What Fish Should I Get?

[merry78]

hi all, just thought i'd get some opinions on potential new occupants of a (8 month mature) 35 Gal tank that i will soon have space in.

It's currently a growout tank for guppy bubs, but after this bunch goes (in about three weeks) i'm scaling back on the breeding and looking to restock the tank. I will exchange the fish on the same day (with a heavy water change in between) so the tank will still be cycled for about 1.5 inches per gallon. (heavily planted, lots of driftwood/bogwood, and overfiltered- 2000l/hr)

other occupants of the tank that will stay in there (so must be compatible with any newbies) are 6 sterbai corys and a small (4 inch) eel tail catfish (non aggressive, small-ish growing shy omnivore). I guess this leaves me about 20-25 inches of fish to play with.

not keen on cichlids, as the tank is heavily planted and i don't want my eel tail scared by them. Definitely don't want any type of pleco. Have considered gourami, but would prefer more colour.

I would quite like a few larger, slower moving (larger and slower than teenage guppies, anyway) fish to provide dither fish for my eel-tail.

Can anyone suggest anything other than gouramis?

TIA, merry.

 

[merry78]

oh, another thought, if i go for a male paradise fish, will he be happy enough by himself? i'd prefer not to have females, as i'm a bit over breeding at the moment, but would several males of different types of gourami that are dissimilar in size and shape/colour cohabit? or am i really stuck with just one male?

edited to add: never mind, i've just done a bit more research, and don't think i should try mixing males, even of different types!

Any other fish types i should consider instead?

 

[Biulu]

What about a shoal of congo tetras? or some rainbowfish?

 

[merry78]

hey Biulu, thanks for the suggestion!

I did look into rainbows, as i'm in Aus, the Goyder River rainbows are fairly inexpensive and easy to find, but i thought they might be too fast moving....i'm looking for fairly slow, sedate fish to be dither fish for my eel-tailed catty.

Congo tetras i think might be a no-no, as my pH is about 7.8 and the water is fairly hard.

i also researched (and discounted) killifish (too aggressive), and silver dollars (need a bigger tank).

Does anyone think angels are a bad idea? because i'm leaning towards a few angels at this stage, as i have the tank depth for them.

edited to add: or, another thought, what about a bunch of female bettas?

 

[dthoffsett]

I was going to suggest a pair of angels, they're slow moving, very graceful, and are generally peaceful when not breeding. Along with them you could add some Rasbora heteromorpha (harlequin rasboras), and/or maybe some Carnegiella strigata (marbled hatchet fish).

 

[merry78]

great, thanks for the suggestions!
so angels or female bettas it is! (probably angels, though).

 

[KingofthePisces]

hi i live in australia too why not go all native?
ive always been keen on natives and things like that ive found that gold and silver perch will go together aswell with eel tails
but try not to mix aussie natives with tropicals as they have different water qualitys eel tails are slightly brackish too so some salt may be needed as with any other natives i also am a big fan on spangled perch and murray cod but murray cod is better just by itself but they get huge so the spangled perch is probably a better option for you
the spangles can also go with plecos like the bristle nose and also be good mates with semi agressive fish like angels and some other cichlids like that
kingofthepisces

 

[merry78]

hi i live in australia too why not go all native?
ive always been keen on natives and things like that ive found that gold and silver perch will go together aswell with eel tails
but try not to mix aussie natives with tropicals as they have different water qualitys eel tails are slightly brackish too so some salt may be needed as with any other natives i also am a big fan on spangled perch and murray cod but murray cod is better just by itself but they get huge so the spangled perch is probably a better option for you
the spangles can also go with plecos like the bristle nose and also be good mates with semi agressive fish like angels and some other cichlids like that
kingofthepisces

hi, kingofthepisces, nice suggestion.
just doing a bit of research on spangled perch, the website says they are very aggressive, so not suitable for a community aquarium? do you have a different view? and they can grow to 30cm?
the gold and silver perch might also be a bit big for my tank....
of the natives i have checked out, only rainbows seem small enough and they are too fast for my tank.
do you know of any other natives that might suit?

 

[KingofthePisces]

spangled perch do well with things that can hold their ground so are not good for communitys as the web says but they only grow to an average of 20cm so 30cm is a way over statement from the website the ones i kept at about 15 cm for a while then i started feeding them live food and they grew to 20cm and stopped there but sadly i whent toenglad for 6 weeks and came back to find the bottom covered in dead feeder fish because the person who was supposed to feed them fed them too much and they died

blue eyes are like rainbowfish only grow a fair bit smaller than rainbows gudgeons like the purple spotted are good too
recomended fish:
harvey creek blue eye
fork tailed blue eye
purple spotted gudgeon
archers might be an idea (slightly brackish)
banded puffers (slightly brackish)
galaxids if you can get your hands on one (i cant find any)
thats a few of the more readily avaiable species
kingofthepisces

 

[cuticom]

Sorry to but in but Kingofthepisces, do you know the latin name for the banded puffers? I've seen them at an online fish store, and in an LFS once o9r twice, but can't identify what species they are.

I'd go with natives, purple spotted gudgeons are gorgeous!

 

[KingofthePisces]

Sorry to but in but Kingofthepisces, do you know the latin name for the banded puffers? I've seen them at an online fish store, and in an LFS once o9r twice, but can't identify what species they are.

I'd go with natives, purple spotted gudgeons are gorgeous!

i cant really either they are native but they variate in colours and bands and are often confused with other species of the tetradon family

 

[merry78]

hey, thanks kingofthepisces, i just checked out purple spotted gudgeons and they are gorgeous !!!

definitely frontrunners in the restocking stakes thus far!!! ( i want to keep yoyo loaches as well- i know, not native, but need help in the everlasting battle with pest snails, and can't keep yoyos with angels due to apparent fin nipping issues)

will keep researching some of your other suggestions.

thanks so much for your help, keep em coming everyone!!!

cheers, merry.

ps, sorry to hear about your spangled perch holocaust, dang newbie overfeeders!!