Restocking...again...

[Ami]

After my recent disaster, I now need to strip my tank and start again!

Can anyone recommend a small, hardy fish to help my tank work through it's cycle? Don't say Zebra Danio's as I had them for 6 years until they died of old age and really want to try something different!

After that, what would you reccommend for a 100l tank?

My tank originally had Zebra Danio's, Black-Widow Tetra's, White Tip Tetra's and Red Eye Tetra's, but over the years the numbers of these changed, a plec and borneo sucker were added. I'm keen to try some new fish and was planning on a little shoal of Red Flame Tetra's, a pair of angels and pair of dwarf gourami's (red or blue- they look pretty cool).

I was building up slowly to my max capacity, which I think is something like 110cm of fish, and planned on putting another mini shoal of smaller fish in, but am not sure what.

Would appreciate any suggestions please! I would prefer fish that didn't get huge as I learnt my lesson from the plec and don't want to have to rehome anyone else!

Cheers,
Ami

Kuhli Loaches are quite cool - are they ok to keep as pairs?

 

[sylvia]

Fishless cycle with pure ammonia. It'll take much less time and means you can choose your fish without having to worry about how hardy they are or whatever.

Your tank is about 50 gallons which, by the inch per gallon guideline, means you can keep about 50" of fish. But this rule isn't that reliable with larger fish and other things have to be taken into acount.

Anyway, a pair of angels sounds good but you can't sex them so I assume you'll be getting 6 and waiting for 2 to pair up and then returning the remaining 4?

The dwarf gouramies would be ok but can be susceptible to disease.

The flame tetras don't get very large but should be ok with the angels as long as you add them first before you introduce the baby angels and give the tetras a chance to grow a bit. Obviously you're going to need at least 6.

If you stillw ant to cycle with fish, go for a trio of platies. Later on, swordtails (don't cycle with them though) would also work in this tank.

If you want a shoal of smallish fish that'll look great with the angels, scissortail rasboras are perfect. They get to 3" (don't confuse them with the so-called giant scissortail which gets to 6"). Don't get anything very small like neons as they're likely to get eaten and, obviously, avoid fin nippers like tiger barbs.

Aren't you going to put in any bottom-dwelling fish? A bristlenose plec (4-6") would be the ideal algae eater. Cories or non-nippy loaches do well as tankmates for angels otherwise.

 

[@ombomb]

100 litres = approx 26.5 USG, which is more like 60cm of fish.

Can you also give the dimensions of the tank?

Angels need plenty of height to cope with their large fins.

 

[sylvia]

Oops... I thought this tank was 200 litres...

You're going to have trouble fitting many fish in there besides a pair of angels TBH. You should skip the gouramies as they occupy the same area and will probably get picked on if the angels decide to breed and once they mature and become a little more aggressive. Besides that, go for just one school of 6-8 flame tetras. You can still maybe put in 2-3 otos or a small plec but leave it at that. You should plant heavily to provide plenty of hiding places and to make the fish feel more at home. This is especialy true for otos and, once the angels mature, it'll keep them from stressing their tankmates too much. The tank should idealy be at least 18" tall for angels BTW.

 

[Ethos]

You could do........giant danios and they are quiet hardy......I am all for the fish cycle.
Its alittle harder and more time consuming, but uits worth it! You get to watch fish in your tank, even while its cycling!! B)

So......yeah

 

[dwarfgourami]

"I am all for the fish cycle.
Its alittle harder and more time consuming, "

Harder, that is, on the fish.

 

[Ami]

Dimensions are (in cm) 76l x 30w x 48h. I was told this should be tall enough for Angels but that's what, only just over 18"? I hadn't even thought of getting more than 2 and waiting on them pairing up!

I used the density calculator provided by PFK to work out how much I could have:
http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/..._calculator.php

Dimensions 76 x 30 x 48cm/30" x 12" x 19
Surface area 0.23 sq m/2.45 sq ft/353 sq in
Volume 109 l./24 gal.
Probable volume 98 l./22 gal. (after displacement)

We would recommend keeping up to 22"/55cm of fish in your system. However, depending on the type of fish, your filtration and your maintenance level you may be able to exceed this to a suggested maximum of 43"/110cm of fish. However, this, of course, requires care and thought for the type of fish being stocked. We would advise you to read our Frequently asked questions on stocking densities for more details on this subject.

Results
Stocking density 22"/55cm of fish (built up gradually)
Maximum density 43"/110cm of fish (probable theoretical maximum)

The way I see it, that gives my 55cm of fish initially, allowing them to grow as long as they don't exceed the max capacity of 110cm. I've been trying to plan becuase you obviously need to take into account the adult sizes eg Angels are 5cm as baby's, but 12cm as adults, flame tetras are 1.5cm & 4cm and dwarf gouramis I know can grow up to 6cm. It's complicated so I decided just to take account of adult sizes and make sure I don't exceed 110cm. I figure that, as long as I don't exceed it, and my mortality rate continues as it has done over the past couple of months, I won't have too many probs. ) (that was a joke just in case anyone was wondering....)

I saw some loaches in my LFS the other weekend - they were long, slim and stripy? I think they're kuhli loaches but were completely unlike every loach I've seen before so wasn't sure. They were pretty neat anyway.

My first tank was about 6yrs ago and, as I bought everything at Pet(not so)Smart, all the fish went in immediately without any cycling. My recent attempt at cycling was the first and I think I kinda cheated as I still had a foot long plec at the time and used water and filter material from the old tank! I understand it can be pretty stressful, so I'm going to give the fishless, speedy cycling a go. I'll read through the beginner notes, but if any one has any other helpful tips I'd appreciate them!

Ami