Stocking List Ideas For A 240L Tank

[FishyWishie]

As im almost started my qualifying week i thought i better start thinking about what to put in the tank beside plants

I definately want some kind of loaches maybe khuli ? and i like the look of the plecs that dont grow to big. Other than that my main aim is to have a colourful and peacefull community tank possibly with 2 angels or some other kind of impact fish.

I'd also like some colourful shoalers.


Anyone fancy having a crack at a suggesting even a partial stocking list so i can start researching fish I dont mind admitting im really unsure of what to get to ensure all levels of the tank have nice fish in

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I would say you need to focus your thoughts on one (or two compatable species) that YOU feel will is your "deal breaker" fish.

For me, it was Steatocranus cichlids and Humphead Glassfish. Consequently, I chose a highish current, high oxygen, 24/25C theme... Mainly sticking to the Congo/Zaire river and Myanmar.

Kuhli Loaches are great looking fish. However, they are very shy unless in big groups of ~8+ and are also rarely seen by the average keeper during the day. Additionally, they have a habit of finding "wrong" places to call home in the tank eg. buried in the roots of dead plants; hiding in the heater/filter chamber!

Have a gander through the picture selection species index at www.loaches.com and see what takes your fancy... I have 6 Indian Red Tail Squirrel Loaches and 3 Panda Garras already, but I'm pondering on adding a mix of single specimen "Hillstream Loach" to my tank

 

[FishyWishie]

Im still trying to work out what my impact/wow fishes are going to be i do like angels but they may limit me getting anything nippy

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Not only that, but adult Angels needing at least 18" of water depth (excluding sand/gravel and any space above the waterline) is talked about regularly on here, due to their vertical fin length and they do not like exposing their dorsal fin to the fresh air...

Which nicely ties in with my other observation of these cichlids, often talked about on here. Like most Climbing Perch species, they will snack on small fish typically <5cm, as they get older. Luckily for the small swordtails in with 4 Angels I once saw, their saving grace was that the Swordtails formed a single file layer across the tank water surface, which was the only way to escape the co-operative hunting of the Angels!

 

[FishyWishie]

Any suggestions on a wow fish then ? I know a lot of my bottom feeders and smaller fish but i want between 2-4 fish that really draw your eye as soon as you look at the tank. I just measured my tank and its approx 19" from top of substrate to the water line.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Well so far, it looks like you can rule out Lake Malawi cichlids and a vast majority of Tanganyikan! I say vast but not all, as I've read about some fish keepers having a community of small shell-dweller cichlids (eg. ocellatus) down the bottom of the tank with giant "escargot" shells, with a mixture of Rainbow fish swimming mid-high levels, giving you plenty of colour!

You could do a what I call a "micro" tank on a macro scale... Relatively big groups (15+) of small fish that stay below 5cm eg. Hengeli Rasbora; Celestial Pearl Danios; Fortail Blue-Eye Rainbows; Threadfin Rainbows; Badis (? think they stay small); Endlers; Rummynose Tetra; Sawbwa Barb.

You could do a biotope theme, finding suitable plants and other fish that live in the same area as Angelfish, but will not get eaten!

You could find compatable species from around the world that cover most of the spectrum of colours (eg. Harlequin Rasboras; Rhomb Barbs; Golden Wonder Panchax; Green Eye Tetra; {hmm, blue}; Purple Emperor; Diamond Tetra.

You could do a mix of the mid-large Rainbowfish eg. three groups of six from Lake Katubus; Bosemani; Parkinsons; Celebes; Reds.

Maybe you fancy a huge colony of guppies...

Only you know the answer, not us or Smarties!

 

[Wills]

Good suggestions from Goat as usual.

Just for my thoughts on how to get ideas going for a tank, pick an area of the world that you like some fish from and then start from there its often good to do this because you can get fish that work quite well naturally together like in a South American tank you could have apistos and tetras and the tetras show the apistos that the tank is safe just by swimming around which will give the apistos confidence and you can follow that on with south american catfish, plecs and maybe even a few larger cichlids that wont pose a threat to apistos, angelfish work well with apistos because they are more open water territory fish where as apistos need ground territory. There are similar scenarios that happen in asia, africa and central america as well so its interesting to see how they interact but at the same time in the set up I described before you could easily add something like loaches or cherry barbs for example but see how a string of fish linked together from working out fish that live close(ish) to each other in the wild?

SO that said if we take it from your wanting angel fish I would probably go for something like -

2 Angelfish (personally Id go with Blacks or Platinums but they are all the same fish just different colour morphs)
5 Apistogramma Pandruo (1 male 4 females) - any apistos would work though depending on species the numbers would vary.
15 Flame Tetras - again any of the none nippy species would work
6 Spotted Headstanders (headstanders are one of my favorite fishes but just a suggestion)
5 Pictus Catfish

Wills

 

[drobbyb]

You definitely can have angels and rainbows if you are bent on having angels. Here's a vid of my tank with a lone angel in it My tank. They co-habitate just fine, and there are many many species of rainbow to choose from Species list with pictures.

 

[FishyWishie]

Still considering and playing with ##143### but in a revelation i now prefer the look of discus over angels even tho it plays havoc with the rest of my stock list as most have a max temp of 27 but discus show as a min temp of 28 grrr Not to mention i hear discus very tricky to keep as a newbie ?

 

[PDSimon]

discus are very advanced fish which require lots of water changes and special care...

What about dwarf cichlids?

I have 8 kuhli loach in my tank and I see them all the time. They lounge around in the day and in the evenings they eat and sift through the sand a lot, then at night they swim loads.