Help With Setup

[s_bonnewell]

I have a 55 litre tank, would i be able to stock this as i’m worried my list is high. Its a deep square style tank. Minimal planted in small gravel with small rock/cave formation. Fluval mini and rena 25watt heater.

2- Kuhli loach
1- Red tail black shark (Centre piece fish for a small tank)
5- guppies (red tail / yellow spotted tail)
8- cardinal tetras
1- Dwarf pleco (spotted variety or possibly dwarf clown, but don’t know a good one) – Algae eating
1- freshwater crab

 

[Fish Guy]

If you are planning on having male and female guppies I would go with just 5-6 for the tank and a few Kuhli Loaches and 2 Otto for algae control.Or instead of the guppies go with the school of cardinals or neons.
The Red tailed Black shark gets a bit too big for that sized tank and they can be pretty aggressive and territiorial. Dwarf pleco could be fine in that tank, but I would be worried about the waste produced by it. I think Ottos would be your best bet.
I'm not sure about the crab, I dont have any expirence with them, but I do believe they willeat fish, so if so the crab wouldn't be a good option.

 

[s_bonnewell]

Yeah your prob right. I might go with the Cardinals. The Ottos look ok actually. you say a few khuli's, you think i might get away with 3 then? I didnt realise plecos make a lot of waste, What about the dwarf variety though?

so here it is:
10 cardinals
2 or 3 khulis
3 otto (still hung on the miniature clown pleco though, very unsure)
Ditch the crab lol, gonna go for the freshwater shrimps, for bottom cleaning lol I heard snails multiply like crazy...

What about a male siam fighter as a centrepiece then instead of the shark? arent these meant to be hardy and suitable for a small tanks?

 

[Fish Guy]

I'd go with 8 cardinals, 2 Kuhli's , and 2 ottos. Cardinals can be a bit delicate in terms of water parameters, so be sure to keep up on the water changes. A small pleco could be ok, but be sure to keep an eye on the water parameter, because plecs do produce a good bit of waste. It would be nice to have a centerpiece fish, a male betta may be fine, I'm not sure about the cardinals, but I know when I had neons they were nippy, so Im not sure how the betta fins would fair if the cardinals are nippy as well.

 

[Magisca213]

I keep a betta with neons, he was at one point kept with cardinals and they did'nt nip at all. Wondering if my fish are sweet or something though. Wait for other opinions and experiances. Betta's aren't generally recomended for a community aquarium.

 

[s_bonnewell]

Thank you all very much for your help. I think I prob be better off replacing cardinals (however tempting) with 8 male guppies with a betta. do ottos come in different varieties as i have only been able to find 1 type.

guppies khulis & ottos, youve sold me on the toilet mess (less of lol) with ottos.

if i were to have a centrepiece fish though would there be a more suitable one with the size of my tank? I do like the red fighter, but maybe better off looking at another. Maybe a dwarf Chiclid.

 

[OldMan47]

There are differing opinions on the wisdom of trying to keep fancy male guppies with a betta. Some people will tell you that the betta will attack a male guppy thinking it is another male betta because of the large fins. I have not experienced that in my own tanks but thought you ought to at least know to watch out for that possibility and have alternate plans if things don't work out.

 

[s_bonnewell]

Pfff lol oh man... seems like i have a lot to learn, by trial and error as in start small. Add slowly (without busting the bank lol) I will let you all know how I get on. Thanks to all.

 

[Assaye]

I have a 55 litre tank, would i be able to stock this as i’m worried my list is high. Its a deep square style tank. Minimal planted in small gravel with small rock/cave formation. Fluval mini and rena 25watt heater.

2- Kuhli loach
1- Red tail black shark (Centre piece fish for a small tank)
5- guppies (red tail / yellow spotted tail)
8- cardinal tetras
1- Dwarf pleco (spotted variety or possibly dwarf clown, but don’t know a good one) – Algae eating
1- freshwater crab

TBH, I doubt a 25 watt heater will be enough. Mine struggles in a 30 litre tank and they're generally aimed at 10-25 litre tanks. You'll probably need 50-100 watt. The Fluval mini will be OK if you understock your tank.

On to your stock:

2- Kuhli loach - I wouldn't do it as they do get to about 4 inches but many people would recommend them for your tank. They also like to be kept in bigger groups
1- Red tail black shark (Centre piece fish for a small tank) - Very bad idea. They get to between 6 and 8 inches and cause havoc. Need 200 litre tanks
5- guppies (red tail / yellow spotted tail) - Good choice, but get all males! They will breed like rabbits if you don't and you don't have space for all the babies
8- cardinal tetras - Personally I wouldn't keep cardinals as I feel they get too large and need more space. Perhaps neons would be a better option?
1- Dwarf pleco (spotted variety or possibly dwarf clown, but don’t know a good one) – Algae eating - As long as it won't get bigger than about 4 inches that should be fine. Don't rely on it for algae eating, though. Get one because you find them beautiful, not to do a job
1- freshwater crab - Bad idea. These tend to catch, kill and eat fish.

How about:

5 x guppies
6 x tetra (neons, black neons, glow-light, maybe cardinals? Pick one you like and that doesn't get to over 1.5 inches)
1 x small pleco

 

[s_bonnewell]

Just to let you know I went with cichlid based. a pair of dwarf congo cichlids (very small), 1 blue ram, and 8 cardinals. they seem to be doing ok together at the moment. Due to size i got a dwarf gold spot pleco instead of suckerfish.

you all helped great

 

[Wills]

Dwarf congos are dead nice not sure how they will mix with the cardinals though not seen them mixed with such small fish before though. Unfortunately I think putting the ram in might have been a mistake, blue rams need a really high temperature compared to other fish usually around 28c. Also not sure how well the long term mix of the congos and the ram will work out in a 60liter it might just be too small a space to keep 2 teritorial fish long term. Do you have any pics of your congos? Also if you can get a pic of the dwarf gold spot just for positive ID usually a good idea with plecs as there are some LFS that can mislead people or they might just not be sure of what they have, quite a few gold spots and some get quite large so interested to see them

Wills

 

[s_bonnewell]

I think youre right with the ram, I may have to bag him up and take him back if he get aggressive, hes ok at the moment and seems quiet and dosile, either i'm lucky or he's eying up. I have lots of fresh vegatation to hide in so it may be ok. the guy informed me it was a goldspot bristlenose pleco. The cardinals are doing well with them. You are right about the dwarf congos. they are lovely fish, I got a m & f pair and a few terracotta pots (like miniature roman thin nose wine containers style) they have taken as nesting caves. The cardinals are doing really good with them (at the moment). unhappy stress is unwanted, so i will do the embarrasing thing of taking bagging up and taking back if i need to. I'm still learning though.

apologies for the photos, i replying from work.

 

[Curiosity101]

Was this tank cycled before you added fish?
If not what are you water stats at the moment?

 

[waterdrop]

Finally got to the bottom of this thread and found the person I want to agree with!...Curiosity101

I've almost never seen any newcomer come in to the forum after properly preparing their biofilter for the 2 months or so it may need to be ready for fish and not have the desire to mention all this hard work! Is the cycling all completed?? Cichlids are no different from other freshwater fish in sustaining permanent gill and nerve damage without an already working biofilter.

Don't mean to sound unwelcoming.. Welcome to TFF. There are plenty of members who can help with all sorts of situations so you're in the right place.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Curiosity101]

Yes sorry to the OP, I didn't mean to sound short in what I said. It's just that as I was reading there was a single question I kept asking myself (and saw no answer too), which was that it was all well and good planning stocking, but had you cycled the tank? Or even been told about cycling...

You really do seem to want to do the right thing. So I'm guessing chances are you haven't come across 'cycling' before, or you just decided not to mention it. Eitherways I had to ask just incase.