Help With Stocking Please :d

[Ashley1991]

Hey all im coming to the end of my cycle (accidental fish in cycle didn't realize i had to feed mature media ammonia! stupid me!)

i have a 195 liter tank with some live plants in it. currently has 3 guppy's in it and 2 bristle nose catfish (really pleased they survived they amaze me)

could you please help me with stocking ideas? i have had a look around the more common variety of fish like tetras (wouldnt mind some sort of tetra shoal but open to all ideas!)i have researched other fish on websites but most information is conflicting on whether they are community fish or not and i trust you guys more than a website

i like bigger fish as well as long as they wont eat my guppy's so yeah any ideas of fish i could have a look at?

thank you all

Ash

 

[chrisbassist]

I love my keyhole cichlids, take a look at those. Very peaceful and shy, mine aren't shy but usually they are.

 

[chesterjohn]

How long has it taken to do your fish in cycle? Do you have any plants in the aquarium?

I have a similar sized tank with 5 guppies in at the moment. My plan of stocking is something along the lines of:
5 guppies (plus any babies that happen to survive)
10ish Cardinal tetra
3 otto
1 golden nugget plec
1-2 bolivian ram
1-2 apistogramma (probably the double red if I can find it)

then I'm thinking of a few shrimp and maybe some swordtails or platies and possibly green neon tetras.

 

[laurahobson]

In my community tank i have

Rummy nose tetras
Neon tetras
Zebra danios, they are very funny fish!
Clown loaches, they are my favourite they are very entertaining to watch
Guppys
Pearl gourami, they are a bigger fish but very peacefull and fun to watch
Red tailed shark
High finned blue german ram, a very beutiful fish, but mine is poorly at the moment
Pelco
And they all go very well together, its a very peaceful and fun to watch tank

 

[chesterjohn]

How big is your Red tail shark?

They get a bit aggresive when they get older and might get aggressive towards clown loach. I've never seen them be aggressive until the other day when a pet store had one going for everything that went near him.

My opinion of pearl gourami isn't great as my Dad had a pair and one of them nipped everything in the tank until it was gotten rid of. Otherwise I'd be after both of those types of fish too...

 

[kiriyama]

Cardinal and Rummynose Tetras are fine, why don't you check out Lemon Tetras, nice colours nice markings, I had about 12 - 14 in a shoal and it's really cool watching the males displaying to each other, very peaceful, also have you looked at Emperor Tetras ?, very nice Tetra worth looking into, you could also check out some south american dwarf cichlids , i.e. Cockatoo , Aggazizzi (spelling?), borelli are really nice as well, opal variants, have seen red variants on the other ones, you could add a plec of some sort , help clean the glass, also gravel/sand and add an interesting feature to your tank, check out Bristlenose plec/Ancistrus plec, they don't get big and are very peaceful, a tank that size will make a very nice community, sandy bottom, few rocks, lots of plants, sorry just thinking out loud and forgetting it's not my tank, lol, hope these ideas help out a bit.....

 

[laurahobson]

How big is your Red tail shark?

They get a bit aggresive when they get older and might get aggressive towards clown loach. I've never seen them be aggressive until the other day when a pet store had one going for everything that went near him.

My opinion of pearl gourami isn't great as my Dad had a pair and one of them nipped everything in the tank until it was gotten rid of. Otherwise I'd be after both of those types of fish too...

My red tail shark is very small at the moment my clown loaches are doulble the size of the red tailed shark at the moment, and he isn't at all aggressive lets hope he dosen't turn as he gets bigger he keeps himself to himself. We were given 2 pearl gouramis and 2 moonlight gouramis and we had to give the moonlights back as they were nipping everything but the pearl gouramis are no trouble. What about a sliver shark? i have seen them in tanks with clown loaches and red tailed sharks. I think some people have trouble with certain fish but other people don't like my mum had moonlight gouramis in her community tank and they were fine but likre i said we had to give ours back as they where a nightmare!

 

[chesterjohn]

When they're young, they're fine. It's when they get bigger that the aggression starts as they get territorial. All the sharks are the same from what I know.

As for the gouramis, I'm sure it was just a nasty fish, but it's put me off them.

 

[meguro]

A 195L tank is unsuitable for both silver sharks (bala sharks) and clown loaches as they can easily grow to 10-12" and need to be kept in schools (5+ fish).

some of the rainbowfish species might interest u like melanotaenia boesemani, m. praecox, m. trifasciata, m. lacustris

dwarf cichlids like apistogramma spp., bolivian rams, keyhole cichlids and dwarf acaras (laetacara spp.)

tetras such as rummynose, cardinal, neon, black neon, flame (hyphessobrycon flammeus), glowlight etc. though be careful not to get particularly nippy ones due to u already having guppies (like serpae tetras)

loaches such as kuhli, yoyo, zebra, polkadot

corydoras (any)

harlequin rasbora and a number of barbs (be wary of nippy fish though)

gourami

you could also do larger cichlids than the dwarfs but u'd need to plan stocking more carefully

use google and have a read (and look) of some the fish mentioned in this thread. then post up a list of the ones u like most

 

[Ashley1991]

thanks for all the replies my head is spinnign with all the fish!

http/i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx105/Ashley-laura/DSCF5514.jpg

http/i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx105/Ashley-laura/DSCF5512.jpg

here is waht my tank looks like at the min not very impressive i know looking for a nice piece of wood etc but yeah if you got any tips on making it look bettwe owuld be appreciated to!
kiriyama

couldnt decide which looked better so put em both on lol


chesterjohn my tank has being cycling about a month and a half now and yes hopefully the pics are going to show up when i click post or at least the links will work lol so you will be able to see my plants no co2 low light

kiriyama i have 2 bristlenose in there there only little (hope i got a male and female oh and thats why theres a cucumber in there lol )

to everyone else thanks very much! going to be a good night tonight reading about all your suggestions its very appreciated!

thank you
Ash

(changed the link to direct links should work now if you click)

 

[Ashley1991]

i dont know why but im very very drawn to Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlid - Apistogramma cacatuoides some of the pictures i have seen of the colourations have really impressed me. reading about them now very interesting

im going to get some sort of tetra as well when my tank is more mature (6months ish) so i will decide on tetra then

Ash

 

[bubble87]

Hey all im coming to the end of my cycle (accidental fish in cycle didn't realize i had to feed mature media ammonia! stupid me!)

i have a 195 liter tank with some live plants in it. currently has 3 guppy's in it and 2 bristle nose catfish (really pleased they survived they amaze me)

could you please help me with stocking ideas? i have had a look around the more common variety of fish like tetras (wouldnt mind some sort of tetra shoal but open to all ideas!)i have researched other fish on websites but most information is conflicting on whether they are community fish or not and i trust you guys more than a website

i like bigger fish as well as long as they wont eat my guppy's so yeah any ideas of fish i could have a look at?

thank you all

Ash

dont get any mollies as they prefer brackish water.

here are a good selection of fish

fancy guppies best to get all male tho
keyhole cichlids these have a great personality
neon tetras
rummynose tetras
platies

try this site http/www.ratemyfishtank.com/freshwater_compatibility_chart.php

 

[BethK]

Mollies can live in tropical tanks, they just prefer a saltish one but they don't have but to get their full potential then it is advised to place in a little bit of aquarium salt.

I wouldn't suggest corys, on the basis on a non-sand substrate. Your gravel looks like it could be a little too sharp for them.

How about adding more plants in there, maybe some java moss on a rock or bogwood? Some taller plants too and smaller bottom types, Then add in some hardier shrimp?

How about an Albino Rainbow Shark? Indian dwarf puffer? Scarlet Gem Badis (1 male and 3 - 4 females)?

Just a thought, with coloring it up a bit x

 

[Ashley1991]

according to that site guppies and dwarf Cichlid dont get on but people have being recommending them thats confused me XD

good point about the gravel wish i went sand but i did not have the money to buy new stuff at the time so just used it from my old tank and the leftover stuff

i did have java moss covering the plant pot but i did not tie it down well just waiting to get around to sticking it back on whats best to use to stick it down to something i tried string but it did not go so well lol and there is 3 lots of java moss down in the front dont know if you can see it to well in those pictures just waiting for it to grow some more

any reccomendations on smaller plants i can put towards the front and a big tall plant for the back? low light no CO2 please

would the birstlenose be aggressive towards shrimp at all?

Thanks
Ash

 

[chrisbassist]

the guppies and dwarfs...

I have 5 guppies, 3 apistos and 2 keyholes, so far they all seem fine together, they've had to sort out the pecking order between the keyholes and apistos, but no one has been bothered with the guppies, and the guppies don't seem bothered by any of the cichlids either.

some vallis would be good for a taller plant at the back, not sure on low light foreground plants