Stocking A 400l.

[jasmas]

Stocking calculations allow us to have 100 inches of fish.
(60x20"=1200/12=100â€￾)

Tank is fully cycled which took just under 3weeks using prawns as the ammonia source.

1 Male Betta 3â€￾
1 or 2 Female Bettas 2x3 = 6â€￾ (9â€￾) May leave these??
15 cardinals tetras 15x2 = 30â€￾ (39â€￾)
8 Tiger Barbs 8x3 = 24â€￾ (63â€￾)
4 Pakistani Loaches 4x4â€￾ = 16â€￾ (79â€￾)

Was planning to start with the cardinals for a week to see how it goes.

Please advise on above combination? Any suggestions much appreciated on what else would go, maybe some catfish and one or two centrepiece fish. More Tigers or another type of Barb or some Rasboras.

 

[stang1]

to the forum jasmas.
In my opinion you're best keeping a male Betta in a tank on his own.
Although your tank is large the Betta may end up attacking the females or vice versa. Also the tiger barbs can be nippy and may have a go at the Betta.
Don't get me wrong, many people have successfully kept a Betta in a community tank with no problems. If you choose to do this keep a back up tank for your Betta in case it doesn't work out.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Stocking calculations allow us to have 100 inches of fish.
(60x20"=1200/12=100â€￾)

Tank is fully cycled which took just under 3weeks using prawns as the ammonia source.

1 Male Betta 3â€￾
1 or 2 Female Bettas 2x3 = 6â€￾ (9â€￾) May leave these??
15 cardinals tetras 15x2 = 30â€￾ (39â€￾)
8 Tiger Barbs 8x3 = 24â€￾ (63â€￾)
4 Pakistani Loaches 4x4â€￾ = 16â€￾ (79â€￾)

Was planning to start with the cardinals for a week to see how it goes.

Please advise on above combination? Any suggestions much appreciated on what else would go, maybe some catfish and one or two centrepiece fish. More Tigers or another type of Barb or some Rasboras.

hi jasmas,

i reckon you can have about 110" of fish in there

i'd leave the betta's. males do much better kept in a (relativley) small tank by themselves, they shouldn't be kept with females even at a ratio or 2:1, or in such a large tank really. they get very territorial and they're bad swimmers so having such a large territory to patrol can really stress them out.

if you really want one then set yourself up a nice little 20l tank and keep a male alone he'll be much happier and you'll get a lot more pleasure from him.

tiger barbs can be very nippy, i'd only keep these with other semi-agressive fish.

from that list i'd honestly only keep the cardinals and the loaches, however that'd leave you loads of room to play with so i'd get another shoal of small fish, a shoal of medium fish like congo tetra's then a cuple of 'centerpiece' fish like ram's or gourami's

 

[methodmza_uk]

You have to get some rams in there, I love my Rams. Fantastic colours and great fish to watch.

 

[mark.w.jones]

400litres!!!!!! Oh the envy, the envy. Puts my 45litres to shame. Have to back up the tiger barb point although personally id keep them and plan the tank arond them. I think theyre great as they spend all day every day irratating the life out of each other and everything. I also reckon that if you increase the group size to maybe 12 and make sure youve got loads going on in your tank in terms of aqua scaping they'll be fine. Too busy sorting out their own squabbles to even think about bothering your tetras. Definitely lose the bettas if you plan to keep them though.

As mentioned above. Good Tiger Barb tankmates are other boisterous, fast moving fish from a similar region of the world. Most good books will let you know if fish are peaceful community fish (not suitable) or not.