Stocking Help

[paulnwgb]

Hey everyone

Thanks for the great site - I've spent many hours reading the beginner section.

I have finally bit the bullet - and bought a Juwel aquarium (Juwel Vision 260). I've been reading up on fishless cycling and am going to do that. We started to think about what fish we might actually want to keep and got stumped pretty quickly! We've come up with an initial list - our main worries (that we know about) are will the barbs go after the Tetra and Platy? I read they are less likely to do so if in a group, so I'm thinking 6? Also not sure on the Red Tail Black Shark - my son loves the look of this fish, and we read that if we add it last, then it should be OK. Though I am not convinced!

Should we be adding more or less? Are we missing any 'must-haves'? Any advice really appreciated!

10 x Neon Tetra
4 x Platy
6 x Green Tiger Barb
5 x False Bandit Cory
4 x Dwarf Neon Rainbow
2 x Blue Gourami
1 x Albino Bristlenose Pleco
1 x Blue Siamese Fighter
2 x Cherry Fire Shrimp
2 x Blue Shrimp
1 x Red Tail Black Shark

Thanks!

PS: I am in Gloucestershire, UK

 

[anwhyte]

hi & welcome, i would have to say that the neons shouldn't be added to a new tank, even one that's been cycled, they tend to be a bit fragile & should be added at least 6 months after the tank is cycled and already stocked. I don't think siamese fighters do very well in community tanks, particularly with the tiger barbs. I'm sure you'll get some more advice on this forum.

 

[Wills]

Hi welcome to the forum! The 260 are a nice tank I really like bowfronts at the moment Few issues with your stocking plans though -

10 x Neon Tetra - as said add to a mature tank in a few months as they are quite weak - you might want to consider cardinal tetras as neon tetras have been mass bred and are very low genetic quality these days where as cardinals which are essentially the same fish are often of better quality and healthier fish.
4 x Platy good fish for begginers but make sure you stick to just males unless you have a plan on how to raise and sell on or house the fry and young fish
6 x Green Tiger Barb - get 10 in bigger schools their nipping and aggressive behaviour gets consumed within the group yet is spread out enough not to do any damage to any other species.
5 x False Bandit Cory good fish for tank but remember to get a sand substrate in the tank rather than gravel
4 x Dwarf Neon Rainbow - go for 6 as a minimum but more is always better but good fish for tank
2 x Blue Gourami - good fish for tank but often of a low quality breeding stock and can get ill - perhaps consider a different species of gourami like lace or opaline. Best way to keep any gourami species is in a trio of 1 male with 2 females - males have longer dorsal fins where as females have little like semi circles as dorsal fins
1 x Albino Bristlenose Pleco - good fish for tank well done for researching and not having a common
1 x Blue Siamese Fighter - I would avoid these for this tank for 1 they can be very aggressive to goruamis and visa versa - I would get a 5 gallon second tank and house one of these alone if you want one They also do quite bad in big tanks as their fins have been extensivly bred to the point they are not strong swimmers and in large tanks they can often get very tired just from trying to stay afloat basically
2 x Cherry Fire Shrimp - would be okay but could easily get eaten by a number of the fish listed here
2 x Blue Shrimp - same as above - but an option with both shrimp species could be to buy larger numbers that way the adults will breed more rapidly and you could hope that the breeding happens quicker than the species is eaten but I would perhaps consider these to go with the betta in a smaller tank perhaps?
1 x Red Tail Black Shark - should be fine in that tank with those fish but can be a bit aggressive at times an easier going fish is the rainbow shark and would probably be more predicatable in that tank. Rainbow sharks have all red fins where as the red tail just has the red tail.

I would probably do a stock list like

3 x Lace Gourami - 1 male 2 female
10 x Neon Tetra
4 x Platy
10 x Green Tiger Barb
8 x Dwarf Neon Rainbow
8 x False Bandit Cory
1 x Albino Bristlenose Pleco
1 x Red Tail Black Shark

Hope thats helped

Wills

 

[bassbonediva]

I'm going to put my comments/insights next to what fish you want.

10 x Neon Tetra<--I would recommend cardinal tetras over neons. Neons have become so commercialized that a lot of people are starting to have problems with them. Cardinals are till wild-caught, so they tend to be hardier.
4 x Platy<--These would be fine, just make sure that if you want a mix of sexes, do one male and three females. Otherwise go with all males or all females.
6 x Green Tiger Barb<--Tiger barbs are nippy little things and are recommended for species-only tanks or with other semi-aggressive species of similar size and temperament.
5 x False Bandit Cory<--These would be fine...you could even do a few more.
4 x Dwarf Neon Rainbow<--I would up the school to at least 6 on these.
2 x Blue Gourami<--Not recommended. Gouramis are related to bettas and as such are inherently territorial, especially the larger species like the blues. You'd end up with one dominant gourami and one dead gourami. There isn't enough room in a tank the size of the Juwel Vision 260 for two of them.
1 x Albino Bristlenose Pleco<--This will be fine, just make sure to provide it with real driftwood to aid in digestion.
1 x Blue Siamese Fighter<--NOT RECOMMENDED FOR COMMUNITY TANKS. I have very strong views on this and I will explain better below.
2 x Cherry Fire Shrimp<--In order to even see your shrimp, you'll need more than just two. Be prepared for them to become tasty snacks for most of your larger inhabitants as well.
2 x Blue Shrimp<--Same thing as the other shrimp.
1 x Red Tail Black Shark<--I wouldn't do it. I have a rainbow shark in my 29gal (similar to the red-tailed shark, just not as big or aggressive) and he terrorizes the daylights out of my tiger barbs.

Okay, so why I'm so adament about bettas not being kept in community tanks...I had a beautiful royal blue male betta. I decided to put him in my 29gal peaceful community tank with five platies (one male and four females), four male guppies, a featherfin catfish and a few otocinclus catfish. He was fine for the first couple weeks: he ignored everyone and everyone ignored him. Then, he started hiding constantly (sign of stress) and his color went from a lovely royal blue to looking like my 6-year-old did a rather shoddy job coloring him in with a blue crayon. I removed him from the community tank as soon as I noticed he was stressed and put him into his own heated, filtered, cycled 5gal tank. Within a week, he was dead (he stopped eating completely before I took him out of the community tank and never started eating again).

Most of the fish you want, other than the neons and the platies, are inherently nippy and a betta's long, flowing fins would be just too hard to resist. Also, gouramis and bettas are related, so they are not a good idea together as they are both territorial and inhabit the same water region.

 

[agusf]

Welcome to the forum.
I know the stage that you are going through and it is very exciting.
But As Ive just finished the starting process for my tank and its been running
for 3 months now, i would just like to give you some tips.
- do NOT go on buying lots of things that people tell you you need to buy. I made this mistake and I spent a LOt of money on useless things which are now lying around.
- LFS, at least where I live, are biased on that fish in cycling is much better than fishless cycling. be very patient with fishless cycling. there is never a moment when you are done with it. Do not buy products which say they have the special bacteria you need. they basically hinder your tank instead of helping it.
- choosing a fish stock list from online photos or faqs is not close to as good as just going to your lfs and picking out the ones you like and researching about them when you get home. your tank should be set up to the fish that you keep in it, not your fish should adapt to the tank. do not be tempted to buy loads of products from the lfs on the various visits to the lfs.
- Shrimp are very small, infact tiny. the only shrimp Ive seen big enough to be noticed in a tank and not be eaten by the fish is amano shrimp. they are much larger than cherry or blue shrimp
- by blue siamese fighter do you mean betta? because these fish are very nice fish but restricting to what companions it will live in peace with.
-some fish which you see in the lfs may not look colorful and pretty, this is because of many reasons, such as they are young, stressed, not nutritionally fed and many more factors, but in your tank may look stunning. for example, I bought a rare african cichlid called kribensis, and at first was sad because it was not as colorfull as it looked in pictures, but over these weeks has become VERY colorful.

and last but not least, you should test your tap water stats. lots of times they may be high in a specific factor, and this limits what fish you may have. e.g. where i live the water is high in ph, around 8. this limited me from buying german blue rams and cardinal tetras. instead i bought kribensis and swordtails.

good luck!

 

[bassbonediva]

and last but not least, you should test your tap water stats. lots of times they may be high in a specific factor, and this limits what fish you may have. e.g. where i live the water is high in ph, around 8. this limited me from buying german blue rams and cardinal tetras. instead i bought kribensis and swordtails.

Just wanted to say that fish can adapt to just about any pH. A steady pH is more important than a "correct" pH. Straight out of the tap my pH is 8.2. I lower that naturally using driftwood to about 7.6. I am currently keeping a German blue ram and an angelfish, both of which "require" a pH of about 6, and they are doing AWESOME! My German blue ram has gorgeous colors and is growing great (he was a 1.5" juvie when I bought him...he's now a 2.5" handsome young adult male). My angelfish has gone from 2" (nose-to-tail) to just over 4" in the two months I've had him. They are both thriving in pHs that are not "correct" for their species according to most literature, but the pH is steady, so they have adapted. Basically what I'm saying is, don't limit yourself on what fish you can keep just because your pH is "too high" or "too low." Also, don't fall for the gimicks like products that are supposed to adjust your pH. They will adjust it temporarily, yes, but then it'll swing back to what it is naturally and cause you all sorts of issues (read: DEAD FISH).

 

[agusf]

I know it is true that Having a stable ph is more important than a leveled one,
but i sincerily believe that it is unfair for a naturally acidic fish to be in
alkalinic water or vice versa. this is probibly a bad example, but I myself am
a south american living in cold north europe, and the air here is very dry, which
makes me have very dry skin, and thats not very good, even though I have
two water steamers in my house. to this we could refer a new world cichlid, who is
mainly an acidic fish, living in an alkalineic water tank, it will definetally be
a big disadvantage to the fish and slightly stress the fish out, making it lose its
colour. Now, I do not mean to argue the subject, but it is something to
keep in mind when choosing fish, or at least I think.

 

[paulnwgb]

Thanks for the advice!

After a 6 week fishless cycle that I thought would never end (thanks to Curiosity101 for some used media!), I am now the proud keeper of some fish!

I currently have:

6 x Platys
12 x Green Tiger Barbs
8 x Corys
1 x Pleco
1 x Rainbow Shark

I am waiting for 3 x Opaline Gouramis from the LFS and will be waiting a few months before adding the planned 10 Cardinal Tetras.

They've been in the tank now for 4 hours - the barbs seemed to chase one specific platy around non-stop when the fish were introduced to the tank. I read some advice on acclimatisation on here so I switched the lights off when I stocked and I think it's calmed down now. They seem to be just chilling out and slow swimming. Perhaps it's normal for them to be a bit more aggressive when first introduced? The corys hardly move but I think that's typical? The shark seems to have claimed a specific area of cover as his own and seems very mellow.

I haven't fed them yet - I figure I should do that in the morning?

This might sound crazy - but I am terrified some of them won't make it through the night!

Thanks again for all the advice!

 

[OldMan47]

Your opaline gouramis are going to grow large enough to eat the cardinals. The rainbow shark can also be a problem with small fish like a cardinal. If your cories are all the same species, they will move around quite a bit once they get a feel for the tank. As you have already noted, tiger barbs can be a menace to other fish in their tank such as platies but sometimes it will work out OK.