What to keep and future, brainstorming

[Beastije]

Hi, so I hope you are ready for a brainstorming question, because after leaving the LFS I now want a lot of fish and am going a bit crazy.
First off, let me present my tanks. I have:
"South America" tank 120cmx50cmx60cm - 360l, with 50 ember tetras, 20 sterbai corydoras, 6 hatchetfish, 2 otocinclus, 3 bamboo shrimp and 5+3 tylomelania snails. I have 10 more hatchetfish in the quarantine and 10 more otocinclus. Will see how they look after a month, I may add all the otocinclus here, I may not, will see. I am super happy with this tank, it has been set up only a year. Finally the corydoras are doing ok, with their increased numbers they are looking amazing, I hope they may eventually breed. I was saddened by the fact the embers do not breed, they are full of eggs, they show spawning behavior, there are thick plant covers and spaces where they could hatch. Guess the pH is not good enough and will have to live with that. The hatchetfish are getting a second chance, if they fail me (or I them, depends on how you look at it), I was thinking about getting some nannostomus instead but am not convinced it would be a good move.

"Asian river" tank, 110cmx40cmx45cm - 130l - this is my brand new tank, with 8 white cloud minnows (gold variant), planned are panda garra and sewellia and more minnows. Will see how it looks and if the fish will work. I was thinking, down the road, I may add either odessa barbs with the minnows, or a pair of paradise fish as a change of pace, in a year or two.

Shrimp tank 56cmx25cmx36cm - 50l - this is my lazy tank and I dont think it is doing that great. There are roughly 10 cherry shrimp in, with some smaller shrimplets, but no population explosion as was expected, given they are present for 6 months now. Granted this is my low upkeep tank, no heater, small air filter that I havent cleaned yet, once a month water change, feeding only few times a week. I will give it some more time, but i may reinvent it or consider just adding african dwarf frogs or something. It is higher than wider, so not suitable for much.

Last tank 60cmx30cmx30xm - 54l. This has been a tank that has traveled with me, has had several combinations, over the 10 years. Now it is used as a quarantine but in a month, I sort of promised to cancel it, which I now know wont happen

Here in lies the question. I found several fish that I have wanted to keep in the future. Be it kuhli loaches, cause they look amazing (though I may be placated by the panda garra, that I assume will be similar looking but way more interresting behavior wise), some type of barb, because I have never had one (but I have had several types of rasbora and tetras). A gourami, I used to have honey one and they were super great and a some kind of cichlid. Initially my plan for the south american tank was to have apistogrammas, but then I read about them and in the community tank and decided against doing it. I have also always wanted to try some sort of rainbowfish, like some sort of Pseudomugil.
Ofcourse there is no way I can have all of that, not right now, not even in the near future anyway. What recommendation would you have for me, regarding this. Any of the species I mentioned not worth it, anything I may do with the 54liter that will be free at some point, which fish to save for some special combinations, with which to wait for one of my tanks meeting natural death and rebuild,...
A brainstorm I love talking fish, thinking about them, planning. But I am very undecisive. Luckily also patient, I read about fish, but do not impulse buy. Which made today LFS visit that much sadder.

My pH is 7,5, my leaf litter driftwood tank is at 7. Soft water from tap.

 

[Byron]

"South America" tank 120cmx50cmx60cm - 360l, with 50 ember tetras, 20 sterbai corydoras, 6 hatchetfish, 2 otocinclus, 3 bamboo shrimp and 5+3 tylomelania snails. I have 10 more hatchetfish in the quarantine and 10 more otocinclus. Will see how they look after a month, I may add all the otocinclus here, I may not, will see. I am super happy with this tank, it has been set up only a year. Finally the corydoras are doing ok, with their increased numbers they are looking amazing, I hope they may eventually breed. I was saddened by the fact the embers do not breed, they are full of eggs, they show spawning behavior, there are thick plant covers and spaces where they could hatch. Guess the pH is not good enough and will have to live with that. The hatchetfish are getting a second chance, if they fail me (or I them, depends on how you look at it), I was thinking about getting some nannostomus instead but am not convinced it would be a good move.

What is the GH number, just so I know what "soft" actually indicates.

The Ember Tetras are likely spawning, but you cannot expect eggs to survive predation with fish in the tank. I had one Ember fry survive one time in my 40g heavily-planted tank. But all fish, and cories are very good at this, will greedily eat any eggs they come across. The embers themselves probably eat most of them as they are expelled. The pH is not going to impact spawning, but GH can, which is why I asked for the actual number. Calcium in the water can harden the eggs and they don't hatch, but it is still more likely predation.

You have loads of space here for more fish. Most but not all the Nannostomus species could work. N. marginatus. N. eques (this species swims at an oblique angle near the surface, but they have never messed with my hachets). N. espei if you can find them, this is a very raree pencilfish these days, at least in NA. N. digrammus, I had these once when they came in with wild caught rumynose and I grabbed them; store employee said they were Siamese Algae Eaters!!! The more recent "discoveries" of the incredible bright red species, N. mortenthaleri, N. rubrocaudatus, and the as yet undescribed species, are probably much more expensive, but gorgeous fish. All of these are in my experience very peaceful. But two others are not, N. beckfordi and N. trifasciatus--both tore into my hatchets every time I tried them, and the first even went after the Otocinclus that obviously annoyed their sense of territory--the entire surface.

Related to the pencilfish in the same family are the splash tetras. The Sub-Family Pyrrhulininae now contains two tribes, the Pyrrhulinini containing the Copeina (2 species), Copella (9 species) and Pyrrhulina (18 species), and the Nannostomini tribe of the closely-related pencilfishes in the genus Nannostomus. Quit rare, I have only had a couple of these back in the 1980's. I would want to research the species first though, to avoid any possible problems.

All of the above are shoaling species, and need decent numbers, in your spaceious tank I would go with 15+ of whatever species. Many if not all of these are mid to upper level fish. The lower third of the tank has the cories, but another shoaling tetra for this level would be nice. Look at the peaceful species in Hyphessobrycon, especially the "Rosy" tetra clade. Some of these are beauties. Quiet, not active swimmers.

You certainly do not want barbs, loaches or gourami in with these fish. So I've stayed with geographic options because of fewer problems.

 

[GaryE]

My understanding from talking to Czech hobbyists is that you have choices Americans and Canadians can only day dream about. So if I were you, I would consider species I really like as central to biotope tanks. You have enough choices to make set ups based on one region - with a little research. You probably need 37 different biotope tanks!

I have a love for pencilfish, but they can be hard to get here. Very hard. A word of caution - I had an undescribed Pyrrhulina that shocked me with its territorial aggression. i was really excited to have found a splash tetra, but they are not all as calm as people say. So if I had access, I would stick with pencils.

I have kept and bred a lot of blue eyed rainbows, and tend to like them in their own tanks, not in communities.

 

[Beastije]

What is the GH number, just so I know what "soft" actually indicates.

The Ember Tetras are likely spawning, but you cannot expect eggs to survive predation with fish in the tank. I had one Ember fry survive one time in my 40g heavily-planted tank. But all fish, and cories are very good at this, will greedily eat any eggs they come across. The embers themselves probably eat most of them as they are expelled. The pH is not going to impact spawning, but GH can, which is why I asked for the actual number. Calcium in the water can harden the eggs and they don't hatch, but it is still more likely predation.

You have loads of space here for more fish. Most but not all the Nannostomus species could work. N. marginatus. N. eques (this species swims at an oblique angle near the surface, but they have never messed with my hachets). N. espei if you can find them, this is a very raree pencilfish these days, at least in NA. N. digrammus, I had these once when they came in with wild caught rumynose and I grabbed them; store employee said they were Siamese Algae Eaters!!! The more recent "discoveries" of the incredible bright red species, N. mortenthaleri, N. rubrocaudatus, and the as yet undescribed species, are probably much more expensive, but gorgeous fish. All of these are in my experience very peaceful. But two others are not, N. beckfordi and N. trifasciatus--both tore into my hatchets every time I tried them, and the first even went after the Otocinclus that obviously annoyed their sense of territory--the entire surface.

Related to the pencilfish in the same family are the splash tetras. The Sub-Family Pyrrhulininae now contains two tribes, the Pyrrhulinini containing the Copeina (2 species), Copella (9 species) and Pyrrhulina (18 species), and the Nannostomini tribe of the closely-related pencilfishes in the genus Nannostomus. Quit rare, I have only had a couple of these back in the 1980's. I would want to research the species first though, to avoid any possible problems.

All of the above are shoaling species, and need decent numbers, in your spaceious tank I would go with 15+ of whatever species. Many if not all of these are mid to upper level fish. The lower third of the tank has the cories, but another shoaling tetra for this level would be nice. Look at the peaceful species in Hyphessobrycon, especially the "Rosy" tetra clade. Some of these are beauties. Quiet, not active swimmers.

You certainly do not want barbs, loaches or gourami in with these fish. So I've stayed with geographic options because of fewer problems.

I was actually not planning to add anything to the american tank, unless the hatchetfish don't work. I think the tank is pretty stocked to capacity.
My gh is 6,73°dH according to the water supplier website and some drop tests that i did.

I was more interested in the possibilities of the 54l which is close to 10 gallon i think. And maybe the asia stocking, do you think the proposed one is ok? The minnows i have had for few hours, and they so far are super fun

 

[Byron]

I was actually not planning to add anything to the american tank, unless the hatchetfish don't work. I think the tank is pretty stocked to capacity.
My gh is 6,73°dH according to the water supplier website and some drop tests that i did.

I was more interested in the possibilities of the 54l which is close to 10 gallon i think. And maybe the asia stocking, do you think the proposed one is ok? The minnows i have had for few hours, and they so far are super fun

GH is fine. I was leaving the Asian tank to members with more direct experience of that region. I have dabbled in SE Asia and Sri Lanka tanks a few times, but my real strength is in South America.

I do not concur that stocking is anywhere near capacity. And with these fish, numbers means a lot. A 360 liter (= 92 gallons) at 120 cm (4 feet) length can house 150+ fish of the species we are discussing here.

 

[Beastije]

Granted looking at it at this moment it looks empty
I am currently happy about adding the corydoras, they look absolutely awesome in the numbers though i have to wait for them to calm down and destress.
Maybe in a year i will consider the nannostomus even if the hatchetfish work out. I need to pace myself in the changes to enjoy what i have and to have the option to do something interesting but not invasive

 

[Beastije]

My understanding from talking to Czech hobbyists is that you have choices Americans and Canadians can only day dream about. So if I were you, I would consider species I really like as central to biotope tanks. You have enough choices to make set ups based on one region - with a little research. You probably need 37 different biotope tanks!

I have a love for pencilfish, but they can be hard to get here. Very hard. A word of caution - I had an undescribed Pyrrhulina that shocked me with its territorial aggression. i was really excited to have found a splash tetra, but they are not all as calm as people say. So if I had access, I would stick with pencils.

I have kept and bred a lot of blue eyed rainbows, and tend to like them in their own tanks, not in communities.

You may be right in the choices, ofcourse most people still go with the boring neons, angels, discus, run of the mill fish.
But two that I am following have a tank with Pseudomugil luminatus and Gastromyzon punctulatus, the other one has a Devario aequipinnatus and Danio Sysphigmatus, and I have even seen a Channa aristonei species tank.
I will have to check which more interesting fish I could play with, maybe even the 54l

 

[Beastije]

I checked with a supplier, they have Indostomus paradoxus available. I was considering them to my shrimp tank, no heater (but 23°C), low flow, lots of plants. The only thing that worries me is the Utricularia gibba, that may make a food conqurent for the fish but I could remove it. Not fully though, it is a pest but works wonders for shrimp only tank, no daphnia, no bugs.
Do you know anything about that that should discourage me from trying out a trio of these?
A quick picture of the tank, not great lightning

my pH is 7 and bit lower, if I add more leaves, for sure slightly lower in this tank and gh should be ok for the fish.
I just read about it, maybe 4 or 5 rather than 3. There is a tunnel, but I could add some dried "bamboo" like grass or something that is hollow

 

[GaryE]

It would be a curious one to keep. My only reticence would be diet - you need live food for this fish. I like species that need their food cultured for them, and it is no use giving them prepared diets. I have never seen this fish, let alone kept it, but it appears to be something I'd go for with my food culturing ways.
If you have a good source of brine shrimp cysts and experience in producing them, as well as access to Daphnia spp. go for it. It looks very interesting. If not, you will probably not get them to adapt to flake or pellets.

 

[Beastije]

In theory, if i immediately remove the plant that also eats microplankton, add leaves in larger quantities i should get some microflora to appear automatically in the tank, all the hobbyist that have shrimp only tank have issues with zooplankton that is not being consumed.
I also have n option to grow rotatoria protogen and i also have all the things for artemia breeding. I think i will give them a try.
If i remove the whole plant cover from the top of the tank, with what should I replace it so it doesn't overbalance the tank? Am afraid hornwort is too fast for this purpose