Is This Combination Of Fish Okay?

[Kris T]

Hi everyone,

I'm about to start cycling a 200L (53G) tank. I'm new to fishkeeping, so I need to spend the time it takes to cycle deciding which fish to keep. I plan on this being a planted tank and I'll have eco-complete as a substrate. I have a list of some fish I'd like to add, and I'm hoping for some advice on which of these will work best for me in terms of my tank, compatability with each other, and preventing as much unwanted breeding as possible.

Harlequin Rasbora
Black Widow Tetra
Pentazona Barb
Black Ruby Barb
Neon Tetra
Black Molly
Red Wag Platy
Black Phantom Tetra
Cockatoo Cichlid

Oviously I won't be adding all of those. It's just my first list of potentials. Which I'm hoping to refine or add to with some expert advice But from that above list, is there anything that wouldn't go with anything else? I really like the red wag platy and the black molly, but both can breed a lot, right? Will a tank like this keep it under control? I'd also like some recommendations for small catfish that would work with this kind of community tank...

Thanks a lot in advance for your help!

 

[jonnyf84]

they'r all fine and would go together no problem, if you get a pair of cuckatoo's they will become aggressive if they breed and a adventurous barb might have a pop at them but been a cichlid they can give it back , the mollies and platys will breed like mad but, depending how heavily planted your tank is, most the fry will get eaten, of coarse if your going for a heavily planted tank then most the fry will survive otherwise the barbs, platys, mollies and apisto's will polish them off no problem, most catfish are very peacful and easygoing and you have a huge choice from the ancistrus sp. just beware that they are messy little buggers. Look into ADA aqua soil as a substrate, i hacve used both that and eco complete and ADA is nuch much better although if you do opt for that keep in mind that it has small amounts of ammonia in it so you won't be able to keep fish in there for 3 weeks.

 

[nmonks]

I'd actually think a bit more carefully about your list of fish.

For a start, what's your local water chemistry? Harlequins, neons and Apistogramma definitely do better if the water is soft, with an acidic to neutral pH. By contrast platies and mollies want hard water, and mollies really are better (i.e., easier to keep, less disease prone) in water with a little salt added. That won't bother platies, but the soft water fish won't be happy.

Again, think about temperature. Platies and neons live longer kept a little on the cool side, around 22-24 C. Black ruby barbs like similarly cool conditions. Apistogramma cacatuoides like their water a bit warmer than this, around 25-26 C, as do mollies. Rasboras and pentazona barbs will be happy in either. A degree or two Celsius might not sound like much to you, but in terms of stress it can make a difference in the long term, and it's always better to buy a selection of fish that enjoy the same temperature water.

Do also think about numbers. Eighteen barbs of one species will ALWAYS look better than three different species and six specimens a piece. A bigger school of barbs will behave more naturally, and their colours will look more 'coherent', resulting in something that actually looks beautiful rather than random. If you go to a public aquarium, you'll often see that the tanks are based around a single schooling species kept in large numbers, and then a few other species represented by just one or two specimens. The big school of fish is what catches the eye, and then you explore the tank, spotting the other hidden gems. Your list has no fewer than six schooling species plus two livebearers, so you're going to end up with a mish-mash of fish, all swimming about doing their own thing. It won't look all that good.

A suggestion then might be this: 18-20 pentazona barbs, maybe 6-8 hatchetfish or wrestling halfbeaks for the top, 3-5 dwarf cichlids for the bottom, and in terms of catfish, something fun like small whiptails (Rineloricaria parva, for example) to make a change from Corydoras. A trio of cherry-fin loaches, Acanthocobitis rubidipinnis, could also be used instead of catfish. They're incredibly active (by day!) and great fun.

Cheers, Neale

 

[Kris T]

Neale, thanks for all the excellent advice. Lots to consider!

Having read a lot on this forum recently, I'd say that not many people follow this kind of advice, despite its sense. Is that fair to say? Most people seem to have a huge mix of all kinds of fish in their tanks...I assumed this was normal and okay...

 

[nmonks]

Neale, thanks for all the excellent advice. Lots to consider!

You're most welcome! As I say, there's nothing to stop you mixing the fish you suggest, buy with a wee bit more thought I'm sure you can come up with a mix of species sharing similar environmental wants. Doing that improves your chances of keeping your fish for a long, disease-free life.

Having read a lot on this forum recently, I'd say that not many people follow this kind of advice, despite its sense. Is that fair to say? Most people seem to have a huge mix of all kinds of fish in their tanks...I assumed this was normal and okay...

You can mix all kinds of stuff and get away with it. But if you think about how often people have mollies with fungus, or neons that keep dying for no obvious reason, or cichlids with Hexamita infections, you'll realise that what works in the short term might not work in the long term.

By keeping fish that all want the same things in terms of temperature and water chemistry, you can at least optimise the environment. So if you're keeping hard water fish in a hard water aquarium, then if something goes wrong with them, you can at least cross off water chemistry from the list of potential problems. But if you have a variety of fish all wanting different water chemistry and temperature, you can't do that.

It's almost always best to sit down and think what your centrepiece fish is going to be. Decide on that partly on your tastes in fish, but also with a mind to local water chemistry. Say you have hard water, you'd think about hard water fish, perhaps shell-dwelling Tanganyikans or even some of the more placid Central American cichlids. You'd then think about other fish to add that would enjoy similar conditions, in this case, livebearers, rainbowfish or atherines would all be ideal.

Cheers, Neale

 

[OldMan47]

You are right that a mix of fish is quite common Kris T. I have a Noah's ark tank that anything I like at the moment goes into, but most of my tanks are only one or two species along with a few cories. My goodeids are in single species tanks and need to eat the food off the bottom themselves because they are not suited to living with cories. My endlers and Heterandria formosa share their tanks with cories but nothing else. The Limias are also a single species only in each tank. I do have a fry tank with small mollies and Herotilapia multispinosa in it but both fish do well in high pH hard water at about 24C. The combination is only temporary because the Herotilapia get way to big to live well with mollies.
In general, if I want a new species of fish to do more than admire in my Noah's ark tank, I need to buy a new tank, light, filter combination. Since I started keeping goodeids, I find I have more heaters than I need.

 

[JohnRossDele]

If u like u could get a nusery tank or birthing tank for the livebearers i breed mollies &its quiet fun once u know the basics!,
Barbs & cockatoos are a no go if u really want a stable tank also the eco com' sounds ok were u planning to go 4 live r manmade plants coz anyway its ok
If u would like something eye catching and cool u could go 4 tropical frog plz tell ur lfs about this since i dont know much bout em soo theyll tell u the best pick
Hope it works out ok!!


If u like u could get a nusery tank or birthing tank for the livebearers i breed mollies &its quiet fun once u know the basics!,
Barbs & cockatoos are a no go if u really want a stable tank also the eco com' sounds ok were u planning to go 4 live r manmade plants coz anyway its ok
If u would like something eye catching and cool u could go 4 tropical frog plz tell ur lfs about this since i dont know much bout em soo theyll tell u the best pick
Hope it works out ok!!

 

[lily-rae]

very clean and clean looking setup

very clean and cleair setup....if mesage apears twice its because i spelt wrong and tryed to correct