Stocking A 46 Gallon Bowfront! Suggestions Please!

[christylee]

Hi all!
 
A little background:
46 gallon bowfront (36.4" x 16.4" x 21.9"). Kept some smaller cichlids in it for about 5 years. Now making the switch to a planted community! Some of you may have seen my post in regards to my substrate (it's sand) but now that that's all situated..I would like to get some suggestions on stocking!
 
Some fish I'm interested in are cardinal/neon tetras, nanus cories, blue velvet or cherry shrimp, swordtails, gouramis, bolivian and german blue rams, bettas, black phantom tetras, red serpae tetras, assasin snails...
 
I don't know too many community fish but I know I definitely want neon or cardinal tetras. I'd really just like a relatively colorful tank with some activity, (don't we all? haha). And I want something as a centerpiece fish that's got a bit of a personality.
 
Any suggestions on a good stock? Thanks!!

 

[Ninjouzata]

Is your water soft or hard? What is your pH? Are there any particular colors you're looking for? I'm guessing red and blue by the fish you've already picked out

 

[squidneh]

I recently got a female Opaline Gourami. She is absolutely beautiful IMO, and has loads of personality.  She swims around a good bit and is about 3 inches big at the moment.  I had been looking for a centerpiece fish but hadn't considered gouramis (due to a previous experience with a sick and lackluster one) but now I am in love.  
 
If I were you (and others with more knowledge of compatibility chime in if I make any mistakes of course! take this with a grain of salt) I would have
-school of neons
-Opaline gourami
-a group of kuhli loaches
-a school of corys or a BN plec/male ram
-a handful of ghost or cherry shrimp
-a handful of snails
 
Most people will suggest keeping larger schools of one species to encourage brighter colors and more activity, rather than a few timid schools of multiple species.  The corys will appreciate the sand substrate as well.
Have fun with the tank post pics!

 

[508]

If you want cardinal tetras I suggest getting about 20 of them, to have a decent sized shoal. With Cardinal Tetras, the more the better really since they spread out quite a bit unlike some other shoaling tetras. I would suggest the German Blue Ram as your centerpiece fish, mine is full of personality and he's definitely my favourite in the tank. 6 cories or more would be best. 
 
The shrimp probably wouldn't survive very long with the German Blue Ram to be honest. Any centerpiece fish will most likely go after the shrimp. Assassin snail would be fine, just have to make sure it'll have enough to eat
 
And with all that you could definitely still add more fish;
 
Rainbows, Barbs, Plecs and Otos, Gouramis, and Rasboras are others you could think about.

 

[Gvilleguy]

If water quality is of any concern (like fluctuations), Bolivian Rams are very hardy. I had four of them for several years. Great centerpiece fish with lots of personality. I currently have two angel fish as my centerpiece and love their activity level. Very graceful fish. 
 
If you like color and high activity, you could also consider a shoal of glofish (danios). Some people hate even the concept of the glofish, but they do add a lot of activity to my tank. I like them.

 

[l_l_l]

I have a 46 Gallon tank as well and I stocked it with different fish in the past year.
I started with a large school (13) of Rummy nose tetras, they school tightly and are very active. I love them.
I have a large school (13) of Celestial Pearl Danios. They can be seen everywhere, flaring at each other. Since they are small, they don't really take much space. Nowadays tho, I am not able to find any of these in healthy condition in a LFS. I also had pigmy cories, but they disappeared one by one, I think it's because the tank they had was too large, or they were outcompeted for food...
I got a few Peacock Gudgeons, those are lovely fish, very small and peacefull. The male tho needs a lot of space and won't do well with fish that are about his size, he will nip them A LOT when in breeding conditions. I moved these in another tank.
As a center piece fish, I got a pearl Gourami, but he was too aggressive, after a few months, he started chasing everyone and fish were terrorized. I eventually got rid of him.  I have a colony of wild endlers in this tank, they are doing very well. I am also adding a few cherry shrimp every now and then to this tank and I still can find them.
 
Currently, my stocking is:
 
Colony of wild Endlers,
Large school of Rummy Nose Tetras,
Large school of Celestial Pearl Danios
4 Nerite Snails,
5 Amano Shrimp
3 Cherry Shrimp
 
I won't be adding anything else in there, it's getting crowded.
What I suggest, if you really want to have Neocaridina Davidii in your tank, you want to start with about 10+ of them and wait a few months until a colony is established. Then, you can add the other fish. That way, you'll have so much shrimp reproducing you will not notice the numbers dropping.
I keep a separate colony in my 5 Gallon fry grow out tank in case I see the numbers drop.

 

[christylee]

Thanks everyone!!
 

I have a 46 Gallon tank as well and I stocked it with different fish in the past year.
I started with a large school (13) of Rummy nose tetras, they school tightly and are very active. I love them.
I have a large school (13) of Celestial Pearl Danios. They can be seen everywhere, flaring at each other. Since they are small, they don't really take much space. Nowadays tho, I am not able to find any of these in healthy condition in a LFS. I also had pigmy cories, but they disappeared one by one, I think it's because the tank they had was too large, or they were outcompeted for food...
I got a few Peacock Gudgeons, those are lovely fish, very small and peacefull. The male tho needs a lot of space and won't do well with fish that are about his size, he will nip them A LOT when in breeding conditions. I moved these in another tank.
As a center piece fish, I got a pearl Gourami, but he was too aggressive, after a few months, he started chasing everyone and fish were terrorized. I eventually got rid of him.  I have a colony of wild endlers in this tank, they are doing very well. I am also adding a few cherry shrimp every now and then to this tank and I still can find them.
 
Currently, my stocking is:
 
Colony of wild Endlers,
Large school of Rummy Nose Tetras,
Large school of Celestial Pearl Danios
4 Nerite Snails,
5 Amano Shrimp
3 Cherry Shrimp
 
I won't be adding anything else in there, it's getting crowded.
What I suggest, if you really want to have Neocaridina Davidii in your tank, you want to start with about 10+ of them and wait a few months until a colony is established. Then, you can add the other fish. That way, you'll have so much shrimp reproducing you will not notice the numbers dropping.
I keep a separate colony in my 5 Gallon fry grow out tank in case I see the numbers drop.

 
This is great!
 
do Nerite snails get crazy in terms of population? I really want a snail of some kind..but I don't want to end up with like 30 snails all over the place.

 

[l_l_l]

Nerite snails are very very nice because their eggs don't hatch in freshwater! All you'll see are small white eggs in a few places. They look like sesame seeds really. Some people are bothered by this, some aren't. I don't mind them. I have nerite snails in all of my tanks.

 

[Gvilleguy]

Nerite snails are very very nice because their eggs don't hatch in freshwater! All you'll see are small white eggs in a few places. They look like sesame seeds really. Some people are bothered by this, some aren't. I don't mind them. I have nerite snails in all of my tanks.

 
Christy should consider pH for nerites, right? Don't they do best in pH 6.5+? My pH is 6.0, which makes me shy away from them. But I wish I could get some...

 

[l_l_l]

It's true that a low PH isn't very good for nerite snails as the acidity will slowly dissolve their shell and then they die.
Mine all are in a 7.4 environment.

 

[christylee]

Thanks for the lookout on the snails!

 
I'm so excited to get started! I'm still awaiting a plant shipment to my LFS before I get crazy. lol. It looks so empty right now, I only have one small plant left over from when I had the cichlids. Don't even know what it is..but it's actually doing much better without them hahaha. And I added a gorgeous piece of driftwood I was able to find at the store.
 
After a week of no fish in the tank and nothing to plant I was getting antsy so I picked up 6 little neons late last weekend and they're doing great! They look so lost in my tank cause they're so tiny! I might grab another 6 this weekend and see if it looks like a good number. They were shy for the first couple days and would hide behind the wood when I came up to the tank but they get it now. My presence usually means snacks. lol!
 
Interestingly enough they're very similar to my last cichlid..by coming up to the glass when I'm around now and when I goto bed they come over to the side of the tank and creepily stare at me when I'm trying to sleep.
 
I'l post pictures soon!

 

[christylee]

Also because a few mentioned PH. I tested today!
 
pH = 7.0
KH = 40-50
GH = 50-60