Advice on final fish decisions for my 40 Gallon

[Katchan]

I've Just finished the final parts of adding wood/plantage etc to my tank and will have the money next week to finish off the fish part. Any suggestions and/or thoughts on my list would be great

Current stocking
2 Angels (non-paired)
2 Red Tail Black Sharks (harmony is great )
3 Swordtails
1 medium Large bristlenose
2 Blue/3 Spot Gourami
1 Male VT Betta

I'm Thinking
1-2 more small Bristlenoses
1 pictus (I know most people say 3+, but a its expensive $20+ each here and I'll see what my tank will take)
1 Salmontail catfish (aka shark cat) to be trasferred to a large brakish tank on getting good sized
2 rams or texas cichlids (I dont know much about these some suggestions on wich way to head would be great)

Pondering a mid to upper level schooling fish, eg cardinals

Please add thoughts on this and also tank stocking levels. I have a powerfilter pumping water to a trickle filter so my tank is well filtered as well.

Katchan

 

[Nuttygal! :0)]

Your tank sounds great at the moment Katchan! I only have 1 red tailed black shark, as I would told if I added any more to that tank they would fight!
Anyway, I reckon you should add the 1-2 more small Bristlenoses, 1 pictus should be fine on his own, mine is, I think the salmontail cat would be ok if he is getting moved to a brackish tank later, and if I was you, I'd get 2 rams. V. cool fish, IMO! If you are going to get schooling fish, I'd go with cardinals too rather than normal tetras. You'll usually find that these will become snacks for the angels to chomp on when they become hungry!
Hope all goes well! Good luck!

 

[Katchan]

1 of the Red tails is fully grown and as long as he's got his own turf (in this case he's just moved into a large 8+" piece hollowed driftwood root & stump) he is great with anything else. The other is still small (1-2") but in my experience as long as they have their turf their fine.

katchan

 

[OohFeeshy]

I'd maybe think about moving the betta. He might be fine, but since rams are pretty brightly coloured, he mightstart to get angry.

 

[Katchan]

Noted Feeshy, Thanks he's pretty placid but I have a spare tank he can go if needed.

Katchan

 

[Ferris]

Sorry to say this but 2 RTBS in the same tank is a definate no-no, they are extremely aggressive towards their own species and anything else that looks like a shark.

I actually came by my RTBS because a friend made the mistake of buying 2, a male and a female. The male (who i ended up with) was literally terrorising the female who nearly died but luckily made it when the male was removed.

He's a great fish (had him 2 years now) and he's ok with his current tankmates but 2 in 1 tank is a massive risk. I have never heard 1 success story of 2 RTBS together.

 

[Katchan]

Not a problem with the 2 RTBS so far , In general with my experience (i will admit still somewhat limited) red tails are very territorial about there little home and chase other fish away from it but in a large enough space its not a problem. Give them a little (or not so little) hide and they become partially nocturnal. The 3 I have deffinetly prefer to be more active at night than day. But will show themselve especially to defend their territory during the day.

katchan

 

[Mobern]

I'd suggest only 1 RTBS and 2 Bristlenoses. Rams don't do well with gouramis either and your pictus would want some friends. Reconsider your stocking... i don't think its very good. I recommend this:

2 Angelfish
a trio of gouramis
7 Neon Tetras
7 Ember Tetras
3 Swordtails

Now thats a nice calm communtiy setup where you will get now problems as long as your angelfish like each other.

m.

 

[Ferris]

You do have a fair sized tank which will help. Its when they both reach maturity that problems may occur. You see plenty of juveniles in LFS all in the same tank and this seems ok although they are fast sellers and are not generally together for long.

A sign of maturity with RTBS (other than size) is a white tip to their dorsal fin and this is when the fun could begin. If they grow up together (presuming they are not already full grown) this could help them tolerate each other. I am also not too sure about them just being terrirtorial, they same to have a loathing for their own kind, I have seen my RTBS chase a female around a 55gal non stop until he was removed (to my tank). He wasn't just protecting his territory, he was actively seeking out the other RTBS.

I know that all sounds a bit negative but I wish you the best with them!

 

[Katchan]

I'm not silly enough to give Serial Killer (one my angels - on parole out of his 30L tank/jail) neons to eat

And many gouramis (most notably the blue/3 spot) dont do well in trios

Katchan

 

[Blade]

Well you can scratch the Texas Cichlids for starters.

 

[Katchan]

One of my LFS had a nice looking pair of texas cichlids and since I dont know much about about them I just thought I'd put them down on my list for advice, mind if I ask why? as oppossed to just saying take them off the list?

Katchan

 

[Ben]

texas cichlids=evil evil evil fish

theyre a deffinate no no and IMO be only kept in big aggresive communtiys or species tanks

DD

 

[Katchan]

Thanks for the info, guess I'm looking at some bolivian rams, I've heard germans can be quite hard

katchan