Good Stock ?

[soybean]

Bolivians and a dwarf gourami. Never again.

Dwarfs might be more temperamental than honeys but I still think it's a bad idea, the rams gave as good as they got and just don't tolerate any fish larger than your average tetra. They even get grumpy with the corys if they get in the way of where they want to be. I only have two and they definitely dominate the tank.

Stick to fish from the same geographical area and you're less likely to run into problems.

So the Kuhlis wouldn't be good in my tank then

I don't think 8 kuhlis is enough, I think for them to live at their best you're looking at more like 12+ - they're very shy. And that's a lot of bottom dwellers too, 8 kuhlis plus the corys and four rams.

I think you'd be better off sticking with the corys, maybe upping their numbers a bit.

And I see you say "four bolivian rams - paired of course". How are you going to pair them off? Adding two males and two females won't result in two pairs unless you get exceptionally lucky. You need to be adding more like 6+, waiting for them to pair off themselves, and returning the others. Try to come to an arrangement with your LFS, a decent one should understand why you want to do this.

 

[jcabs100]

Really I have a friend who has 6 Kuhlis and 10 corys cats no problem thats why I mentioned if I could have that cause I loved how they looked

As for the pairing of the bolivians I'm getting 8 Bolivian rams and which ever pair I'll keep and my Lfs said they'd take the pairs that don't

 

[soybean]

Really I have a friend who has 6 Kuhlis and 10 corys cats no problem thats why I mentioned if I could have that cause I loved how they looked

Well you asked for opinions and I'm just giving you mine. As naturally shy, schooling fish, I think kuhlis need to be in much larger groups than 6, especially if there are boisterous rams hanging around too.

It's your tank, you can add whatever you like to it at the end of the day!

 

[jcabs100]

Yeah your right good point I'll see how it turns out and if it doesn't turn out good again my Lfs said they'll take back any fish I'm not happy with

 

[mrscullen5373]

Woah it just goes to show how different people have very different experiences with the same fish!

 

[jcabs100]

It really does because I forgot to mention I use to have 4 kuhlis with corys and rasboras and the Kuhlis weren't shy but again a lot of fish have different personalities

 

[soybean]

It really does because I forgot to mention I use to have 4 kuhlis with corys and rasboras and the Kuhlis weren't shy but again a lot of fish have different personalities

Corys and rasboras are very peaceful and the rasboras would've acted as dither fish giving the kuhlis more confidence.

Try it anyway, it might work out, it might not - only one way to find out.

 

[jcabs100]

Very true also wouldn't neons tetras help boaster the Kuhlis confidence And shyness

 

[soybean]

Yes, perhaps.

 

[mrscullen5373]

The neons could ... but it is more likely that the corys would IMO because they are both bottom dwellers. The first experience I had with kuhlis was some time ago and I had 6 in a 60litre tank. I fell in love with them so quickly (another of my favourite fish!) And they were out all the time infact too much! They constantly wiggled up and down and all around, they freaked my other fish out, well for the first few weeks then the others kind of got used to it.
I could just see the look on their faces as they eyed the kuhlis "hey up its those crazy fish again"
Yet when I put them in a 20 gallon upgrade with 6 more I never saw them. Ever. They never even came out at food time, within a month or so I reckoned they were all dead. But no sure enough they were alive whenever I cleaned out the tank. Since then, just to be sure, I always house kuhlis with SOME other bottom dweller fish even if its just a trio of Pitbull plecos! x

 

[magpie]

Interesting about the kuhlis... I had 4 in a 30 gallon several years back and they were out all the time. A few of them would even eat bloodworms out of my fingers! I fell in love with those cute little guys and plan on having them in my new tank as well. I had them in a general community tank with lots of plants, rocks, & wood, so maybe that helped? Or I wonder how much water conditions might have to do with behavior? I know I've read about oher fish being more active in certain parameters. My pH runs around 6.8 and is soft.

I have also been told not to mix Gouramis with Rams - that you're more likely to have issues than not.

I like your general stocking - it's somewhat similar to mine!

 

[jcabs100]

Thanks I figured my stocking should be just like this in my new 55 gallon 15-20 neon tetra 6-8 black skirt tetra 4 bolivian rams 6 kuhlis loaches 10 panda corys that's sound just about perfect it hought hard and figured that gouramis aren't a good idea hearing different opinions from both this forum and other so I'm sticking to the stock I had in mind

 

[jcabs100]

When you say some what, what are the unsimilar fish your keeping that I don't have

 

[magpie]

I have a 65 gallon tank, but it's only 3 ft long (24 inches tall) so I was originally thinking:

- 4 Bolivians
- 6-8 Kuhlis
- 8-10 spotted blue-eyed rainbows - pseudomugil gertrudae (wanted forktails but they like harder/more basic water)
- 10+ Cardinal tetras (told that they really prefer even more acidic water than I like so changed this to Rummynose Tetras)
- 2 algae eating gobies (stiphodon elegans)
- possibly clown killies or hatchetfish for the top swimmers

I think Cories are really cute but the Kuhlis trump the Cories and I was worried about having too many bottom fish in my 3 ft tank. So the Bolivians will share with the Kuhlis and then the 2 Gobies, as the Gobies don't need to be in a larger group like the Cories do. (And I love them.)

BUT now I have 6 Ricefish, so I will probably have a smaller school of them and the Rainbows, and then the larger school of Rummynose tetras.

That's what I'm saying right now, but I'm still open. And I also like purple Pencilfish.

 

[jcabs100]

I've seen purple pencil fish at my lfs but I was hesitant to get them as I didn't know anything about there behavior...and I like your stock very interesting as I had some of the same ideas except for the gobbies and rice fish I can honestly say I've never heard of them..I haven't seen the blue eyed rainbow fish around here but I've seen some people that have them in there aquarium