Newbie Stocking 120L Fw Tank

[ToxicAngel]

Hi,
　
I'm El, and completely new to this forum and to keeping fish and would really welcome some advice. I'm starting to get the bits together to set up a 120L (32 US gallon, 26 imp gallon) FW tank (Interpet Fish Pod, 120 Litre).
 
I've been reading this site for a couple of weeks now so I'm also getting the neccesry bits for cycling (ammonia, test kits etc) together too. I was going to use silica sand, wood and Java Fern, Anubias, Moss Balls, Chirstmas Moss for decoration.
 
But what I'd really like is some advice on is stocking, I'd like a nice passive community tank and these are some of the fish/inverts I've been looking at:
 
Neon tetra / cardinals ? x 6
Platy x 2
Male Guppy x 6
Endler Guppy x 4
Harelquin Rasboros x 6
Kissing Gourami x 2
Swordtail x ?
Horned Nerite Snail x ?
Shrimps Bumblebee/Blue/Green x ?
Bristelnose Pleco x 1
Corys x ?
　
Obviously this is way too much but I wondered what I could have. I'd like at least one group of shouling fish, some shrimp, snails and a pleco for algae control. But if you have any advice about numbers or could even suggest any other fish you think might work well, I would really appreciate it.
 
This is probably where I'll be getting them from as the local aquatics stores don't seem to have much choice: http/www.aquaticstoyourdoor.co.uk/.
 
Thanks for you help

 

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi there, El, welcome to the forum

Can you post the dimensions of your tank and whether your water is hard or soft?

Those two things will have a great deal of influence on your stocking. You have a few fairly big fish on your list (the gouramis and the BN) which will need a certain amount of swimming room.

There's also a mixture of hard water (Endlers, guppies, swordtails) and soft water (neons/cardinals, rasboras) fish in your list, where you'd be better sticking to one or the other, depending on the water you have.

 

[ToxicAngel]

Hi there, El, welcome to the forum

Can you post the dimensions of your tank and whether your water is hard or soft?

Those two things will have a great deal of influence on your stocking. You have a few fairly big fish on your list (the gouramis and the BN) which will need a certain amount of swimming room.

There's also a mixture of hard water (Endlers, guppies, swordtails) and soft water (neons/cardinals, rasboras) fish in your list, where you'd be better sticking to one or the other, depending on the water you have.

 
Hi Fluttermoth,
 
The tanks dimensions are W81cm x D42cm x H55cm and I have quite soft water, never see limescale around here much.
 
Thanks
 

 

[ag-au]

A helpful hint I have is to break down the tank in three chunks: Low, mid and top. Look at which fish tend to stay in which part of the tank. Like the guppies and platy are mid-top, so maybe pick on or the other. It's easy to overstock but if you break it down and choose which fish for which part, it helps them stay happy!

 

[Doomchibi]

I took a look at that website, and just so you know- you should try to avoid those "starter packs", if you saw them. I saw quite a few of them that had schooling fish being included in them by themselves or only in pairs, and one even threw in Bala Sharks (grow over 12", or 30 cm) with small fish. 
 
I second what ag-au said, aim to stock all levels of the tank. A school of Corydoras (about 6) for example would stay on the bottom of the tank, as would a pleco and the shrimp. Be careful with shrimp though, as a lot of other fish will eat them unless they have plenty of plants and moss to hide in. If you keep platys and swordtails together in the same tank, be sure they are the same gender or they will cross breed. I personally would avoid putting Kissing Gourami in with shrimp or neons as they may eat either, but if you really wanted some type of gourami you could do a Honey Gourami which is more passive. If you wanted a pleco, you should wait until your tank has some algae growing in it or be sure to feed it algae wafers, pieces of zucchini, etc or it will starve. 

 

[fluttermoth]

You'll have to forget the kissing gouramis, they're going to get too big (at least 15 or 20 cms).

I would drop the livebearers, unless you desperately want them, as they do do better in harder water. They also have tendency to breed out of control, if you have any females at all.

If you do a full fishless cycle, using household ammonia (which we very strongly advocate here), one of the advantages is you can stock fully (although we always recommend leaving a bit of spare room) which is much more economical if you're having to buy fish online (I buy quite few fish online myself, as I only have a couple of LFS I can get to, so I do appreciate your difficulty).

Definitely avoid the 'starter packs'. TBH, some of them are absolutely appalling mixes. There are plenty of reputable online sellers (Trimar, Kesgrave Tropicals, Rare Aquatics and Wildwoods all have a pretty good reputation) where you can pick exactly the fish species/numbers you want. I will say it is always better to try and source fish locally, if at all possible.

 

[fishncan]

For a docile shoaling fish, try rummy-nose tetras. They will mostly inhabit the bottom portion of the tank. In optimal water conditions, their faces are absolutely glowing red. I also like their torpedo shape as a contrast to other elliptical shaped tetras