You!

[KayZ]

Haha well the idea is I get the biggest tank I can fit in the house, but everything from my current tanks have to be able to go into it. That's the pre-requisite as stated by my dear OH

I'd love to start a heap of tanks, as I know not all fish are compatible and I want them ALL!!!
But no go lol, so the one really big tank will have to do.


I already have one Honey gourami in my tank as well as a Bolivian, and I'd LOVE an apisto pair/trio, but my lfs only sends out what they have in stock at the time, so I could end up with a heap of males or a bunch of females.

Plus the cacautoides they have are $25 each and not being able to guarantee sex, it's a bit hard to justify if I end up with 3 males and have them all stress each other to death because I don't have anywhere else to put them.

What's the largest size community fish that would pair/trio up and be pretty for a 3+ foot tank?

 

[dbanner]

Adding 2 more rams would be good as the ram you have now will colour up more if given some friends again you would need 2 females, 1 male to avoid aggression issues.

If the 3foot+ tank had a good height, say 18 inches or so then I would of said get a group of angels, wait for 2 to naturally pair up then rehome the rest... Only problem is they don't tend to do well and there is a chance they would eat the neons you have... Really can't think of anything else at the moment. Think it may have something to do with the fact that's it's 5am here and iv been awake for 22 hours so far lol

 

[KayZ]

The ram I have now I only have because I ordered a mate for my other one, and he then coloured up, went really dark and died on me, within a week or two of getting the one I have now And the one I have now, is really light and barely has any markings.
I have pretty hard alkaline water, I don't know exactly how hard but we get calcium on everything with water in it...so I was thinking maybe rehome the ram and get a couple of not-too-aggressive african cichlids, who can deal with the water better? Having said that, I probably won't be able to have the tank I want AND have really brightly coloured fish

I have plants and wood, and sand as the substrate, and I'd prefer not to have to change that, I quite like how it looks, a bit more room for green stuff would be nice though and I'd just love a bigger tank and more active, prettier fishies

This is the site I get my fish from, Livefish and about the only place I can, so whatever is on there is pretty much all I have to choose from because I live about 6 hours drive from any real sort of civilization
Only problem with having them send my fish to me, is I can't pick the ones I want, and if they don't offer either male or female to choose from, it's likely I'll end up with too many of the wrong sex...

 

[dbanner]

Hmm it is very hard when you can't see the actually fish your getting. Your right in thinking in the ball park of African cichlids for harder water but there are not too many "peaceful" African cichlids. They can be labeled as peaceful but cichlids in general tend to have a somewhat boisterous side and can be very unpredictable.

I once had a firemouth cichlid which by many keepers, fish stores and various online sources was considered peaceful but in fact it was the complete opposite. Every fish has a different temperament and again it's even harder to tell how a fish acts or is going to act if you can't at least see it in the flesh before purchasing.

Although african cichlids prefer sand and hard water, they also prefer lots of rock that form natural caves. They are most likely. Going to destroy a planted tank

 

[KayZ]

Pics!!

Seeing this fist pic I'm amazed at how much the plants have grown in the week or so since I took it!!

This one turned out better than I thought it would, this is my very uncolourful ram

Nosey lil ram

 

[dbanner]

Looks very nice

 

[KayZ]

Ok well despite what I assume most people would suggest, I've added my fighter to my community tank.
He just seemed so neglected in his bowl and I felt bad for keeping him in it, like I wasn't doing enough to make him feel comfortable.
Lucky for me he seems less worried the other fish as much as he doesn't want to get in their way

Right now he's just cruising around the tank, and the only fish who seems to have taken any interest in him is the honey gourami, who I now assume is male as they flared at each other a couple of times and now the gourami just sits there and watches him like he's not quite sure what he's meant to do, before dashing to the surface to grab some air and going back down to his dinner.

The tetras ignore everything and the corys don't even care. My ram did a funny faint thing and fell on it's side when it first saw him but is fine now and cruising around the bottom like normal eating dinner.

Anyone else had success with fighters in community tanks?