Stocking:no Discus - Can I Have My Saps Then Please?

[jua]

Hi
I have a 55L tank basically 60cmx30x30
Tropical set-up with a plec and handful of neons
Am almost thru the cycle and went to my LFS enquiring about discus.
They said I could have a pair of small ones with a pair of South American Puffers too.
I came on here enquiring about the Discus and you guys have pointed out my tank is far too small.
So what about the puffers then ?
Could I still have those ?

Can anyone also tell me what fish I could have instead of the discus ? Was after something with colour thats not too small - I was thinking along the lines of Angels perhaps ? altho do u think the puffers would go for the Angel fins ? I have had Angels before in a 3 foot tank - and loved just sitting watching them slowly swimming along.

Sorry for the tirade of questions

 

[jua]

just double-checked the height. its 38cm

 

[coldcazzie]

personally I would say that angels would get too big for a tank that size - they'd be ok while little but once they grew you'd need to either rehome them or buy a bigger tank.

there are other options - a pair of rams might fit well in a tank that size, and would add colour. or some honey gouramis perhaps?

why not look through the species index to get some ideas?

 

[crazychris]

I think 60cm is only 2ft long so not big enough for angels when they grow bigger.

 

[Davo86]

Hi,
I'm afraid the tank is too small for Angels,

You could have a dwarf puffer setup or a red eye puffer setup
or convert it to brackish for a Figure 8 puffer and possibly a few bumblebee gobys (depending on filtration)

SAPs also get too big and are far too active for a 55litre tank

 

[Wills]

Hi
I have a 55L tank basically 60cmx30x30
Tropical set-up with a plec and handful of neons
Am almost thru the cycle and went to my LFS enquiring about discus.
They said I could have a pair of small ones with a pair of South American Puffers too.
I came on here enquiring about the Discus and you guys have pointed out my tank is far too small.
So what about the puffers then ?
Could I still have those ?

Can anyone also tell me what fish I could have instead of the discus ? Was after something with colour thats not too small - I was thinking along the lines of Angels perhaps ? altho do u think the puffers would go for the Angel fins ? I have had Angels before in a 3 foot tank - and loved just sitting watching them slowly swimming along.

Sorry for the tirade of questions

Hi there welcome to the forum. I know what its like to get your hopes up for your first tank with the really amazing fish that some LFS will promise you but unfortunately these fish seem to be quite unsuitable for your tank. As said the Discus will get too large for your tank and though when the LFS sell you them they are small they do grow and do get large both in length and height. I think the same for the angelfish as well they need a tank of around 29 gallons minimum and at least 18 inches tall.

With the SAPs again I think these get too big for your tank I looked at getting some puffers for a tank of a similar size to yours and I looked away from the SAPs and got some red eye red tails but even now though these are a 2 inch fish I want to get them a bigger tank ASAP because they are soooo active. I would stay away from the puffers IMO as many of the smaller ones are unsuitable for community life.

As for other cichlids you could think of like Coldcazzie said how about some rams - google electric blue rams and see what you think. There are many other dwarf cichlids as well such as the apistogramas like apisto cacatuoides, aggazi or trifastica there are hundreds of other apistos as well just depends on what you can find. I think some Nannacara species would do well in your tank as well such as Nannacara Annomala (sp) the golden dwarf acara.

One other fish that worries me is you say you have a plec and while there are many plecs that are suitable in a 20 gallon tank the common plec is not these can get to 2ft but are regularly mis sold as suitable for small tanks and if your LFS will sell you discus and SAPs for your tank Im a bit worried that this is the case again here.

One more bit of advice for you would be to maybe change your LFS if you can, it sounds to me that they want to make money rather than trade responsibly. They can do this in 2 ways from you buying the discus and the SAPs ultimatly they would need a bigger tank - so you buy a bigger tank from them or you would give them the adult fish and then they can sell them on for a heft profit some adult discus are easily worth over £50 and much more depending on strain and quality!

Hope this has helped Wills

 

[jua]

Wills
I have found your post extremely useful and I shall definitely look into what you have suggested here..
I am as yet undecided about the fish that I shall select at the moment.

I agree about your advice re: my LFS. The one i was referring to in my post is a branch of Maidenhead A!! Although I have 2 others in the vicinity but the 2nd one had loadsa dead fish in their tanks one morning - so has put me off - plus they tried to sell me a crab once - which i now know would have been very difficult to look after. Not a red crab - the larger type. The 3rd one has a very 'standoff'-ish attitude which i was uncomfortable around. Interestingly enough there's a P@H round here which i have deliberately avoided - but they were by far the friendliest and most helpful I have found !

I have now won a new tank on ebay which is a Classica Aquacurve one - Same size as what i have now. Shall be planting plants and sand over the weekend..after that some decisions shall be made!