Centrepiece Fish For A 125L?

[-FighterFishh]

I'm going to restock my Juwel Rio 125 soon and I'm wondering what I could have as a centrepiece fish.

I'd like to add in a big group of threadfin rainbowfish and a big shoal of Pygmy corydoras, but I'm not 100% sure on numbers of those so if anyone could help with that then that'd be great!

However, I'd like a centrepiece fish if I can fit some in. I'm thinking maybe a pair of apistogramma cichlids or something similar but I'm not sure what other options I have. Does anyone have any suggestions?!

Thank you!

 

[Blondielovesfish]

A dwarf gourami?

 

[Zante]

A single pearl gourami should be fine in 125l
 
Two pairs of bolivian rams would fit nicely
 
Two pairs of kribs would also be a nice fit

 

[-FighterFishh]

A type of gourami may work well. If I had a smaller type would I be able to put a pair in?
As much as I love rams, they just don't do well in the pH of my water which is a shame because they're lovely fish.
As for kribs, I'm not sure they'd do well with the cories and they might nip the fins on the threadfins.

 

[Zante]

You could go for dwarf gouramis, in that tank 1m 3f would do nicely.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

With Gourami's, you can't really have a pair because the male will often harass the female, it's better to have 1 male and 2-4 females. That way the harassment is spread out between the females.
it can, however, sometimes be rather hard to find a female unfortunately because they're less colourful than the males. So, for the reason it might be better if you just have a single male.

 

[Zante]

If you can't find females in the shop I'm sure you will be able to order them.
The breeder will be more than glad to get rid of the comparatively drab females.

 

[-FighterFishh]

Okay, sounds good! Will definitely consider some gourami.

Do you think any types of killifish would work well or are they not really community fish?

 

[Noahsfish]

If you're looking for a single gourami that has lot a of personality consider a opaline gourami. It'd make a great centerpiece as it's not shy at all, you can train it to feed out of your hand, and it grows a good size for your tank (5-6"). Aggression could be a problem, but it shouldn't if you house it with peaceful fish and get a female. Some of them may look boring, but trust me, I speak from experience and I can easily say that I've seen opalines which were much more beautiful than pearl gouramis. Surprisingly enough, it seems as they get bigger the more colorful mine have become.

 

[-FighterFishh]

I quite like pearl gourami. I saw a few earlier today in one of my LFS' too so they're definitely an option.
I also saw a few dwarf gouramis but I think they were all males and they only had a few anyway.
 
Would something like a pair or trio of steel blue killifish work?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

If you want Threadfin Rainbowfish and Panda Corydoras, you need to be very careful what else you put with them. They are both small species that will be easily bullied and intimidated by any tankmates bigger than themselves, or by any fish aggressive/territorial.
 
Pearl Gourami would be far too big.
Dwarf Gourami are too territorial.
Kribs are definitely out of the question.
 
You also need to think about your stocking from just the rainbows and catfish, 9 rainbows and 10 catfish would be ~80cm of adult fish. That is a quite heavy stocking for a 125l alone.
 
Whatever you get, if you really must have that extra "centrepiece," needs to be <5cm and happy as a singleton... A Honey Gourami could fit the bill nicely. 

 

[-FighterFishh]

I've got pygmy corydoras, not pandas.
With regards to stocking numbers of the pygmys and the threadfins alone what sort of numbers would I be looking at?

 

[wrightt3]

Personally I think that you could keep 10 or so of each WITHOUT the centre piece fish but if you really want one/some then I would say about 6-8 of each depending on what you go with as the centre piece.
In that size I would probably go with:
-8 threadfin rainbows
-8 pygmy cories
-3 small gouramis (1m:2f)
Honey or pygmy gouramis would work well.