A New Tank

[dgwebster]

Ok, im shortly getting myself a new tank. started out using my sisters 2ft 20gal tank in December and caught MTS.

so im buying a UK 40gal tank at 48x15x15 soon. Im currently making my other equipment requirements and have sorted the most of it out, but having trouble on fish decisions.

it is a tropical freshwater and i currently run a community fish tank with:

6x neon tetra
4x zebra danios (due to 2 seperate incidents, the original 6 have been reduced, 2 are to be added back)
2x dwarf gourami (as the bleeding store only sells in pairs and i could never put two males in one 2ft tank)
2x african dwarf frogs (getting moved to their own tank next week)

so with this giant leap in size, i get all sorts of new possibilities opened to me. im looking to add 1 or two bigger fish, around 4"-6".

anyone have suggestions of fish that are well coloured that i could put with the above tank mates?

I was also thinking of adding an angel fish, though would a 15" high (subtract 1.5" for substrate fertiliser and substrate, oh its a sand tank too would this be adequate for an angel fish?

I plan to add some more zebra danios too.

any other fish suggestions, those around 2" would be great? Was thinking of bringing the danios and the tetras up to 8 or 10 each? let me calculate this:

10 Z Danios ~ 20"
10 Neon tetra ~ 10"
2 dwarf gourami ~ 5"

have around 20"-25" of fish space left there. go on, suggest a beautiful community fish in that 4"-6" range, and either:

an angel fish and small shoal (#~6) of (insert fish)
large shoal(#~6-10) of (insert fish)
small shoal (#~5) (insert fish) and second small shoal (#~5) (insert fish)

could do with some bottom dwellers, maybe otocinclus?

 

[fishfishfish]

get either some small form of plec,or 3 ottos.

rainbows will be nice (group 3+)
also maybe kribs or rams.(2 M+F)
a loach species or 2 may be good(group 2+)
raspborras are a top schooling fish (group 3+)
hatchet fish are top swimming fish(1+)
kuhli loaches are neat (1+)
catfish of some kind(S. Petricola are my fave and stay small m=3+f=4- best kept in groups 3+ for petricola and help eat algae)

any fish that catches ur eye?

 

[phlawed]

get either some small form of plec,or 3 ottos.

rainbows will be nice (group 3+)
also maybe kribs or rams.(2 M+F)
a loach species or 2 may be good(group 2+)
raspborras are a top schooling fish (group 3+)
hatchet fish are top swimming fish(1+)
kuhli loaches are neat (1+)
catfish of some kind(S. Petricola are my fave and stay small m=3+f=4- best kept in groups 3+ for petricola and help eat algae)

any fish that catches ur eye?

agree with the rainbows. very pretty colors that only get better with age

 

[dgwebster]

boesman's rainbow fish...

khuli loach or horsefaced loach - the latter is about twice the size, but oooh i love them. maybe get 2 khuli or 1 or 2 horsefaced and make allowance for the horsefaced elsewhere?

red stripped rasbora...

I really like the loaches though - the increase for the neons and the danios will increase mid and upper tank activity so having a number of bottom beasts would be better.

ok this is what im thinking here (numbers after fish is toal fish length):

2 khuli loaches(8 ) plus:

4x glass catfish (16) or
2x horsefaced loaches (16) or
2x twig catfish (16)

total 24"
====================
2x horsefaced loaches (16) plus

1x twig catfish (8 )
or
2x boesman's rainbowfish (8 )
or
4x threadfin rainbow fish. (8 )
or
2 khuli loaches(8 )

total 24"
====================


what do you reckon?

 

[fishfishfish]

did a little research and u can keep 1 horse faced loach will will give u room for a cat species maybe.
i liked choice 2 better.wider selection of fish

 

[dgwebster]

ok, have spent most of this morning researching these fish, marking them out in my books and printing out profiles from various web pages.

Straight away, im pleased with the loach pick and the sand substrate, seems the horsefaced loach will enjoy this and will help keep my sand moving, but can arse about with my plants in that sense because of their habits. although, i have also read in many places that if you provide plenty of hiding places, they will tend not to disturb the substrate so much.

I also discovered that I had made a bad calculation in fish space. a while ago I ran a poll on the most common "fish space calculator" and got:

(tank width x length)/10 (in inches)

This gives me 72" of fish space. Also, the tank will be over filtered with the filter i am buying

glass catfish are ruled out, i dont want to lower the water to being slightly acidic.

So, I have made the following:

Definately in the tank:

10x zebra danios
10x neon tetras
2x dwarf gouramis

Possible:

1x Horsefaced loach
2x Khuli loach
4x Threadfin rainbowfish
4x Red striped rasbora
1 xClown Pleco

or

1x Twig catfish
2x Khuli loach
4x Threadfin rainbowfish
4x Red striped rasbora
1x Clown Pleco

or

3x Khuli loach
6x Threadfin rainbowfish
4x Red striped rasbora
1x Clown Pleco


All options are slightly over the ideal average maximum for fish in the tank although as most of them are small shoaling fish and the tank will be over filtered, im not too worried about being slightly over stocked.

 

[bex1]

hey i reckon the 3rd option -
3x Khuli loach
6x Threadfin rainbowfish
4x Red striped rasbora
1x Clown Pleco
would be best.
goodluck x x x x x

 

[dgwebster]

got to admit, its between option 1 and 3 for me personally. I still like the idea of the horsefaced loachfor helping the sand keeping stirred, but again, would cause problems with plants. then agian, so would be me with a stick lol. I think ultimately, I may end up making my decision based on what i can get locally. which I also feel is a bad way to decide on fish.