Ideas

[_]im]

Hi,

Well none of my lfs carry yellow labs, ahha so that plan is down, i would have to order them in and it'd cost about 30/fish.

SO if you guys had a 33 gallon, what would you stock it with, I'm open to all sudgestions, something interesting and colorful would be nice, I''m switching over to a sand substrate with caves and some driftwood. It doesnt matter that the fish match the "scene" or not, just looking for ANY ideas. Anything that might be common, would be good as i live in a more remote part of canada.

Thanks!

 

[nc_nutcase]

I'm usually a big mean cichlid keeper, but lately dwarf cichlids have caught my interest. I just set up and cycled a 55 gal which I plan to stock with Triple Red Cockatoos. Rams and Cockatoos (and other Apistos) are very colorfully attractive fish. Also many people say they have more personalities than livebreeders and most other community fish.

Also African Cichlids are very colorful and you can often stock them a little heavier than most other fish (this is more heresy than experience, so look into this one before you stock based on it).

 

[guppy_man]

i think dwarf gouramis are soo cute and they make popping noises when they eat.

if you want colourful they would be good or about 25 guppys in there lol they are colourful.

neon tetras or cardinal tetras are colourful to they will look good and easy to keep.

i hope ive helped a little bit sorry i cant give you many suggestions but i cant think lol just come home from work.

 

[_]im]

Can you give me some names of the dwarf species? I think I like the idea of africans or something along that line. Something big enough to fill up the tank, as you can see from my sig, i changed all these fish over because their just too small to really see from a distance.

Thanks again!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Are you interested in livebearers at all? They come in many colors, shapes/sizes and are quite a hardy group of fish and don't grow massive.
Is money a barrier? If not, why not go for some of the more interesting smaller rare types of plecs like Zebra plecs- they look very stunning and from what i've gathered, don't exceed 5inchs.
What type of corys do you already have?
Personally i love panda corys although they are about as hardy as neons(not very hardy) and there are also albino corys which are quite a bit hardier and are also very actractive fish
Or if you want somthing a bit more unusual looking why not go for some khuli loachs? There are quite a few types/colors of them about now and are very interesting fish to watch

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

how about some kinda theme tnak? i'm looking at goning for an amazon theme tank. but south east asain tanks and fish also look good! good chocie of fish. i too have found most cihclid's difficult to get hold of

 

[nc_nutcase]

The dwarves that I am aware of are almost all Apistogrammas or Rams. Cockatoos (which are Apistos) were my choice of dwarves because they are easy to keep, easier to breed, are more active and are very colorful. It is suggested to have 20 gallons or 2 square feet of floor space for each male, and then to keep 2-3 females per male. If you put a large center piece in your aquarium to completely break the line of site from one end to the other you might get away with 2 males and 4-6 females. I would think at that point your tank would be completely full and wouldn’t think anymore fish should be added at all. If you want to keep some variety it would be much safer to go with one male and 2-3 females. From what I understand this is a common stocking suggestion with dwarves (although some do better in pairs than trios+).

There is a forum here for African Cichlids and you will get much better answers to your inquiries there than I could offer. I’ve kept them a few times and they are wonderful fish, but I have never taken the time to truly educate myself on them. They are very colorful, very active fish. As soon as I sell off some furniture to make more room for aquariums I plan to start a large African tank (the desire is true, reality is distant…)

Whichever way you go I’m sure you will be quite happy. The one warning I offer with either choice… dwarves and Africans are both gateway fish. They will lead you to wanting larger fish and larger tanks and if you succumb to this desire it can have heavy impact on your finances and intimate relationships. But it’s worth it!!

I would wish you luck but with the choices your considering I don’t think you can go wrong. I’m sure you’ll enjoy yourself either way.

edited PS - Africans are often easy to find in LFS, dwarves aren't. They can sometimes be special ordered through the LFS but if not you may want to contact breeders direct. ApistoDave came highly recommended to me and he is the breeder I am acquiring my Cockatoos through.

 

[sylvia]

Something else you might want to consider is rainbowfish - some of the species are very brightly colored and look almost marine. They are schooling fish and the most common such as the multicolored boesmani and the blue lake katubu and also the bright red glossolepis incisus grow to around 4" to 6". Combined with some of the medium-sized, more colorful loaches such as the zebra or small cichlids such as dwarfs or kribs or keyholes and/or with some interesting catfish/plecs and maybe a few large swordtails or mollies, you can have a very bright, active tank.