what fish do you suggest?

[GraemeK]

I have a tropiquarium 88 tank by hagen.

its 33" long, 15" wide and 18" tall.

i have it heavily planted and at present only 3 cardinal tetras one sucking loach and a filter shrimp.

I really want to stock it up now and would like to get a few more tetras for the others but other than that i'm not sure what to go for? i really would like some bigger fish to make a mixture. like garami's?

obviously i dont want the smaller fish to be eaten or scared nor it to look silly.

if anyone has any suggestions on suitable fish for top, middle and bottom please advise!

thanks!

 

[EddieW]

Get a pair of Kribensis for the bottom - make sure they have a cave to make into their spawning site.

Get some Rams for the middle/top.

However - having said that I am not sure whether the kribs might see your cardinals as lunch.....

Cheers, Eddie

 

[Ben1]

I think kribs would be nice but if they spawn they will upset the other fish all my fish are up i side and they are in a 50gallon tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ben

 

[catman]

Increase the cardinals to a minimum of 20 (they look stunning when in a large group!), then add some gourami's. I would also consider a ancistrus cat fish for the bottom (but then again i just love em!!)..

That will cover all 3 levels...

 

[CFC]

Any of the dwarf cichlids and corydoras catfish will do well in a 30g tank and how about some marbled hatchet fish for the surface,a pair of bristlenoses (ancistrus species) or a couple of siamese algea eaters will keep the algea down,oh and at least another 7 cardinal tetras will be needed.

 

[Pufferpack]

I don't have any personal experience with them, but Gold wonder Killifish look like a nice peacefull top fish (only grow to 2 or 3 inch) and any of the Corry's would make a good bottom fish.

a couple of siamese algea eaters will keep the algea down

...I thought the SAE's have a tendency to get aggressive as they get older?

 

[frazzle1211]

i agree with eddie, get yourself some kribs, they are stunning fish
also get rams, as eddie said, the colouration on them is great.
I'm a huge catfish fan so I would recommend either a plec of some sort, a synodontis angelicus, a synodontis eupterus, or a shovelnose catfish.
oh and it won't hurt to have a couple of corydoras in there also.


HTH

fras

 

[CFC]

Golden wonder panchax (they are related to killies) are definately not suited to normal community aquaria,they may be small (up tp 4") but they are aggressive efficiant predators which will consume fish up to 2 inches long,i have one which reguarly kicks the asses of a ceylonese green snakehead and a needlefish which are both larger than him.
I have had a pair of SAE in a 30g for years and apart from occassionly chasing each other have seen no sign of aggression,yet

A 30g tank is no way big enough for any species of shovelnose catfish and is too small for most synodontis species although if you wanted a kind of syno you could get upside down cats (synodontis nigriventris) which are quite interesting and only get to about 3".

 

[Pufferpack]

Thanks for the info CFC. I was looking at getting some for a community tank myself...not now.

Another good example of a deceptively peaceful looking fish...looking at them in the lfs they look so innocent

Don

p.s. I must be thinking of the CAE's that are the aggressive ones.

 

[GraemeK]

hey thanks for the replies...

i like the idea of 20+ cardinals.

what are rams and kirbs? has anyone got a pic?

garami's sound cool also what are your thoughts on small + larger fish in the same tank if their peaceful species? do you think it would look silly?

thanks

 

[EddieW]

There is a good page with infor about Kribs here - there is also a link at the bottom of the page for info about Rams.

HTH, Eddie

 

[LesGerber]

Nobody said anything about swords or platys..
Personally I love the way these fish interact with the others in my tank......JMHO


Les

 

[catman]

Gourami's will be fine with smaller fish (in fact most large fish prefer a shoal of smaller fish around, as it means there are no predators about..)

True SAE's are not agressive, false SAE's are...

Regards Kribs and Rams, i would not keep them together as i believe they have different water requirements.. (temperature wise..) Platy's, guppies, swords are all good community fish...

happy choosing

 

[GraemeK]

i've decided a shoal of 20+ cardinals is good so i'm going to have that but then i need to do some research.
I've had guppies and their not really the style i'm really after. I want some Gourami's but i'm aware there are a few different types to choose from? will any be fine or are some types better suited to a community setup?
i need to research my topical fish more! i'm after a good mixture of size and colour. i had mollies once and they took over! went mad...so i got rid of them.
i'll look into kribs and rams though!

 

[Alia]

Twenty cardinals would be awesome!
You also mention gouramis a couple of times, and I think they would give you the contrast in size, shape and color that you are looking for. What's more, they are great fish to have, IMO!
Wouldn't dwarf gouramis, with their blue and orange vertical stripes, be a nice and colorful addition to your tank? Plus, being dwarfs, you could have more of them, as 30 gallons gets small really fast when you add fishes that can grow to 4" to 6" or longer (depending on variety).
I have a 28 gallon myself with black skirt tetras and two kinds of cory cats, and I added some beautiful gouramis to my tank recently. The store called them "cinnamon" dwarf gouramis, but they don't have any of the striping of the reg. dwarves, at least not so far. They are a soft but vibrant orange color.
I'm not an expert, but my gouramis have been well-behaved and adapted to my tank in a heartbeat. The tetras are skittish and hide from me, but the gouramis follow my fingers down the glass and always come right up to inspect my hand and what it is doing in the tank. They inhabit all levels of my tank, eat everything I put in, including the sinking tablets, and even clean the plastic plants!
Many years ago I had a couple of blue gouramis, and they were my tank favorites, hands down. It wouldn't hurt to see what varieties your lfs has and visit the store a few times to watch them. That's what I did, and I finally added four to my tank. I wish I had 10 of them!

HTH and good luck with your fish!