Looking for help Stocking my Juwel Rio 180

[Hunter]

Just getting back into fish keeping after a break and looking for ideas of what to stock my tank with. I have a Rio 180L Tank i kept community fish in it before but looking for something different but not sure what i want. Don't want it to be to difficult to care for to start with as i am just getting back into the hobbie. Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated

 

[fluttermoth]

Could you post the dimensions of the tank and whether your water is hard or soft?

 

[Hunter]

Yes my water is Moderately Hard and the measurements are 101 x 41 x 50 cm

 

[TekFish]

Well, with a 180L tank, you can get most commonly found tropical species. I'm assuming you want tropical species, by the way. If you don't want to be messing around too much with water parameters then some African Cichlids tend to prefer moderately hard water, plus you get a variety of colours and species and their interactions can be very interesting. I know someone who used to keep African Cichlids, I can't remember if they were Mbuna or Malawi, but they were very happy. The one thing I would say, is they have a tendency to be territorial, even aggressive, so I've often seen it advised to keep a lot of them to make sure no one fish gets massively bullied. Someone who has kept them before could probably give you more information. Hope this helps.

 

[Byron]

Livebearers would also work here, given the water parameters and tank size. Platy, swordtails, mollies (I would want to pin down the GH more as mollies need harder water). Some rainbowfish like moderately hard water.

 

[Hunter]

I have thought about Cichlids but haven't kept them before and was slightly worried so anymore info on them could be helpful. Also had Livebeaers in my community tank so looking for somthing a bit different althought what ever i add must be cory friendly as they are my fav fish

 

[Byron]

I have thought about Cichlids but haven't kept them before and was slightly worried so anymore info on them could be helpful. Also had Livebeaers in my community tank so looking for somthing a bit different althought what ever i add must be cory friendly as they are my fav fish

If you are thinking of the African rift lake cichlids mentioned by TekFish, you are limited by your tank size (180 liters, 50 gallons roughly). These fish are highly territorial and something of a different "kettle of fish" from most any other tropicals. I'll leave it for other more African-experienced members to suggest options if any for this tank (shell dwellers suggest themselves, there may be other options).

As for the Neotropical cichlids (Central America, South America) I would like to be more specific on the GH and pH first. "Moderately hard" suggests to me something around 8-12 dGH, but for some SA dwarfs it has to be less than this.

 

[hobby5]

If you are looking for some interesting cichlid suiting your tank size and water parameters I would highly recommend Neolamprologus multifasciatus. It needs a sandy substrate and larger snail shells as housing. It will form colonies and breed easily so very interesting to watch.