Another Stocking Question From A Newbie

[kalihat]

So we have decided on a 75 gallon used tank. It comes with a eheim 2227 wet/dry canister filter and the filter media needed for it. It's in used right now, so I'm hoping set up will be easy. It also has an oak cabinet stand, light and some driftwood. For a great price. I'm excited!

My questions:

I need to figure out how much fish I can have in it. I'm not too good with figuring that out. As of now I will have four grown angels, seven cories and a black moor who may be moved to our outside water garden. I'm getting rid of my common pleco, I already know he'll be too big. Is this too much already, or just right? The woman selling the tank also has five black skirt tetras. I will take them only if they will fit in well and won't be too much. What does everyone think? I'm asking because I want to do this right!

My other question is with plants. With the fish i've listed, would you all recommend live plants? I've never had them before, but think that they would look much nicer than the fake. Are they an advantage, disadvantage, too much work? I've also heard angels will eat them, is that true?

Thanks to everyone who gives me advice! You're helping me create the best tank environment I can!

 

[*Fishkies*]

Well you can think of fish and stocking in the following terms for now until you become more experienced. Since you are getting a 75 gallon aquarium you can have approximatly 75 inches of fish in the tank. That is the adult size of the fish you go buy when stocking by inches.

As for live plants be sure to check out the Plants and Planted Aquariums forum further down as it would be a good idea to post your plant questions down there. Plants can be either hard or difficult depending on how much planting you want to do or what kind of plants you would like to have. There are also silk plants out on the market right now that are quite nice looking. I prefer those over plastic plants. However I have found that smooth plastic plants are not bad feeling for the fish. I like the look of silk plants, they flwo nicely in the fish tanks water current and such.

Angelfish I have read can get up to 6 to 8 inches. Check this out HERE! It's a link about angelfish and some information on them. Seven corydoras would also be fine for your tank, you could even get more.

However you will not want to combine the Black Moor Goldfish in with the angelfish, as angelfish are tropical fish and goldfish are coldwater fish.

Best of Luck!

Feel free to always ask questions that's what forums like this are for!!!!

 

[loachman]

Angelfish and cories should be great in there. Goldfish aren't a real good combo with the tropical fish you proposed. I'd personally put in a sand substrate for the cories, but smooth gravel isn't the end of the world.

You can put some more tropical fish in there, but that is a great place to start and keep that stocking level for a few months to get used to fishkeeping. The more fish, the more likely something will go wrong and you'll loose fish. The largest beginner mistake by far is too many fish too fast (the 2nd is incompatable fish).

The black widow tetras may cause some issues as people report they're nippy. If you have a largish group it may not cause any trouble though.

If you choose the right plants, they're not overly hard to care for. Crypts (use root tabs), java ferns, and anacharis/elodea are pretty had to kill and will all grow with low (which you likely have) or high light.

 

[darknirvana217]

You can add the tetras and maybe even a few more angels. The 75 should do fine with this many fish. i would also remove the goldfish, as they are high waste producers, especially ammonia. Angelfish like clean water, so teh goldfish should go to teh pond. I like the live plant set up, but would suggest Anubias, especially teh Anubias bateri. they are hardy and do not require alot of light. I'm not sure about angels eating plants, I've never heard that before, but teh anubias bateri has such thick leaves taht the angels are not likely to eat it. All of my herbivore cichlids won't touch it.

 

[CPQ]

I would personally always recommend live plants. Not only do they look nicer (IMO) but they also play a beneficial role in that they can help to increase oxygen levels in the water.

As regards the problems with fish eating plants, I've found that if you provide a good supply of vegetable matter in their diet (such as anchoring a lettuce leaf in for them to graze on) they'll pretty much leave the plants alone.

It might also be an idea to get some aquarium plant food stuff to go under the substrate. Most fish shops will sell it and all you have to do is put it in the tank before the gravel/sand and plant away! It just means you dont have to worry about feeding the plants regularly once the water, fish etc are all in.