Need Help Deciding Which Fish To Get (amazon Biotype)

[gothicangel69]

I've decided to re-home my Oscar and Plecos since they're getting too big for my 55 gallon. I want to keep it as an amazon biotype since I have two angelfish which I'll be keeping in there.
I want to add:
-two more angelfish
-some ottocinclus (not sure how many though- at least 5)
-some type of smaller fish that I can have a school of, but which are big enough so that the angels won't eat them. (I don't like serepae tetras or silvertips)
-a few loaches(most likely khuli)
-and some type of centerpiece fish

What would you guy's suggest?? If you have any suggestions that are fish completely different from what I want, tell me anyways, I might always change my mind.

 

[caboose_122]

hi, what area of the amazon are you looking for? (blackwater river like rio negro, or a creek like rio napo? both contain angel fish.)
as for fish, rio napo has dwarf cichlids like apistogramma, keyholes, and rams live in these areas aswell as corydora and tetras in the Hemigrammus, Hyphessobrycon, Boehlkea, and Thayeria genus.
and rio negro has fish like angel fish, dwarf cichlids like above, tetras like above, corydora, and loricarids

decore is lots of wood, with scaddered amazon swords

fish i would reccomend:
keyhole cichlids: 2
bolivian or blue rams: 2
red eye tetras: 12
black neon tetra: 6-8

a website that helps alot is mongabay.com then find the biotope section on the right hand side

 

[gothicangel69]

I'm planning on a blackwater biotype with driftwood and almond leaves, but I want it to be heavily planted (plastic plants).
Won't the black neon tetras get eaten by the angelfish?? My angels love to eat neon tetras and white clouds.

 

[caboose_122]

i think black neons have a bit taller body shape, how big are your angels?

 

[gothicangel69]

They're a few years old and pretty much full grown I think. They are also very aggressive (as usual for angels I guess). They mostly bully each other though. I have a male and female, so that could be why.

 

[Matt_northants]

I ouldnt personally choose Otos as the have a nasty tendency to graze on deep bodied fish, like Angels and Discus, bristlenoses would be a better choice.
Also adding Angels to an established tank containing Angels can be a bit dicey as the originals normally dont take well to the new "invaders".
Loaches dont come from the Amazon or even the Americas but from Africa, Europe and Asia.

 

[doubledee]

PFK ran an article recently on an amazon biotope based on a rio negro pool. here
There is an angelfish based biotope aquarium setup on mongabay here and for a list of fish that you can choose, I have found this site useful. There are also some cracking biotopes over on this site. I have a planted amazonian(ish) setup. I didn't stick to the biotope theme for the plants or shrimp. Recently I added some indian almond leaves (change about once every three weeks) to my tank to try and soften the water and it has certainly made a big difference to my rummy noses. I have never seen their noses so red and they're not so shy anymore and I've had them for a while, so I can definitely attribute the change to the addition of the leaves. Post some pics when you get it setup, I really like seeing biotope tanks.

How long have you had the angels and how big are they? Some folks reckon if the angels are young (small) enough, then you can add small tetras as they will grow up with them realising they're not food. There are plenty of larger tetras, pencilfish and so on that wouldn't fit in an angelfish's mouth.