Stocking Ideas

[orangegecko]

I have a 46 gallon tank that has just finished its cycle (yay!).  I'm looking to get community fish.  Here are some I was looking at getting...  Generally, what constitutes as a school?  5 or more fish?  What do you guys think for a centerpiece fish?
 
Lamp Eye tetra
Cardinal tetra
Five banded barb
Bala shark (I see these grow to 14", do they grow fast?)
Rainbow or Red-tailed shark

 

[looking-glass]

5 or more but the bigger the groups the better 
 
the sharks can grow pretty quick - is it quite a wide tank, they will need a lot of swimming room 
 
as a centre piece fish id go for some angels or something like that  

 

[Dmbandstef]

Of you are making a community tank I'd go with a rainbow shark over red tail. They are less aggressive. I have a rainbow shark in a community tank and he gets along fine with the other fish, for now anyway (he isnt full grown yet.)

For a centerpiece fish I would go with a less aggressive cichlid like a keyhole or ram, or a large gourami would be nice like an opaline gourami. Angels are nice but a school of them might over crowd that size tank.

 

[Ninjouzata]

I don't know if balas grow quickly or not but as you already know they get large..they're also schooling so require groups of 6+.
These are extremely active so most would recommend an 8ft tank minimum, some even say you want a 12ft minimum. I would really recommend against getting these
 
Perhaps a centerpiece like a gourami like mentioned above, and a school of cardinal tetras.
For the bottom perhaps some cories or khuli loaches.
 
The rainbow & red tail shark should be kept in a 55g+ so would take those off the list.

 

[orangegecko]

5 or more but the bigger the groups the better 
 
the sharks can grow pretty quick - is it quite a wide tank, they will need a lot of swimming room 
 
as a centre piece fish id go for some angels or something like that

 
To answer your question, the tank is 36" wide.

I don't know if balas grow quickly or not but as you already know they get large..they're also schooling so require groups of 6+.
These are extremely active so most would recommend an 8ft tank minimum, some even say you want a 12ft minimum. I would really recommend against getting these

 
Perhaps a centerpiece like a gourami like mentioned above, and a school of cardinal tetras.
For the bottom perhaps some cories or khuli loaches.
 
The rainbow & red tail shark should be kept in a 55g+ so would take those off the list.

I kinda figured on the bala.    Really cool looking tho!
 
I'm definitely doing a school of cardinals...  Trying to nail down a number...  maybe 8-10...
 
Now, I have pool filter sand for the bottom.  How will the cories or khuli loaches do in it?  Will they get their whiskers torn up on it?  Also for each of those, are they recommended in schools of 5+?
 
Aww man!  I really liked the looks of the red tail and rainbow!  Maybe for the next tank

 

[orangegecko]

Of you are making a community tank I'd go with a rainbow shark over red tail. They are less aggressive. I have a rainbow shark in a community tank and he gets along fine with the other fish, for now anyway (he isnt full grown yet.)

For a centerpiece fish I would go with a less aggressive cichlid like a keyhole or ram, or a large gourami would be nice like an opaline gourami. Angels are nice but a school of them might over crowd that size tank.

 
I was looking around some more and I saw a yellow fish but didn't write it down!  It looked pretty cool...  Gotta go searching again!
 
The angel fish look pretty cool, but I think you are right that they would crowd the tank in a school.  What about are your thoughts of tiger barbs vs Five banded barbs?

 

[EvaddavE]

Used to have a bala shark that died at the age of 12 or 13 in a 90 gallon. It was no more than 10 inches long when it died. It loved to swim the length of the tank nonstop, so I wouldn't recommend a 46 gallon. it never picked on any fish but we could never put any mouth size fish like neons in the tank.

Red tail fish i'm not sure why they are getting an aggressive rap. i've owned a few with virtually every common community fish you could imagine and they don't pick on anything except other red-tail sharks, and maybe a beta the one we have now used to try to suck the slime off of a dominant and rather large rainbow fish but thats about it. They are very territorial in smaller tanks though and will suck the slime off of larger flat sided fish. I suppose this might be an issue for a brightly colored gourami in a 46, not sure.

1. is price per fish a consideration?
2. are you more interested in schools of fish, larger fish, or a mix of both?
3. are guppies and mollies a must for you?

For centerpiece just get a single angel. It'll forgive you for not getting it friends. Then get a school of golden, glo, or celestial pearl danios, a school of cory cats and call it a day. and maybe a bristlenose pleco. Throw in a few red cherry shrimp for a splash of harmless red. i'm pretty sure water temps and ph check out for all these fish if you keep it at maybe 77 degrees

 

[Ch4rlie]

Sound like a decent tank and am very glad to see you are asking advice regarding stocking before actually buying anything. Good on you

Ninjouzata's post is actually spot on, that's pretty much what I would have advised as well.

Am not a big fan of having Bala sharks or similar in any standard home tanks, as Ninjouzata already mentioned, very large tanks should only be considered for these guys, grow big and aggressive too sometimes as well as being fairly active schooling fish.
Btw if you were intending getting cardinals with these guys, chances are the sharks and possibly even angels may see cardinals as food! Also Angels generally need a taller tank due to their long fins, minimum tank height being about 55cm / 22 inches height.

Honey or Pearl Gourami will make good centrepiece fish as these are generally good community fish.

Most sands should be fine for cories and khulis, I'd recommend 6+ of each of these guys not 5 really. Again they are schooling fish and generally in wild they school in groups of hundreds and even thousands.

Hope that helps a little for you

Do post a pic if your tank when it is completed, would like to see that

 

[EvaddavE]

Yeah I change my vote. Gourami makes more sense here than angel.

So looking at what I recommended before, replace angel for a nice gourami, and i also think you should throw a yoyo loach in there. I love mine. super peaceful fish, slow growing too.

And a school of tiger barbs can get nippy, i'm not sure if they'd nip on a gourami but i'd think so.

 

[Dmbandstef]

Of you are making a community tank I'd go with a rainbow shark over red tail. They are less aggressive. I have a rainbow shark in a community tank and he gets along fine with the other fish, for now anyway (he isnt full grown yet.)
For a centerpiece fish I would go with a less aggressive cichlid like a keyhole or ram, or a large gourami would be nice like an opaline gourami. Angels are nice but a school of them might over crowd that size tank.

 
I was looking around some more and I saw a yellow fish but didn't write it down!  It looked pretty cool...  Gotta go searching again!
 
The angel fish look pretty cool, but I think you are right that they would crowd the tank in a school.  What about are your thoughts of tiger barbs vs Five banded barbs?

I really cant say because I have never owned those fish. Maybe you should check out liveaquaria.com or a similar site and compare them. Or I'm sure someone on this site would be able to help you better than I can. Sorry!

 

[Ninjouzata]

I'd think tiger barbs would nip a gourami too, their feelers must look quite tempting.
 
Would not recommend a single yo-yo loach as they are schooling fish so require groups of 6+.
They can also be meanies and get up to 6"..six 6" fish is a lot of bioload.
 
Could the yellow fish you saw have been a gourami? They come in a few sizes and a variety of colors. I especially like the golden ones.

 

[orangegecko]

I'd think tiger barbs would nip a gourami too, their feelers must look quite tempting.
 
Would not recommend a single yo-yo loach as they are schooling fish so require groups of 6+.
They can also be meanies and get up to 6"..six 6" fish is a lot of bioload.
 
Could the yellow fish you saw have been a gourami? They come in a few sizes and a variety of colors. I especially like the golden ones.

 
It was an Electric Yellow Cichlid...  Which live aquaria says 50 gallon minimum and are semi-aggressive.  Rats!  Ok, so no on the tiger barbs... 
 
 

Yeah I change my vote. Gourami makes more sense here than angel.

So looking at what I recommended before, replace angel for a nice gourami, and i also think you should throw a yoyo loach in there. I love mine. super peaceful fish, slow growing too.

And a school of tiger barbs can get nippy, i'm not sure if they'd nip on a gourami but i'd think so.

 
The yo-yo loaches look pretty nice.  I'll have to check to see if any of my LFS have any...

 

[Ch4rlie]

As already mentioned , YoYo Loaches do best in groups of 6+ really, in fact I'd say 8+ min really.
 
Here is a link from SF about YoYo Loaches
 
http/www.seriouslyfish.com/species/botia-almorhae/

 

[Ninjouzata]

How's about something a little smaller and better natured?
 
Dwarf chain loaches are cute Here's some info on them, has pics too! http/www.seriouslyfish.com/species/ambastaia-sidthimunki/

 

[orangegecko]

Sound like a decent tank and am very glad to see you are asking advice regarding stocking before actually buying anything. Good on you

Ninjouzata's post is actually spot on, that's pretty much what I would have advised as well.

Am not a big fan of having Bala sharks or similar in any standard home tanks, as Ninjouzata already mentioned, very large tanks should only be considered for these guys, grow big and aggressive too sometimes as well as being fairly active schooling fish.
Btw if you were intending getting cardinals with these guys, chances are the sharks and possibly even angels may see cardinals as food! Also Angels generally need a taller tank due to their long fins, minimum tank height being about 55cm / 22 inches height.

Honey or Pearl Gourami will make good centrepiece fish as these are generally good community fish.

Most sands should be fine for cories and khulis, I'd recommend 6+ of each of these guys not 5 really. Again they are schooling fish and generally in wild they school in groups of hundreds and even thousands.

Hope that helps a little for you

Do post a pic if your tank when it is completed, would like to see that

 
The honey and pearl look nice.  Will have to look into them more...  Thanks!