Stocking Ideas... For The Tank!

[Schmill]

Stocking Ideas for the tank



I've mentioned this in a few threads just as an aside, but I thought I had better start a brand new topic so as to keep things in one place.

I'm currently cycling my new Aqua One Regency 120 tank (300L) and once it is done I will transfer my fish from my 60L tank into it, and then hopefully also add to my collection. My thoughts are below;

60L Tank Stock as of now:
4 Cardinal Tetras
1 Juv. Male Guppy
1 Female Guppy
7(?) Guppy Fry
2 Male Rainbow Praecox
1 Female Rainbow Praecox ( 1 died )
3 Albino Corys ( 1 died )
1 Bulldog Pleco

So that lot will be moving over to the 300L when she's ready, and I was thinking of adding these guys too:

+1 Bulldog Pleco (probably a young one) = 2 Bulldog Pleco Total
+2 BristleNose Pleco = 2 Bristlenose Pleco Total
+1(or 3) Albino Corys = 6 Albino Corys Total
+1 Female Rainbow Praecox (to even things up) = 2 Female Rainbow Praecox

Not sure if I should add some more Cardinals to the mix too, I think just 4 will look quite lost in the 300L tank?
I'd also like some 'different' fish that I haven't kept before, almost as center pieces, but not so overpowering as totally overshaddow the other fish. Also nothing to big as I would prefer quantity over size.
I was thinking of Dwarf Blue Neon Gouramis, but after reading and hearing of the problems that can be had with them I have now had Dwarf Cichlids suggested to me, (which I haven't had a chance to look at yet!)

Just wondering on the whole how the stocking list looks, and if anyone has any suggestions, (I know Miss Wiggle commented on the list as part of another thread, but I didn't have the quantities listed in that thread, and I want to check that the numbers are ok too )

Thanks!

 

[minxfishy]

Definately add to the rainbows, great fish.

Definately add to the cories, you can mix different varieties if you want to.

Definately add to the cardinals, in large shoals they look stunning.

If you want to add more plecs good luck to you, messy things

Dwarf cichlids, blue rams, bolivian rams or apistogramma would be great, you could get a couple of pairs of rams or a larger group of apistos in there with no problems.

 

[paulypaul182]

Stocking Ideas for the tank



I've mentioned this in a few threads just as an aside, but I thought I had better start a brand new topic so as to keep things in one place.

I'm currently cycling my new Aqua One Regency 120 tank (300L) and once it is done I will transfer my fish from my 60L tank into it, and then hopefully also add to my collection. My thoughts are below;

60L Tank Stock as of now:
4 Cardinal Tetras
1 Juv. Male Guppy
1 Female Guppy
7(?) Guppy Fry
2 Male Rainbow Praecox
1 Female Rainbow Praecox ( 1 died )
3 Albino Corys ( 1 died )
1 Bulldog Pleco



So that lot will be moving over to the 300L when she's ready, and I was thinking of adding these guys too:

+1 Bulldog Pleco (probably a young one) = 2 Bulldog Pleco Total
+2 BristleNose Pleco = 2 Bristlenose Pleco Total
+1(or 3) Albino Corys = 6 Albino Corys Total
+1 Female Rainbow Praecox (to even things up) = 2 Female Rainbow Praecox

Not sure if I should add some more Cardinals to the mix too, I think just 4 will look quite lost in the 300L tank?
I'd also like some 'different' fish that I haven't kept before, almost as center pieces, but not so overpowering as totally overshaddow the other fish. Also nothing to big as I would prefer quantity over size.
I was thinking of Dwarf Blue Neon Gouramis, but after reading and hearing of the problems that can be had with them I have now had Dwarf Cichlids suggested to me, (which I haven't had a chance to look at yet!)

Just wondering on the whole how the stocking list looks, and if anyone has any suggestions, (I know Miss Wiggle commented on the list as part of another thread, but I didn't have the quantities listed in that thread, and I want to check that the numbers are ok too )

Thanks!

Someones selling rainbows in the buy, sell, swap forum if you're interested.

 

[minxfishy]

Have a look at Denison barbs as well, pricey but lovely fish, Im seriously thinking about some for my new tank in the new year.

 

[Schmill]

Have a look at Denison barbs as well, pricey but lovely fish, Im seriously thinking about some for my new tank in the new year.

Was just about to say that I had seem some lovely 'Redline Torpedo Barbs' as a FS, and wasn't sure if they were the same thing or not, then looked for a link for a picture, ended up at wikipedia, and found they are the same fish

Redline Torpedo

Definitly pricey though (at least in the shop I saw them in).
Any idea on how much these are on average?
They'd be fine in addition to the other stock increases I listed right?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

so in your initial stocking you should be looking for approx 80" of fish, then after a while you can increase it to around 120" of fish

you are proposing

4 Cardinal Tetras - 4"
1 Juv. Male Guppy - 1"
1 Female Guppy - 1"
7 Guppy Fry - 7"
2 Male Rainbow Praecox - 4"
2 Female Rainbow Praecox - 4"
6 Albino Corys - 12"
2 Bulldog Pleco - 8"
2 BristleNose Pleco - 12"
Total - 53"

So plenty more room in the tank then.

Whats your long term plan re the guppies? If you want to keep all the babies then you'll need to leave plenty of room for them, if you're happy with natural selection and just having the odd one or two survive then that's fine and you don't really need to take it into account.

I'd bump the cardinals up to a group of at least 10, 4 cardinals will be lost in a 300l tank. Likewise with the rainbows bump the group right up to 8/10 of them.

so that would be

10 Cardinal Tetras - 10"
1 Juv. Male Guppy - 1"
1 Female Guppy - 1"
7 Guppy Fry - 7"
5 Male Rainbow Praecox - 10"
5 Female Rainbow Praecox - 10"
6 Albino Corys - 12"
2 Bulldog Pleco - 8"
2 BristleNose Pleco - 12"
Total - 71"

You could then look at a pair or trio of dwarf cichlids or gouramis as suggested above at that would max you out at 1" per gallon.

Then you've 6 months or so to work out what else you fancy and you've got room for around half the stocking again long term.

 

[minxfishy]

Have a look at Denison barbs as well, pricey but lovely fish, Im seriously thinking about some for my new tank in the new year.

Was just about to say that I had seem some lovely 'Redline Torpedo Barbs' as a FS, and wasn't sure if they were the same thing or not, then looked for a link for a picture, ended up at wikipedia, and found they are the same fish

Redline Torpedo

Definitly pricey though (at least in the shop I saw them in).
Any idea on how much these are on average?
They'd be fine in addition to the other stock increases I listed right?

Well in most LFS round my way they are anything from £7.95 - £15.00 EACH

Buy lovely in large groups. They are a save up for kinda fish

 

[Schmill]

so in your initial stocking you should be looking for approx 80" of fish, then after a while you can increase it to around 120" of fish

you are proposing

4 Cardinal Tetras - 4"
1 Juv. Male Guppy - 1"
1 Female Guppy - 1"
7 Guppy Fry - 7"
2 Male Rainbow Praecox - 4"
2 Female Rainbow Praecox - 4"
6 Albino Corys - 12"
2 Bulldog Pleco - 8"
2 BristleNose Pleco - 12"
Total - 53"

So plenty more room in the tank then.

Whats your long term plan re the guppies? If you want to keep all the babies then you'll need to leave plenty of room for them, if you're happy with natural selection and just having the odd one or two survive then that's fine and you don't really need to take it into account.

I'd bump the cardinals up to a group of at least 10, 4 cardinals will be lost in a 300l tank. Likewise with the rainbows bump the group right up to 8/10 of them.

so that would be

10 Cardinal Tetras - 10"
1 Juv. Male Guppy - 1"
1 Female Guppy - 1"
7 Guppy Fry - 7"
5 Male Rainbow Praecox - 10"
5 Female Rainbow Praecox - 10"
6 Albino Corys - 12"
2 Bulldog Pleco - 8"
2 BristleNose Pleco - 12"
Total - 71"

You could then look at a pair or trio of dwarf cichlids or gouramis as suggested above at that would max you out at 1" per gallon.

Then you've 6 months or so to work out what else you fancy and you've got room for around half the stocking again long term.

With regards to the guppies, I won't always be saving the fry, (to be honest in the 300L tank I don't think I'll be able to anyway, they are hard enough to catch in 60L of water!). The only reason I 'saved' these fry is because I had some kind of illness / parasite kill off my guppies I had previously, just before this lot arrived. I thought by keeping these I might get back to a decent number of guppies, and thereafter any more fry can take their chances!

Will certainly increase the number of cardinals like you suggest, I've always thought that those and the standard 'neon tetra' are good looking fish.
the Rainbow Praecox are new fish to me, and again I'd like to increase the numbers to what you say, but at the moment I only seem to be able to find males, and with only 1 female currently in tank I don't think that would be very fair!
I went to the World of Water near to where I work (as they seem to have a very wide selection of fish), and they have dwarf Gouramis (neon blues, and neon reds), which I really liked. After reading about the various problems associated with them though I steered myself away from them and was suggested to look at the Cichlids instead, but I can't see any that I like at the shop
So then thats how I ended up facing the Denison barbs (Red line torpedo barbs), which again I think are good looking fish, from what I've read are relatively peaceful but active, and no associated major problems. I've just got to try and justify the price tag of them now! - lol
Seems they are around £12.99 each where I can get them round here, which is fine for a fish or two, but if I'm going for 4ish then it starts getting pricey

Going back to stocking levels, is the 1" per gallon based on Imperial or US Gallons? I'm guessing from your numbers that it is US gallons?
Also, seems like a bit of a newbie question, but is it based on aquarium size, or volume of water? I have a "300L" tank, but after substrate and ornaments it has about 280L water in the tank, and 12L of water in the external canister filter + pipes.
Also I see you suggest an initial stocking of 1" per gallon, but then seem to increase this to 1.5" per gallon. Are the 2 stages of stocking that you have suggested to allow the filter to mature and keep up, or is there another reason to it? Can you explain the thinking behind this a bit please?

Sorry for all the questions but this is my first time with a 'larger' tank, stepping up from my current 60L one.

Many many thanks!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes it's based on US Gallons, I just go on the size of the tank, as you say it'll be slightly different based on water displacement etc however it really is just a rough guide not a strict rule. So because you've got flexibility in the rule it doesn't really matter if the tank size is exactly correct or not. It's just a useful tool to get a rough idea of the amount of fish your tank can take. Take your tank, you think you've around 292 litres of water in it, that equates to around 2" less fish than in a 300litre tank. It's such a small proportion of the total stocking that it really doesn't make any difference.

yeah there are often two stages of stocking a tank, if you hop over to the scientific forum you'll find a thread explaining the differences between a newly cycled tank and a mature tank. there's a number of different explanations to it but whatever reasoning you feel is correct it's pretty widley accepted that you are safest stocking a tank relatively lightly at first, then after around 6 months or so you are safe to build up a bit further.

so yes, 1" per gallon for the first 6 months, then build up slowly to around 1.5" per gallon...... some people go as far as 2" which is pushing it but manageable with good filtration etc.

there's also a number of species which seem to just do terribly poorly in new tanks but great if the tank is a few months old, so people often stock with hardy fish to start and then add the more sensitive ones that they like a few months down the line.

if you're struggling to track down particular species then check out trimar, they're a very well recommended mail order company.

and yes, the red lines are stunning fish, but pricey......and again, they'd do much better and look very dramatic in a nice big shoal........which is somewhat expensive.

 

[Gazpug]

Stocking Ideas for the tank



I've mentioned this in a few threads just as an aside, but I thought I had better start a brand new topic so as to keep things in one place.

I'm currently cycling my new Aqua One Regency 120 tank (300L) and once it is done I will transfer my fish from my 60L tank into it, and then hopefully also add to my collection. My thoughts are below;

60L Tank Stock as of now:
4 Cardinal Tetras
1 Juv. Male Guppy
1 Female Guppy
7(?) Guppy Fry
2 Male Rainbow Praecox
1 Female Rainbow Praecox ( 1 died )
3 Albino Corys ( 1 died )
1 Bulldog Pleco

So that lot will be moving over to the 300L when she's ready, and I was thinking of adding these guys too:

+1 Bulldog Pleco (probably a young one) = 2 Bulldog Pleco Total
+2 BristleNose Pleco = 2 Bristlenose Pleco Total
+1(or 3) Albino Corys = 6 Albino Corys Total
+1 Female Rainbow Praecox (to even things up) = 2 Female Rainbow Praecox

Not sure if I should add some more Cardinals to the mix too, I think just 4 will look quite lost in the 300L tank?
I'd also like some 'different' fish that I haven't kept before, almost as center pieces, but not so overpowering as totally overshaddow the other fish. Also nothing to big as I would prefer quantity over size.
I was thinking of Dwarf Blue Neon Gouramis, but after reading and hearing of the problems that can be had with them I have now had Dwarf Cichlids suggested to me, (which I haven't had a chance to look at yet!)

Just wondering on the whole how the stocking list looks, and if anyone has any suggestions, (I know Miss Wiggle commented on the list as part of another thread, but I didn't have the quantities listed in that thread, and I want to check that the numbers are ok too )

Thanks!

I would put some Clown loaches on the list. I have 4 and they are really funny to watch. They sometimes sleep upsidown so dont think anything is wrong if you do get them. They really like some good cover to hide away because they will be quite shy at first. I feed them courgette whith a screwcumber through the middle so it stays anchored to the bottom. I have also just started to feed them Spectrum Thera A+. It is a slightly more pricy fod but it is a really good feed. It has anti paracitic propertys and brings out the colours nicley.

Hope this helps

 

[drobbyb]

Those rainbows are great fish. You can't work it like that though. Kinda like guppies, you need more females than males if you are going to mix the sexes. The 2 males might very well kill that female in courtship (stress her to death.) Unless you are planning on breeding them, get all males. Breeding is a different experience. Breeding rainbows is the most self satisfying endeavour that I have found in this hobby (and profitable if you do it right.)

Can you tell I am really into rainbows? I seriously need to sit down and write a rainbow arcticle for the site to sticky.

 

[Schmill]

Those rainbows are great fish. You can't work it like that though. Kinda like guppies, you need more females than males if you are going to mix the sexes. The 2 males might very well kill that female in courtship (stress her to death.) Unless you are planning on breeding them, get all males. Breeding is a different experience. Breeding rainbows is the most self satisfying endeavour that I have found in this hobby (and profitable if you do it right.)

Can you tell I am really into rainbows? I seriously need to sit down and write a rainbow arcticle for the site to sticky.

It used to be 2 males and 2 females, until one night one of the females just decided she had enough of all this silly 'being alive' nonsense and decided to stop doing it. Haven't replaced her yet because a) I can't find any females, and b) they are all soon to move to the bigger tank, so thought it would be less stressful to do the one move rather than several for a new fish.

 

[drobbyb]

Those rainbows are great fish. You can't work it like that though. Kinda like guppies, you need more females than males if you are going to mix the sexes. The 2 males might very well kill that female in courtship (stress her to death.) Unless you are planning on breeding them, get all males. Breeding is a different experience. Breeding rainbows is the most self satisfying endeavour that I have found in this hobby (and profitable if you do it right.)

Can you tell I am really into rainbows? I seriously need to sit down and write a rainbow arcticle for the site to sticky.

It used to be 2 males and 2 females, until one night one of the females just decided she had enough of all this silly 'being alive' nonsense and decided to stop doing it. Haven't replaced her yet because a) I can't find any females, and b) they are all soon to move to the bigger tank, so thought it would be less stressful to do the one move rather than several for a new fish.

Oh ok! In that case then you will be fine until you can replace her.

 

[Schmill]

How do people add this sort of number of fish?

I've never used a quarantine tank before, (on my 60L tank), but I am thinking I should now due to the larger fish stock that my 300L tank will hopefully have.
The quarantine tank can't be a big tank, (as I've already taken up all the space with the main tanks), so will probably be something between about 16L and 40L, plastic, so that it can be cleaned, dried and chucked in a cupboard / garage when not in use (easier than a glass one).
I wouldn't have thought all these 'new' fish will be happy living in a small tank together for 1 month, but equally if I was to for example only buy the cardinals, put them through quarantine, then add them, then buy the next fish... etc it's going to be more like a year before my 300L tank has a reasonably stock of fish in it
Just interested in knowing what peoples recommendations are for this?
Should I just add all the fish into the main tank, and then if any look sickly move those ones out of the tank and into the small quarantine tank for treatment?

Thanks for ideas!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

it's a personal choice if you are going to quarantine or not, but remember that however you do it when you're going from an existing cycled filter and building up the stock you have to do it slowly anyway, so regardless of quarantine it would take several months to build up the stocking anyway.

I think maybe a compromise if possible fo a slightly large Q tank then while you're not quarantineing all the fish at once you've maybe 2 groups of fish in there instead of 1 so that it only takes 6 months to stock up instead of 12.

Don't be tempted to skimp on quarantine time though, if you don't do it for a month you may as well not do it at all due to the incubation periods of some common diseases.