Stocking Question

[superman1]

Hello

ok so i have finally brought my new 5ft tank off ebay

its a 5ft tank which holds 400 litres
currently the tank is empty and will stay that for a while. i will be using a rena xp3 external filter.

now my stocking i would like

3x balas (or swap these for about 7 bosemani rainbows)
1x RTBS
2x angels (or change these to 6 tiger barbs)
15x neons
2x swordtails
1x siamese algae eater
1x skunk botia
1x yoyo loaches (would mind changing the loaches to clown loaches)
1x red tail botia
8x cories
1x Striped Raphael Catfish
2x bn plecs

does this sound good or too much. obviously this will be done over a period of time.

 

[Wills]

Hi nice sized tank and not a bad list just needs a few tweaks IMO to be fair though thats a pretty medium stock I think you could add a fair bit more in there, have to say though cant help but notice the lack of a severum in that list gotta love those sevs

1x Heros Notatus
4x angels
8x bosemani rainbows
1x RTBS
25x bleeding heart or similar sized tetras to avoid them being eaten by the angels
8x swordtails (3m 5f)
1x siamese algae eater
8x Any of the loaches listed, loaches are gregarious which means they need a group of at least 5 or 5 clowns
12x cories
3x Striped Raphael Catfish - never kept them but read they do like their own company
2x bn plecs - are you dead set on BNs or can you be swayed to get some cool L number plecs? In a 5 foot tank you could go for some of the bigger plecs no problem like sunny plecs (L14) or royal panaques (L190)

Only concern is if an XP3 will be able to cut it on this size tank, I would have recommended a fluval FX5 (or 2) for a tank of this size.

Wills

 

[Ben M]

i think i would bring the SAE's up to at least five, as they are also gregarious. mine are always swimming about with each other.

cheers

 

[superman1]

Hi nice sized tank and not a bad list just needs a few tweaks IMO to be fair though thats a pretty medium stock I think you could add a fair bit more in there, have to say though cant help but notice the lack of a severum in that list gotta love those sevs

1x Heros Notatus
4x angels
8x bosemani rainbows
1x RTBS
25x bleeding heart or similar sized tetras to avoid them being eaten by the angels
8x swordtails (3m 5f)
1x siamese algae eater
8x Any of the loaches listed, loaches are gregarious which means they need a group of at least 5 or 5 clowns
12x cories
3x Striped Raphael Catfish - never kept them but read they do like their own company
2x bn plecs - are you dead set on BNs or can you be swayed to get some cool L number plecs? In a 5 foot tank you could go for some of the bigger plecs no problem like sunny plecs (L14) or royal panaques (L190)

Only concern is if an XP3 will be able to cut it on this size tank, I would have recommended a fluval FX5 (or 2) for a tank of this size.

Wills

cheers will, i just googled the sev and have to say they look gorgeous. that will defo go on the list. i dont know much about them but what kinda size do they get to. regarding the plecs reason why i chose bns is because they stay fairly small. but will look into them, i thought my stocking was quite big. but saying that a nice big shoal of tetras would look pretty cool. i quite like your stocking idea. i might base my stock on that... you got good taste.. i like.


Pest control. i think i will increase the SAE as ive had these before and love there activeness.



i think the Xp3 will do for now and as i increase the stock. will maybe increase the filtration.

will shrimps be ok in there. i.e the fan shrimp

 

[Wills]

Haha yeah sevs are awesome loads of species some are hard to track down though, depending on species they get between 5-12 inches but the 5 inch one is really really rare most of the ones in the stores are Heros Efasctisious (spelling) which reaches about 10-12 inches. Those are the Gold, Red Spot/ Super Red and Green.

SAE group sounds good just make sure they are the true ones

I think the best bit of advice I can give you for this tank is, take it slow and really consider species in a tank this size its going to be so impressive.

 

[superman1]

Haha yeah sevs are awesome loads of species some are hard to track down though, depending on species they get between 5-12 inches but the 5 inch one is really really rare most of the ones in the stores are Heros Efasctisious (spelling) which reaches about 10-12 inches. Those are the Gold, Red Spot/ Super Red and Green.

SAE group sounds good just make sure they are the true ones

I think the best bit of advice I can give you for this tank is, take it slow and really consider species in a tank this size its going to be so impressive.

by the way where did you get that root thing in your sig pic... i am after something exactly like that, tank looks great. thats exactly how i hope mine to look but maybe with some rock scaping

 

[Wills]

Thanks its redmoore wood I got mine from aquarist classifieds from a guy near me.

 

[meguro]

is the tank planted?

flame tetras (hyphhessobrycon flammeus) are a nicer choice than bleeding heart

the 4 angelfish might not appreciate competing against 8 rainbowfish for food

 

[Wills]

Yeah agreed with flame tetras I put bleeding heart as an example of the round body shape. Ive had angels and rainbows before and not had feeding issues though in hindsight rainbows are perhaps faster feeders but in a tank that size plenty of room to feed each in groups if you see what I mean.

 

[superman1]

well at the moment the tank is empty.

ive just finished painting the back of the tank blue. have ordered some new biochem stars for the external. will prob be over a week before any water goes in. want to take my time on this one and do it properly. i quite like the penguin tetra. they get to quite a nice size.

 

[meguro]

penguin tetras dont really shoal. once they hit ~4+cm they will develop small territories and fight/chase other penguin tetras away from their space. they also harass smaller tetras (probably not a problem for u). best way to keep them in check is to have fish bigger than them in the tank eg. a cichlid or gourami. although even with the larger fish present, they will still develop territories and defend them, they just wont chase smaller fish as much

i would avoid these fish

 

[superman1]

ok will do that... will a severum be ok in a community tank

 

[Wills]

yep your tanks easy big enough for a severum of any kind really

 

[superman1]

cool.. i think they look amazing.. dont know why i didnt know about them before..

ok so my final stocking list atm.. is??

1x Severum
8x Bosemani rainbows
1x RTBS
4x Angels
20x Cardinals (i know these might be a problem with the angels so if you can suggest a better tetra.... im not a fan of the bleeding heart tetra)
3x Sword tails 1m 2f
2x SAE
10x assorted loaches
12x Corys
2x BN plecs

i think i may have to many bottom dwellers compared to mid-upper dwellers

do you think this would be a nice equal mix of bottom to mid to upper. if not could you suggest something that would be more appropiate.
and also if the cardinals will not be a wise choice with the angels will emperor tetras have the same situ.

thanks

p.s i would like to add balas. but am afraid tank maybe too small

 

[star4]

When the RTBS grows they do become rather aggressive, mine was rather partial to eating cardinals and he bothered my angels none stop, he also killed 10 tiger barbs, he now lives with more aggressive fish. You could think about a rainbow shark,they are suppose to be calmer than the RTBS, but I havnt kept one only the RTBS. The pristilla (check spelling on that) or x-ray tetra is ok with angels, I had a group in with mine, they are very fast.