New Community Help

[Hutchy]

Hi Folks,

Wondering if anyone can do me a favour here. I’ve finally got the money and space to start up an aquarium. I’m a complete beginner. I’ll be getting a Jewel 125 in the next couple of days then going through the cycle with a few minnows. I’ve been researching for a few weeks and think I understand the whole set up and cycle things etc.

I’m now on to deciding what kind of fish to get once it’s ready. The below is a list of fish that I really like. Now I know that I can’t just stick all these together and the tank maybe wouldn’t be suitable for some of them. What I’m wondering is can any of you kind folks suggest a community that would include some of these fish and be interesting. And, of course, any other types of fish that would compliment the suggested community. Also, I’d probably be adding a species of fish each week so any ideas on the order I should do this would be greatly appreciated.

Cockatoo dwarf cichlid
Ram
Buterfly dwarf chichlid
Angel fish
Discus
zebra plec
jaguar plec
cuckoo catfish
rummy nose tetra
Neon tetra
gardner’s killifish
Rocket Panchax
clown loach
crown tail fighter
Threadfin rainbow fish
Guppy
Pakistani loach
Silver Shark
Red tailed black shark
butterfly fish.

Thanks in advance
Hutchy

 

[Tessla]

Jewel 125 liter, correct? That would work out to about 33 US gallons.

Some of your list is too agressive or grows too large for your tank, you can rule out these guys right now:

Angelfish - too big unless you wanted to keep one or two angelfish with no other fish in the tank, but even that would be pushing it a bit
Discus - much too big and are picky about their water conditions, not to mention expensive fish
Cuckoo catfish - gets a bit large for a tank of your size
Clown loach - gets very large and requires lots of friends of the same species
Pakistani loach - not quite so large as the clown loach, but still too large for your tank and requires lots of friends
Silver shark - foot long schooling fish, you'd need a much bigger tank for these guys
Red tailed black shark - large fish that needs a 55 gallon minimum and very agressive

Some others you may want to rule out for other reasons:

Cichlids - I'm not terribly familiar with cichlids, but as a general rule they're territorial so you'll have to be careful with tankmates. I know several posters on this forum keep rams in community tanks with no trouble.
Zebra plec - They're grand fish, but have you seen the price tag on these guys? You'll want to keep at least three together, and at a couple hundred dollars a fish, that would get expensive very quickly. I'd avoid these until you've gotten your feet wet a bit and are comfortable keeping fish.
Jaguar plec - never heard of this one and it doesn't come up in any searches, do you have another common name for it? There's a good chance that it's a large pleco unsuitable for your tank, you'll want to stay under 3".more.
Crown tail fighter - bettas aren't always good community fish. They can't be kept with fin nippers (most tetras) or other brightly colored fish (gouramis, fancy guppies, etc.) If you went with females, you could easily keep a group in a community tank but I'd avoid the males.
African butterfly fish - a predator that will munch on small fish and nip at other surface dwellers. If kept with bottom dwellers, you'd be fine.

Somebody can correct me if I'm wrong as I've never kept them, but I believe killifish would be fine in a community tank as would the others on your list. Since you seem to be interested in plecos and loaches, I'd suggest looking through Planet Catfish and Loaches Online for some suitable species for your tank. I'd stay under 3", especially with loaches as they'll need to be kept in a group of at the very least three or four. Botia striata, Acanthocobitis botia and Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki, as well as kuhli loaches should all be suitable for your tank.

I'd go with a species of centerpiece fish like the killifish, rams, african butterfly fish or a gourami of some sort, a group of bottom feeders or a single pleco and a group of small schooling fish if your centerpiece fish won't eat them.

 

[Rillan]

Yeh the Guppy and Neon Tetra are brillient begginer fish. The guppy is a very hard fish and wont die easily but at the same time they will mate ALOT! But you have no reason to worry about that, either heavily plant your tank or get a breeding net/trap. And the Neons while not being very strong fish they look billient in groups of 6 or more because of the colours. They do make a tasty meal for other fish so becareful and reserch what you will buy after that.

I would also recommend getting 3 Catfish because they are wicked at cleaning up the bed of your tank. And maybe some Mollies. Once gain Mollies are very hard fish and wont die easily.

You selection was nice but as Tessla said you selected the violent fish that would rip eachover to shreds. Always reserch compatability before you buy new fish.



Happy to help

 

[Tessla]

I wouldn't actually recommend mollies as they do better in brackish water, platys and swordtails are fine for freshwater communities though. Also, careful with the catfish, corydoras cats are great for community tanks but a lot of other species are large carnivores when fully grown.