Mixing Around My Stockings

[Fraoch]

Hi, I have 5 different tanks and i want to sort out my stocking in them all, its all a bit muddled right now.

Tank 1(the newest-not fully stocked); Roughly 240-260 litres 47x18.5/13.5(bowfront)x22"
Atman I proffessional which is an old model I think its almost the same as an Aquis 1000 + SunSun Hw-302
2 adolfoi cory
4 imitator cory
2 black neon tetras
15 harlequins
5 glass cats
4 silver hatchetfish
5 glowlight tetras
Pair GBRS

I was going to get 5-6 discus and thank to Devotedtodiscus for helping me with that but I think they are just out of my price range for now so I'm looking at something a bit cheaper. The fish i would like the keep in this tank would be the adolfoi corys, glass cats and GBRs at least. I would like to add denison's barbs, pair of angelfish and a pair of pearl gouramis but i think i would be way overstocked and i dont know what compatability is like so maybe i can sell or move some fish to other tanks?

Tank 2; About 70 litres 24x12x15" Hagen Fluval Internal U2
1 male guppy
1 1" platy
3 endler guppys
5 neon tetras
1 ghost shrimp
1 cherry shrimp

So i could possible move some of the fish to this tank or boost the number of neons endlers and shrimp?

Tank 3; A QT tank of about 15-20 litres at the most, no good for much apart from baby fish and shrimp really, possible endlers?
Has nothing in it right now

Tank 4; Qt for tank 1 about 100 litres 36x12x15" with a sponge filter built for 500litres
3 zebra danios which were going to go into Tank 5 but I dont think they're built for the cold.

Tank 5; Just over 100 litres cold water, 'B' shaped tank about 24" high with an external filter(cant remember make right now)
2 fantails
1 weather loach
1 chinese algae eater
1 zebra danio(to be moved to wherever the ones in Tank 4 go)


Sorry its so long, I want to really sort out tank 1 and get the fish i mentioned in there but that means moving the fish around to other tanks and its all pretty confusing

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I can empathsize with the "fish juggling" dilemma, its something I have done many a time on my six tanks!

The following would do well in a heaterless tank in most homes (18-20C), the longer the better as there are both zippy and "tank busters" in this list, some water surface current...
Zebra Danios
Fantails
Weather Loach
CAE

Then there are ones that need slightly warmer water (20C to 24C), nothing that big or active (depending upon Glass Cats species who will enjoy a bit of current in a shady area) ...
Neon Tetras
Harlequins
Glass Catfish (which species are you talking about here?)
Adolphoi Cory
Cherry shrimp?
Ghost Shrimp?

Then there are those that are at the higher end of tropical (24-28C)...
Silver Hatchetfish
GBR
Guppy
Endlers
Platty (depending upon species, variatus is more temperate)
Imitator Cory
Black Neon Tetras
Glowlight Tetra

The above is a very simplistic look at things, one or two species overlap communities, but I prefer to try and keep fish with tankmates that enable everyone to be near the low end of their temperature requirements.

 

[Fraoch]

Thank you! I had no idea there were different species of glass cats,heres a link to where i bought 3 of them and the other 2 i got at P@H and were a bit smaller so im not sure what they would be, maybe just the same..? they're deffinatly not shy they spend all their time right at the front in the middle of the tank.

So i can keep the coldwater tank the same as it is and add the other 3 danios and there is already a bit of current at the suface, brilliant
For the rest, i think i might go with this...;

70L; neons
shrimp
adolphoi cory and ill buy a few more(ill have to change substrate to sand)
Platy(its variatus)
Maybe i could still keep the guppy and endlers in here?

250?L; hatchets
GBrs
imitator corys
black neons
glowlights
Then possible add;
2 angelfish
2 pearl gouramis
6 denisons barb but i just realised they are the lower end of temperature
Maybe this tank at 26*C but maybe thats just too cool for the gbrs

Not sure what ill do with the glass cats and harlequins, keep them in the 100l qt? Maybe i should just buy a new tank for the barbs harlequins and glass cats

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Just a hunch here, but is "tank 4" not longer than "tank 5"? The danios could do with all the length you can give them, if your list of tropical to high end tropical was not so big I'd say put these sub-tropicals in your bowfront tank.

 

[Fraoch]

Yeah it is, sorry I kinda lost you on the second part. Which fish should i put in the bowfront..?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

A big part of me thinks you should put your sub-tropicals in the bowfront, despite your high end tropical fish list being bigger because...
The Weather Loach should reach ~25cm, they are far more active by night (my group did lap after lap of my 5x2x2) and they are very social fish that do far better in groups.
The CAE should reach ~30cm, but you may encounter aggression sometime before it reaches full size, with it rasping on the sides of tankmates.
Your bowfront has the longest length, giving the zippy danios more space to use their energy.
The Fantails should reach ~15cm.

This will mess up a lot of your future plans for the bowfront, but one positive is you could add the Redline Torpedo Barbs which are sub-tropical fish. On the other hand, you may decide to rehome your CAE and give your singleton Weather Loach to someone with an existing group, in which case the danios and goldfish may cope with the 36x12x15, but the Redline Torpedo Barbs would be too cramped for.

Fish juggling can be a real headache at times, different combinations can have their own good short and long term merits and it does not get easier when some of the fish have fry and you decide to try and raise/protect as many of them as you can... Once again, on a rare long weekend off work until Tuesday morning, I'm looking at my stock and thinking maybe I ought to move some as some fish have grown since the last move around which makes certain combos less risky. This is traded off against the dilemma of holding off another week or so, as most of my 48 Lionhead Cichlids in the Rio240 are so close to being a suitable size to take to a LFS (4-5cm), which will then practically free up my second biggest tank!

 

[Fraoch]

Ahh, this may take me a few weeks to work out
If only i had the space and money to buy a few more tanks....
Putting all the sub tropicals in my bowfront would be great, i feel guilty about where they are anyway but i would have no idea what to do with the fish that are in the bowfront right now plus they have been living in the tank they're in for 3-4 years now, no excuse i know but at least the water stats are good. The 100litre QT is not a permanant thing, a friend let me borrow it for a while so i could keep fish in there for about a year then have to empty it.
And there's all the plants i have in the bowfront, the fantails would destroy them
Ahh, this may take me a few weeks to work out
If only we had the space and money to buy a few more tanks....