72 Gallon Bowfront Stock

[LaniKai]

Just bought a used 72 gallon Bowfront from my LFS and now its time to stock it. When I was at the LFS my mom really liked the sparkling gourami so I changed my original stock list a bit. The list is very flexiable but I already have the peppered corys. The tank has a Fluval 406 canister filter.

8x Peppered corys
8x KuhlI Loach
6x Sparkling Gourami
6x Peacock Gudgeon
10x Rummynose Tetra
10x Neon Tetra
2x Apistogramma Borelli
1x Twig Catfish or Small pleco

 

[Floundering_Around]

I'm sorry, I don't understand what the question is. Are you asking if the stocking is compatible? If you want kuhlI loaches, I suggest using sand or fine pebbles as the substrate for them to show their natural behavior. Other than that, the rest of the stocking list looks fine to me

 

[TexasDomer]

You have stocking issues, mostly with temperature incompatibility. The peppered cories should be in temps under 74 F, but that's too cool for the rummynose and twig cats, and there's not much overlap with the gudgeons or gourami, either.

I would worry the sparkling gourami will be outcompeted by the more robust and active fish.

 

[LaniKai]

I'm sorry, I don't understand what the question is. Are you asking if the stocking is compatible? If you want kuhlI loaches, I suggest using sand or fine pebbles as the substrate for them to show their natural behavior. Other than that, the rest of the stocking list looks fine to me

Sorry I should have tried to be a bit more clear. It will have pool filter sand with rocks, driftwood, and plants.

You have stocking issues, mostly with temperature incompatibility. The peppered cories should be in temps under 74 F, but that's too cool for the rummynose and twig cats, and there's not much overlap with the gudgeons or gourami, either.

I would worry the sparkling gourami will be outcompeted by the more robust and active fish.

I thought peppered cories could be in 75 f? Everywhere I read said around 72-78. Same with the peacock gudgeons and sparkling gourami.
I could have sworn rummynose and the twig catfish would be fine in 75 f but I must have been thinking about different fish.

Do you have any suggestions on another schooling fish that would work? Also do you have any suggestions on a algae eater?

Would there be any chance the gourami would be okay? I was really hoping to have them but if I also want to make sure they would be okay.

 

[TexasDomer]

75 F is a little too high for them. You don't want to keep fish at the extreme ends of their range either. Many sources give bad info, too. Planet Catfish is a good source for catfish, and Seriously Fish and Fishbase for non-catfish.

Because their temp range goes down so low, you don't want to keep them at the upper end of their range permanently (since that wouldn't happen in nature), so 75+ F is too high. A cory expert and mod on this site, Coradee, has also suggested lower temps as being better for them.

For the gudgeons and sparkling gourami, SF lists their range down to 72 F, and since you don't want to keep them at the extreme ends, they really don't have much overlap with the peppered cories.

You don't need an algae eater (and twig cats aren't good for that anyway). You are the best at preventing and controlling algae If you must absolutely have something to eat algae, go with nerite snails.

Do you have the peppered cories already? Would you consider another cory species?

 

[LaniKai]

75 F is a little too high for them. You don't want to keep fish at the extreme ends of their range either. Many sources give bad info, too. Planet Catfish is a good source for catfish, and Seriously Fish and Fishbase for non-catfish.

Because their temp range goes down so low, you don't want to keep them at the upper end of their range permanently (since that wouldn't happen in nature), so 75+ F is too high. A cory expert and mod on this site, Coradee, has also suggested lower temps as being better for them.

For the gudgeons and sparkling gourami, SF lists their range down to 72 F, and since you don't want to keep them at the extreme ends, they really don't have much overlap with the peppered cories.

You don't need an algae eater (and twig cats aren't good for that anyway). You are the best at preventing and controlling algae If you must absolutely have something to eat algae, go with nerite snails.

Do you have the peppered cories already? Would you consider another cory species?

I have 1 pepper cory left over from a tank I had long ago so I was hoping to finish his school but if I have to get rid of him I will. Would something like JuliI cories be okay?

I mostly use Seriously Fish but I forgot about Planet Catfish.

I've always liked the look of sucker fish so I would really like at least 1 kind of sucker fish in there.

Also I just wanted to say thank you for your help .

 

[TexasDomer]

Happy to help

False juliI cories (true juliis are rare) would be fine at 75 F, but I still wouldn't keep them higher than that, meaning that I would still leave out the twig and rummynose.

What about something like this?

8x False juliI cories
12x Kuhlis (make sure you're able to feed these guys - they can be outcompeted for food by the cories)
8x Sparkling gourami
6x Peacock gudgeon
25x Neons
1x BN pleco (you'll still need to feed him veggies and some meaty foods)

 

[LaniKai]

Happy to help

False juliI cories (true juliis are rare) would be fine at 75 F, but I still wouldn't keep them higher than that, meaning that I would still leave out the twig and rummynose.

What about something like this?

8x False juliI cories
12x Kuhlis (make sure you're able to feed these guys - they can be outcompeted for food by the cories)
8x Sparkling gourami
6x Peacock gudgeon
25x Neons
1x BN pleco (you'll still need to feed him veggies and some meaty foods)

I knew you were going to suggest the BN pleco lol. Unfortunately my mother does not like the looks of the BN pleco so do you know of any others?

I really would like 2 different schools of fish so maybe 12x Neon Tetras and 12x Ruby Tetras?

 

[TexasDomer]

I have ruby tetras and while they are awesome, they're small and a little timid. I would go with a school of at least 20 in your tank.

Lots of other pleco options. Can you order online or are you limited to what's in stock at your LFS?

 

[LaniKai]

I have ruby tetras and while they are awesome, they're small and a little timid. I would go with a school of at least 20 in your tank.

Lots of other pleco options. Can you order online or are you limited to what's in stock at your LFS?

Could I do 20 ruby tetras and the 12 neon tetras? If not do you know of another small red schooling fish that I could have?

My LFS (Wet Spot Tropical Fish) has a really large selection of fish so I've never had the need to order online. I would prefer to buy them at my LFS just because shipping is way to expensive for me.

 

[finnipper59]

I agree with your stocking, but I would nix the pleco. And I'm not familiar with the sparkling Gourami unless it's a variety of pearl Gouramis. If it's a dwarf gourami, stay away from them. All of the dwarf species that usually come from Singapore breeders have all been having various disease problems lately.

Just bought a used 72 gallon Bowfront from my LFS and now its time to stock it. When I was at the LFS my mom really liked the sparkling gourami so I changed my original stock list a bit. The list is very flexiable but I already have the peppered corys. The tank has a Fluval 406 canister filter.

8x Peppered corys
8x KuhlI Loach
6x Sparkling Gourami
6x Peacock Gudgeon
10x Rummynose Tetra
10x Neon Tetra
2x Apistogramma Borelli
1x Twig Catfish or Small pleco

 

[TexasDomer]

Coming from Wetspot (so jealous you're so close - love that store! I've ordered from them a handful of times now), you'd be fine with most any gourami. They get a lot of wild caught species.

I think you're fine to keep the pleco. I'd google the plecos on their stocking list (). Give us a list of which ones you like, and we'll help you pick an appropriate species for this tank size and stocking.

I think 20 rubies would be fine with the 12 neons. I have 20 rubies in my 55 gal (from the Wetspot!) and there's plenty of room in the tank. They're small.

 

[finnipper59]

I agree with your stocking, but I would nix the pleco. And I'm not familiar with the sparkling Gourami unless it's a variety of pearl Gouramis. If it's a dwarf gourami, stay away from them. All of the dwarf species that usually come from Singapore breeders have all been having various disease problems lately.

The whole thing seems ok even if you get a proper species of pleco. But heed my warning about the neons. I live half my day each day and neons report more disease than any other fish. They have become so inbred that they practically have no disease resistance. Go with cardnials or something else. You can obviously do as you choose. I had a school of 15 about 25 years ago in a large Discus tank with no problems. But as of the past few years, I would not put them in my tanks.

 

[TexasDomer]

Getting neons from Wetspot means that you may very well be getting wild caught ones, and you may not have issues with them.

 

[finnipper59]

The whole thing seems ok even if you get a proper species of pleco. But heed my warning about the neons. I live half my day each day and neons report more disease than any other fish. They have become so inbred that they practically have no disease resistance. Go with cardnials or something else. You can obviously do as you choose. I had a school of 15 about 25 years ago in a large Discus tank with no problems. But as of the past few years, I would not put them in my tanks.

Ok. Tex may be right, but I would speak to someone that can guarantee the source of the neons first. I live in Delaware close to at least a dozen pet/fish and they get theirs tank raised from Florida and Singapore and both are severely inbred.

 

[LaniKai]

Only bad part about Wet Spot is every time I go in there I want more fish lol.

The sparkling gourami is listed as a different scientific name so I hope they don’t have the dwarf gourami disease!

I’ll look through the pleco list tonight and I’ll make a list of them and I’ll post it hopefully tonight or in the morning.

Only reason I was going to do neon tetras was their size. If I did cardinal tetras would they still fit the list?

Current list
8x False JuliI Corydora
12x KuhlI Loach
8x Sparkling Gourami
6x Peacock Gudgeon
20x Ruby Tetra
10x Cardinal Tetra? Or 12x Neon Tetra
1x pleco or sucker mouth fish

 

[TexasDomer]

It's not necessarily that they're inbred, it's that they're kept in poor conditions and often given hormones to improve color and induce spawning.

I think coming from Wetspot, you'd be fine with neons.

 

[LaniKai]

I’ll be going to wet spot soon and I’ll talk to them about their neons.

What fish would you recommend adding first? I’m going to be taking some media from a already cycled tank so it should be mostly cycled but I don’t want to add the delicate fish first.

 

[LaniKai]

So bad news.... I filled up my tank last night and I found out the center brace is broken. Good news is my LFS is willing to replace the tank for free! Bad news is I just put the sand in there last night so I have to take all the sand out...

This also means I will be going to my LFS tomorrow. It is a pretty far drive (about a hour) for me so would it be okay if I got the corydoras tomorrow? The filter has media from another tank in it so it should be mostly cycled and I can do extra water changes.

Another thing is I don't know if they have any JuliI corydoras in stock because I don't see them listed on their website. They do have Skunk, Axelrod, and Panzerwel corydoras. Would any of those be okay? I'm going to try to get JuliI but just in case I like to have a backup.

I will also look at the plecos in person to see if my mother likes any of them but I might have to skip on the pleco.

I just discovered Green Neon Tetras and I think they would look really good with the Ruby Tetras but I wanted to make sure it would be okay if I switched from the Neon Tetras. (I still might go with the Cardinal Tetra)

 

[LaniKai]

I was in a hurry today so I didn't get any fish but I did see something called a Parasicydium bandama or a African Algae Eating Goby. I couldn't find any info on them but they looked really interesting and I was wondering if anyone knew anything about them.

 

[TexasDomer]

Since you're using cycled media, it should be fine to add cories when you can. Just monitor water quality and be prepared to do water changes if you see ammonia or nitrites.

I don't know what panzerwel cories are, but skunk or axelrod should be fine instead of the false juliis.

I may skip on the green neons unless you go with a warmer water cory - these are warmer water tetra.

I don't know much about that goby, but a quick bit of research shows that they're from fast flowing streams, so I would not add them to your tank. I would only keep them in a stream tank setup, with fast flowing water.

 

[LaniKai]

Since you're using cycled media, it should be fine to add cories when you can. Just monitor water quality and be prepared to do water changes if you see ammonia or nitrites.

I don't know what panzerwel cories are, but skunk or axelrod should be fine instead of the false juliis.

I may skip on the green neons unless you go with a warmer water cory - these are warmer water tetra.

I don't know much about that goby, but a quick bit of research shows that they're from fast flowing streams, so I would not add them to your tank. I would only keep them in a stream tank setup, with fast flowing water.

Okay this was a huge fail on my part but I can't find what the panzerwel cories are.... I have no idea where I got that name from I'm sorry. I'm pretty sure I meant to say panda cories.

I was thinking about having a warmer water corydora but don't the kuhlI loaches also like 75f? on seriously fish it lists it at 69.8-78.8f and I don't want to go to warm for them.

They were a really interesting fish so I might have to buy a new tank with fast flowing water soon lol.

 

[LaniKai]

I forgot to ask what stocking order should I put the fish in? I was thinking

8x corydoras and 12x neon tetras
after a few weeks
20x ruby tetras
after a few weeks
12x kuhlI loaches
after a few weeks
6x peacock gudgeons and 8x sparkling gourami

would that be slow enough that I don't have huge ammonia spikes?

 

[Bradley Moles]

Get two twig catfish, male and female(males have the wider nose and body) make sure you ahve a little driftwood for them, the rest of the list looks good

 

[TexasDomer]

I forgot to ask what stocking order should I put the fish in? I was thinking

8x corydoras and 12x neon tetras
after a few weeks
20x ruby tetras
after a few weeks
12x kuhlI loaches
after a few weeks
6x peacock gudgeons and 8x sparkling gourami

would that be slow enough that I don't have huge ammonia spikes?

We can't tell you for sure, but it sounds like that may be okay. If you're worried about it, you can split adding the fish even further:
8 cories, wait a week or two, add 12 neons, wait a week or two, add 10-20 rubies, etc.

 

[finnipper59]

We can't tell you for sure, but it sounds like that may be okay. If you're worried about it, you can split adding the fish even further:
8 cories, wait a week or two, add 12 neons, wait a week or two, add 10-20 rubies, etc.

Your order of stocking above is good but switch the neons to some other. There have been major problems with neons over the neons...go with green or cherries. And if the Gouramis you're thinking about are dwarf, nix them too. Get full size Gourami. The dwarfs have been coming out of the Singapore hatcheries already carrying Dwarf Gourami Disease for which there is no cure. Otherwise fine.

 

[LaniKai]

We can't tell you for sure, but it sounds like that may be okay. If you're worried about it, you can split adding the fish even further:
8 cories, wait a week or two, add 12 neons, wait a week or two, add 10-20 rubies, etc.

Unfortunately Wet Spot is about an hour drive so I can go there to often. That's why I was doing bigger groups. I will moniter the ammonia and stuff closely though.

Your order of stocking above is good but switch the neons to some other. There have been major problems with neons over the neons...go with green or cherries. And if the Gouramis you're thinking about are dwarf, nix them too. Get full size Gourami. The dwarfs have been coming out of the Singapore hatcheries already carrying Dwarf Gourami Disease for which there is no cure. Otherwise fine.

I would love to do green neon tetras but TexasDomer said they are warmer water tetras (The tank will be set at 75f). I don't want to do Cherry Barbs (I'm assuming that's what you're talking about) because the Ruby Tetras are already red so I don't really want another red schooling fish.

The scientific name for the sparkling gourami is "Trichopsis Pumila" and the scientific name for dwarf gouramis is "Trichogaster Lalius". So they are a different fish and I'm going to hope they don't have the Dwarf Gourami Disease.

 

[finnipper59]

Unfortunately Wet Spot is about an hour drive so I can go there to often. That's why I was doing bigger groups. I will moniter the ammonia and stuff closely though.


I would love to do green neon tetras but TexasDomer said they are warmer water tetras (The tank will be set at 75f). I don't want to do Cherry Barbs (I'm assuming that's what you're talking about) because the Ruby Tetras are already red so I don't really want another red schooling fish.

The scientific name for the sparkling gourami is "Trichopsis Pumila" and the scientific name for dwarf gouramis is "Trichogaster Lalius". So they are a different fish and I'm going to hope they don't have the Dwarf Gourami Disease.

I would like to add that my warning about the neons should be changed to a caution. There is no guarantee that your neons would be disease proned. As far as the dwarf gouramis go, it seems like you've done some good research. So good luck with your new tank and toss us some pics when you get it all set up.

 

[LaniKai]

I would like to add that my warning about the neons should be changed to a caution. There is no guarantee that your neons would be disease proned. As far as the dwarf gouramis go, it seems like you've done some good research. So good luck with your new tank and toss us some pics when you get it all set up.

I am worried about the neon tetras but I can't think of any other blue fish that would be okay.

I did start a aquarium build post at My New 72 Gallon Bowfront. where I'm posting the progress with the tank.

 

[finnipper59]

The only way you're going to know one way or the other about the neons is to try them out. It's my hope that you get a batch that is more hardy. I've kept and loved schools of neons, but in my case, that was over 2 decades ago when things in the aquarium world were newer, but also much less advanced.

I am worried about the neon tetras but I can't think of any other blue fish that would be okay.

I did start a aquarium build post at My New 72 Gallon Bowfront. where I'm posting the progress with the tank.

 

[TexasDomer]

Yes, you're fine with sparkling gouramis, no issues with DGD. Neons may also be fine, Wetspot gets a lot of good fish in.