My Current Fish Combination

[GABBA]

Good evening, i am very new to fish keeping, and albeit i have done quite a bit of reading on setting up the tank (which i beleive is looking fairly good), i have been releying on the aquarium store owners in regards to what fish i can mix, etc. I am running a 4ft tank (126 x 60 x 60cm), which i believe is 453.60L (119 gallons), and have the following:
2 x Angel Fish
4 x Gourami
1 x Betta
3 x Colour Widows
12 x Neon Tetras
2 x Zebra Danios
1 x Algae Eater
1 x Zebra Loach
4 x Glass Catfish

I have been told that the Angel Fish should be fine (they are small now), but there may be a chance they will have a go at the Neons later, but that i should still proceed with it.
I have a few questions:
1. How is my current selection of fish?
2. What are some colourful recommendations i can add to the tank?
3. How will i know if my tank is getting over-crowded? When looking at it in writing it seems like a lot of fish, but when looking at the tank, there looks to be a huge amount of free space.
4. How much should i be feeding these fish?

Any additional information is appreciated (i have another question, however i cant think of it).

 

[rvpeary]

Hi,

That selection sounds nice to me. I have a large angel and 10 neons and they are fine together. I did have two algae eaters which where great when small but then stopped eating algae, grew massive n got aggressive so I got rid! I have some rainbow fish in mine which get more colourful everyday. And some rosy bars which are colourful and loads of fun to watch. I have recently added a redheads serverum which also adds colour. I feed mine about a flake of dried food each twice a day.

 

[Wills]

Hey Its a nice size tank there! A few things I would change though, 2 x Angel Fish
4 x Gourami
1 x Betta
3 x Colour Widows
12 x Neon Tetras
2 x Zebra Danios
1 x Algae Eater
1 x Zebra Loach
4 x Glass Catfish

As you said the Angelfish will eventually see the neons as food Also mixing Angel fish and Gourami can end in problems - depending on what type of gourami they are?

Also mixing Bettas with Angels and Bettas and Goruami are considered a no no - though some people are adamant it can work out but personally I would not do it or recommend it. Also the colourful long finned bettas are not that well suited to life in large community tanks as their large fins often give them problems in currents. They are really better suited to a 5/10 gallon tank either by them selves or a with a few schoolers or shrimp.

Also the Zebra Danios, Zebra Loach, Colour Widows and Glass Catfish need to be kept in a minimum of at least 6 as they are all schooling fish and need to be kept like that.

The Colour Widows - what colours are they? Some colours are natural but others are often dyed or tattooed fish. Which I would strongly suggest you read up on as it is a really nasty part of the hobby. I wouldnt get any more of these - but to get the school up I would get 3 Black Widows which are the ones that are dyed

And lastly - the Algae Eater - what does it look like is it a common pleco or type of pleco or is it a chinese algae eater/golden algae eater? The common pleco might not be too bad but will need a larger tank eventually. If its the Chinese Algae Eater they can be a real nightmare and tend to be really nasty to larger rounder fish (like angel fish) as they grow up.

So I would look to have a stock list of

2 x Angel Fish
4 x Gourami (depending on species)
6 x Glass Catfish
12 x Neon Tetras
6 x Widow Tetras (3 x Colour Widows and 3 x Black Widows)
10 x Zebra Danios
6 x Glass Catfish
6 x Zebra Loach


Wills

 

[rvpeary]

I have kept gourami angels Fighters and neons all together with no problems but that may just be luck!
The chinese algae eater was the one I had issues with n wouldn't recommend it to anyone!

 

[Wills]

Might be luck might just be a case of you having chilled individuals - when you say you have them all together what kind of time scale are you considering with that? I have heard/seen these combos work for years but other times its like it works for a few weeks then something goes wrong other times it lasts a few months and then it kicks off. It only takes one argument between an angel and a betta for the betta to loose its tail - that said I had some opaline gourami a few years where two males would grab each others tails and swim in circles I rehomed the two separately the following week as they became a nightmare.

When mixing fish its often down to knowing a risk and how likely something could go wrong. Often if you just have one tank or its your first its not worth taking the risk as there is very little you can do if things go wrong.

Wills

 

[GABBA]

Thanks all for the replies, i will take what has been said into account. So far, there have not been any problems, but it is still early days. Regarding the Betta, i have heard (not sure who told me, or if i read it), that they can have problems swimming in the current, but so far it looks ok, she is able to rome the tank without problems (i opted for a female, as apparently they do not have the tendency to fight).
I had no idea about the Coloured Widows...how would you even go about dying a fish? They seem content to swim around the tank, but as they are a popular fish in my tank, 3 more would be good.
So far the only fish showing signs of problems is the Chineese Algae Eater, he seems to harass some of the other fish. The problem is, how do i get rid of him? I have no where else to put it, and i dont particularly want to kill it . . . ?

Also, in your opinions, does it seem that the tank can handle more fish, how will i know "when to say when"?

Thanks.

 

[Wills]

http/www.deathbydyeing.org/ <---- that will tell you everything about it. I would ask that you do not buy any more as it is a total supply and demand situation and we need to do everything we can to stop it.

With the Betta being female that actually cuts problems a lot, female bettas are a lot more community friendly and actually do well as a group in big tanks, just females though. Females will also not have the problems that males do with swimming as they dont have the huge fins like the males - but Im not sure how they will get on with the Gourami.

For the Chinese Algae Eater I would look to rehome him if there are problems - either via the classifieds on this website, possibly ebay or you can often return problem fish to some fish shops for store credit.

As a quick and easy way of working out how stocked your tank is go by the inch per gallon rule (US gallons) and thats a good quick guide but you can often go over that depending on what you are keeping.

Wills