180 Ltr Stocking Suggestions?

Flute · Aug 7, 2010

Hello all,

I'll be setting up a 180 ltr tank on Tuesday, and the only inhabitants for a while will be 10 female betta, 5 assorted cory and possibly 1 female guppy.
I was thinking of adding two female Pearl Gourami some where down the line, as well as more bottom dwellers, but now I can't make my mind up on stocking.

It's going to be heavily planted with dark substrate and bogwood. My water is soft, and the temp is kept at around 26-27C.

I'm looking for something with quite bright colouring, not fussed on size as long as they'd fit in the tank ok and get on with the bettas, can be bottom, middle or top dwellers, etc. So what would you recommend? If you had the choice, what would you put in there?

Thanks for any ideas!

Flute · Aug 10, 2010

No ideas at all? :unsure:

Tank was set up yesterday and all my existing fish are settling in. Even though I seeded the tank with mature filter media, I'm keeping an eye on ammonia levels, and all seems good so far.

Would it be possible to keep some kind of cichlid with them? Such as these gorgeous guys? Linky. Or is that a major no?

N0body Of The Goat · Aug 10, 2010

Do you know what species each Cory is in your group? If you have five unique species, it would be rather impracticle to have five groups of five or six, but perhaps you could buy another say ten (making sure each existed Cory had at least one species mate, ideally two).

Cockatoo cichlids should be possible by all accounts, might be worth posting a specific thread about them in the "New World" section to get info from keepers about such things as aggression; whether they should be kept in hareems (several females and one male) or a pair etc.

Is there any particular reason why you are keeping your current fish around 26/27C? As a sweeping statement, quite a few Corys are just as happy at lower temps (but you need to find out which species you have, even if you take photos and upload them to somewhere like Imageshack for the forum members to ID) and your Bettas are just as happy at 24C. A temp of 24C would open the options of fish for your 180l and still be fine for an Apistogramma cacatuoides (seems 24C is fine, but something you can verify in the "New World" thread).

But first things first, keep a very close eye on ammonia and nitrite readings in the new tank, to be sure that the "seeding" media is taking immediate hold (and if not be prepared for 80+% daily water changes to keep those toxins at zero). If things are "spot on" for a couple of weeks, then perhaps get your first batch of researched compatable fish.

Flute · Aug 10, 2010

Thanks for the reply ^^

I have 2 albinos (probably bronze judging from how big they are), 2 peppered and 1 little adolfi. I know I can up the numbers of the bronze and peppered, but I can't find adolfi cory anywhere. So I'll have to keep my eye out for those. I was thinking of upping the other two types to groups of 5-6 each. I'd like some Sterbai cory too, but if that's max what I'd be able to have, then I'll just have to leave them for now :3

I've really been interested in Cockatoo cichlids for a while now, so I'll definitely do as you suggested and post over in the New world section

As to the temp, I guess it's just because I read that betta like higher temps. I've lowered it now and it's at about 24/25C

Thanks for the heads up on that!

I'll be checking the ammonia and other levels at least twice daily for a good while, and was thinking of doing water changes every other day anyway just to be on the safe side, although levels seem fine so far :good: