dont take that the wrong way, might look very stunning, just saying, your doing a good job of picking some big growing fishies

 

[TammyLiz]

Plecos grow fast, if he's already 7 or 8 inches he has already outgrown a 55 gallon tank, IMO, and should be looking for something larger.

The mix you've stated would probably work at first, but quickly you'd need to move a lot of things around. I am personally a fan of making long-term plans for my tanks, and letting the fish grow up together, without the need to make emergency reevaluations when problems arise as they grow.

If you have a 125 and its empty, I'd say go ahead and start the clowns in there, and get a larger group. For tankmates I'd recommend large barbs.

I think loaches are wonderful, but if you'd like to keep them in the 55 gallon tank, there are other kinds that would be able to stay in there. Striata, rostrata, and histrionica are a few examples. And as I said about long term plans, I would build around them, and make sure you put only species they would get along with. Loaches are very playful so not anything to sensitive/small. Mollies are a bad idea with loaches since mollies tend to get sick unless you add salt, and loaches do not tolerate salt well at all.

If you want to go the other way around and build the tank off of another species and skip the loaches you could also do it that way. There are so many possibilities. The best way to look at it, though, is to pick your favorite and only add things that will live happily with them.

 

[ox5477]

Plecos grow fast, if he's already 7 or 8 inches he has already outgrown a 55 gallon tank, IMO, and should be looking for something larger.

The mix you've stated would probably work at first, but quickly you'd need to move a lot of things around. I am personally a fan of making long-term plans for my tanks, and letting the fish grow up together, without the need to make emergency reevaluations when problems arise as they grow.

If you have a 125 and its empty, I'd say go ahead and start the clowns in there, and get a larger group. For tankmates I'd recommend large barbs.

I think loaches are wonderful, but if you'd like to keep them in the 55 gallon tank, there are other kinds that would be able to stay in there. Striata, rostrata, and histrionica are a few examples. And as I said about long term plans, I would build around them, and make sure you put only species they would get along with. Loaches are very playful so not anything to sensitive/small. Mollies are a bad idea with loaches since mollies tend to get sick unless you add salt, and loaches do not tolerate salt well at all.

If you want to go the other way around and build the tank off of another species and skip the loaches you could also do it that way. There are so many possibilities. The best way to look at it, though, is to pick your favorite and only add things that will live happily with them.

I agree, loaches should prob just be started in the 125G you have already, except, I forgot, what size is your oscar already? If hes already quite big, he might think they are snacks so just be careful with that. Maybe the loaches arn't a good idea fter all....anyways, focus on making your 125G the way you want it, around your oscar, focusing on what will work with him first and then when that tank is done and your happy with it, then bracnh out to another tank. I made the mistake of trying to do three tanks at once....made my head spin....

 

[Jamie87]

wait...


Okay...what I ment is would the clowns in the 125 with the pleco be too much...so yeah..prolly then.

Lets clear this up a bit..
And I have a 125gal with an Oscar, a pleco, and two tinfoil barbs.

And I'm thinking of getting a 55gal.


Thank you guys for your input.

And my Oscar is bout 7 or 8 inches. So yeah..he's pretty big..and thats why I don't want to get clown loaches and put them in with him right now.
He is doing really well with the barbs right now..so all is good there. But anything much smaller he'll prolly think of as a snack.

 

[ox5477]

Check out your post in NW cichlid section and I gave some more advice on where to go with your 125G

 

[TammyLiz]

I just read back and see there is an oscar and two tin-foil barbs and a pleco in the 125? It doesn't sound like something clowns should be added to. I'd look at the 55 as a seperate operation. And add some more tin-foil barbs to the 125.

EDIT: OK I was a slow poster . I see you've clarified that already about the 125 gallon not being empty.