Stocking Levels In A 6 Month Old Tank

paulkat

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Hi All,

We currently have a 6 month old tank with the following:

2 Angels
6 Pentazona barbs
15 shrimp
2 gold Rams

Would it be possible to add further to this, we quite fancy some neons, but not sure how many to get to keep them happy, I've read 4 or 6 but would this overstock the tank?

We also want to get a small plec in the future.

Many Thanks. :good:
 
neons are natural food for angelfish so i wouldnt bother with them. Go for a bristlenose plec, they really cool!
 
Angelfish can eat small neons, but your LFS might have large ones. It could work depending on your angels personalities and how big they are right now..
In the future i will be getting angels to go with my neons so i'm hoping that will go ok, otherwise i'll have to give the neons to the LFS (a shame because they are really cool)
 
I'm not sure how big Pentazona barbs are. Unless they are massive you should be fine with a shoal of smaller bodied fish. As above Angels will eat smaller neons (and bigger neons if the angels are big). Also some Tetras can be a bit nippy and might bite the fins on the angels so they are not always great tank mates.

Have you looked at getting some Cory's? This would add some movement to the bottom of the tank and would fit in ok with the rest of the fish. 4-6 of these should be fine.
 
thanks guys, if we can find suitable neons, are 4 enough or should you keep 6 +
 
Under certain circumstances, you could have a nice school of cories and a large shoal of a tetra that doesn't nip long fins. I really don't think you are overstocked at all. It's like a 47g tank right? I keep my angels with Cherry barbs, which are not much bigger than neons. The angelfish were, however, introduced afterwards and were very small when I got them. Careful, though, with cories and the rams if they decide to breed. You may want to opt for a larger cory species or make sure that they are in larger numbers. I keep Brochis splendens and Corydoras pulcher with my breeding angelfish pair. Both species get to be about 3 inches or more and are more than able to handle a large angelfish without eating smaller species. Really nice showcase catfish. You could opt for like 10-12 of the catfish and 12-15 of the tetras, or simply increase the numbers of your barbs, which is always a great option. A really nice shoal of barbs is very attractive to look at. All this stocking advice really depends on your maintenance regimen. I'm pretty diligent (weekly water changes), have a very strong HOB filter, and have planted the tank, so I can stock my tanks heavier than normal and have fish that thrive. If you don't follow this regimen, which is entirely up to you, I'd opt then to get shoal of cories, about 8, and then just increase your Pentazona shoal to 10. You'll get better movement from the Pentazonas.

I'm impressed, though, your angels don't eat shrimp? I wouldn't risk that with my angels, they are little piggy poos.
 

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