Tankmate Suggestions

[SNicole]

Hello all! Brand new here.

I have a 36 gallon freshwater aquarium that I plan to house tropical fish in.

I am aware of how to slowly introduce fish and of the dangers of overstocking, so I'm good there.

There are several species of fish I'm interested in. I absolutely know that I can't have all of these in my tank, but I'm wondering which of these and roughly how many you'd suggest? Some of these I know outright cannot live with each other, but for the sake of maybe different people responding with different tankmate combinations, I'm gonna post them!

The fish I'm interested in are: silver dollars, bala sharks, redtail black shark, neon tetra, dwarf gourami, platy, danio, angelfish, bristlenose pleco, maybe catfish?

If you have any other suggestions, please let me know! I know that the neon tetras must be schooled in groups of at least 6, the redtail black shark should be the only one in the tank, and same for dwarf gourami. Any other advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[fluttermoth]

Can you post the dimensions of the tank and the hardness and pH of your water, please? We don't like to recommend species without knowing those.

I can tell you that the silver dollars and bala sharks both grow too big for tank though.

 

[SNicole]

The dimensions of my 36 gallon bowfront are 15"L x 30"W x 23.75"H

I haven't set it up yet (we're waiting on the stand to ship in first) so I can't give hardness and pH info yet.

 

[jafred]

You could go with a gourami, a couple of platy's, a bristlenose and a school of tetras. As flutter said silverdollars and bala sharks are to big. I also wouldnt go with the redtail.
Your fish would appreciate some plants in there aswell

 

[SNicole]

Thanks, guys! I'll definitely avoid bala sharks and silver dollars. Do you all recommend an air stone or is one not really needed for these fish?

 

[jafred]

Air stone is always recommended. Its cheap helps oxygenate tank and is important to circulation. The air bubbles bring water from bottom to top of tank

 

[SNicole]

Thanks, Jafred!

Do you or anyone else have any ideas/recommendations of any of the fish I mentioned in my original post and perhaps rams, rasboras, guppies, or danios?

 

[Essjay]

The dimensions of my 36 gallon bowfront are 15"L x 30"W x 23.75"H

I haven't set it up yet (we're waiting on the stand to ship in first) so I can't give hardness and pH info yet.

You can find the hardness and probably pH of your tap water on your water supplier's website (unless you are on well water). If you find the hardness we also need the unit. Fishkeeping uses two units but water companies use several so we might need to convert the number you find.

I am aware of how to slowly introduce fish ......

This sounds as though you plan on doing a fish-in cycle. If you do a fishless cycle, you can add almost all your planned fish as soon as the cycle finishes. If you haven't already done so, can I suggest you read this http://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/ while you are waiting for the stand to arrive. Fishless cycling is far easier than fish-in cycling and safer for the fish.

 

[SNicole]

Thank you essjay. I read the article you attached on fishless cycling. I agree that's definitely better than fish-in. However, I was researching and was wondering if you or anyone else reading this has experience or knowledge on using SeaChem Stability and a few hardy fish to cycle your tank? I've heard it can take around 10-12 days this way by adding the seachem daily for 7 days in addition to having those few fish in there. Is this a viable option for me?

 

[SNicole]

Or, could I use sea chem and ammonia simultaneously and avoid the fish altogether until it's completely cycled?

 

[Essjay]

I would use ammonia plus the other product. I would never use live fish for cycling. If the product doesn't work or has been damaged in some way during transit (freezing, getting very hot etc) you'd be doing a fish-in cycle. And most of these bacteria products don't cycle the tank instantly, they just shorten the duration to some degree, exposing fish to ammonia and nitrite for a short time.

 

[SNicole]

Thank you! I'm going to try SeaChem Stability and ammonia once I get my tank set up.

 

[Byron]

Once you have the tank cycled and ready...to respond to your question about the fish species in posts #1 and #7.

As already agreed (I hope), Bala Sharks and Silver Dollars are out due to tank size. Angelfish are also too large as they need a group too. The Red Tailed Shark I would forget, this fellow can be downright nasty as it matures so it will seriously limit other fish options to say the very least.

Without water parameter data it is not feasible to be suggesting soft or hard water fish. But some other things to keep in mind for when this is known are the activity level of each species. Danios (like barbs) are active swimmers, and quiet sedate fish do not appreciate these in such close quarters. Temperature is another factor...rams need warmth, more than many of the other fish mentioned. We do need that water data though.

Byron.

 

[SNicole]

Thanks for the responses, everyone!

I will be getting the API master test kit when I set up my tank. In the meantime, I used Tetra EasyStrips on my water fresh out of the faucet before I used a conditioner. The pH was approximately 7.4 and the water was very hard. I will get exact measurements to you guys once I get the API test kit.

However, if I have very hard water (which is surprising since I live in a brand new apartment complex), am I limited only to hard water fish or is there a chemical/product you'd all recommend to fix that? I plan on using SeaChem prime as my conditioner but I don't think that affects hardness.

That aside, if there is a solution to my hardwater (issue?) the fish I'm now most interested in housing together are neon tetras, cherry barbs, a single dwarf gourami, a few platys, some corys (bronze/maybe panda?), harlequin rasboras, and MAYBE amano shrimp/cherry shrimp. Thoughts?

 

[jafred]

aside from the gourami all the fish you mentioned are schooling fish. Your tank probably isnt big enough for groups of all of them youll have to make choices. The barbs can be nippy and your tetras and platys wont like that.
Shrimp plus cories I wouldnt do and 100% any baby shrimp will be eaten by all your fish, the adults comes down to luck.