Stock levels

[Matt]

Hi All

I am completly new to the fish keeping game and need some advice. I have already posted a scratch problem on the newbie forum and it was a great help, so i though i would ask a more fish related question.

Being completely new to fish keeping I decided to copy the format of a display tank at a local shop, I asked the owner and he said that this would be a good way to make sure that all of the fish are compatible. So I got a 240 litre 4ft tank and started to stock it (Slowly over many weeks). My only concern is that after looking at this and many other web sites I find that some of the fish that I have will get much bigger and I am not sure if I already have too many.

So far in the tank I have.

2 x Red Rainbow
2 x Boesman's Rainbow
2 x Golden Severum
4 x Red Eye Tetra's
2 x Sicissor tails

We where also planning to add three or four Clown Loaches and two parrot fish. The tank at the shop is much more heavily stocked than my plans, but is it correct.

 

[cichlidmaster]

Hi Matt...........

First we would really need to know what type of filtration you currently have running to judge whether or not you tank is ideally stocked or not.

When you say red rainbow are you refering to Glossolepis incisus or New Guinea Red??

G. incisus....

This along with Melanotaenia boesemani and the gold severum will do fine. I am a bit concerned for the red eye tetra and scissortails.

These may be a bit small to house with adult severum. Believe it or not the rainbows can become aggressive as well.

To curb the aggression in the rainbows it is reommended to keep them in groups as they feel more comfortable this way.....say 3M/4F.

Rainbows actually do better if the ratio is male heavy!!! I have bred these on and off for sometime and find this ratio to work best!!

The clown loaches would work just fine in a group of 4-5.

IMO you would be better to stay away from the blood parrots. These are a hybrid (cross between a gold severum and red devil). While they are not to bad on the aggression scale, due to their grotesque body shape they can have some difficulties in swimming and eating.

You may find they become weak being housed with fish better suited to fend for themselves and get their fair share of food and such.

Let us know about the filtration and we can go from there.

CM

 

[CFC]

The fish you currently have are fine and are quite compatable (unless the sevrums decide to spawn but you can deal with that when it comes to it) and i can see no problem with adding 3 or 4 clowns with them into a 240l,the parrots however are another story parrot fish are hybrids which you will find most people on this forum frown upon,the are also quite aggressive and would soon upset what will otherwise be a rather nice community set up.

The rule of thumb to how many fish you can have in a tank is 1 inch of fish (not including heads or tails) for every 10 square inches surface area of water.

 

[Matt]

Thanks for the advice

The tank I have is a Juwel Rio 240 with internal filtration system (1 x Carbon sponge and 2 x Blue sponge).

The Man at the shop called the Red Rainbow just that, but after looking at some pictures it looks most like the New Guinea Red although it has a bit more yellow than the picture I saw. When you say to keep them in numbers of 3/4 do you mean the Boesman's and the Red, and now that you know my filter do you think these numbers are OK for my tank.

As for your comments on the Parrot fish I tend to agree, but unfortunatley my wife (The Boss) likes them. I will have to try a talk her out of it.

Once again thanks, your help is much appreciated

 

[cichlidmaster]

Matt,

I meant 3 males to 4 females of a given variety. Unless you have plans to spawn them a group of at least 6 of either sex will be good.

When spawning them it is better to have more males than females unlike most other aquarium fish.

CM

 

[Matt]

I think that I am going to concentrate on just keeping them alive to start with.