Adding Suitable Community Fish To My Tank

[Loveridge01]

Good Morning All,
I as you can probably tell am new here; I am also relatively new to forums
I have had my tank for a few years now and have recently began to fix and upgrade everything I can
Added a handful of new plants and some silks for backing plants
I have a 24 gallon tank and at present I have these fish remaining
Some I had originally some were given to me when a friend stopped this glorious hobby
1 x Common Pleco - Original
1 x Rainbow Shark - Original
1 x Pink Kissing gourami - Original (Partner died recently after 8 years)

1 x Flying Fox - gifted
1 x Striped Raphael Catfish - Gifted

What I would like from some people more knowledgeable than myself is a list of suitable community fish to fill the front of the tank as you can see most are bottom feeders

Possibly willing to remove the Flying fox as I know he is a competitor to the Rainbow shark

For information I have very hard water GH is generally 180+ all my other tests work out very standard
with around a 7PH

Thank you in advance
Lee Loveridge

 

[the_lock_man]

I don't think any of your current fish are suitable for your tank.

Raphael Catfish grows to 60-70cm which is going to be about the size of your tank. The common plec will grow to only a little shorter than that. They need massive tanks, not 24g.

Kissing Gourami will grow to about 25cm, they need a tank about double the size of yours

The shark and the FF both need a tank about 4'-5' long.

I don't want to recommend fish that are suitable for your tank, because they'll be predated upon by the current occupants. And I'm certainly not going to recomend anything that will be compatible with the current occupants, because they won't be suitable for your tank either.

Sorry, that's probably not what you want to hear but.....

 

[Loveridge01]

no no thats fine, i knew that would be the problem with the 3ft tank
the pleco is about 7 inch long at present but hasnt grown in over two years as i measure them periodically
the kissing gourami is around 4 1/2" at the moment and has also not grown in at least a couple of years
these two fish are all over ten years old now so i do not expect them to grow any larger, i may be wrong
and my rainbow is about 5" at the moment and is 7 years old

as i said previously the catfish and the FF were to save them from death but i can just as easy give them up for adoption at my local store
i was just looking for something to fill the front of the tank as having just shy bottom feeders i mostly just look at plants and the Gourami

 

[the_lock_man]

The reason that they've not grown is that they've become stunted. Which is a shame.

In a utopian world, you'd give all of them up for adoption, but I sense you wouldn't want to do that, otherwise you'd have said already. With an unstocked tank, I could give you all manner of options, as would any number of others. But like I said, I can't think of any species that is small enough for the tank, and large enough to survive.

 

[Loveridge01]

sure thanks very much for your input, its a shame but i will heed your advice and not add anything else until i upgrade my tank size later in the year
obviously i do not want to give up my big three as i have had them for a long time now and i am very fond of them

if these fish have become stunted would moving them to a larger tank enable them to respark there normal growth patterns?

 

[the_lock_man]

No, unfortunately the damage is already done. That isn't to say that you shouldn't upgrade, as they will still appreciate more space. IN terms of an upgrade, the bigger the better, the plec would really like 5' if not more.