I don't know what to put in my tank.

Hello fishlore, I am new to this site but not to fish keeping. I have been involved in aquariums for 6 years and now that the season is over, I have time to set one up in my room.
The tank is 65 gallons with black sand and 2 fluval 305 for filtration. The only fish ATM are 1 stripes raphael and 1 rubber lip pleco. Dimensions are 36 by 18 by 24. ( I hate the dimensions, but it was a gift from parents, gotta work with what you are given.)
The problem is, I honestly don't know what to stock it with. I Have and always will love catfish. So a catfish paradise like tank would be cool. But what kind? I love my raphael, also like the look of hoplos, and gotta love cliche corydoras. But if I went catfish, what would fill the upper tank levels of such a tall tank?
Also, problem 2. I suck at aquascaping. My tanks look terrible, does anyone have any tips to scape a catfish tank, or whatever I decide on?

All in all, can anyone give me a couple hypothetical lists to play around with that would work in my tank? Thanks!

 

Well, the classic centerpiece for tall tanks is angels. They love it. Cories are perhaps a bit clichéd, but it's for a good reason. They're fantastic little fish. Everyone loves them, so I would start with them.
I think the aquascaping is personal preference, but sand would be a good place to start if you love catfish. Maybe a nice driftwood piece and some river rocks mixed in?
Welcome to FL!

 

In regards to your tank, I feel your pain. I have a 40 gallon that is 36" long, 12" deep, and 21" tall... It was a gift from my brother's ex to my brother which then sat in the closet for about 5 years.

Well, since you already have two rather large bottom dwellers, I would not recommend getting any more. There is one species of cory cat that actually goes a bit higher into the middle level of the tank but I can't remember off the top of my head. Maybe someone else can add that.

For other fish, I think a simple community tank would be great. The bottom of the tank has obviously been taken care of with the pleco and striped raphael but not the top. With that size tank you could easily toss in about three different schools of tetras with about ten fish in each. For a centerpiece fish you could look at getting some German Blue Rams or a pair some other kind of ram.

Obviously you're going to need some sort of driftwood in your tank. If you want to go with plants then you're going to have a problem with your substrate. Yes, there are some plants that can grow in plain sand but there aren't many and they won't grow all that well. You can help this by choosing plants that feed from the water column more than at the roots and by adding fertilizers and a carbon source (Seachem Excel). My 40 gallon is using plain black sand and I can't wait to redo it and add dirt to it. For now I have Ludwigia repens, water wisteria, and narrow leaf chain sword. They are growing but not very fast at all. You can go the route of root tabs but then you would have to add a new tab under each plant every month or two which can get annoying and expensive.

You have great filtration so that isn't really a problem.

 

Thanks for the quick replies!
Something about angels,
I don't know what it is but I don't like them. And I may rehome raphael if he ends up being too out of scale with the other fish. Because I think a couple shoals of cories would be cool. And also,
Do you think 3 shoals of 10 tetra of 3 species or 1 shoal of 30?

 

I'm in the same boat with you in regards to angels. Some look cool but they just seam a bit boring and slow to me.

A shoal of 30 would definitely be interesting and amazing. The issue would be getting that many of one species. I don't think most LFS will carry that many of one species but you may be able to special order them. One of my favorite tanks does that. If you look at the video below there are about 400 cardinal tetras in that tank and it looks amazing. I think that would definitely be an option for your tank but obviously on a smaller scale.

 

if you want a schooling non-bottom dweller catfish, go with a bunch of ghost/glass catfish! creepy And cool

I've also seen upside down catfish swim all over the place. Don't know what level they usually swim at though.

 

Discus or gouramis could work in this shape tank. I thought long and hard some years back about trying discus but ultimately decided I didn't want to get an RO system :b

 

I don't care for glass cats much. How many cories could I put in the tank without overloading it. And are corydoras hardy? Or does that vary between species?

 

Also, I want to keep plants like anubias and java fern and swords. Do I need special lights? And how can I keep algae from spreading from plants?

 

I wouldn't say you need "special" lights but they do need to be strong enough. The good thing is that anubias and java fern are low light plants. Amazon swords can also grow in a low light tank but you definitely need a good substrate for the. Eco-Complete, ADA, ActivFlora, and those other substrates that contain nutrients would work. Swords in general are heavy root feeders and barely take any nutrients from the water column and as a result they need something in the soil. If you are using regular sand then you can go with root tabs but that can be a pain since you have to add them every month or two. The java fern and anubias are different stories. You can actually just tie them to driftwood or whatever and they will grow. Over time their roots will start to wrap around the driftwood and attach itself to it but string is needed at first.

Lighting is obviously important. We have no idea what fixture you have and how long it is on for. Without knowing that we can't really help you.

Algae is tough. To put it simply, algae is the result of an imbalance between light, nutrients, and CO2. In an algae free tank, you are going to have thriving plants and it's those thriving plants that are going to out-compete the algae. If you have more nutrients in the water column than the plants need, algae will end up using that. If your plants are depleting the CO2 in the tank, they can't use any more nutrients in the water and again you get algae. Plants obviously need light as well. If you have the lights on for too long then the nutrients/CO2 (whichever is the limiting variable) gets absorbed and then again you have excess nutrients in the water and a place for algae to grow.

While anubias and java fern are really easy plants to grow and are very hardy, they also have a big problem. The problem is that they are extremely slow growers. Since they are so slow, they don't need very many nutrients at all and as a result algae grows and it can even grow on the plant itself.

 

Also, I want to keep plants like anubias and java fern and swords. Do I need special lights? And how can I keep algae from spreading from plants?

HI & welcome to Fishlore. I have anubias & Java fern & swords in my two larger tanks. I have sand substrate & LED lights. Yes - they are slow growers but I really like them & the only plants I've had luck with. Fluval makes some artificial plants that are very realistic & suit me.

I don't care for glass cats much. How many cories could I put in the tank without overloading it. And are corydoras hardy? Or does that vary between species?

I find corys very hardy & loads of fun. I have 30 or so divided between my 3 tanks. You may also look into some smaller loaches - just research cause some are not so nice. Other than clown loaches in my 180 gal - I have experience with YoYo loaches & they are another fantastic fish. They prefer shoals of 5 or more - like to play games with the corys & are just silly & attractive.

I do love my Angels but I have to agree they can be boring compared to some others. Now that I've seen that video VWTD posted & listened to endler talk about her endlers - I would love to have a large tank of just them☺

Have fun whatever you decide!

 

When I get home from practice I'll check my light. If it isn't good, do I have to replace the entire fixture or just the bulb? I'm picking up some driftwood soon. I can't stand fake looking tanks. I'll probably attach some plants to it as well. Are there any smaller plants that I can get that are low light?

 

Depends what the fixture takes? Usually you can just replace the bulbs with newer bulbs of that specific type. However, I have a lid on my 10G that I replaced t8 bulbs with Compact Flourescents.

SOME fake plants, usually the more expensive ones and silk ones, can look pretty good if done right. IMO if you mix them with real ones. If you want really small, and lowlight, go with anubias nana petite