Compatibility

[AmyStroodle]

My first fish will be a male fighter and I'm looking for some suggestions on what fish will peacefully live with it, the tank is 55L (Not including the back I think) 
 
A couple of multiple fish combinations would be extremely useful too. :] Cheers.

 

[tomh1232]

try to avoid anything with long fancy fins also fin nippers her is some examples of what you could maybe get away with!  im still new myself so please feel free to correct me if im wrong also i was not sure about kuhli loaches ^^  ( remember cycle your tank and add slowly  i hope this helped ! )

so for example you could have 
Option 1                                                                        Option 2 
1 x male fighter                                                              1x male fighter
3 x coreys catfish                                                           4-6 x coreys catfish 
1 x male platy 2 x female (if you want to breed )                3-6 harlequin rasbora.
6 x harlequin rasbora.                                                                         3 -6 tetra *research species that share ph and water temps and that do not nip fins * 
                                                                                    1-6 ghost/cherry shrimp 

 

[AmyStroodle]

Hey cheers, ill have a lookie at those. :]
Would Rams go with a fighting fish?

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi Amy, welcome to the forum.
 
I think from your other thread that this is an Aquanano 40? If so, then I'm going to disagree with tomh (sorry, tomh!) on most of his suggestions. It's nice tank (I have one myself), but due to both the small size and the odd shape, you have to choose your stock very carefully
 
A betta would be alright, bit the tank is too small for any cordoras, except the three 'dwarf' species (Corydoras pygmaeus, C. habrosus or C. hastatus).
 
It's also too small for most tetras and the platies and wouldn't give enough room for harlies to swim properly.
 
Amy; do you know if your water is hard or soft? That will affect what fish we can recommend, but you could have a look at our 'Nano Fish' thread, here; http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/418749-nano-fish/ for some ideas in the meantime.
 
Are you going to be fishless cycling, Amy? (We all hope the answer to that is 'yes', even though you've got access to mature media, which will speed things up a lot).
 
Oh, and no to rams, the tank is too small; plus they wouldn't be compatible with a betta.

 

[Tongue_Flicker]

Unforunately, no. Unless you want your betta (fighting fish) to get a 'haircut', so to speak.

 

[AmyStroodle]

Amy; do you know if your water is hard or soft?
 
Are you going to be fishless cycling, Amy?
 
Oh, and no to rams, the tank is too small; plus they wouldn't be compatible with a betta.

 
Hey, Thanks for the reply, I thought I bought a rather large tank but from what you've said it's too small for a lot of things. =s

I'm not sure what kind of water mine is unfortunatly and yes it's being cycled for a week without fish. :]
 
I heard from a few other places that rams would be fine in the tank I have. :[

 

[fluttermoth]

Hey, Amy; don't be disheartened! 'Rather large'; aww bless! (I don't mean to sound patronising, btw. It's just the idea of a 55l tank being 'rather large' is quite comical when you've just finished water changing a 5'x2'x2', as I have!)
 
As I said, it is a nice little tank, and you do have plenty of options with it, it just needs little more thought and planning than a larger tank would.
 
If you go onto your water supplier's website, it'll give you all the info you need concerning hardness; it can be really confusing, but you can always post here and someone will explain it!. All you really need to know for the moment is whether it's hard, soft or medium.
 
The kind of water you have affects your potential stocking, as soft water fish don't like water that's very hard, and hard water fish do really badly in soft water. It's quite difficult to change hardness, so it's better to pick fish that will be happy in your water, rather than trying to change it.
 
I'm afraid there is more to cycling a tank than just letting it run for a week. You really need to be adding a source of ammonia, especially if you've got some mature media in there, or the bacteria will starve to death Having a look through the threads and articles in our 'Cycle your Tank' sub forum might be a good idea for you, as it goes into far more detail.
 
As to the rams....they're small, but feisty. If you wanted just one specimen fish. I suppose you could do a ram (although it depends on your water; as well as being feisty, they're incredibly picky about their water too), but in a tank of that size you would be very likely to have serious aggression problems if you wanted any other fish in there. My last ram killed nine neon tetras before I realised what was happening and removed her, and that was in a four foot/240l tank.
 
Also, you'll see a lot of very 'over the top' stocking suggestions, all over the internet. I will admit that, on this site at least, we do tend more to the more conservative side, but that's because the years of experience we've built up between us have demonstrated that fish are 'happier' (although that's a very difficult thing to quantify!), show better colour, more natural behaviour, grow larger and live longer in appropriately sized tanks.
 
We also like to promote the very best possible practices in fishkeeping. Of course, in the long term, it is your tank, and you can put what you like in it; no-one's going to come around and remove fish from your tank! We do have a habit of saying 'told you so' when it all goes wrong, mind you (we're only human, after all!).
 
Anyway, find out what sort of water you have, read up on cycling, and then post back and we can help you move on from there. I'm sure your little tank is going to make you proud in the long run

 

[AmyStroodle]

Hey, Amy; don't be disheartened! 'Rather large'; aww bless! (I don't mean to sound patronising, btw. It's just the idea of a 55l tank being 'rather large' is quite comical when you've just finished water changing a 5'x2'x2', as I have!)

 
:3 It's a big one for me! I've only every kept goldfish in a little bowl before … I was terrible at it too … could never keep them alive, I realise now I was over populating them, maybe over feeding them and not cleaning the tank enough. =|
 
I only learnt the day I got my tank that certain fish don't get along and you've gotta be careful what you put together/ watch them.
 
In terms of cycling I've been adding a small amount of food very day to apparently feed the bacteria.

 
Still probably going to add 1 fish on Monday … I'm not the patient type. D: Depending on what the water tests my partner is going to do at the weekend for me says.
 
I have no idea who supplies our water.

Yorkshire water says the water type in Leeds is:

Water hardness type: Slightly hard
Water hardness average: 55mg/l calcium

 

[fluttermoth]

I don't mean to be too personal, but does your partner live with you? You will need to be testing the water at least once a day to start with, so you might find it's better to get test kits (at least for ammonia and nitrite) of your own.
 
If you've used enough mature media, you may have enough bacteria to support a fish, but there would be no way of knowing for sure without testing.
 
I don't know if this is any help to you, but this is how I set up new tanks. I don't add any mature filter media to begin with, I just add some fish food, in a mesh bag, and leave it for three or four days. Then I test for ammonia; I normally see around 1 pmm of ammonia at that time. Once I have a positive reading for ammonia, I add my mature media to the filter, last thing at night, and test as soon as I get up next morning. If all the ammonia has gone, I know that the filter bacteria have survived the move and are doing their job, and I can begin to stock. If the ammonia hasn't gone, I add more mature media and test again in the evening (I'm lucky enough to have multiple filters to steal media from!).
 
I wouldn't want to add fish to a tank with mature media without 'proving' it, tbh; if the bacteria have died off, you could be stuck in a fish-in cycle, which is potentially very dangerous for the fish and not good for the fishkeepers nerves or patience either; fish-in cycles take a lot of testing and a lot of water changes!
 
I would definitely avoid the blue rams with hardish water. Have you had a look in the 'Nano fish' thread, Amy? It would be heartbreaking if you bought a fish that wasn't suitable for the tank, so do please check, either in the fish species index on this forum, or the 'Seriously Fish' site which are both pretty reliable, or by starting a thread and asking.
 
Do not, on any account, listen to what the people in the shop say! It's very common for people to be sold fish that are totally unsuitable for their tank size or sort of water.

 

[AmyStroodle]

.

He doesn't no but he's coming over Wednesday and will be able to test it from then on. :] I wouldn't have put any fish in it before testing it anyway and certainly won't be putting any in until the tanks right.
 
Ahh, I might try your way next time but mines already set up now. :[
 
I'm not sure what you mean by proving the media I'm afraid! The media was transported in a bag of the water from his tank and placed into mine within 5 hours. (We live 3 hours 30 apart you see.)
 
Yeah I did look at the nano thread but honestly it confused me, for my frist fish I definatly want a fighter, and as you said rams won't go with them, it's unlikey I'll be getting any for a while until I set up the other tank I've been given (have nowhere stable to put it)
 
Last thing I want to do is buy fish for them to die, I'd probably end up giving up and loosing patience as you said.  Aha

 

[fluttermoth]

If you've been given a decent amount of media, and you've been feeding it, then hopefully you won't see any ammonia or nitrite. Maybe your partner could leave the test kits with you for a week or so? If his tank is well established, it shouldn't need testing very often
 
By 'proving the media', I just meant adding some source of ammonia and then making sure the bacteria had eaten it, to make sure they're still alive!

 

[tomh1232]

Hi Amy, welcome to the forum.
 
I think from your other thread that this is an Aquanano 40? If so, then I'm going to disagree with tomh (sorry, tomh!) on most of his suggestions. It's nice tank (I have one myself), but due to both the small size and the odd shape, you have to choose your stock very carefully
 
A betta would be alright, bit the tank is too small for any cordoras, except the three 'dwarf' species (Corydoras pygmaeus, C. habrosus or C. hastatus).
 
It's also too small for most tetras and the platies and wouldn't give enough room for harlies to swim properly.
 
Amy; do you know if your water is hard or soft? That will affect what fish we can recommend, but you could have a look at our 'Nano Fish' thread, here; http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/418749-nano-fish/ for some ideas in the meantime.
 
Are you going to be fishless cycling, Amy? (We all hope the answer to that is 'yes', even though you've got access to mature media, which will speed things up a lot).
 
Oh, and no to rams, the tank is too small; plus they wouldn't be compatible with a betta.

i agree lol i thought i read 55 gal  sorry i have my moments ^^ i work night shifts so usually half asleep  ^^