What Tank Mates To Get?

[RichyJ]

Hey guys, me again

Right, so ive redesigned my tank and have been thinking what new fish to stock it with. So far I have 4 different types of cory, some tetras and a male fighter. Below is my shortlist of what Im thinking of adding to the tank:

Freshwater Mussel.
Cherry Shrimp.
Panda Cory.
Hong Kong Plec OR Bushy Nose Plec AND/OR Steam Loach Lerveretti.
Paradise Fish (male and female).
Honey Gorami (male and female).
Dwarf Puffer (male and female).
Clean up crew snails (no idea which?).
And as a backup possibly Opaline Gourami (male and female).

So, what you guys think? Can you foresee any problems there? I dont want the shrimp to get eaten and also want to avoid any incompatible fish. Would you change the list in any way, adding or taking away?

 

[waterdrop]

You'll probably want to remind the members of the tank volume and dimensions. WD

 

[onidrase]

The fighter, if you mean betta splendens, will aggressively attack the paradise fish or gouramis, or vice versa. Gouramis and bettas never mix. Not to mention the overall aggressive tendencies of 3 spots (opaline)

The puffer fish will also shred and harass your fish to death.

The betta may eat cherry shrimp.

You might want to look into dwarf cichlids like Bolivian Rams and apistogrammas instead. But tank size does help.

 

[ZoddyZod]

go nowhere near the mussel.....all these ever do is slowly starve to death and then foul the tank as they start rotting. They simply can not get enough food in an aquarium setting to survive.

 

[RichyJ]

Tank is about 48" (W) x 15" (D) x 18" (H) - cant remember the exact volume, maybe 200L or so.

Ok, so I was thinking of getting a nano 8L tank for my desk, I guess I will have to put the betta out of my big tank and put him in there so I can get some Gouramis.

The Gouramis wont eat the shrimp?

Lol, the puffer fish are little terrors are they? They look so innocent!

I will defo look into Bolivian Rams and apistogrammas, thanks

Ah man, that sucks about the mussels Will stay away from them.

 

[RichyJ]

Will the Bolivian Rams eat the tetras?

 

[ZoddyZod]

Will the Bolivian Rams eat the tetras?

nope....but they'll have a go at the chrry shrimp.

 

[RichyJ]

Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlid is looking quite a nice option so far.

So an updated list:

Cherry Shrimp. (Other shrimp options?).
Panda Cory (1).
Hong Kong Plec OR Bushy Nose Plec AND/OR Steam Loach Lerveretti.
Paradise Fish (1 male and 1 female).
Honey Gorami (1 male and 1 female).
Clean up crew snails (no idea which?).
Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlid (1 male and 2 females).

Betta male moving to new tank before getting new fish. So tank will just have 4 corys and some tetras before adding above list. Thoughts please

Darn, will the Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlids eat the shrimp? Get bigger species of shrimp help?

 

[ZoddyZod]

Hong kong plec and the Stream Loach prefer cooler faster moving waters than most community fish, so I'd opt for the bristlenose.

Cockatoo may well try to snack on cheery shrimp - amano shrimp are larger and should be ok.

Paradise fish - can be very feisty (same family as Bettas), and I also don't know if one female and a male will live ok together (hopefully someone else will comment).

clean up snails - we don't actually need anything to 'clean up' our freshwater tanks......that's our jobs during weekly maintenance.

 

[RichyJ]

Pics of my tank are here if interested.

My Tank Post

 

[ZoddyZod]

ahhh I missed that you have a betta already.....that rules out the paradise fish. Quite a high probability they will scrap due to being conspecifics.

 

[RichyJ]

Ok, I hear what your saying - I quite like the bristlenose plec. I had two hill stream loaches in my tank before, and they seemed to be fine in there - but, I was thinking of only having one of the three from those, so bristlenose it is

I dont mind amano shrimp, I love the colour of the cherry, but I dont want anything eaten! I enjoy watching the shrimp, so a larger size will be nice.

Yeah, I was wondering about the paradise fish. I read somewhere they can be a bit aggressive towards tank mates. I didnt know they were from the same family as bettas tho.

Snails - I will just keep to the shrimp. I just wanted to keep the tank in check (as such). I still do cleaning weekly and monthly

Thanks for all the advice! I dont want to mess things up by getting incompatible tank mates. Im so used to having angels, Im a bit clueless with other fish types.

Zoddy - my betta is going to go into an 8L nano tank on my desk before I buy any new fish. So he wont be in the tank.

 

[m_attt]

gourami will eat the shrimp aswell

 

[ZoddyZod]

it's good to do all the research!

I used to take a little notebook to the LFS when I first started, write down which fish I liked, then came back here to ask if they were suitable.

 

[RichyJ]

gourami will eat the shrimp - ahh really? I had a pair of honey in the past which seemed quite placid, didnt have shrimp tho.

Yeah I dont buy in LFS unless I know a little about the fish first. Good idea taking a notebook.