New Stocking....

[dafrnhm]

I've been getting moaned at for not having enough "pretty" fish in my tank apparently and that was part of the deal that I was allowed a big tank in the living room... woman... pah.

Well, my tank currently holds 9 mollies + 5 fry, 1 guppy, 2 emporer tetra, 8 lake kutubu rainbowfish, 3 gouramis and 1 pleco.

What I am thinking is getting rid of the mollies, the guppy, the tetras and getting an angelfish, I'm getting a baby so it can grow up with the other fish so hopefully it wont bully. I also want to get about 5-6 other rainbowfish species and I have a L200 pleco on order.

From the research I've done this should be ok but just wanted to double check. My tank is about the minimum size requirement for an angelfish but I'm going to try get one that doesn't grow ultra long fins, any suggestions?

 

[KittyKat]

What size is the tank?

If you want to provide a good home for the fish, you should keep in mind that rainbows school, as do emperor tetras and angels (although some people keep only 1 or 2).

 

[dafrnhm]

Yeah the rainbowfish are 1 big school which is why I want to get another species aswell so hopefully they will school together but I will get 5 just incase they dont and they can make 2 little schools. Like I said, the emporer tetras are going, there not my favourite fish and I don't really want a school of them.

I am going to get 1 angelfish because I dont want the risk of them fighting and I dont have the room, its a 40gal tank.

 

[KittyKat]

Different species of rainbows usually won't school together.. they may if there are not enough of each species, but even then it is quite unlikely.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

I have lake tebera rainbowfish. They are beautiful. I've had them 3 days and the colours are already coming out. Lovely yellow scales and red fins, but can't say they will school with the kutubu ones. The tebera lake fish need a minimum of a 4ft tank however as they are very quick and active

 

[Wills]

To be fair I would call that a pretty well stocked tank.

Those rainbows you have get huge they are one of the larger species of rainbow and IMO need a large tank due to their active nature and a school of 8 is going to put a lot of strain on the tank biologically. Just toting up some quick numbers on inch per gallon 8x5 inch fish = 40 plus the rest of the fish. Im not agreeing with the inch per gallon rule because it is ultimately flawed in many ways but it is a good way of working out a guide.

However! There is an easyish way of fixing this, Dwarf Neon Rainbows very similar to your current rainbows but stay smaller but are still a good size.

What kind of Gourami do you have and also what kind of pleco?

In a 40 gallon tank if its a common its not suitable for the tank and if its a medium sized plec similar to the size of your L200 thats on order I think with the other fish it would be too much of a strain on the tank.

Also with the Gourami, Gouramis and Angels are in my opinion one of the classic no nos, they both inhabit the same level of the tank (upper levels) and both are known to be problematic. I know from experience that it can end badly when mixing them as well. So I would consider which you would rather have.

Also with the Emperor Tetras I would add more to them rather than add more rainbows.

And lastly I would consider how the mollies work in the tank long term, livebearers can overpopulate a tank quickly and 40 gallons though a decent sized tank can get over run especially when you have the numbers in there that you do.

I know its not great feedback but just helping. If your stocking is up for debate and you need to balance demand for pretty fish (believe me I know this argument well) I would consider a somewhat radical change to the tank. For me the stocking list I would take forward would be along the lines of

1 Angelfish (2 could work) OR 3 Gourami (what species?)
8 Dwarf Neon Rainbows
10 Emperor Tetras
3 Mollies (1 male, 2 females)
1 L200
1 Plec (only if its a smaller growing species not a common or a gibbi)

And then you would possibly have some room left for perhaps an other school of rainbows like Threadfin or Forktails. Something for the bottom of the tank would work well also, a school of panda cories (so long as you have sand substrate)

hope its helped, please dont take offense and feel free to disagree with me
Wills

 

[dafrnhm]

You all seem to be getting it wrong, I've listed what is currently in the tank, then I said I'm getting rid of the mollies, the tetra and the guppy.

So the tank will hold:

1 Angelfish
3 Gourami, soon to be dwarf gourami because my current gouramis are not getting along and I like the cobalt blue ones.
8 Lake Kutubu Rainbowfish
4 Praecox Rainbowfish
1 L196 Plec (I think)

and the L200 plec which wont be for a while now, I could cancel if it doesn't fit.

 

[Wills]

Ah okay sorry ^^' missed that.

The new stocking plan looks okay but I would swap the L196 for the L200 as L196 are known as Gibbis and they grow huge! Way too big for a 40 gallon tank. The L200 is arguably too big for it as well but given the low activity levels of plecs I would not worry too much.

I would still think about swapping the Kubutu rainbows for Praecox as adult Kubutus are a huge fish and need more than a 40 gallon tank especially for a group of 8.

3 Dwarf Gourami could work with the Angel but it could go wrong.

Wills

 

[KittyKat]

You will probably have problems with more than one male dwarf gourami.