Stock Ideas

[Rorie]

I am looking to put some larger fish in my tank - we tried the Paradise fish and Rainbow chichlid (on another thread) as advised by a shop with deadly effects to others in out tank - they were returned.

So just now i have a 90L tank, with 6 Danios, 2 Guppys, 3 Glowlights, 1 Rainbow shark and 2 small corrys. I am thinking we will get 2 cynclits and an algae eater.

I want some more substantial fish in the tank as everything we have is tiny. Mollys is the obvious choice, but i was wondering about something larger (than the standard size molly) and maybe more exciting.

Thanks

 

[Wills]

Hi, the problem you will face with big fish in your tank are because its not a massive tank to start with so when you start adding bigger fish you have to be careful with fish like your guppies.

First thing I would do with the fish you have present is up your number of Glowlight tetras to 6 and same for the cories - but make sure all the cories you get are the same species not a mix of them.

Then fish you could think about getting are things like Thick Lipped Orange Gourami or Bolivian Rams (but not blue,gold,german or dutch rams)

Your molly size guide thing is okay but I would not go any bigger than that as if you want bigger fish then you need a bigger tank. For example your options vastly increase when you get above 30 gallons but thats not the case here.

Also what are Cynclits? Never heard of them before, and also which algae eater are you getting if its a common plec dont get it infact anything other than an oto that goes by the common name algae eater is unsuitalble for the tank.

Wills

 

[Rorie]

Thanks for the reply!

Well, i was unsure about having to many corrys (although i know they like to sholl) as i dont know how many bottom feeders i can have (with the shark too). I realise they eat different things, but i was unsure how many i could have in my tank. Do you think a total of six is ok?

I had two of the 'cynclits' and one 'algae eater' before.

The cynclit....i have never been able to find out what it is called other than that. I was sold them as algae eaters for my tank as they stay around 1 inch long. They got on great until they both randomly died and i could not work out why when i was told they were 'hardy' fish.

When i looked up oto, this picture came up, and it looks very similar (if not the same) as the 'cyncits'. So these are ok?
http/badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/algae/oto1.jpg

The algae eater i had (the one which was named that by the shop) looked like this
http/badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/algae/sae.jpg
But not quite as silver i think, more a olive brown....maybe...
Do you not think this is suitable? He seemed to get on fine.

I realise that BIG fish are not suitable, but i was just looking for something bigger than the danios and guppys as they are all tiny!
Your two suggestions both look great thought! Oh, i also have two dwarf Gouramis i forgot to mention.

Can you give me a photo of the Bolivian Ram you suggest? What is wrong with the other Rams you mention? Size? Aggression?

Thanks again, i appreciate the advise

 

[Wills]

To be fair if you have a pair of the dwarf gourami and the rainbow shark in there with the increased schools I would say you are full stocked after adding the extra cories. I have to admit I would be cautious about the rainbow shark in a 20g but see how it goes. But when that reaches adult size it could be as problematic as the rainbow cichlids were for you.

If the Cynclit is an otto yes a group would be okay to add maybe 3 but no more I would not add any algae eaters as they all get quite big for the tank and the best algae eater around is you scrubbing it during the water change no fish should be kept in an FW tank to do a job IMO unless its like catfish on a sand substrate for example but not for the purpose of algae eating as it just adds to your bio load and 9/10 times they dont eat the algae.

Dont forget your fish will grow and quite quickly too in a few months you will see a big difference between now and then.

I would only add the extra tetras and cories along with a trio of ottos if you really want them.

Wills

 

[Rorie]

The shark was added with the knowledge that he will take a couple years to grow to full size and as he is a rainbow, he is quite happy on his own. I imagine in a year i will get a bigger tank, but of course i want to decide when, not when the fish do!

I will up the corrys, glowlights, and add the ottos again.

I did not think any of our other fish would really grow much more? Guppys stay quite small, do they not? They are about an inch and a half at the moment, and have not grown in the past 6 months! What sort of time scale is it for fish to grow?

I used to have a couple more Guppys, but they were killed by the Paradise fish. Do you not thing replacing them is a good idea? We used to have two Mollys too - they were much bigger than the guppys, but non of them looked squashed by any means!

 

[Wills]

The rainbow shark will hit 4 inches inside a year and the dwarf gourami will make 3.5 inches and it is surprising when you see them as adults just how big they get. Other than that yes most fish stay small but they all add uptowards the final stocking.

Im quite comfortable suggesting heavy stocked tank and my tank is often heavy stocked. But I would call

2 Dwarf Gourami
6 Danios
2 Guppys + - but make sure they are all males could probs get an other 2
6 Glowlights
1 Rainbow shark and
6 Corys
3 Ottos

Quite a full stock for a 20g tank IMO

Wills

 

[Rorie]

TBH, that is about what i figured would be my capacity (with the two guppys). So thanks for your help! I am now thinking about changing to sand on the bottom for the corrys