Large 150cm * 150cm * 50cm tank (1125L) Stocking

[AXsmasher]

Hi, I'm pretty new to this forum so correct me if I have posted in the wrong place : ) thanks.
I am setting up the above tank and it will be quite heavily planted (I am very experienced with planted tanks just not the fish). I would like a huge variety as my family would really like "Lots of different species". I know it would be better of with only a couple of species but bear with me, thanks. I do know a bit about fish but I would like some advice from the experts : ). Also I'm not allowed to keep "big" fish hence the following.
Are there any problems with the below stocking?
Species:
10 x Platy (Xiphophorus maculatus)
10 x Sterbai Cory (Corydoras sterbai)
15 x Neon Dwarf Rainbowfish (Melanotaenia praecox)
20 x Neon Tetra (Paracheirodon innesi)
3 x Banjo Catfish (Bunocephalus coracoideus)
5 x Kuhli Loach (Pangio kuhlii)
3 x Royal Farlowella Catfish (Sturisoma panamense)
7 x Pearl Gourami (Trichogaster leerii)
6 x Bolivian Ram (Mikrogeophagus altispinosus)
2 x Kribensis (Pelvicachromis pulcher)
3 x Bristlenose Pleco (Ancistrus sp.)
10 x Congo Tetra (Phenacogrammus interruptus)
10 x Pristella Tetra (Pristella maxillaris)
10 x Buenos Aires Tetra (Hyphessobrycon anisitsi)
10 x Rummynose Tetra (Hemigrammus bleheri)
10 x Rosy Tetra (Hyphessobrycon rosaceus)
10 x Glowlight Tetra (Hemigrammus erythrozonus)
10 x Zebra Danio (Danio rerio)
10 x Golden Barb (Puntius gelius)
10 x Cherry Barb (Puntius titteya)
10 x Scissortail Rasbora (Rasbora trilineata)

Thanks again any help appreciated : )

 

[fluttermoth]

Could you post details of your water's pH and hardness, please? It would be irresponsible of us to recommend species for you without knowing that.

You have a mixture of fish in your list, some being hard water lovers and others needing soft, so you need to match your stocking to your water. You also have fish that occupy the same areas of the tank, and ones like prefer cooler water to others.

I would also advise that you're looking at too many species. As fish, in the security of a tank, don't really school, you're going to end up with a rather 'messy' looking tank, as the fish will mill around in loose groups. Most people who stock with a lot of different species end up reducing the numbers and have larger shoals of less species, as it looks better and the fish behave more naturally.

Is there one particular fish that you really want? You might be better off deciding your 'must haves' (water allowing) and then adjusting the rest of your stocking to compliment those, rather than going for the 'pick & mix' approach.

 

[AXsmasher]

My pH is 7 to 7.2, My gH is 10 and my temp would be around 24°. I would really like banjos and the whiptails, but any of the tetras can go : ). Also I could start up another tank to house different fish that require different params.

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[Byron]

I will assume the GH unit of measurement is dGH, not ppm or mg/l, am I correct? So 10 dGH equates to 180 ppm (same as 180 mg/l).

This is quite a large tank, at 1175 liters (300 gallons), though the dimensions are a bit unusual. I assume the height is the 50 cm (20 inches), with 150 cm (60 inches) for the length and width? A shallow but extensive surface area.

Shoaling fish (like the tetras, rasbora, barbs and cories) will as fluttermoth suggested need much larger groups to be at their best, both from their own requirements and from your viewing of them. This is aimed at the last 10 species listed, as the earlier ones (rainbowfish and neons) have sufficient numbers. Not all of these will work effectively together of course, I am being very general in numbers. In other words, there is not sufficient space for adequate numbers of all the species.

I see no issues with your mandatory banjos and whiptails...though there are none of the latter in the initial list--do you mean the Royal Farlowella as whiptails?

If this were me, given your parameters, I would leave out all livebearers (the platy in the list). The other fish, while technically soft water species (except for the rainbowfish), should manage as the water is not that hard, with a couyple exceptions. Rummynose and Rosy Tetra (which will likely be wild caught) would do much better in much softer water.

I would suggest increasing the groups to 15 minimum, up to 20, more for some species than others, depending what you narrow the list down to. [The cories for one example should have at least 20, preferably closer to 30-40 in this space. I have almost 50 in my 70g and some I never see except at feeding time.] I'll leave that to you, as it is your aquarium, and most of these species will get along. I'll point out anomalies if I see them in the next list.

Byron.

 

[AXsmasher]

All of your assumptions are correct, sorry for not being more descriptive/accurate earlier. Ill post another reply soon with my new list : ) Thanks for all the help.

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[AXsmasher]

New stocking list: What do you think?
30 x Sterbai Cory (Corydoras sterbai)
15 x Neon Dwarf Rainbowfish (Melanotaenia praecox)
20 x Neon Tetra (Paracheirodon innesi)
3 x Banjo Catfish (Bunocephalus coracoideus)
5 x Kuhli Loach (Pangio kuhlii)
3 x Royal Farlowella Catfish (Sturisoma panamense)
7 x Pearl Gourami (Trichogaster leerii)
6 x Bolivian Ram (Mikrogeophagus altispinosus)
2 x Kribensis (Pelvicachromis pulcher)
3 x Bristlenose Pleco (Ancistrus sp.)
5 x Congo Tetra (Phenacogrammus interruptus)
20 x Pristella Tetra (Pristella maxillaris)
20 x Zebra Danio (Danio rerio)
20 x Golden Barb (Puntius gelius)
20 x Cherry Barb (Puntius titteya)

Once again thanks

 

[AXsmasher]

thats meant to be 20 congo tetra sorry

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[Byron]

The only thing I can see now is the activity levels of these various species.

There are some very sedate and quiet fish here--the cichlids (both species) and gourami that can be stressed in the presence of fish that tear around the tank. Most of the shoaling fish are fairly active, if not hyper-active (some of them)--this is an inherent trait of all danios and barbs, with a very few exceptions.

I actually missed the neon tetra before when considering the water parameters, as they would benefit from softer water, but I think more than this I would hesitate to add them because of their quiet nature. Being small, this sort of aspect can have more consequence, though that is hard to say definitely. Neons (Paracheirodon innesi) are sedate fish that like to gather in a shoal and not swim around much. The closely-related cardinal (Parachierodon axelrodi) and the false or green neon (P. simulans) are like this too.

Aside from the neons, the gourami and cichlids might manage to overcome this, given the vast expanse of area. And if you aquascape it such that you have some very thickly-planted areas with lots of wood standing (sort of creating a flooded forest appearance with standing tree trunks, and branches) to provide non-swimming areas for the gourami and cichlids. I've never had a tank this large to experiment with, but I know whan I had my 115g five-foot tank I found that the sedate species had their "hangouts" which were always well away from filter returns and active fish. And the most active fish were Emperor Tetra and Lemon Tetra, but the other tetras avoided these guys. My sole Bolivian Ram, who lived into his eight year which is pretty good for a fish with an average lifespan of 4 years, clearly avoided active tankmates, remaining down among the plants. Even so, he owned this tank and he made that evident. One time he became annoyed at the group of Bleeding Hearts, and he was positioned mid-tank with the entire group in a huddle above and over from him, and not one of them dared to swim out of the group or he would charge at them. Not sure what had happened to get his annoyance, but I assume they were getting too greedy over the sinking foods he enjoyed.

It is always worthwhile to be able to experience first hand what one researches, to see it is relevant.

Byron.

 

[AXsmasher]

Okay thank you very much I think I will get rid of the neons and just leave as is. I was thinking of possibly doing a riparium or paludrium but if I did I would have to tone down the amount of fish. I quite like the idea of the sunken forest and I am intending to plant some areas heavily so hopefully this will create a haven for some of the fish.

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[fluttermoth]

I would leave out the zebra danios too. They really do better at lower temperatures than 'true' tropicals.

The sunken forest idea does sound awesome, and it's a fantastic sized tank; will you do a blog? I'm sure lots of people would love to see it

 

[AXsmasher]

Thanks Ill leave out the danios then. I might do a blog depends how much time I have, Ill see what I can do [emoji3]. What do u think about a paludrium? or riparium?

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[AXsmasher]

I think I might design it to look like a suken NZ forest because I live in New Zealand : ), and have some small lizards eg. skinks and geckos along with maybe some feeder insects etc. and some frogs however it would be tropical underwater with my chosen fish species. I know it wouldnt be a particular biotope but what do you think? The reason I would do NZ land animals is because of our importation laws concerning amphibians etc. However I havent decided yet so I still might just stick to a sunken forest without any land based fauna. Any ideas? opinions?

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[AXsmasher]

Sorry for all the posts but here is my final stocking I think:

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[Byron]

I will leave it to you to decide, but thought some photos of a couple of my former flooded forest habitats (just aquatic, no land areas) might illustrate.

 

[Byron]

In your latest list, I assume you meant the former 15, not 5, dwarf neon rainbowfish? Also with this species, it is best with 2 females per male, roughly. The larger the group the more you can even out, so long as there are a couple more females.