Stocking Ideas

[Big_eyes]

I have a 210 litre tank in the running and so far have 5 baby clown loach, 2 kuhli loach, a male betta and two keyhole cichlids.

What suggestions might people have for my stocking?

I fancy a group of small shoaling fish to fill the middle bit until the clowns grow big and I upgrade once more. Quite like black tetras(?)

 

[mr130gallon]

well, bump the kuhlis up to 6

do you like black skirt tetras (called black widow tetras in some places)

 

[Big_eyes]

Ah, no not the black skirt tetras, don't like them I've just clicked! It's the black neons I like...

Kuhlis up to six, got it! What difference will this make behaviour wise? They both as a pair spend all of their time swimming all over the place as it is and never ever seem to want to hide in any of the many hiding places available.

 

[mr130gallon]

well, they are a schooling fish, and all the sources i read say at least 5 or 6, if you get black neons get at least 6 or so, they look very good, i have some in my aquarium, though one source on this forum says if you get 7 or more of them they school better, do you have a different tank to put the clown loaches in later? as they will outgrow your tank im pretty sure. plus then the bioload is lower so you can get more of some other fish.

 

[Wills]

With the clowns I would not worry to much Bigeyes said he is planning to upgrade for them which is good, IMO clowns in medium tanks to start with are not a problem it take years for them to grow to the big sizes that you see around the net. The only problem you have with this is judging your stocking, especially when justifying to people using the inch per gallon rule. The way I would recommend doing this is saying I want to upgrade for them at x inches so say 6-7 inches you upgrade to the 6fter that they need so then for this tank you stock with them counting as 6 each.

I think I would take the betta out though and get him a 5g tank or a 10g bit problematic in comm tanks.

Agreed with 130 about upping the khuli, I would agree that 7 or 8 would be a good number it will bring them out more for you to see. The black neons will work nice in that tank a big shoal of 10 or 12 would be fantastic.

Then if it were my tank I would add some more dwarf cichlids in, laetacara would do nice in that tank I think. Or Krobia if you can find them, not sure where you are based but there are a few on Aquarist Classified at the moment. Laetacara Dorsiger and Laetacara sp Buckelkopf would look fantastic. With the keyholes you need to stick to the more peaceful dwarfs or even moving up to the medium sized acaras as well.

Wills

 

[mr130gallon]

if you relocate the male betta like Wills says then you could get a few gouramis like honeys or dwarfs or something, that would add a bunch of colour, and then you would still have a top dweller.