Stocking Advice

[GrayScale]

Due to a lack of care there has been a catastrophic event in the fish tank at work. It is now drained except for the sand that was put in after we took the gravel out.

I'm unsure of the size of the tank but I'm assuming it's somewhere around 40USG and I have recently been put in charge of replanning, restocking and overall care. (hooray for overtime right?)

I was thinking of doing a slate/rock cichlid tank but due to budget I think maintanence for mbunas or anything like that may be a bit steep.

Then I was doin some research and decided that Bolivian rams may work well and seem to be a little easier to maintain since they can withstand a wider range of water chemistry. Will be performing water changes once a week.

My thoughts for stocking as far as species (numbers will be decided once I amable to get dimensions.):

Bolivian rams
bn pleco
some other colorful active that gets a long with the rams and water params.

Anyone have any thoughts on the last part. I was thinking maybe some sort of gourami, tetra or barb? I know barbs can be very active feeders so I'm not sure if those will work since I've read the bolians are fairly shy. I plan on making plenty of hiding spots with the use of wood and slate.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[ZoddyZod]

you can pretty much choose ANY tetra or barb to go with Bolivians, might be a bit wary on gourami's though.....could have a scrap on your hands depending on the type and individual temprement of the fish.

My Bolivians are anything but timid. They parade at the front of the tank all day long

 

[kizno1]

I personally would choose a type of apistogramma over rams. 4 apistogramma agassizii (1m 3f) would work well or 6 (1m 5f) apistogramma panduro would work.
I would go for something like
2 BNs (1m 1f)
4-6 apistogramma depending on type, or 2 pairs of rams
10 corys
1 festivum cichlid
20 tetra needs to be big enough not to get eaten by the festivum maybe cardinals or glowlight tetra.

 

[GrayScale]

Yea The gouramis were a huge question mark. Unless maybe some sort of dwarf gourami like honey or sparkling. I'll have a look around at some colorful tetras and danios. Once I get measurements and come up with some numbers I'll run it by you all again just to make sure there is no overstocking or avoidable aggression.

Keep on coming with the ideas it would be much appreciated.

 

[Jamepsss]

Yea The gouramis were a huge question mark. Unless maybe some sort of dwarf gourami like honey or sparkling. I'll have a look around at some colorful tetras and danios. Once I get measurements and come up with some numbers I'll run it by you all again just to make sure there is no overstocking or avoidable aggression.

Keep on coming with the ideas it would be much appreciated.

Bleeding heart tetras? Congo tetras (depending on tank size)? Dwarf neon rainbows?

 

[Twinklecaz]

I wish my work would get a fish tank and put me in charge of it and pay me overtime

 

[KittyKat]

25 Cardinal Tetras
1m 2f Bristlenoses
6-10 Corys
pair Bolivian Rams

I wish my work would get a fish tank and put me in charge of it and pay me overtime

I'm in charge of the tank in the office too Maybe you need to bribe someone?

 

[Twinklecaz]

We are moving to a brand new office. I could suggest it...........

This one will so be a Cichlid tank!

 

[GrayScale]

We are moving to a brand new office. I could suggest it...........

This one will so be a Cichlid tank!

My thoughts exactly haha. The only fish in the before with color was a big old lazy goldfish. So I'm hoping I can get more color for activity.

 

[GrayScale]

Hmm...

2-4 Bolivian rams
15 black skirt tetras
3 bn pleco
10 sterbai Cory

how's about that for a stocking perhaps?

If less rams are preferred then I'd toss in more tetras?

 

[kizno1]

Hmm...

2-4 Bolivian rams
15 black skirt tetras
3 bn pleco
10 sterbai Cory

how's about that for a stocking perhaps?

If less rams are preferred then I'd toss in more tetras?

Yeah that could work. I think 4 rams will be fine although i would drop the rams for a group of apistogramma like 5 apistogramma agassizii (1m 4f) would work well or 7 (1m 6f) apistogramma panduro . I would go for a different type of corys though because Sterbai prefer higher temps. What about panda corys? And black skirt tetra can be a little nippy so keep a eye on them. If you change the tetra to a less nippy type you could have a angelfish or festivum cichlid instead.

 

[GrayScale]

I had a gander at some of the apistogramma and was looking for something easy to care for since it's a work tank and I won't be able to monitor them all the time and the rams seem a little less finicky.

Maybe switch out the black skirts for serpae or maybe emperor tetra?

 

[kizno1]

I had a gander at some of the apistogramma and was looking for something easy to care for since it's a work tank and I won't be able to monitor them all the time and the rams seem a little less finicky.

Maybe switch out the black skirts for serpae or maybe emperor tetra?

Ive kept a few different types and always found them easy to care for.

I think emperors would be a great choose there one of my favourite types.

So
4 Bolivian rams
20 Emperor tetra
3 BN pleco
10 Panda corys

Hows that?

 

[GrayScale]

Sounds pretty good to me. I might have to + or - in certain spots depending on the dimension of the tank cause i can only eye ball it until I measure but I think that just might make my boss happy. Hopefully I'll get approved to put those in there because it might be a pretty pricey stocking.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[kizno1]

Sounds pretty good to me. I might have to + or - in certain spots depending on the dimension of the tank cause i can only eye ball it until I measure but I think that just might make my boss happy. Hopefully I'll get approved to put those in there because it might be a pretty pricey stocking.

Thanks again for the help!

Good luck

It might come to a fair price
These are the average prices around here each
4 Bolivian rams-£2.50
20 Emperor tetra-£2.50
3 BN pleco-£5
10 Panda corys-£2

So if you go on that it comes to about £95 but remember it will be slowly stocked over time so you might be able to get it out of them