I plan to get a 40 or a 60 gallon bow front tank (maybe bigger!) and I wanted to know him many of each, and if these fish are compatible. Here's the fish that I want. Electric blue Acara Kuhli loach Gold barb Mollies / Swordtails Hatchetfish Ghost catfish Twig catfish or BN pleco Ghost shrimp Amano shrimp Cherry shrimp (if they won't be eaten) Bamboo shrimp Nerite snails Mystery snails I would like to keep as many as possible (all of possible )
The EBA will limit your stock. I don't think ghost cats, hatchetfish, or kuhlis are going to do well with the EBA. Even if it doesn't harass or try to eat them, they are too timid to be comfortable with such a large fish. And shrimp will be eaten. If you leave out the EBA, you could include more of the other fish. But I think the EBA is worth the sacrifice If it was me, I'd do something like: 1 electric blue acara (or you could do a mated pair) 8 gold barbs 3 swordtails (1M/2F, barbs and EBA will eat fry) OR 1 male swordtail and 1 male molly (if you're really worried about fry) 1 BN pleco nerite snails Of course, I'm biased, because with the exception of the pleco, those are all in my stocking plan (just waiting on my EBA for my tank to be finished!) But I think you would really enjoy that tank I know I love mine!
That's all!?? Ok, well.. Maybe drop the Acara and instead have 1 male DG 2 female Pearl gouramis (I already have them in a separate tank, all adults that get along perfectly) Then could I have more of the fish that I wanted?
I wouldn't mix two types of gouramis in a tank... My numbers are pretty conservative, but I'm learning I like a tank that way--more opportunity for fish to show their natural behaviors. IME, unique behavior starts to muddy when you start adding all different kinds of fish to a tank. You could up your numbers or add more fish if you wanted to, I just wouldn't do the skittish fish mentioned above, and not shrimp. You could add a second school of something like Odessa barbs, praecox rainbows, serpae tetras, or similar-sized fish. Probably a gourami as well, if you wanted to. There's also a big difference between a 40 and a 60g tank! Can you give dimensions for those tanks?
I don't know which I can get yet! I'm hoping for a 60 gallon bow front or larger, but I'm not getting one any smaller than a 40..
Ok, new plan to make this simple. Let's just say I'm getting a 60g bowfront. If I DO end up getting a 40g I'll just bump the numbers down So, this is what I already have (they don't have to be moved to this tank, but I would like some of them to be.) 5x Harlequin rasbora (getting more) 6x Kuhli loach 1x Male DG 2x Female Pearl gourami So, going off of my previous list.. What are my stocking options for a 60g tank?
What are the dimensions? I'm not familiar with that size. I'd think you could have a very peaceful tank with something like this: 3x pearl gouramis (1M/2F) 8x hatchetfish 8x harlequin rasboras 8x ghost catfish 1 BN pleco Amano shrimp Snails Possibly a bamboo shrimp, although they might get picked on by the gouramis I believe twig catfish need more flow than the ghosts would like. Someone more experienced may know more about that though. The biggest issue I see here is that you've been looking for fish with personality, and many of the options you've listed are skittish and not going to appreciate the size or activity level of many of the "personality" fish. An alternate stocking with the larger/more active fish could be: 1x electric blue acara 1 BN pleco 8x gold barbs 8-10x harlequin rasboras or Odessa barbs 3-5 live-bearers (swordtails and/or mollies; either all males, or 2-3 females per male of same species) Snails Possibly a dwarf cichlid in there as well, depending on the tank dimensions.
Again, I don't have the tank.. So I don't know dimensions.. Maybe it's not quite a 60g, or maybe it's a little more. I like having two options (1 with skittish/peaceful fish, 1 "personality tank") I also like both of those stocking options, but I'm not stuck on anything yet! Also, where would I get some of these fish (gold barbs, EBAs) Another question @vikingkirken - since I like those two options, could the "peaceful option" be in a 20g long (substituting the pearls with my dwarf)? And what would the minimum tank size be for the other option "personality"?
My apologies. You mentioned a 60 bowfront so I thought you might have something specific in mind, and I haven't seen one that size before. EBAs and gold barbs are both pretty easy to find; most LFS should have them. I'd leave one of the schools out in the 20g. I think a 40 breeder would work for the other tank, possibly a 45 tall. You might want to reduce your numbers a little bit.
For a 60 gallon with some of the fish on your first list I would do 12 Kuhli loaches 10 Gold barbs 1-3 Mollies 1-3 Swordtails 10 Hatchetfish 1 BN pleco 10-20 Amano shrimp 1 Bamboo shrimp 6Nerite snails 3 Mystery snails With the shrimp watch to make sure they don't get picked on.
I noticed that this stock doesn't have any "bottom dwellers" could I add some to this? What level does the Acara swim at?
Ok, so I was looking around and thought about something. In the bigger tank (40g breeder or 40+g bowfront) I want my main focus to be the EBA, so I was thinking about getting "duller" fish. Here's some examples: Scissor tail rasbora Silver tip tetra Long finned gold Danio Giant Danio Lamp eye tetra Black neon tetra Emerald Cory Albino Cory Eclipse catfish Pictus catfish Black and white livebearers True Siamese algae eater Albino BN pleco Snails ( the substrate will be black sand ) ?Planted? In the smaller tank (20-25g long) I want the colors to "pop" on my DG (orange and blue), so I was thinking: Ghost catfish (I've always wanted some ) Orange or blue shrimp (opinions?) Ember tetras Harlequin rasbora Amano shrimp ?algae eater? Hatchet fish Striped Kuhli loaches Snails (What color sand?) Planted.
In the 20-25 I would do this along with the DG 10-20 orange or blue neocardinia shrimp (personally I like blue velvet shrimp) 5-7 Amano shrimp 8 gold barbs or 8-10 harlequin rasboras 8-10 Kuhli loaches 2 Mystery snails 3 Nerite snails (algae eaters) I think black sand would look good.
The acara is a bottom dweller, and the barbs spend a lot of time picking through the substrate looking for scraps of food and such. I'd think you could also add something like a BN pleco if you wanted to. I would not do small shrimp with gold barbs; I think they would be eaten.
I thought about it for an hour Could I do this? 40g breeder or 40g+ bowfront 1x Electric blue Acara 10x Scissor tail rasbora 10x Long finned leopard Danio (maybe?) 10x Albino Cory 5x Male Molly (3) swordtail (2) 1x long finned albino BN pleco 6x mystery snail 20g long + 3x Dwarf gourami (1m,2f) 10x Ghost catfish or 15-20x ember tetra 8x Hatchetfish 12x Kuhli loach (6 striped, 6 black) 1x Clown pleco 5x Amano shrimp 15x Sunkist shrimp or (blue velvet & blue pearl shrimp) 1x Mystery snail 3x Rabbit snail
Scissortail rasbora need a longer/larger tank, they can get 6" long. I think the danios would be eaten. Do you have a source for female dwarf gouramis? They're apparently hard to find. I don't know how much space you would need for a group of them :-/ The remaining stock seems reasonable.
Could I do giant danios and lamp eye tetras instead? (Same numbers) I think I have somewhere to get the female DGs, but even if I don't, I don't have to get them. It was just a preference
I think those could work! But I'd drop your numbers a bit, or drop a school. But I seem to be a somewhat conservative stocker numbers-wise. Perhaps @Anders247 can give some clearer numbers here.
