Stocking Questions

[holidayinn]

Hi y'all

I have a few questions that you've prob seen before, but i could really do with some advice.

I've got a 37 UK gallon tank measuring 48*12*18 inches. I'm currently fishless cycling the tank which has resulted in ammonia dropping but not nitrite over a 12 hour period. Still at mid-stage of this cycle so I'm waiting patiently and testing regularly.

My question is not related to the cycle. I'm researching fish to stock the tank and could do with your advice.

I was initially keen on cichlids for the tank, but my tanks is prob too small, no rocks and mid-sized gravel prob dont help either. So i'm going for the community look. Here are some of my questions.

Is there any cichlids (maybe dwarf variety) that i could stock with community fish? if so what cichlid and what community fish please...

i went to the lfs and made a list of fish there that i liked:

Clown loach
Black ghost knifefish
Asian knife fish -----will these grow too large for 170 litres?

Red tail black shark

convict & rainbow cichlids

gourami - several types

would these be ok with each other? id lyk to use a few of these as centrepiece fish

i'm not too crazy bout tetra's....wuld i still be able to put fish like barbs, mollies, platys, danios in with some of the above? or what could u suggest i could get?

what community fish would you suggest are good as the first guests? That dont limit options of other fish you can purchase as much? e.g. i know from past exp that if i was to buy a betta id be ruling out barbs

ne fish u can recommend, now you have an idea of the kind of fish i'm after..centrepiece/community? i'm also reasonably new to fish-keeping apart from an oscar and catfish which were pretty hardy and gave me no problems, is there a big difference in hardiness between tropical fish?

i apologise for the number of questions, any advice would be greatly appreciated, many thanks

 

[lilfishie]

clown loach can grow upto 10"? (i think) and they need to be in groups, as far as i am aware knife fish will grow too big, cichlids should be a speicies only tank, gourami might be ok depending on sex and speicies

 

[mark.w.jones]

Yes there is a huge difference between the levels of hardiness between species and none of the species you mentioned are what I would consider to be peaceful community fish. For example, Black ghost knife fish reach up to 18" in size so are really not suitable for your size of tank. Gouramis are a good option but mixing species of gourami is not recommended and as they are a terratorial species you need not over stock them. M to F ratio also needs consideration. Clown loach again will be fine for a while in your tank but are very social fish, need school of 5 ideally + reach 8" in size so you would be pretty much full stocked just with them.

I would consider rainbowfish as a centre piece school or maybe congo tetras as both are relatively peaceful species. Then fit your other species around those.

 

[holidayinn]

thanks for your help so far....

my tank is now showing no ammonia/nitrite within a 12 hour period of adding ammonia, so il do a large water change tonight and then tomorrow buy my first batch of fish...i'm thinking of buying a school of playts, about 6 of them...for the mo, i prefer them to danios, guppies and mollies etc, but im paying the lfs another visit on the way home, so may change my mind again lol

i will slowly stock the tank, but want to have a stocking plan and stick to it...

as a bottom dwellin fish, i have heard that cory's are very good, my question is, i use smoothish gravel and not sand...will cory's be ok on a gravel base?

 

[mark.w.jones]

Cories would definitely prefer sand but as long as gravel is of the smooth round variety they will be fine without. The trouble with sand is that all the crap (literally) sits on top of it and looks really messy, even a day after a good gravel vac. However, this is also a positive thing as it is easier to remove a lot more of the crap which slips down into gravel between the granules. Sand also looks better IMO but a black or natural gravel can look equally striking. If you do go down the gravel route just keep an eye on your cories barbels as if they damage them whilst rooting around they are prone to cotton mouth and fungal infection which are usually fatal.

 

[mark.w.jones]

Cories would definitely prefer sand but as long as gravel is of the smooth round variety they will be fine without. The trouble with sand is that all the crap (literally) sits on top of it and looks really messy, even a day after a good gravel vac. However, this is also a positive thing as it is easier to remove a lot more of the crap which slips down into gravel between the granules. Sand also looks better IMO but a black or natural gravel can look equally striking. If you do go down the gravel route just keep an eye on your cories barbels as if they damage them whilst rooting around they are prone to cotton mouth and fungal infection which are usually fatal.



ps. If you are doing a fishless cycle you don't need to slowly stock once you finish. Infact this would be totally pointless and waste all the beneficial bacteria which you have made colonise your filter media. When your cycle finishes, this is when your 5ppm ammonia and nitrite are being broken down in less than 24 hours. You do a 90 - 100% water change with dechlorinated water. Turn down the heater and then fully stock tank over a maximum of 3 days. If you just add one school and leave things a week, all the extra bacteria will die off. Fishless cycling creates far many more bacteria than will ever be needed and it is this excess which controls levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate when adding a full stock all in one go

 

[holidayinn]

thanks for all the advice jonesy..i did only get some platys on saturday, and upon reading ur post last night, i added a tiny amount of ammonia just so the beneficial bacteria will continue to exist...

i shall increase the stock of the tank today with fish i know that i defintely want and then at a later stage i.e. a month slowly add fish that are meant to be better off in a more mature tank..

i tested the water parameters this morning approx 12 hours after adding the ammonia. Results 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and a very small presence of nitrate..

i'm thinking of adding the following fish today:

3/4 corys - may add more at a later stage
1 bristlenose pleco
1 M 2 F Honey gourami or maybe 2 Rams
a few small rainbow fish - maybe 3-4 dwarf blue rainbows

good selection?

i think that at least this number of fish will take some advantage of the fishless cycle, il keep testing water parameters and def do a water change 25%ish in about 2/3 days..

i'm adding these fish so that they don't narrow down my options of other fish 2 much 2 early....any advice by y'all be appreciated...

many thanks

 

[mark.w.jones]

Great little selection of fish. Leave the Rams til a few months down the road as they are notoriously sensitive and don't acclimatise easily to new tanks from what I've read. Just be sure to do add all those fish asap then do daily tests for ammonia and nitrite. If you detect any levels of either of these do a 20% water change immediately. Otherwise all sounds great. All the best and post some pics soon