Stocking Suggestions

[snoopyfrench87]

Hello

I have a 3ft community tropical, 3ft long, 16 inches tall and 15 inches wide.
I think that makes it 31 uk gallons, 142 litres.

The current stocking is:
3 Botia Dario
1 Silver Molly
1 Balloon Molly
1 Mickey Mouse Platy
1 Gold ringed Butterfly Sucker
15 adult guppies
10 guppy fry (various ages)
3 amano shrimp
+ lots of horrible trumpet snails

I would like to add some new fish, however i am not sure on the correct numbers of each - or whether they are compatible - i love my little shoaling fish - but would like some large centre pieces too if possible.

I would like to add some:
10Neons - would cardinals be best? (ive heard alot about neons being badly bred recently) would cardinals bully small guppies? if cardinals would a smaller number be better?
5 glass catfish - i know they might eat the guppy fry but if i want to breed i will collect the fry, - would they try and eat adult guppies? or neons?
1 snowball plec - i have sadly only seen this once - are they rare? i have a large piece of mango wood and would like a plec that stands out and enjoys munching on it.
5 bumble bee gobys - do these like to be kept in groups? - what will they eat - would glass catfish eat them?
i like blue dwarf gouramis - are these happy in a pair?
i had want some angels but i was told they would attack everything else and should be in 'species tanks' - is that true?

thanks guys

One of my pets died today - so my mum wants to take me to the LFS to buy a new addition from my list - so if anyone can give me the go ahead on any options i would appreciate it.

thanks x

 

[Anguilla82]

neons - neons aren't as hardy as they used to be, but cardinals can be just as bad. if getting a group get 6+
bumblebee gobies - these fish prefer a brackish environment (slightly salty) so wouldn't be suitable for your tank
blue gouramis would look good, shoul dbe ok in a pair, though if you get 2 males they may fight over territory.
angels - you'll get differing opinions on these. in my opinion, as long as you buy them small and they grow up with the small schooling fish they shouldn't see them as food.

hope this helps.
if it were me i'd go for cories (instead of the glass catfish as they can be difficult to feed and very shy) and some gouramis for some good colour.

 

[snoopyfrench87]

thanks - there are a few posts about gouramis fighting - are they best in pairs or a small shoal?

any one got any suggestions?

 

[ALW]

Gouramis are best kepted at 1 male per two female

 

[snoopyfrench87]

okay so no neons,

maybe 6+ cardinals
3 dwarf blue gouramis -1 male and 2 female
baby angels - how many should be kept together? - anyone else got an opinion on this?

I dont want to ditch the glass catfish for cories as i ahve always wanted glass catfish - would a group of 5 be happy?
I have cories in my temperate tank.

I am going to set up a seperate smaller tank for the non brackish bumble bee gobies.

anyone got any different suggestions for stocking?

I was told to get two keyhole cichlids - but they arent terribly colourful... any different options?

thanks

Laura

 

[Anguilla82]

Rams are pretty colourful and stay small. Or Kribensis cichlids - google them to see the colours.

 

[snoopyfrench87]

Rams are pretty colourful and stay small. Or Kribensis cichlids - google them to see the colours.

i was told rams would be aggressive towards my small livebearers, they are very pretty - i love the cichlids too - would these tolerate my littler fish? how many should be kept together?

thanks

 

[Anguilla82]

you shouldn't have too many problems. the Rams or Kribs will tend to stay in the lower half of the tank and the live bearers in the top half.
i've only seen aggression towards others of the same speices over territories.
they may eat the odd baby guppy or platy but if theres plenty of foliage for the babies there shouldn't be a problem. Also Kribs are pretty easy to breed if you give them a couple of caves to lay their eggs in.

 

[OscarWilde]

I got some Bolivian Rams a few days ago. They mess around between themselves but seem leave the other fish (including live bearers) alone.

There are some (not great) photos in my Sig below.

Cheers.

 

[loachman]

The Gold ringed Butterfly Sucker (assuming you mean a Sewellia lineolata), is not suitable for that tank. It will need much higher flow than an angelfish, guppy or balloon molly could stand and lower temperatures.

They require a specialized setup with high flow rate.

The amano shrimp WILL end up as food for the botia darios. The trumpet snails may, it seems that trumpet snails are harder for the loaches to suck out than typical pond snails.

I also wouldn't add that many more fish to the size tank you have.

 

[snoopyfrench87]

The gold ringed butterfly sucker has lived in the same tank for 3 years, it has shown no ill effects and seems to be quite content, i do have an air wall of bubbles at one end and a surface area beneath a filter outlet for the sucker to feed off of however he seems quite content travelling around the tank.

I will remove the shrimp and put them into a different tank to avoid them being eaten, they have been with the dario;s for a while and there has not been any issue.

I would not consider the tank to be overstocked at all but that is your own opnion,

I intend to add a couple of rams or kribs.
one spotted plec

and maybe some small shoalers

thanks for the help guys x

 

[loachman]

You don't have anything that is overly aggressive so as long as you can keep up with water quality, you can potentially add some more. There are a ton of factors that go into it but personally, that would exceed my comfort level.

If the amanos are larger, they will be okay for the time being. Loaches do eat shrimp though. I've fed mine (yoyos, kubotai, and striatas) live ghost shrimp before.

For the Sewellia lineolata, that's a pretty good tract record with it. I've not seem many report keeping them in community tanks for that long.

 

[missigfunk]

I have 2 bumble bees in my tank with no salt.

I've had them for about 5 or so months now and they seem fine.


BTW I only have 2 because that's all they had left at the LFS and they are REALLY hard to find here!

 

[snoopyfrench87]

there are two types of bumble bee - one that has to be brackish and one that will be comfortable in fresh.

one with broken colour lines is the brackish - one with solid bands of colour is the one that can live in fresh water xx

 

[missigfunk]

I have the gobys.

The orangy/yellow and black ones.

Are they brackish?