40 Gallons... Stocking Advice?

[Soupy97]

So I have a 40 gallon breeder tank (well planted) and I am wondering what to stock it with. (I have an eheim 2213)
 
I have white sand as the substrate and a couple pieces of driftwood.
 
I know that I am going to have 2 keyhole cichlids for sure. This is what I have thought of so far:
 
2x Keyhole Cichlids
2x Swordtails
1x Bolivian Ram
1x Paradise Fish
1x BN Pleco
5x Spotted Cories
8x Harlequin Rasboras
 
I am open to any suggestions. Other fish I am interested in are tiger barbs, rainbowfish, and maybe other gouramis too.
 
I want to have a good mix of size and color between the fish.
 
Any advice?

 

[draxis]

South American Puffers!

 

[ncguppy830]

hmm maybe more rasboras to create a really big school?

 

[wrightt3]

I'd forget about the paradise fish.
They are extremely aggressive and will probably rip the eyes out of your other fish

 

[ncguppy830]

the above is true although there not extremly aggresive its best that they be kept with fish of the same size and same semi agression as there own.

 

[Soupy97]

Ok I will forget the paradise fish then. I like the idea of the south American puffer but I am restricted to what I can get at my LFS and I have never seen those before.
 
Would I be able to drop the rasbora school to 5 and add 5 tiger barbs or is that looking for problems?

 

[ncguppy830]

lower the amount of tigers and higher the amount of fin nipping.

 

[wrightt3]

I'd stick to something like this:
-2 keyholes
-10 harlequins/barbs
-10 cories
-1 BNP
-2 swordails
Puffers are great fish but are only really suitable for species tanks. I  would decide if you want barbs or harlequins and just keep 1 large shoal.

 

[Soupy97]

Alright I really like that suggestion but I might bring the cories down to 7 and keep the bolivian ram. So:
 
2 Keyholes
10 Tiger Barbs
7 Cories
1 BN Pleco
2 Swordtails
1 Bolivian Ram
 
I don't need to worry about overstocking with this? Or too much tiger barb aggression?

 

[wrightt3]

Sounds fine to me.
Keyholes are probably one of the most peaceful cichllids going so there will very few problems from them. Rams are fairly peaceful too. Your tiger barbs should be okay but watch them with your swordtails.
Also you may want to up the number of swordtails to 3 because you should keep them in a 1: 2 male to female ratio.
So...
2 keyholes
1 ram
10 tiger barbs
6-7 cories
3 swordtails (1 male, 2 females)
1 bristlenose

 

[Soupy97]

Alright that sounds great! Thanks for the help.

 

[Soupy97]

I went to the store to pick up the new fish and I saw six Odessa barbs so I ended up buying them.
Im going to do the same setup but instead of the tiger barbs i'm going to go with 10 Odessa barbs. Their color is amazing.

 

[ncguppy830]

ok good now post some pics!