bring it on - good opinions - 80 litre Tank

[leongreenway]

Hi there, just got a nice second hand tank, 81 litre cleaned it all up.

I really want 3 or 4 fish 4 - 6 inches each.

I dont mind smaller interesting fish suggestions from those of you with experience.

I am interested in Cichlids, I also really want a Red tailed black shark there as well, there are some in my LFShop that are about 1inch long ( i am getting abigger tank in a couple o months so i will move it later!)

I like loaches, anything that looks like a perch or a pike, I would like a cafish as well.

I am looking for fish with real personalities!!!

to be honest please someone who knows what they are talking about, who would select in my situation, an exciting tank of that litreage or can suggest one would be much appreciated.

I have talked about what I have learned on this excellent site to my friend who is a bit of a fish expert and he has suggested (for now) 1 * firemouth or maybe a smaller cichlid, the red tailed black shark ( to be moved later) and maybe a britle nosed Catfish.

PLEASE HELP

THIS IS A CHALENGE !!!! MAKE HAPPY !!!!!!!!!!!!!

ALL THE BEST, THANKS IN ADVANCE

RESPECTFULLY

LEON

 

[Angry_Platy]

How big a tank will you be getting later? And how soon?

RTBS are great fish however they are loners and cannot be kept with other RTBS. I have a RTBS in a 75gal with clown loaches. bnose catfish and african cichlids. All my fish have personalities.

I would definitely go with the rtbs
I would definitely go with clown loaches (remembering they grow to 12 inches and will need a large tank eventually)

I wouldn't keep the rtbs with small cichlids....if you got yellow labs they would be great....

HTH

 

[sylvia]

I personaly think you shouldn't go mixing lots of big-ish aggressive fish in such a small tank. It's only 20 gallons so clown loaches, for one, are totaly out of the question.

If you want cichlids, trio of labs would work with either a bristlenose plec or some of the smaller synodontis catfish. You'd need excellent filtration as these are all messy fish and you'll want plenty of rockwork for territories. I WOULD suggest a bigger tank later but the fish would manage in this size tank permanently as well.
An RTBSs requirements are totaly different - I'm not saying it's impossible to keep them in that African set-up but I'd reccomend against it.

If youw want an RTBS but also want cichlids, maybe go for a heavily planted tank with a pair of kribs and five or so active, very quick, shoaling fish such as zebra danios. I wouldn't suggest this for a fully-grown RTBS with breeding kribs though - the territoriality issues might become over-whelmig. Provided you plant heavily and plan to up-grade pretty soon though, it's deffinately possible.

Something else you may want to consider is going for a more peaceful alternative to an RTBS such as a siamese algae eater. I know the colors are different but the shame is very close. Flying foxes are also more peaceful than RTBSs and have nicely coloring though they aren't quite as peaceful as SAEs. You could combine this RTBS look-alike with peaceful dwarf cichlids such as rams or a pair of keyholes (which are larger) and finish it off with six black phantom tetras (plenty of character for such a little fish). Or you could swap the tetras for a couple of khulie loaches - much smaller than clowns but with the same contrasting markings. Cories also have a similar character to clown loaches IMO so you may want 3-4 of those instead of the tetras/khulies.

 

[leongreenway]

Angry paltty, i like the look of those yellow labs !!! not seen them before

 

[leongreenway]

sylvia,

thanks that is good stuff, i am going to look up some of these species on google (good stuff)

Leon

 

[leongreenway]

www.simpsontaxidermy.com/Repro-7a-Pike.jpg

here is a european pike


http/images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h...6lr%3D%26sa%3DN artists impression


heres some European Perches.........

www.lindenhurstil.org/lakescom/Images/Fishing/Yellow%20Perch%20n.jpg

www.evsc.k12.in.us/curriculum/socstud/images/ch1/perch.jpg


http/www.ligtel.com/~jjbaird/images/perch%20pond.jpg

http/www.miseagrant.umich.edu/wetlands/i...ow-perch-05.jpg






This is why I like RTB Sharks n Cichlids