ChronicTyler

hey, I just got a rts yesterday in my 45 gallon tank. right now in the tank i have 7 odessa barb and a rts. what else would be a good tank mate? i was thinking somekind of cichlid. like severum or blue ram or kribs? any suggestions?

-tyler

sirdarksol

The blue ram would work, except red tailed sharks tend to be at least somewhat aggressive, and the blue rams are pretty shy.
I think that severum get too big to share that size aquarium with a red tailed shark.
Kribs are bottom dwellers, and will not do well with the red-tailed shark.

Aside from that, I think that your tank is pretty well stocked. Seven odessa barbs and a red-tailed-shark are going to produce a pretty hefty bioload, and are going to be active enough to dominate the space.

ChronicTyler

hmm okay, i was just going off what the guy said the petstore, he recommended the severums. so you think blue rams would do okay? would 2-4 be okay? and you think itd be possible to get another school of schooling fish. like gold barbs or some kind of tetras....?

tyler

sirdarksol

No...
I said that blue rams would do well except it would likely feel far too shy around the more boisterous red tailed shark.

I also said that your tank is already pretty well stocked.
In other words, I would not suggest adding any fish to that tank.

As far as the advice from the pet store, remember that their goal is to sell you fish, not necessarily to help you to set up a successful aquarium. I was once told that a koi would do okay in a 20g tropical community tank.

AlyeskaGirl

RTS can be aggressive and chase smaller fish. It's best to house them with fish of similiar size. He will patrol the whole bottom of your tank. I suggest not to put Tetras in with one, too small. I have my RTS with Angels, Silver Dollars, Giant Danios and a Bristlenose. Good luck!

ChronicTyler

really? my tank is 45 gallons and its already fully stocked with a rts and 7 odessa barb? i know the rts will get 4-5 inches and each barb about 3 inches.
so there is no other tankmates really to get other than a pleco?

sirdarksol

The shark will grow to six inches. It is a pretty hefty fish, and is extremely active. (thus, requiring more gallons than a slimmer, less active fish)
The barbs will grow to be four inches and are also pretty active.
As I said, both in bioload and in activity, they have pretty much stocked the tank.

Like I said before, I wouldn't suggest adding any other fish, including (especially) a pleco. First of all, plecos like hanging out on the bottom of the tank, and the shark is likely to get defensive about its territory. Second of all, common plecos grow to be so large that they don't belong in aquaria smaller than 55 gallons (or bigger... I just saw a common pleco that had grown to be at least 18". The thing was six inches wide, minimum) The latter can be gotten around by buying bristlenose plecos, but nothing will avoid problems with the former. It's just far too likely that the shark would harass the pleco constantly.

ChronicTyler

hmm okay. so would i be able to increase the school size of the odessa barbs?

Lucy

I'd agree with the above posters.
From what I've read your barbs need plenty of swim space and could get aggressive with tank mates that are even bigger than they are.

Red1313

Right now you might think that your tank seems empty but just give it time for those babies to grow and it won't seem that way. I've got my RTS alone in a 32 gallon tank and every now and then I think about getting tankmates for him... but after watching him for a little bit I can't bring myself to do it unless I upgrade to a larger (55 or more) tank.

AngleFish

I personally think that you could go with maybe some angle fish i like to keep 2 large ones in my tank and recently got a smaller angle, although they have been said to be aggressive at feeding time, they really don't bother any of my other fish, and i have a pretty large selection. Because you have Odessa's at the moment and no aggression the angle fish (if large enough) should be fine as tanks mates, they seem to spend most of their time in the top corner and even when i introduced a smaller angle one that was a quarter of the size of the ones i already had, didn't blink a eye at the little thing. I bought 2 Odessa's from my LFS male and female the male has done nothing but attack my other fish, thinking about taking him back but he is so pretty. Im stuck i dont know what to do with him?? hes biting everyone!!! i have 3 gold barbs and the LFS said they should school together but he only seems to be chasing them away... HELP!

aquarist48

Hello AngelFish,
This thread is a bit old and hopefully the issues have been resolved by now. Try to remember to check the dates of the original post before responding. (I forget sometimes too, teehee)
Ken