What Else Should I Add

[tlef316]

hey guys. my tank has been up for about 3 and a half months now. 75 gallon freshwater with lots of mopani wood, some rock formations and fake plants. (gonna start adding real ones next month) I've got a sand substrate. This is my first ever tank

current stock

10 Danios (zebra and leopard)
5 peppered cories
7 rummy nose tetras
2 german blue rams (1 may be a female, but its hard to tell)
4 clown loaches(around 3 inches long)
1 Red tail black shark (slightly smaller than the clowns and they are buddies so far)

water quality has been outstanding (havent seen any amonia or nitrites since initial stocking. nitrate holding around 10-20. Ph is around 7.2)

I'm planning on adding a 2nd filter and some real plants in the next few weeks. I'm trying to figure out what else i should or can add. I'm pretty sure im gonna add a few more cories, since i haven't seen them schooling all that much. Other than that, I'm sort of stumped. I know that I'm pretty close to full stock going by the 1 inch rule, but I'm pretty sure i have more room.

If i have the room, id like to add another school of smaller fish(maybe some cardinal tetras) and then maybe 1 more larger center piece type fish. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[SJ2K]

Nice schools (IMHO) are Cardinals, Harlequin Rasbora and Lemon Tetra

 

[sillypony]

FYI- the loaches will get very big (some sites say 10inches, with optimal care, even larger). I would be careful about adding more fish if you plan to keep everyone in that tank indefinitely- keep in mind that if you are using the 1in/gallon rule you need to calculate based on full size length, not current length.

If you are still looking for more- i must say the "sharks" and braver cats are a great addition. Also. I've got some long finned blue danios in with my zebra danios, and they all get along great... and the lfb's are gorgeous.

LeeAnna

 

[cuticom]

Clown loaches take years to get to their full size, they grow fast to 4-6 inches then grow sooo slowly, the ones I used to have grew maybe an inch a year if I was lucky. He should be fine with the loaches for at least a few years, and by that time who know, he might already have a larger tank.

I think a school of Cardinals would look great.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

FYI- the loaches will get very big (some sites say 10inches, with optimal care, even larger). I would be careful about adding more fish if you plan to keep everyone in that tank indefinitely- keep in mind that if you are using the 1in/gallon rule you need to calculate based on full size length, not current length.

If you are still looking for more- i must say the "sharks" and braver cats are a great addition. Also. I've got some long finned blue danios in with my zebra danios, and they all get along great... and the lfb's are gorgeous.

LeeAnna

Yeah, they will get bigger then 10 inches. I have seen guys, at least a foot and a half long.


Be careful on what fish you choose. Rainbow sharks get pretty big (6 inches on average) and may want to eat small sleeping tetras.

 

[PRW1988]

Watch for agression from the RTBS, I'd say a nice shoal of neon tetras would be good, mabye some Red minor tetras aswell, also, you could boost the numbers of the cory catfish and danios as they're always happier in a larger shoal

 

[Spooky76]

I would agree - some cardinals look nice or some tetras like Lemons, or Red eyes, which tend to be a bit more active. I know its been said but keep an eye on the shark, they can get quite boystrous at times with smaller fish.

Some nice little Julii Corys, they are only small but a very pretty fish for the bottom of the tank.

 

[tlef316]

thanks for the advice guys. i am aware that the clowns will get very big eventually. However, they are still at least a few years away from outgrowing a 4 foot tank. i will definetly get them into a larger tank when the time comes. As for the shark, he has been really good so far. I did see him chase a Ram for a second once, but for the most part, he has been very well behaved. He and the 4 clowns share a rock cave, and he has been very chill. Hopefully it continues.

As of now, i think the plan is a school of cardinal tetras (maybe around 12) and maybe fill out the cory school a little better. Id prefer to get a diferent type of cory, but i realize that still leaves the peppers in their own, undersized shoal.

Any other suggestions would be great.

edit: and when calculating the stock, i did use the likely future size of the fish. obviously, ive seen conflicting size estimates with some.

Shark- ~6
loaches- 24 (6X4) Id move them before they got bigger than that

Rams- 6- (3 inches each)
Cories 10 (2 inches each)
rummy nose- 10.5 (1.5 each)

Danios- 15 (1.5 each)