Newb Looking For Advice On Future Fish Stocking

[Fish Out Of Water]

Hello

I'll start by saying I have no fish, I don't even have a tank lol. I'm planning to build a custom 120 gallon-ish tank and have been trying to figure out a list of fish that I can get. Most of my referencing is through liveaquaria.com which is a store, but it provides some comparative information that I've been using to try and plan this project out. I can't buy fish from that website (different country), nor would I even bother ordering them through the mail.

Are these fish compatible? I think they are in terms of water conditions, I know betta can be aggressive, not sure about rope fish (I could see it eating smaller fish).

tetra
barb
betta
damios
loaches
swordtails
reed/rope fish

Are they compatible with java moss and java ferns?

I don't mind suggestions of better fish/plant choices.. In regard to fish, I'm mainly interested in 1-3 large schools (tetras/damios), 1-2 mid sized schools (barbs/swordtails/loaches), and 1-3 special/large/pretty fish (rope fish/betta). In regard to plants, I'm not really picky. I want something like java moss that will make a grassy look in some areas of the tank and something like java ferns that will fill up vertical space and can be affixed to things like rocks and driftwood. I'm not interested in overcrowding fish or a collage of fish. Any advice on temperament is appreciated and feel free to tell me why you're excited about certain fish/plants, I enjoy reading about this sort of thing.

I'm looking for compatible fish and how many of each I could have. If you want to help, then I appreciate that. OH, I almost forgot! I'm a huge fan of inverts so any that can coexist (snails/shrimp), please share!

 

[Wills]

Hi welcome along to the hobby Starting out with 120 gallon tank is fantastic just make sure you read up as much as you can on types of silicon and building methods there are so many things that can go wrong. If you have the capability to build the stand and hood how about getting a tank built from someone like ND aquatics or Aquariumsltd - Poseidons palace are good as well. At a guess a standard 4x2x2 120g tank would be about £200 just for the glass tank but you can get offers through their site some times. Im just thinking an investment now could save massive issues later on - ie leaks and tank bursts... both of which rank pretty high in my worst nightmares lol.

Also you do not mention filtration - a simple recommendation from me would be the Fluval FX5, great filter for this size tank, reliable and easy to find - and they are expensive at around £220 but for what you get I think good value.

Right onto your fish selection!

First things first - Bettas, do not do well in big tanks they have been bred for decades to be kept in smaller aquariums with low flow, they are not found in the wild with the large finnage which is what can make them weak swimmers in big tanks. So if you want a Betta consider a 5-10 gallon tank in addition to this or instead of and stock around them.

My next comment on your list is that it is quite a varied list with things like the Danios, Tetras, Loaches, Barbs there are dozens, in some case hundreds of species under those names. But some very interesting fish in those groups.

For my taste I would go for the rope fish and consider around them, they are big fish but this is a big tank and can handle it the important part of it all is to make sure your fish are too big or the rope fish to eat.

I hesitantly want to show you this thread in the oddballs section

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/404245-my-african-oddballs/page__pid__3405572#entry3405572

It is an amazing tank and impeccably stocked around these kind of african asian fish but I say I hesitantly want to show you as you need to ignore the Mbu puffer fish - the member with the tank above totally appreciates how big this monster will grow and is planning parts of his life around it.

As a stocking plan for your self. Based on your list of species and me chucking a few bits in maybe something like this

3-4 Leopard Bush Fish
10 Black Ruby Barbs
6 Denison Barbs Or 8 Congo Tetras (see which you prefer)
6 Yoyo Loaches
1 Synodontis Eupterous
5 Rope Fish

Hope that helps
Wills