Out With The Old, An In With The New..?

[Jenks74]

Hi all,

Been thinking about having a change of live stock, and was just a few ideas from other people.

I've a 55gallon planted tank stocked with dwarf chain swords/sword plants/various bogwoods an anubis, while live stock wise there's a pair of blue turk discus/5 sterbi corys/and some rummy nose tetras (also a couple of ottos).

Been thinking quite alot about trading in my discus, but not sure if i really want to do it just due to the fact i've had them for quite a while but i just keep thinking that i could do alot more with my tank with a different stock of fish.

I want to keep it a planted tank, so want to stay away from cichlid's/plecs or anything else that would have a field day digging up or chomping away on the fauna.

I've been looking at various types of rainbow fish as a replacement, just really i guess down to the colouration - has anybody got any experience on keeping them? I've been reading up on them a fair bit, an to be honest if i lower my temperature from 28 down to the mid 20's an keep the ph about 6.8/6.9 i'm guessing that i should be ok.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, all the best nick.

 

[mattlee]

most rainbows prefer a higher pH tbh. praecox i think will enjoy a lower pH and are a stunning fish in numbers

 

[Jenks74]

They had the praecox down at maidenhead today 5 for £14 i think they were, thought at the time that they would be really nice in a fairly large shoal.

 

[mark2109111]

They had the praecox down at maidenhead today 5 for £14 i think they were, thought at the time that they would be really nice in a fairly large shoal.

You could add some new strains of discus. If you only have two at the moment i would suggest a blue cobalt, a red pigeon blood, a blue dimond, and a white butterfly discus. You could also add a pair of German rams.

 

[balajake]

what about puffers ?

 

[Jenks74]

They had the praecox down at maidenhead today 5 for £14 i think they were, thought at the time that they would be really nice in a fairly large shoal.

You could add some new strains of discus. If you only have two at the moment i would suggest a blue cobalt, a red pigeon blood, a blue dimond, and a white butterfly discus. You could also add a pair of German rams.

The turks have paired up, an wont tolerate any other discus in the tank. Tbh i've not try'd putting say 3 or 4 new discus in at the same time - mainly down to the cost factor i guesss. At one point i did fancy getting some pigeon bloods in my set-up, i've a plain black background an black tank so the white in them would of shone through really well. Had rams many years ago, gota admit though that i do like the electic blues

 

[Jenks74]

what about puffers ?

Puffers are pretty cool, not really thought about them are they any good in a community tank? I have got a red knee thai crab in there lurking around somewhere, an did read up somewhere that puffers quite enjoy munching snails an similar. Always did want a mbu, though would just need to upgrade my tank to about 900 litres lol.

 

[balajake]

ive never kept them but they love a planted tank and i think you can get smaller ones. i not sure if you would have to make the water brackish but i suppose you can only research them and see,the crab might be a no no though