40 Gal (150 L) Community

[tophat665]

Greetings all. I recently cleared out a 40 long (48"x12"x16" - that's 150 litres and 120x30x40 for those who must decimalize things ) and returned from an auction with, among other things, a bag of six young Pelvicachromis taeniatus and another of 2 pairs of Aphyosemion striatum.

Now, the taeniatus went into the 40 long (Sand bottom, pair of good sized sponge filters, caves, driftwood, some plants now, and will continue to plant with culls and trimmings until I get some good jungley action going). The six of them are rattling around in there like so many kidney beans in a bass drum. I was thinking that the striatum are relatively peacful for Killies, and might make good tankmates once they have given me a spawn or 2 in the 10 gallon (40 l) they're in. Also, this tank is under 64 watts of 6500K lignt from a pair of T8s. It gets a certain amount of algae. I'm split on whether to put a small shoal of ottos (say 4 to 5) or a single albino bristlenosed pleco in there to keep it sparkly clean.

Finally, with the cichlids on the bottom, the killies on the top, and the loricarids (whichever) on the side, I think a shoal of something or another in the midwater - peaceful, non-nippy, non fry eating, yet robust enough that a killie conniption won't discomfit - would be nice. Some that come to mind: Emerald Eye Rasbora, Orange Hatchet Rasbora, Head and Tail Light Tetra, Glowlight Tetra, Black Neon Tetra, Flame (Von Rio) tetra, Danio choprae, Black Ruby Barb, Odessa Barb, Spotted headstander. I'm not sure that any of these fit the bill, so your advice is appreciated. I know next to nothing about the ffirst two (emerald eye and orange hatchet rasborae), only that they have started to appear in my local fish store recently and look appealing and relatively peaceful.

 

[Davo86]

Hi, As you stated you don't really want anything too nippy with the delicate killis so I would discount the two barb species,
I'd also say it would be a 50/50 whether the danios and flame tetras work as they can bth be quite nippy and the danios being very quick swimmers may stress and harass the killis

The rest of the list looks fine and personally if you have those rasbora species available to you then i would definitely go for a couple of shoals of them, I also do like black neons and think they would also look very nice in a good sized shoal.

 

[tophat665]

Thanks, Davo! Much Appreciated.

Anyone else have thoughts? I'm not getting much traction with this anywhere I have posted, so let me lay out the questions:

1. Will Killies (Specifically Red Lined Killies, Aphyosemion striatum) mix with Kribs (Specifically Pv. taeniatus)

2. If so, are ottos a robust enough algae eater for this situation or do I need to go for Clown or Bristlenosed Plecos (or possibly one of the giant ottos.)

3. Regardless, does anyone have anything to say about Emerald Eye or Orange Hatchet Rasboras as possible dithers in this tank?

4. If neither of those work as dithers, howsabout Danio choprae? Praecox Rainbows (may be too rambunctious for the killies)? Spotted Headstanders (Spend too much time near the bottom to dither effectively, nu? Never kept them, so not familiar)?

5. Failing that, What's a good schooling fish for this set up? Black Neons? Lemon Tetras? Glowlights? Pencilfish? I'd prefer smaller over larger as well as non-nippy yet unwilling to take abuse.

 

[pippoodle]

harlequin rasboras - excellent peaceful schooling fish - middle - top of the tank but mostly middle
javanese rice fish - Oryzias Javanicus - same again but mostly top areas of the tank - they're not nippers and not at all boystreous - they swim away when confronted - but not dart - they sort of just swim stroll lol - they seem pretty tough little fish aswell

for an algae eating plec i found pitbulls more effective than bristlenoses - pitbulls are less than 3" in length and like to be kept in groups - 2 minimum

 

[CKutz]

I don't know much about killis

but i have a male and female krib in my 30 gal tank. they can be aggressive little buggers..i came home from school yesterday to find my gourami's tail a bit tattered, one of his feelers shorter than the other, and my male krib had two slits in his tail. i don't know who messed with the male unless it was the female. they go at it every now and then.
that being said. the kribs don't bother my yoyo loach, or rummynose tetras at all, and occasionally chase away the swordtail.
i know they are given a community tag, but i 'd definitely try and stick to more robust tank mates, nothing too delicate.

 

[tophat665]

harlequin rasboras - excellent peaceful schooling fish - middle - top of the tank but mostly middle
javanese rice fish - Oryzias Javanicus - same again but mostly top areas of the tank - they're not nippers and not at all boystreous - they swim away when confronted - but not dart - they sort of just swim stroll lol - they seem pretty tough little fish aswell

for an algae eating plec i found pitbulls more effective than bristlenoses - pitbulls are less than 3" in length and like to be kept in groups - 2 minimum

Thanks! Hadn't thought of Ricefish.

I did think about the pitbulls. If I ran across them at a reasonable price in the area, I might go that way. (My reading on them suggests a group of 5 is the way to go).

I don't know much about killis

Yah. Me neither. I am hoping a killie expert will pop in and render their 2 cents. The other killie option I have is Fundulopanchax gardneri "gold". I have a trio in a bare bottomed 10 right now. My limited reading on Killies suggested to me that A. striatum might be one of the few that were at all suited to a community.