Which Fish Should I Get?

[plentyOplatys]

I'm planning to use my 18th birthday this weekend as an excuse to ask my parents for a moderately expensive fish/small shoal of moderately expensive fish, any suggestions that people have would be really useful. I have excellent water quality though it is a tad hard. It/they must be compatible with platys, mollys, 2 very small bala sharks, an albino red finned shark, some boesmans rainbowfish, a kuhli loach(there were more and i intend to restock as i know they shouldn't be kept singly), 1 yoyo loach, 1 peacock eel, 1 albino bristlenose plec, 3 golden wonder panchax, 3 corys and 1 breeding pair of kribbies. Please suggest anything you know that will get on with these fish, oddballs especially, though it/they mustn't grow too large, say over 30 cms, as I don't want to crowd the bala sharks, and nothing too expensive e.g. over £80. No veracious plant eaters, though nibbling or uprooting is not a problem. Any suggestions?

 

[Curiosity101]

We need a few more bit of info really...

Tank size? Volume and dimensions.

Filtration?

Plants?

Technically bala sharks should be kept in shoals as they are a shoaling fish. Also, incase you don't know, they grow pretty huge...

Corys should be in groups

And if you're thinking about buying fish for your birthday then upping the kuhlis and corys (assuming you have room for them) would be a good plan, even excusing getting yourself an expensive 'feature' fish.

 

[plentyOplatys]

I have a 85 gallon bow front tank.
A few plants, amazon swords and the like, pretty typical stuff
I know the balas get big thats why i specified their current size in the first post and also why i said no other big fish in order to not crowd them.
Kuhlis and corys are a given which i plan to up the stock of myself, very soon.
I have a large trickle filter with filter cartridges, floss and foam, carbon chips and small ceramic tubes. Considering the possibility of adding peat to soften the water but i haven't done so yet.

Sidenote: i also have plans to transfer the balas to a bigger tank as and when they grow. Also many of the platys will soon be moved to a smaller breeding tank.

 

[saltynay]

Personally I would get an external filter before new stocking as new stocking can be gradually added or use it as an excuse to buy another tank .

 

[roadmaster]

Personally I would get an external filter before new stocking as new stocking can be gradually added or use it as an excuse to buy another tank .

+one for more filtration.
YoYo's,eel's,cory's,kuhli's all prefer to be in groups for they are social fish but eel and or shark as they continue to grow along with Kribs(breeding) could make life uncomfortable for smaller bottom dwelling fish.
You are planning on a larger tank hopefully,so why not ask for larger filter rather than increasing the Bio-load on present filter?
That way ,you have eliminated a considerable expense for the larger tank, and in the meantime ,,the larger filter will benefit the present fish load you have which in my view is sizeable both from projected adult size of present fish and waste created by same.

 

[plentyOplatys]

External filter might actually be quite a good idea. Thanks for the suggestions.
As for eels and yoyos ive read conflicting evidence about how social they are. I agree about the kribs and eel making life more difficult for small bottom dwelling fish and ive decided to move the kuhlis and corys to the other tank along with the platys.

 

[roadmaster]

Truly feel that conflicting info on social nature of afore mentioned fish is only conflicting,confusing,for those looking to somehow justify keeping one or two of said species.
IMHO.

 

[plentyOplatys]

Truly feel that conflicting info on social nature of afore mentioned fish is only conflicting,confusing,for those looking to somehow justify keeping one or two of said species.
IMHO.

Perhaps for some people, but that statement is absolutely wrong here. Conflicting info on social nature of fish leads to apprehension of buying more than one or two of the same species in order to eliminate the chances of aggression and/or having to rehome fish and thus causing unnecessary stress to fish. If a fish is undisputed in its social nature (like corys) or is clearly unhappy being solitary e.g. exhibiting abnormal behaivour, then more of the same species would absolutely be added. As it stands, i feel that it's greatly unfair to make assumptions on the responsibility of a fish owner.