Stocking help!!

[Paul_MTS]

My new 4ft is currently sort off cycling and once it's done I'm putting everything ion my 3ft community tank in there. which is mainly catfish, plecs and loaches.

I'm after top/middle dwelling fish.

it's a 360litre tank 85 uk gallons. i was going to have a nice big shoal of angels but I'ved just had a load dye on me and not sure about going back there.

I dont want want lots of small fish e.i tetras, danios etc.

any ideas...??

 

[sylvia]

Black phantom tetras (males display to one another beautifuly), long-fin zebra danios (or normal - I love 'em), rosy barbs (larger), clown barbs (for size + color), golden dwarf barbs (cute), harlequin rasboras (the best schoolers ) and of course all the usual assortment of tetras. Another attractive option might be scissortails or possibly a large tiger barb shoal. If you're also interesting in something for the upper layers, consider gouramies - moonlights would be ideal to balance out your large-ish bottom dwellers. Pearls, three-spots, dwarfs, banded/striped/indian/giant (colisa fasciata) or thick-lipped would also look nice but make sure you don't mix any gouramies with tiger barbs.
Rainbowfish are another mid-dweller you may want to consider. Also cherry, checker or golden barbs though these don't school too well. They are active and beautiful though. Giant danios as well but, again, not if you go for gouramies cause they're inclined to nip the feelers off. There's also live-bearers you could go for - swordtails might look nice and add extra color, as would platies. Mollies grow larger so you may want some of those.

 

[gwlee7]

Some fish that would be pretty with the harlequin rasboras that sylvia suggested would be pristellas. They too are a "smaller" fish that school nicely. The two types of fish together would be stunning in large schools

 

[Paul_MTS]

opps, i missed out the don't!!

I'm after fewer bigger fish really. Not too keen on gourami either

 

[DMan99]

Have you thought about butterfly fish? Google them to find out some more info, but they are a fairly large fish and stay at the top of the tank if thats what ru after. They dont move a lot and do stay right at the top of the tank but theyre incredibly interesting and unsual. IMO, look into them, it could be just what you want. You could go for blind cave fish which grow to around 4/5 inches, a shoal of 5 or so would look good. You could also try elephantnose fish, get a pair, theyre incredibly unusual and need very goo dwater but are a very nice fish.

 

[CFC]

Silver dollars make a great center display fish for larger tanks, i would go with between 6 and 8 fish, i would also go for a large peaceful Cichlid pair or group like Geophagus or Satanoperca species which will add a spot of "ooh" factor to the tank with their bright sparkly colours.
Surface dwelling fish pose the problem that most are predatory and can be aggressive, if your up for a challenge you could try something like needle fish; (Xenentodon cancila) or rocket gars; Ctenolucius hujeta, which although are predatory only grow to a very thin 12" so will leave tall bodied and larger fish alone, be aware though that these type fish will usually only take live fish or shrimp so feeding can be difficult unless you have a supply of small livebearers to hand.

 

[Paul_MTS]

Already have a buttefly fish in another tank DMan and think it's great...you have good taste!!

Not too sure on silver dollars they seem a bit plain...??

I like the geophagus though, I was considering them for my big tank. We have them in stock aswell.

I doubt I would ever beable to get hold of those gars, our other shop has a type of gar that grows to 40inch odd at the moment, pitty he's a tad too long!!

I was thinking of cichlids but didn't have a clue!! Any others that i could add?

Would angels (if i decide to get some more) get on with the geophagus?

cheers

 

[purple_drazi]

you can tell where my brain is these days and it's not on fish..

I read the subject and clicked on it because I thought this was a question about Christmas presents!

 

[Paul_MTS]

lol, i'll have a group of L46 in my stocking please and a black arowana

 

[sylvia]

Oh so now it's big fish lol...

Eight-banded leporinus - 6 inch shoaling fish, swims in all levels and is very attractively marked.

Red-spotted copeina - also 6 inches, preffers the upper and middle layers and has a nice red cloration.

Striped anostomus - beautiful color, grows to 7 inches and will school at all levels.

Ternetz's anostomus - slightly smaller at a max. of 6.5, not quite as beautiful IMO but is still attractively colored and swims at all levels.

Salmon discus - not large but a great middle layer schooling fish with unusual shape, grows to almost 5 inches.

A large shoal of some of the larger rainbowfish would add color.

Then there are a number of medium-sized and larger barbs like rosy, clown and spanner that will add a lot of activity to all levels.

And there will always be giant scissortails and giant danios...

However, I'll admit that these aren't realy 'center-piece' fish. They are more suitable as large-ish shoaling fish to add activity and interest while the truly stunning fish take over the tank

 

[CFC]

I just need to say that adult Leporinus are solitary fish and become increasingly aggressive with age, they are also notorious fin nippers and shouldnt be kept with anything that cant defend its self or be quick enough to keep out of the way.

 

[Talleyrand]

I have a 55 US gallon community tank and my favorite fish is an electric yellow cichlid. It's reached max size about 11-12 centimeters and lives peacefully with Silver Dollars, Mono's, Gourami's, and other cichlids.
Here are some pic's
http/gallery.haaser.com/electricyellow

 

[Paul_MTS]

never heard of those fish sylvia,I'll have to dig some books at and have a look...luck is that would probable never turn up locally though!!

we have a display tank at work thats stocked with rainbows, showing some great colour so I'm liking them.

I'll leave the Leporinus out then, don't want too agresive fish in there.

Very nich Talleyrand, as it happens I think someone has brought some fry in of those fish so I might have to have tyhem, I love the colours of them.

Would firemouths do well in this tank aswell? or too agresive?

cheers!!