What Can I Have Other Than Fish?

[RobGoldsmith]

Evening guys

I just fancy something different in my tank, would love some ideas, hopefully from experience!

So far I have:

Neons
Plattys
Bolivian Rams
Cory Cats
Female Siamese fighters
Mountain Minnows
Guppys
Apple Snail

I looked at crabs but everyone says they need half land, half water.
I looked at other snails but i dont want a massive population of them
I heard Shrimp may get eaten by the rams
Clams etc can die and pollute everything

Has anyone got any other ideas for something unusual? I have a wall mounted tank so it cant be anything over 7cm long as it wont be able to turn around.

Any fun ideas would be great!

Thanks

Rob

 

[anwhyte]

i'm sorry Rob but wall mounted tanks are a really, really bad idea & it sounds like you have a lot of fish in one. Way too many unless it's volume is a lot bigger than i fear it is. You'll be a lot better off putting the fish in a normal aquarium, also the white cloud minnows arent really tropical fish & prefer lower temperature than the other fish you have.

 

[OldMan47]

Almost any of the common livebearers will work in a relatively peaceful tank like yours. The only concern that I see with your stocking is the white clouds. They are basically cold water fish and you have mixed them in with tropical and semitropical fish (the platies, cories and guppies are really only semitropical). Chances are that by achieving an ideal compromise temperature for your other fish, you will have the water warmer than it really should be for a white cloud mountain minnow keeper. Other cool water fish that are unusual in most homes, or even in most pet shops are the group called goodeids. I run several unheated tanks that house goodeids of different species and they all prosper readily. It does take some effort to find a source for them though. In my case that has been club auctions. Some other fish that would work well with a small size are mollies, swordtails, and even things like black neons.

Clams are not only able to die, they are likely to die in an aquarium. They are filter feeders and there is seldom enough material floating through an aquarium to keep even one of them well fed. Crabs, on the other hand, will catch and eat small fish. I value most of my fish too much to have a crab in a tank with them. Those are good choices you have made.

For Anwhyte: each of us has our own way of keeping fish that reflects our preferences and our willingness to do difficult maintenance. As it is with you, I also avoid arrangements that make more work for me like a wall mount aquarium, but that doers not mean there is anything wrong with them. I rather like the way they look. The reason I avoid them is that dripping water all over a wall during a water change looks like a good way to double or even triple my maintenance efforts. With 26 tanks up and running, I have plenty to do without that added work.