Stocking Lol

[cuticom]

I'm sure you guys get sick of this, anyways I just lost my adult Bristlenose, so I'm gonna run the tank for a while and make sure the other fish are fine, but I also wanna spend some time looking at other options.

My tanks about 22g, it's 24" long, 12" wide and 18" tall.
Current stock is
Two dwarf Gouramis
One male Sailfin Molly
One 5cm Rainbow Shark.

Firstly when the Rainbow shark gets older and grows to a decent length the tank will be upgraded, to either a three foot or four foot tank
Secondly Either the Sailfin or the Dwarf Gouramis, or both will be moved to another 20g tank in the near future, I'm just waiting to be certin all the plants in it have fully rooted and are healthy. Oh and yes my two dwarf gouramis do get on well, I have no idea why but they show absolutely no aggressivness to each other.

So for the 22g tank I'm after an interesting fish with personality that's preferably larger, (ie over 2-3"), that'll happily live with kelvin my Rainbow Shark. I considered getting a bristlenose but I'm not confident in telling them apart from common plecos and our petstores dont tell you the difference. Plus their sold at about 2cm long and I'd probably lose it in the tank LOL.

Any ideas?

 

[QuotheRaven]

Im no expert of Pleco's but usually when looking for a bristlenose look for white dot's and white at the end of the tail in Juviniles I think. Perhaps a group of 4-6 cories for the bottom and maybe a ram or another apisto. Make sure the tanks cycled though of course .

 

[cuticom]

Lol yah the tanks still cycled.

The problem with cichlids is our petstore just dumps em all together (oscars too) in a tank and labels it either assorted oscars or assorted cichlids. I can tell a keyhole apart and an socar apart and thats as far as i ever manage to get LOl.

Would an angel be suitable? I've always loved them. Blah I wish paradise fish were more common around here, as I'd just get one of them, but the song and dance I went through to get hold of Gavin was enough thanks LOL

 

[QuotheRaven]

no a Angel wouldn't the tank is a little to small but the rainbow might attack it anyways. Might want to look in the yellow pages for a better aquarium that can help you find the right fish aswell as looking at the great profile's of fish on this site.

 

[cuticom]

A better LFS isnt around here, thers two we generally use. When we get fish we try to amke a time whne we can go the two hours into the city wheres theres a good shop, but thats a one off trip, and we dont get there very often.

I have been looking at the profiles, oky dokes No angels LOl, umm I dunno hehe

 

[Torrean]

I would keep the gourami in the 20 gallon. As to what to add. I would add more gourami. 3-4 females. I'd remove everything else and buy two rubbernose plecos. all of these will have to be special orders in all probability. throw in some floating plants and you have a tank. However this setup may not work in a 20 gallon tall... Do more research and see what you can find about minimum tank sizes for dwarfs and multiple females. I know a single male and 2 females can work in a 20 gallon but I'm not sure about two males. One thing that is vital to gourami being happy is lots of floating plants and tall ornaments (bogwood, holey rock work, tall pieces of plastic crap) that they can zip in and out of to easily escape from one another as well as to break up line of site which can cause lot's of aggresssion.

If you are set on moving the gourami then you could go for a larger species of gourami such as the gold, blue, three spot variants of the tricogaster. (spelling) You'll only want one of these guys as they can get a bit aggressive.

If you don't want another gourami and you have limited access to anything close to a quality LFS then I suggest that you go into your lfs and write down what you like the look of. Take pictures of anything that isn't labeled properly next go home and do research/ask us. Then maybe I/we can help you further.

 

[cuticom]

Theres no way I'd get rid of kelvin my shark, he's the definate for the tank, I'd be happy to get rid of the gouramis though, been nothing but trouble since I got em. But our pet stores dont take fish back, and thers no way I'm gonna flush em so they get to just float around the tank.

Some other fish I do particularly liek and know our pet store has are Convict Cichlids and Electric yellow cichlids. But I havnt been able to find any good info on whether or not they'd live with Kelvin. Another one I really like are Kissing gouarmis but they get way to big.

 

[cuticom]

Just thought I'd add I visted our closest (and yuckiest) LFS, anyways they only had a few types of cichlids. One that was called a marble peacok, so far I cant tell if it was actually that or not, lotsa baby peacock cichlids, which i think they are as comparing the pics I took with what i found on the net they all look about right, an albino peacock cichlid and an unidetifiable cichlid. It might've been a keyhole, it was a sort f yellowy white colour with a black spot, it was in with all the peacocks.

So are peacock cichlids any gud?

Ohh forgot to add I think the peacocks were feamles they were all kinda dull and brown

 

[Torrean]

the convict might work. but your tank is too small for a convict IMHO. It wouldn't work with the gourami though. He's be good with the rtbs though

 

[cuticom]

I dont ahve an rtbs, I have a rainbow shark, and as I said the gouramis moving out. So I could fit a single convict in? it wouldnt hurt my shark at all? kelvin isnt full grow, he's still a juvie.

One last thing, waht about keyhole cichlids? I'm gonna call the good lfs thats like a couple of hours away and see what they have, but from what I've read Keyhole cichlids are pretty calm and shy

 

[Torrean]

rtbs rainbow shark...almost the same thing. Rainbow sharks are a bit less aggressive. Your tanks too small for a convict

 

[cuticom]

Well the gouramis and molly have moved out and are loving their new tank, which leaves Kelvin all by himself

 

[cuticom]

Hmm, I just gave the tank a massive overhaul and removed most of the decorations I'd be using to give my sialfin somewhere to go to get away from the shark. Now thers just kelvins own little terracotta pot in there.

Looking at it with all the plastic plants etc removed helps a bit LOL. Hmm starting to think maybe I should try a school of fish with Kelvin as a centrepice fish. Since the tanks really tall, I guess i'd be looking for a schooling fish that'll swim in the top level... wanders off to go search for other types of fish...

 

[cuticom]

Just looking at another thread and someone said an 81 litre tank was an okay size if it has 18"water depth (well almost about 1cm of gravel and I keep it filled up to the top)?
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=180348

So would I be able to put a single angel in? As I do really like the angelfish, and from what I've read they can easily live with rainbow sharks