Feature Fish?

[fishypps]

Hello, the stocking in my 80 litre tank is as follows

1 panda garra
4 cherry barb
6 neon tetra
1 betta
1 kuhli loach (want to buy him a friend soon!)

I would reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally like a feature fish or 2... any ideas?

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

I think your betta is your feature fish TBH

 

[fishypps]

I suppose he is that lol! I just wanted a more active fish, he spends a lot of the time near filter and heater and isn't very active. I would love something colourful and active! I no nothing about them but.... cichlids... is there any way atall i could keep some? I know some of them get too big and can be agressive but is there a breed i could keep?

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

I, personally, am not aware of a cichlid that is compatible with a betta. My betta is very active but I hear that some are pretty lazy, maybe you've got one! My recommendation, if you want a bit more activity in your tank is to do it with a school of fish. A big school is an impressive focal point in a tank, why not increase the numbers of your neons?

Something else to consider is that your panda garra are meant to be in groups of 3 (I think), your barbs would like higher numbers and your kuhlis would like at least 5 as well

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I don't think this 80l tank needs another "feature fish," while many will say it is the Betta, your Garra flavatra will turn into a stocky ~9cm fish with lovely colours. In a suitable tank setup, with a decnt current (6-20x water turnover), the garra would be quite an active fish. However, combining it with a Betta in the same tank creates an undesireable comprimise situation, where you can create too much flow for your Betta.

 

[ZoddyZod]

.....your khuli will also be happier with more then 1 friend, try another 5....that's what your focus should be for now.

 

[fishypps]

Other half is really not keen on the Khuli, he would rather not have the 1 that we have, he and the cherry barbs and betta along with some other fish came with our tank, which was well overstocked so we have sold lots on. I wasn't aware that cherry barbs needed a bigger group, may add to the cherry barbs. Betta just seems like a grumpy old man but looks very pretty when he does go for a swim lol.
The garra is a beauty, he is about 4cm at the moment and a very active, happy little chappy who LOVES whizzing around the tank! He is my favourite fish but i have heard conflicting info on whether i should add more to the tank or not, apparently they can be territorial with their own kind?? Also, would my tank not be overstocked with 3 of them?

 

[fishypps]

I think we are going to go for more cherry barbs, atleast 3 (seeing as 3 of them are male and 1 is female as i have just found out and the ratio should be 2:1!! And more khuli loach (maybe 4 or so!). Jelly (my garra) is a happy chappy on his own so i think we will keep him alone.

Then, surely i will be at my stocking limit?

 

[Aqua Tom]

Up the amount of neons. Wham, eye candy.


Tom

 

[fishypps]

See, i don't see neons as eye candy, i actually sold 4 when i was overstocked.. i actually only have them because they came in the original tank that we were given by our neighbour. Think i might stick with what i said though i am toying with the idea of selling on the betta (though i'm not keen as i like to know they are going to better suited homes and you never know where they'll end up!), turning up the flow and buying 1 or 2 more Panda garra along with the others mentioned above... i love my panda garra dearly lol

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

See, i don't see neons as eye candy, i actually sold 4 when i was overstocked.. i actually only have them because they came in the original tank that we were given by our neighbour. Think i might stick with what i said though i am toying with the idea of selling on the betta (though i'm not keen as i like to know they are going to better suited homes and you never know where they'll end up!), turning up the flow and buying 1 or 2 more Panda garra along with the others mentioned above... i love my panda garra dearly lol

Glad you posted your intentions before buying, because there is an issue with this plan...

Panda Garra are territorial with each other, with area and dominance disputes resulting in "greying," where they lose those vibant black/white stripes. Each garra needs at least 30x30cm of floorspace, with more caves (can be plant pots on sides) than garras. Two is a very bad number, one will mentally bully the other to death (I've seen it happen first hand... 1 of my 3 died after some sort on aneurism behind an eye and within a fortnight a perfectly healthy looking second garra died), so its a case of a one or 3+ if space allows. 5+ groups in large tanks work well, in such situations the aggression goes and they become very social, like Clown Loaches; Corydoras etc.

In conclusion, to keep 3, you need a tank of at least 90x30cm footprint, ideally a 4-foot plus.

 

[fishypps]

Thank you for that... see.. conflicting advice! lol... above says that they should be in groups of 3, i have been googling youtube vids of them in groups and they are so cute but i would rather him be happy so will keep him alone Have you any ideas what i can put in there instead? I would like to turn my flow up a lot to keep Jelly happy, so get rid of the betta and add another colourful, small fish, either a school of or a feature pair.