Rebuilding and Restocking

[Eternal_Irony]

I seem to have has really bad luck with my tank at the minute. The filter died while I was away for the weekend and I ended up loosing a number of my tetras to what looked like a bacterial outbreak, but seemed to finish them off in 24 / 48 hours and bba started appearing on some of the plants.
I've got everyone that is left looking good and the tank has been stable for a month now, just a couple of leaves left with a bit of dead pink bba, but it's looking very empty, so i'm considering my re-stocking options for in another month or two when i'm sure everything is back to normal.
Current residents are
1 x Male Angel
1 x Green Dragon Bristlenose
5 x Sterbai Cories
4 x Otos
4 x Diamond Tetra

My current plan is to add
6 x Diamond Tetra (back up to a school of 10)
6 x Boesemans Rainbow Fish

Any advice or recommendations on stocking and school numbers is massively appreciated. Aq advisor puts me at 75% stocking with the additional fish which is about where I like to be.

Tank is a planted, low tech 340l and the angel is typically bad tempered and chases everything (hence the planting)

 

[anewbie]

A lot of people like the rainbow but i'm not a fan of them; also your sterbai would appreciate 5 more friends to play with.

 

[Wills]

Hi sorry to hear about your losses! Always tough when things go south but well done for getting on top of it and things back up and running - not easy, big achievement

In terms of adding the fish just spotted the 340 litre size so that good for all the fish you've mentioned but the Boesemani Rainbows are quite a hardwater fish and the rest of your fish are softwater - whats your tap water like? If you dont have a test kit you should be able to get it off your water companies website.

WIlls

 

[seangee]

Agree on the water requirements for rainbows. They do not do well in soft acidic water, and everything else on your list does. I also agree with adding more sterbai - but in a tank that size I would be thinking another 15 or 20, you will be amazed at the difference in their behaviour in a bigger group. Ditto for the diamond tetra.

FWIW I would consider an air pump or simple circulation pump as backup in that size tank. As long as you are reasonably planted a filter failure should not matter if you are able to keep the water moving.

 

[GaryE]

There is a myth about rainbows developing. M. boesemani was first collected at a pH pf 6.5. It was later found at a pH of 9.0. That's quite a range. M. ajamaruensis , from the same habitat area is reported to have been found at pH 6.4. People are really overgeneralizing about these fish. You have to look up water needs species by species.

There are many many rainbow species from many watersheds. I keep and breed boesemani in soft water with no problems, generation after generation. Before you buy them though, take a long hard look at their adult size. This becomes a large(ish) fish over its relatively long lifespan. It'll be a lot bigger than diamond tetras, although it is gentle. It may also dislike the high temps you probably have for sterbai. I keep mine at 23, raising it to 26 for the yearly breeding.

 

[Eternal_Irony]

Thanks all, I may re-think the rainbows. I just wanted something with a bit more colour.

My tapwater comes out at 6.8 and the tank sits at around 6.4 but the temperature may be too much for them. I keep it around 28.
I do have a circulation pump running, I had a dead spot in flow behind a couple of swords so I have it on a timer to slow the flow at night.

Reading all your advice I think I'll be looking at
15 sterbai cories
15 diamond tetra
4 otos
1 angry angel
1 green dragon bristlenose
That puts me at 74% stocking with aq advisor

 

[anewbie]

Thanks all, I may re-think the rainbows. I just wanted something with a bit more colour.

My tapwater comes out at 6.8 and the tank sits at around 6.4 but the temperature may be too much for them. I keep it around 28.
I do have a circulation pump running, I had a dead spot in flow behind a couple of swords so I have it on a timer to slow the flow at night.

Reading all your advice I think I'll be looking at
15 sterbai cories
15 diamond tetra
4 otos
1 angry angel
1 green dragon bristlenose
That puts me at 74% stocking with aq advisor

I'm a big fan of cherry barbs and Serpae Tetra; neither are require nor am I directly suggesting either but if you want a bit of red they are options. People claim Serape will nip angels but I've kept them with angels for years without issues - they are a much more active fishes frequently chasing each other than cherry barbs. Cherry barbs are a very quiet fish showing minimal movement perhaps a bit more when feeding. There kubotai rasbora - a very small green fish that will hang near the top; these are always in motion - though the angle might be tempted to eat them or maybe it is too angry to bother. Cardinal tetra are another attractive fish - that never moves - again an adult angel might eat them - they hang near the middle of the water. Some folks like black phantom tetra; i've never appreciated them. Black neon tetra are a little similar to cardinal but as adults will be larger - if purchase young are likely to be snacks for the angels. I guess there are another 100 or so tetra that could be mentioned - truth be told a good number of them would make nice feeding for the angel.

 

[Wills]

Typically an acidic ph can mean soft water but I'd still check but for now we could consider some other fish in there for sure how about a nice big group of Cupid Cichlids? They get between 3-4 inches (with the odd 5 inch specimen not being unusual) a sort of yellow/beige base colour but lots of iridescent spots and stripes and over the face and upper body, their fins have white seams and are really iridescent too. You get Cupido which is more blue and Wavereni which is more green - you also get Cupido Santarem which have red in the top and bottom fin. Quite a peaceful small cichlid that wont really interfere with your Angel in the upper levels of the water and at 340 litres I think a shoal of 8 of these would be awesome!

Wills

 

[seangee]

I'm a big fan of cherry barbs and Serpae Tetra; neither are require nor am I directly suggesting either but if you want a bit of red they are options. People claim Serape will nip angels but I've kept them with angels for years without issues - they are a much more active fishes frequently chasing each other than cherry barbs. Cherry barbs are a very quiet fish showing minimal movement perhaps a bit more when feeding. There kubotai rasbora - a very small green fish that will hang near the top; these are always in motion - though the angle might be tempted to eat them or maybe it is too angry to bother. Cardinal tetra are another attractive fish - that never moves - again an adult angel might eat them - they hang near the middle of the water. Some folks like black phantom tetra; i've never appreciated them. Black neon tetra are a little similar to cardinal but as adults will be larger - if purchase young are likely to be snacks for the angels. I guess there are another 100 or so tetra that could be mentioned - truth be told a good number of them would make nice feeding for the angel.

My own experience with serpaes is that they are terrorists. I had 12 in a large community tank and ended up taking them back - never again

 

[Slaphppy7]

Thanks all, I may re-think the rainbows. I just wanted something with a bit more colour.

My tapwater comes out at 6.8 and the tank sits at around 6.4 but the temperature may be too much for them. I keep it around 28.
I do have a circulation pump running, I had a dead spot in flow behind a couple of swords so I have it on a timer to slow the flow at night.

Reading all your advice I think I'll be looking at
15 sterbai cories
15 diamond tetra
4 otos
1 angry angel
1 green dragon bristlenose
That puts me at 74% stocking with aq advisor

The otos are a social fish that do better in larger groups; same for the angel, hence the "angriness"...

 

[Eternal_Irony]

The otos are a social fish that do better in larger groups; same for the angel, hence the "angriness"...

The otos are almost 5 years old now, they moved house with me and were in a previous aquarium, so I'm just letting them enjoy the time they have left. They're always out and about though and front and centre at feeding times.
The angel was a rescue from a friend who had him for about 6 months and he was fine, then one day snapped and ate her neons. My guess is he just got big enough to see them as food, but he's never hurt anything in my tank, he just chases them for a second

 

[Eternal_Irony]

Typically an acidic ph can mean soft water but I'd still check

I've just gone back through the spreadsheet I keep for my water test results to see what my last measurements were, I don't test the hardness as often as nitrates and ammonia so this is from about a month ago
Kh 7
Gh 6
Ph 6.4

 

[Wills]

I've just gone back through the spreadsheet I keep for my water test results to see what my last measurements were, I don't test the hardness as often as nitrates and ammonia so this is from about a month ago
Kh 7
Gh 6
Ph 6.4

Awesome love the spreadsheet!

Gh of 6 is great for the fish you are keeping, I'd personally stay away from Rainbows but above is correct they do vary around regions - plus a lot of softwater fish will spoil you for choice.

Someone else also mentioned that Angels are a gregarious fish too and an adult group of 6-8 would be at home in 340 litres no problem IMO if that was something you were interested in? Either get them to match the colours of your current Angel or take advantage of the different strains out there now like the blacks, platinums, blues etc.

Wills

 

[Byron]

The filter dying should not have caused fish deaths, given the tank volume and fish numbers, especially as you have plants. As for the bba, seeing this suddenly appear after a weekend is not too likely, it was already there somewhere and spread. This algae is caused by an imbalance in the light/nutrients. Did you leave the light on, or was it on a timer, or off?

Re the otos, after five years I would not add more here. Leave well enough alone in this case. It is one of the exceptions to larger shoals.

Re the angelfish, just keep an eye on it. I definitely would not add more, this is not going to end well if what you describe in its behaviour is the case.

The other species in your list in post #6 are fine, numbers and species here. The diamond tetra might nip at the angelfish, or might not. A group of 15 could well avoid this, just be sure they are all added together at the same time.

 

[Eternal_Irony]

The filter dying should not have caused fish deaths, given the tank volume and fish numbers, especially as you have plants. As for the bba, seeing this suddenly appear after a weekend is not too likely, it was already there somewhere and spread. This algae is caused by an imbalance in the light/nutrients. Did you leave the light on, or was it on a timer, or off?

Re the otos, after five years I would not add more here. Leave well enough alone in this case. It is one of the exceptions to larger shoals.

Re the angelfish, just keep an eye on it. I definitely would not add more, this is not going to end well if what you describe in its behaviour is the case.

The other species in your list in post #6 are fine, numbers and species here. The diamond tetra might nip at the angelfish, or might not. A group of 15 could well avoid this, just be sure they are all added together at the same time.

I have no idea what happened over the weekend I was away. The lights are on a timer set for 6 hours a day. Only my onion anubias had bba on and not much, just on the edges and a few spots on the main part of the leaf but I know what a pain it can be from an outbreak years ago so I took the wood with anubias out and sprayed it with peroxide and the bba turned pink.

My last couple of older lemons and 3 diamonds had what looked like fin rot, but all passed away a day or two later but none of the other fish were affected. I've never known anything like it. My nitrates had spiked when I checked the water after seeing what was going on, but a couple of days shouldn't have been long enough for anything that drastic to happen

I think I'll just look at increasing the school sizes of the diamonds and cories for now. The angel is already pretty big and I wouldn't want to risk putting smaller angels in with him