New Tank. Opinions On The Fish In My Tank.

[Lexizdanov]

Hi!
So I cyclyed my tank and began starting to add fish to my 55 gallon tank. It may be a little bit bigger. It currently has 2 angelicus botia loaches (polka dot loaches) and 2 angelfish.I have done some research on which fish would go well together, but I would like to double check with you guys. I was thinking:

• 2 Angelicus Potias
• 2 Angel Fish
• 2 Silver Hatchet Fish
• 3 Dwarf Gouramis
• 5 Von Rio Flame Tetras

What do you think? More? Less? Any other fish you think I should add or might look good in my tank? Let me know! Thanks

 

[Wills]

Hi
 
First thing you need to do is have the schooling and gregarious fish in bigger groups/schools. So that would result in
 
2 Angel Fish
3 Dwarf Gourami - 1m 2f - not the best choice to go with Angels as they inhabit the same upper water territory which can cause conflict. I would personally choose something like a trio of Apistogramma which will stay lower in the tank and will not clash with the Angels
8-10 Silver Hatchet Fish
8-10 Von Rio Flame Tetras
5 Angelicus Botias
 
That would be a nice tank and give you a good cross section of activity and colours
 
Wills

 

[TallTree01]

Yay! Flame tetras!
I would do

2 Angel Fish
10-12 Silver Hatchet Fish
10-12Von Rio Flame Tetras
8 angelicus Botias

 

[Lexizdanov]

Thank you! I will definatly go get some more loaches soon. I was thinking to get dwarf gouramis so they wouldnt be as teritorial but i guess i was wrong. Thanks!
Is this better.

• 2 Angel Fish
• 5 Botias
• 10 Hatchet Fish
• 10 Tetras

Sadly they don't have Apistogramma at my pet store. Would you reccomend getting all of my schooling fish at once? I was told all fish two or three at a time.

 

[Wills]

How long has your tank been set up and how did you cycle the tank?
 
Wills

 

[haleem8777]

yeah i think you should have 6+ botias as they will show alot more natural behavior .
Also 2 angel fish are good 
also if you had 6-8 Silver Hatchet Fish and 6-8 Von Rio Flame Tetras you could get 6-8 more of another schooling fish (rummeynose tetra Etc)

 

[Lexizdanov]

Great idea! The more variety the better! My local pet stores don't have rummey nose tetras, but they look amazing! So here is my final cut (hopefully):

• 2 Angel Fish
• 4-6 Botias (worried about space for them)
• 6 Silver Hatchet Fish
• 6 Von Rio Flame Tetras
• 6 Bloodfin Tetras (look similar to rummeynose tetras!)

Still no word on if I should add all my schooling fish at once. Please let me know soon! Would this be over crowding my tank? 

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Answer wills question and we should be able to tell you whether or not you should add all the fish at once.

 

[TallTree01]

Great idea! The more variety the better! My local pet stores don't have rummey nose tetras, but they look amazing! So here is my final cut (hopefully):

• 2 Angel Fish
• 4-6 Botias (worried about space for them)
• 6 Silver Hatchet Fish
• 6 Von Rio Flame Tetras
• 6 Bloodfin Tetras (look similar to rummeynose tetras!)

Still no word on if I should add all my schooling fish at once. Please let me know soon! Would this be over crowding my tank?

Little schools don't make an impact at all. I was lie you at the beginning. I stuffed 3 species of tetra in small schools for variety and it looked... Bad. The fish didn't look too happy either. I removed one species and upped the numbers of the other 2. The remaining fish were much more ' happy ' and the tank looked better!

As to your question,

How long has your tank been set up and how did you cycle the tank?
 
Wills

I know, I'm answering a question with a question but I need the answer to the question about the question to answer the question in question. If that makes sense....

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Most loach species in a suitably sized community tank would normally make up a sizeable fraction of the total stocking, because they should be kept in groups of at least 8+, but ideally more. They form complex hierachies, keeping them in low numbers can either result in fish you never see and/or aggression within the group plus tankmates.
 
Polka Dot Loaches are not small fish as adults, something close to ~15cm SL is normal, so even 8 of them is ~120cm of adult fish. In a typical 55US g (48"x13"x21") ~209l tank, 120cm of adult fish is quite a high stocking level, before you even consider any other species.

 

[Lexizdanov]

Sorry guys didn't see that question! I did a fishless cycle. I added a bacteria starter and ran my filter for about a month or so.  

Talltree01 thanks for letting me know! I want my fish to be happy and energetic! Is this good:

• 2 Angel Fish
• 5 Botias 
• 8 Silver Hatchet Fish
• 8 Von Rio Flame Tetras

Still worried about overcrowding my tank though. 

 

[daizeUK]

Just to check - did you also add ammonia during your fishless cycle?

 

[Lexizdanov]

Yes

 

[TallTree01]

Well, if you fishless cycled then you could, in theory, stock it all at once. But I wouldn't for 2 reasons:
1) if you accidentally mucked up teh cycle somehow ( not saying you did ) then it will be harder to undo the damage with more fush in there
And
2) it means more trips to the LFS.