40 Gallon Long Stocking...help!

[christylee]

Hi! New to the forum, not new to the hobby but very new to community tropical fish!
 
I have a 40 gallon long tank. Dimensions are 48" x 12" x 16".
 
Currently I have some cichlids in there that I want nothing more than to get rid of. They're gorgeous fish but I hate rearranging things every time I do a water change to break up territories and make a long story short I don't want to have to get a bigger tank, I just want friendly, peaceful, colorful fish that will be active and enjoyable to watch! (AND will get along just fine with a golden nugget pleco, I want one of those for sure).
 
I know I definitely have to lower the ph quite a bit and ditch the abundance of rocks and get lots of plants..but what would be a good stock list?
 
I also really like cardinal tetras..I would love a bunch of those but I don't want a tank full of tons of cardinals haha.
 
Thanks!

 

[laurac94]

Bolivian or German blue rams are pretty nice ;-) the Bolivians are peaceful cichlids that do good in most community tanks, the German blues are sensitive to water parameters and are peaceful when they aren't breeding.

Your gold nugget will be fine with most community fish, they are gorgeous too.

My serpae tetra are fine with my other tetra, I just wouldnt recommended putting them with long flowing fish like guppies because the more dominant of the group do fin nip. They will give good bright red colouration to the tank and lots of movement.

How about some cories? Lots of different varieties and will add movement to the bottom of the tank a group of 6+ is best, have a look at panda cories or sterbai cories, they are my favorite ;-)

A big group of cardinals looks great, a they shoal together and the colour is amazing.

Hope this gives you some ideas ;-)

 

[Meeresstille]

I too have a 40 gallon long. Before I had Rummynose Tetras in there, otocinclus, and some neons, decided to get more neons and gave away the Rummies, got some pygmy cories....then the neons got neon tetra disease. Now I have in there some Harlequin Rasboras, and transferred my Kuhli Loaches from another tank over to this one.
 
Rummies are lovely schooling fish, and very peaceful! They would love the length of your tank. I should have kept mine! 
But the Harlequin Rasboras are lovely too, I do enjoy them as much as I enjoyed the Rummies!

 

[Wills]

I like the options above I always think a group of Spotted Headstanders are good in a tank like this
 
Wills

 

[christylee]

Bolivian or German blue rams are pretty nice ;-) the Bolivians are peaceful cichlids that do good in most community tanks, the German blues are sensitive to water parameters and are peaceful when they aren't breeding.

 
The rams are gorgeous! If I did either of those two, what would be a good number?
 
I'm thinking about, 
 
cardinal tetras
rams (either the bolivian or german blue, guess it depends on what my lfs has)
black skirt tetras
flame tetras (idk if thats the correct name. they're orange with red towards the back)
leopard long fin danios
some kind of guorami? maybe dwarf guoramis?
and the golden nugget pleco.
 
idk what kind of movement this will give in my tank, or if they would all work together, but I like the look of those fish. I also don't know how many of each would be best.
 
Thanks everyone for all the suggestions so far though!

 

[laurac94]

I currently have 2 Bolivian but I know alot of people keep them to one male 2 female, and I had a breeding pair of German blues but they died of unknown cause :'( I would go with Bolivians

As for the gourami, I had a dwarf gourami which hated my rams and I had to give him away because of the fighting, im not sure if it just depends on the fish or if this always happens, but I wouldnt do it again.

Also I would stick to 2 types of tetra and get larger groups of each. In my experience it just looks better if you are going for a display tank.

 

[fluttermoth]

I would avoid the leopard danios (they're really a temperate fish, and don't like full tropical temperatures) and the blue rams (a very sensitive fish that needs very, very clean soft, acidic water and high temperatures, and even then can be tricky to keep).

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Actually, the nugget is going to be the hardest fish to keep healthy. This fish is actually mentioned specirifcally in Ingo Seidel's Back to Nature Guide to L-Catfishes. He explains why so many people have so much difficulty keeping them healthy and alive.
 
They need pretty warm water and to have food available almost constantly. Most keepers feed once a day and this is their undoing. The gold nugget is an aufwuchs feeder and rasps algae and all the microorganisms living in it, off of wood and rocks for many hours each day. They need food available more than once for a short period.
 
If you can find an English copy of the above book, read pages 35-34 in particular.

 

[christylee]

Hmm...so maybe I'll stick with the cardinal tetras, and the black skirt tetras..and get some bolivian rams then. I would love to just have two rams as a pair (I think that'd be super adorable).
 
I found a cory that I like..its the Nanus cory. So I suppose I could always put some of those as a sort of "clean up crew".
 
I definitely want to try out the gold nugget pleco though. Algae tends to grow rather quickly in my tank now and i'm forever scrubbing it off of things so that might not actually be a problem. Once I find a home for the cichlids and complete the new set up with plants and such I'll add the other fish gradually and let some algae develop before adding the pleco.
 
i'm excited! lol.