Rate My stocking idea (cuz i'm confused and bored)

hiya
could someone rate my tank stocking idea?

10 silvertips
10 bloodfins
2 Dwarf cockatoo cichlids
8 Oto cats


Gh: 6
pH; 7.5
No2; 0
No3; 0

Tank size:
3'x2'x3'
or 37"x24"x37"
or 91.44cm x 60.96cm x 91.44cm

47 US gallons/177.914 Liters

Yep its a great setup. You might have room for more!

I personally wouldn't put otos with those fish, I'd be worried they'd be picked on. Someone else would have to let you know whether those other fish might bully otos, I'm not totally sure. @Byron would know I'm sure.

Eight is also a large group, and while they do like to be in a group, they're also prone to starving to death if there isn't enough food in the tank. They're all wild caught, so can take some time adjusting to supplementary foods, and it doesn't take long for eight otos to strip a tank clean of algae! So however many otos you get, if they would be okay with the other fish - you'd need to wait a long while for the tank to establish before adding otos, 3-6 months, and a heavily planted tank with lots of leaf litter and some driftwood, to provide a lot of food surfaces for them.

I'd let the tank get really established, do a lot of research on them and make sure you have stones growing algae in windowsils, and foods like repashy for them, then start with a group of 5-6 otos, rather than eight.

Aquarium co op did a good video about otos the other day

I would maybe do 2 less otos (food issues), and a load more of the tetra type things to make the apistos feel secure

All the fish I have just politely swim around the Otos

I am assuming this is just in the planning stage, no acquisitions yet.

The bloodfins (presumably the species Aphyocharax anisitsi) are not good with sedate fish like cichlids, because they have a tendency to nip fins. The Silvertips might do this too, but with bloodfins it is almost a given. All species in the genus Aphyocharax share this trait, or worse with some. I can suggest some suitable dither fish for the dwarf cichlids if asked.

I would hold off on the otos until the tank is established so they have some natural algae to eat. If they are actually eating from algae-base foods in the store, that is OK, but most tend to be new arrivals and nearly starved, and without natural algae many do not survive. Do you like the otos as a fish, or jut thinking of the algae?

These fish require an acid tank your tank is alkaline re think it.

Byron said:

Do you like the otos as a fish, or jut thinking of the algae?

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I like them as a fish

itiwhetu said:

These fish require an acid tank your tank is alkaline re think it.

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The gH is only 6. Unless the kH happens to be as high or higher than this also, I suspect the pH of the established tank will be slightly acid.

Anonymous Fox said:

I like them as a fish

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OK, but previous advice still holds, wait to add them.

I like the idea but I think I might add that the last species you should put needs to be the otocinclus so that they have lots of food in the form of algae, biofilm and detritus, this will give them enough food to survive until you can train them to eat other stuff (i feed lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, and dandelions) once they are eating those things then it shouldn't be a problem to have 8 of them in your aquarium since they won't starve as long as you feed them some veggies twice a week.
Hope this helps

I put in your aquarium dimensions on an aquarium calculator , I think you got it wrong because my results were 134 US gallons!

I tried different types, but with the same results.

Animallover😍 said:

I put in your aquarium dimensions on an aquarium calculator , I think you got it wrong because my results were 134 US gallons!
View attachment 143996
I tried different types, but with the same results.

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i usually don't trust those sites since they don't take into consideration a lot of factors and most of them (at least in my experience) do their calculations on the 1 gallon per inch of fish rule or other similar ones.

It's not a stocking calculator. It's a tank size calculator!

Animallover😍 said:

It's not a stocking calculator. It's a tank size calculator!

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OH i am so so sorry, i read it wrong, please forgive me.