apbane

Hi im relatively new to the fish hobby and although i've had fish in the past i'm still definetly no expert. right now i have a 39 gallon freshwater tank that at the moment only houses one rainbow shark and i am about to update it to a 75 gallon tank with hopefully two eheim 2217 filters. I want my tank very clean Once i get the tank all cycled and ready to go (which i am hoping will be faster since i am planning on taking most of the water from my already cycled tank as well as the gravel and putting it in the 75 gal) i am hoping to have a very heavily planted tank. I have a list of fish that i would like to have and am wondering if they are all compatible with each other. Also i was wondering how many i should have of each of them.
here is the list:

1 angelfish
5 otocinclus (for algae) i've had this fish before and just love it!
2 german blue rams
2 german gold rams
3 swartzs corydoras
10 harlequin rasboras
2-4 pearl gouramis
6 dwarf neon rainbows
1-3 torpedo barbs

if anyone could tell me if these fish are compatible and maybe suggest how many of each i should have that would be great! On another note i have a small problem. As i mentioned above i have a rainbow shark in my 39 gallon tank that i am planning on replacing with the 75 gal tank. I don't think he would be compatible with the fish i have mentioned above but i want him to be happy too. Does anyone have any suggestions with what i should do? Would he be ok with the fish if the tank is well planted and 75 gallons or would he still be too territorial? right now i have a very large piece of driftwood that makes up many different caves and he absolutely loves it.Thanks so much for your help!! alexi

David593

That looks like a nice selection of fish. I beleive that all will be compatible with each other. I am unsure of the rainbow shark. I think it will work though.

As for numbers, I cannot really say, I am not too good with numbers (I dont follow the one inch per gal rule) I just think about tank size, biload and needs of the fish. Personally I dont have a 75 gallon tank, so I can't really form an accurate number.

Just some words of advice as you did say that you are not necessarily an expert; German rams are very sensitive fish that need both a well established tank and very clean water with near perfect parameters. You will have to keep up with weekly water changes to keep nitrates down and you need to make sure the tank is clean. If you are willing to do that, then add the germans last as the more established the tank is, the better off you are.

Also you may alreaddy know this, but when stocking add a school or group of fish then wait a good week or two. This is so that your bacteria can catch up with the new addition to the bioload. Do not try to put all the fish in at once.

Always remember to do water changes, acclimations, and staggering stockings and you should do fine!


Oh and I see that you are new to fishlore. Welcome and thank you for joining and posting your comments and questions!

Iron waffle

Welcome!

Your tank sounds like it's going to be great, just remember that if you decide on a heavily planted tank, you might need some fertilization. Careful with the rams and otocinclus, they're sensitive fish. Good choice of fish overall.

agabr123

This looks like a really nice list, but i would up the number of cories to 6, they love big groups! if you were concerned about space, then you could drop the number of otos to three (the like odd numbers, or so i've heard).

Also, I'm not exactly sure about the torpedo barbs but I'd say that they need a group of six as well.

Everything else looks great, I'd definitely add the angel dead last and make sure you get a juvenile, then the rams right before that (very sensitive to water conditions), and the pearls before that. Everything else could go in pretty much any order. Oh, except for the otos, they should go into a pretty well established tank.

The rainbow shark probably won't take too well to the cories, but in a tank that size it may work. If you want to be on the safe side then scratch the cories and keep the 5 otos.

Blub

Nice list! Just before I go further, Torpedo barbs are rapidly becoming very rare in the wild due to humans over collecting them for the aquarium trade. If you don't want to support the extinction of this species, don't buy them. I would also say they need to be in sixes.

Also, if you aren't really an expert on fish, don't get Blue/Gold Rams (same species - different colour variations) as they are VERY sensative. Instead, I would get either Cockatoo apistos or Bolivian rams. Both are lovely dwarf cichlids, and are similar to Blue rams.

Here's what I'd do with that list:

1 Angel
5 Otos
2 Bolivian Rams
2 Cockatoo Apistos
6 Swartz Corys
6 Harlequins
2 Female Pearl Gouramis
6 Dwarf Neon Rainbows

As you can see, I raised the Cory number, as they are much happier in big groups, and lowered the harlequin count to make space.

What kind of plants do you want to keep? Find out, and tell us. The kinds of plant you want will effect how much lighting, ferts and CO2 you will need.

apbane

Thanks everyone for all the helpful advice! as for the plants i would like to have i'm not exactly sure yet. i am a beginner with plants so if you could suggest some good starter ones that would be great! im thinking i would want some backround ones, some moss and any other types. I'd like it to be well planted. i'm going to try and buy about 5 watts per gallon of light. Is that enough for the plants?

agabr123

5 watts per gallon is a LOT of light. i dont know very much about plants, but in my low light tanks i have java ferns, anubias, and java moss and they all do very well. with that much lighting though those plants won't work. you'll need high light plants and unfortunately i dont really know of any.

apbane

what type of lighting is the best for regular plants?

agabr123

there aren't really any "regular" plants, you either have low, medium, or high lighting, it just depends on what kinds of plants you like and what you want to keep

i'll look and see if i can find a list of the different level lighting that specific plants need

apbane

ok thanks

agabr123

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/a...lies.cfm?c=768

here's a great link, you just plug in level of care, lighting, placement, etc and it will show you what will best suit your needs!

***just to be safe, i would research the ones that it turns out for you. these type of things aren't perfect and you may find that a plant that it picks out of the search engine really doesn't suit your needs.

GouramiGirl1221

On your pearl gouramis, may I suggest that you get 3: 2 females and 1 male. Males tend to be more aggressive to each other, and if you have 2 females when it comes breeding time the male won't (or shouldn't) be constantly harassing a single female.

Also, I'll give you my about the rams, and you can make your own decision . I've had a German gold for several months now, and was very hesitant to get her because of all the "horror stories" that I had heard from others about how sensitive they were. My tank was cycled when I added her, and I don't regret it a bit. I may have gotten a particularly hardy girl, but she's survived a mild bout of ICH as well as 18 hours without power and a 24 hour mini cycle when the power came back on. I actually added a German blue girl last weekend because I love my other two so much (I have a Bolivian male as well). So anyway, that's my personal experience. As someone above suggested, I'd definitely put them in next to last, the angel being last, to minimize the change of your water parameters fluxuating and causing problems.

Best of luck to you!! It sounds like it's gonna be a cool tank.

Blub

5 Watts per gallon... That is VERY,VERY with a capital V high light. Bear in mind, the higher the light levels, the more fertilizers, CO2 etc. you need and the more difficult it gets.

I'd suggest you go for about 2WPG - medium light. Some hardy low/medium light plants include:

Hygrophilia,
Java Fern,
Java Moss,
Amazon Sword,
Cryptocoryne,
Vallisnera,
Anubias,
Hornwort,
Ambulia.

Here are some helpful sites:
http://www.tropica.com/default.asp - Famous plant supplier
http://www.plantgeek.net/ - Good index of plants, with lots of search methods!
http://www.aquahobby.com/e_aquarium_plants.php - Index of aquaic plants, with information based mainly on other people's experiences. You may find the 'Gallery' section useful as it is a really good fish encyclopedia.
http://www.theaquatools.com/ - The Aqua Sketcher is brilliant, say goodbye to papaer for planning aquascapes!