Thinking 'bout Little Fishies..

[K-Holed]

Okay I'll add my two peneths worth. I'll start straight out and say that I have a downer on community tanks. Okay, that's a little unfair. I have a downer on ill concieved community tanks. All too often, people get a tank, fill it with water and then go to their LFS and start picking fish they like. Usually people go with the brightly coloured ones that stand out at the time and they provide instant gratification. Some days later, they tire of that colour or pattern and proceed to buy something else that's garish and eyecatching ... and so this goes on, until they are fully stocked and still not satisfied long term.

For me, if an aquarium is going to work long term, it has to be able to hold your interest. There's nothing wrong with brightly coloured fish, but flashiness alone, will not hold your interest long term. People keep fish for many reasons:

* They're brightly coloured
*They have interesting habbits
*They breed
*They're a challenge
*They have unusual body shapes
*They have character

and many, many more. When planning your community aquarium (and I can't stress enough the importance of planning), in my mind you should opt for a selection of fish that fall into various catagories and hold your interest for different reasons. One way to do this is to choose focal point, a fish or pair of fish that you really love above all others. Then you can start to build up a community around those. Selecting fish that will inhabit different parts of the aquarium and come out at different times and fulfill different roles. If you have too many "central" fish, you run the risk of none of them standing out. It's like a truely wonderful work of art. Anyone can throw gaudy colours at a canvas, but it takes time and care to produce something that will captivate audiences in the long run.

Okay, I'm rambling now.

Kind regards

Jimi

 

[Angel47]

I have a downer on ill concieved community tanks. All too often, people get a tank, fill it with water and then go to their LFS and start picking fish they like. Usually people go with the brightly coloured ones that stand out at the time and they provide instant gratification. Some days later, they tire of that colour or pattern and proceed to buy something else that's garish and eyecatching ... and so this goes on, until they are fully stocked and still not satisfied long term.

Yes, I take your point and that is why I have asked for advice. I've had some from my lfs and I dont trust them. I want to get this right so that myself and the fish are happy with what we've got.

For me, if an aquarium is going to work long term, it has to be able to hold your interest.

Once again, I agree. I want some brightly coloured fish because I think esthetically they are obviously very pleasing. That, as you say is only one aspect and I wrote a list on the OP with various different types of fish. However, I am a newbie and don't know about different fish varieties. I literally went to my lfs and looked at their stock and made a list of what I like so that I could then research either by advice, internet or both, and get suggestions of fish that I don't know about. I definitely want some fish with character. You dont think about naming your fish if you're not bothered about characters! Catfish and loaches are amongst those that, for me at least, definitely have character from what I've seen. They are not necessarily brightly coloured but I love them and I want my tank to be interesting and beautiful.

* They're brightly coloured
*They have interesting habbits
*They breed
*They're a challenge
*They have unusual body shapes
*They have character

All the above except breeding and a challenge. I havent even cycled my tank yet - breeding is the last thing on my mind ! although I'm sure it will happen at some point and when it does I hope I will be able to get some advice from you guys on that too. As for a challenge well, I guess. To a certain extent but these are living creatures so I dont want to go and do this just to see if I can make it work, leaving a dead fish trail as I go.

You dont have to worry Jimi. The whole point of this post was so that I can plan.

Cheers Maz

 

[vinylman]

Angel, the only thing I'd add to the advice here is that (IMO, of course) you shouldn't go for too many different types of fish in a 125ltr. Yes, it's a decent size, but I'd really concentrate on two or three types of fish you really like, then have a decent sized shoal of each. I think too many different types can be distracting, particularly in anything less than a 3ft tank. As for Guppies and other Livebearers, bear in mind that the Guppies we see in shops now are nowhere near as hardy as they were even a few years ago. My LFS will only take them from local breeders, as the ones they were buying in from the usual suppliers weren't worth paying for. If you REALLY want guppies, check with your LFS to see if they'll take any fry off your hands once they're big enough to sell. Some fry will always survive and it wouldn't be long before you were heading for a full tank. Even if the shop won't buy them from you, they may give you credit against plants or food. Good luck with your choices, your head must be spinning by now!!!.

 

[arobinson1984]

I agree with K-holed and vinylman, I have a community tank and its nice but I think that when the times comes to next re-stock it it will be a tank dedicated to just a few types of fish.

Angel47 you have a decision to make, you could go with a community tank which would be fine as long as you make sure you research the fish's compatibility with each other etc, but after I've had my community I've gone off them a little because after a while they tend to just look like a mish mash of lots of different fish lol.

The other choice could be a tank just dedicated to a few types of fish so it doesnt look so much like a 'car boot sale.' Using this stocking idea you could have a main centrepiece fish such as angels, rams, gouramis, then 1 or 2 shoals of different smaller fish such as harlequins, rasboras and then some bottom feeders and in my opinion this looks better.

To answer a few other things mentioned above, as curiousity said, he was correct regarding bristlenose plecs being fine on their own (george perhaps?) and I'd only recommend you put 1 in a 125L tank as they are fairly heavy waste producers.

Angels and gouramis are a no no as far as I'm aware
Angels will eat some types of tetras.
Any fin nippers in the tank will shred a bettas tail and bettas aren't recommended as a community tank fish
If you want guppies, I'd recommend only getting males, dont get any females as you will be overrun with fry. Males are much more colourful
Bettas will attack and guppies that are of a similar colouration
As mentioned red tailed sharks get large and aggressive
Cories would be fine, if you want bottom feeders then I wouldn't recommend the albino cories as they are super active and tend to be everywhere in the tank except at the bottom lol

Andy

 

[Curiosity101]

I'm a she not a he

Moving on...
I've gotta agree with all of the above, and particularly IF you wanted to structure a tank around a pair of GBR's then here is a sample stocking:

7 Harlequin Rasbora
7 Serpae Tetra
2 GBR (you might want to get a group of 4 2m 2f to begin with, allow a pair to form and take the other 2 back to the shop. Obviously check with the shop that they will take them back first! )
7 Sterbai Corys

 

[arobinson1984]

I'm a she not a he

I stand corrected

Andy

 

[Curiosity101]

Does that mean I type like a guy?...if that's even possible.

 

[arobinson1984]

No lol, dunno why I put he, must be force of habit

Andy

 

[Angel47]

Hi, thanks for all of the replies, its certainly given me something to think about. I do quite like the idea of just having a few types that I really like. I have black gravel so the contrast of albino corys would look really nice I think. I'm loath to give my neon tetras up. I've always loved them, they are so beautiful so I'm really going to have to think about what I want the most.
I'm sitting now, looking at my tank trying to imaging the different types of fish in it. I can def see the neon tetras and albino corys. After that I'm stuck

Perhaps I ought to build it round my neon tetras although I know i can't put them in until my tank has been established for a little while. If I have them I guess I cant have anything with a longish tail?

Maz

 

[Curiosity101]

Depends what you class as a longish tail really...

For example my bolivian ram has some pretty long extensions on his tail, but the tetras and ram swim in different levels of the tank. And I don't think they would dare go for my ram anyways.

It's widely accepted you wouldn't put a betta in with tetras though.

 

[K-Holed]

How about something like

Apistogramma Cacatuoides

 

[Angel47]

Hello Curiosity101

Thanks for that. Well thats two types that I would be very satisfied to have in my tank, so here is a reviewed provisional list so far:

6 - 10 neon tetras

2 GBM's

6 - 10 albino (or mix of) corys or a couple of albino bristlenose catfish?

couple of the big yellow snails - apple snails?

If I have a couple of snails do I risk getting over run by them? If I get lots of snail babies what can I do with them?


K-Holed - that apistogramma is beautiful. I will google them.

Maz

 

[Curiosity101]

GBM?

And apple snails lay their eggs above water in a sac that has a relatively sold structure. So if you saw one, just remove it and allow it to dry (throw it outside or something).

Your stocking sounds great so far. I'd probably go with a group of 8 corys altogether.

 

[Angel47]

Oh dear, it was my birthday on Thursday which has obviously tipped the balance from relatively normal brain function to geriatric. I meant GBR's

Quickly read a bit on the apistogramma. It says they like planted aquarium but I'm afraid my plants are all fake The thought of having real plants scares me a little. I'm thinking it would be difficult to keep them.
In my lfs they have little packets of fern. They are not in any water, just little packets. Is fern good?

Maz

 

[Curiosity101]

If they like planted aquariums it doesn't neccesarily mean they have to be real. Just provide lots of dense cover etc so the fish can hide if they choose to.

Plants really aren't scary by the way. If you wanted then I could send you a load of Cabomba when you're done cycling. I'd need to be able to cover P+P but it'll still be a cheap way for you to find out plants aren't as scary as you may think they are!

Is the fern real or fake? Eitherways it can't be that bad an addition. The only thing I'd say about fake plants is, silk is SOOO much better than plastic.