Re Doing My Fish Room Need Some Input

so first things first I appreciate any advice or input given

now here is what I have

The Tanks:

Two 55 Gallons Side By Side @ the top of the rack I built
One 30 Gallon @ bottom of the rack Right Side
two 10 Gallons @ bottom of the rack on the Left Side

One 45 Gallon Tall - need to build a rack for it
One 36 Gallon Bow Front Has Stand - which technically its in my Living Room as a display tank
One 5 Gallon Empty

The Fish I have currently

5 Albino Corydoras
6 Emerald Green Corydoras
4 Angelfish
Guppies
1 - 7 Inch Oscar
1 - 2/3 inch Oscar
1 - 2 inch jack Dempsey
2 KhulI loaches
1 Hill Stream loach
1 Blue Acara
1 Electric Blue Ram Female
2 bn pleco
1 - 7 inch common pleco
2 pairs of convicts + a dozen fry left was feeding them to Oscar though he does not want them at all now -_-

Plans

55 Gallon # 1
5 Albino Corydoras
Albino BN Pleco
Red Cherry Shrimp
Electric Blue Ram Pair
room for anything else?

55 Gallon # 2
6 Emerald Green Corydoras
Black Spotted BN Pleco
Red Cherry Shrimp
Gold Ram Pair
room for anything else?


45 Gallon
Angel Fish Growout


36 Gallon
Angelfish pair

30 Gallon
1 hill Stream Loach
KhulI Loaches
what else?

10 Gallon # 1
The Female Guppies

10 Gallon # 2
The Male Guppies

I will be re homing
the oscars
jack dempsy
2 Angels
the 7 inch common pleco

I would really like to keep the Acara any way ?

now the 5 Gallon what can go in this?

also I want to do live plants in all my tanks except the 10 gallons and the 45 Gallon at some point so what substrate should I switch to I just cleaned all the gravel out the tanks

also I will be switching to all foam filter with an air pump

main goal is I want to breed corys bn plecos khulis rams angelfish and guppies
and grow plants

if your just read all that give your self a pat on the back ^-^ and I thank you for getting through it

await your input/advice

 

TexasDomer is our resident stocking expert
KingD has a fish room going, may be able to help with tank placement.

As for the plants, if you're planning on keeping it super easy anubias and Java ferns don't need substrate, they attach to hardscape.
For many low tech, lightly planted tanks regular sand/gravel with root tabs could work, next step up would be eco complete or flourite (root tabs as well) Final tier would be Ada Amazonia and the like (root tabs needed eventually but not for some time).
Equally important for plants is the lighting and the ferts provided. To do well, all plants need plant specific lighting (anubias and moss balls can get away with stock lighting), and they need to be provided nutrients to support their growth.

 

Jocelyn pretty much got the basics for plants covered. I'm not sticking expert so I'll be leaving that to others, my tanks are going to be species only tanks.

As for the tank placement and stuff like that, it really depends on the size tanks you have and the space you have to house them. A rough idea of how big of a space you have will help us and you figure out how to place the tanks in the best way. I personally like when things are uniform so in my fishroom, I'm going to have all 20L and 40B so I can keep them on one big rack.

 

@ Jocelyn Adelman Thanks for the info on the plants decided ill do sand with root tabs also will led lighting be ok?

KingD how it is setup atm is I built an 8 foot rack have two 55 gallons on top side by side and a 30 gallon on right side on the bottom and two 10 gallons on the left side I plan to built a cabinet for the bottom and a canopy for the top I’m going to make it look like one big tank by putting a vering strip or similar in the middle were the tanks connect and attached to the canopy for a finished look

The 45 tall plan on building a rack that will house the tank on the bottom but the top of the rack will be like a table dimensions of the room is

Left wall 103 inches
Right side with door 65 inches
Middle walls not that big nothing will be going their as the top wall has a window on the right side
And the bottom wall is my thermostat controls for the heater in my living room and the room is 90 inches wide so theirs plenty of space to walk and access the tanks easily.

Will eventually want to do a water change system with the window in the corner so I don’t have to lug buckets back and forth to my sink or bathroom

 

Led lighting is great, just be sure it's plant specific and strong enough to meet your plants needs at the depth you want them at.

 

Okay so it sounds like you have a similar rack to mine. It's a little tougher in your situation because you have tanks that are much longer than what I'm keeping. If you're ultimate goal is to have them more as display tanks then you can keep them the way you have them set up. Since I can't actually see the space you have and all your tanks, the best advice I can give through a computer would be to just measure everything you have and make sure you can fit it into the space you have with room to do maintenance. I have my tanks on the rack length wise instead of width wise. So I'm squeezing a total of 7x 20L on the top rack and 4x40B on the bottom rack. Here's a picture for reference

 

@ Jocelyn Adelman okay great ill look more into which ones I need later

@ KingD yes it will be display tanks at top bottom will be covered by cabinets and everything fits as it is its already together and I have plenty of space to reach in and do maintenance about 8 inch space on bottom for the 30 and even more space on the 10s and I use a stool to reach inside the tanks ill try to get you a pic later

 

Sounds like you've got it planned! Maybe I can give you more input when I see pictures

 

Are you asking what to put in the 5 gallon? My first thought, breed assassin snails.

 

@ KingD yeah been planning it for a while ill finally have the time off in October to do it
& yeah ill get you pics when I get home

@ jitters yes was wondering since I have it I would like to try and use it its plastic square and tall not long

also was wondering if my 55 gallon tanks stocking lists are ok as in will it be overstocked and if I have room to add anything else

And the 30 gallon stocking list idk what to out with the khulI loaches?

I will research the assassin snails when I get home

 

55 Gallon # 1
5 Albino Corydoras
Albino BN Pleco

Electric Blue Ram Pair
room for anything else?

Rams will eat the shrimp, so I would not keep the shrimp in here.
BN plecos are not temp compatible with the rams and will have shortened lifespan at the higher temps needed by the rams.
Add more cories - I would go with 8.
You could keep the EB acara in here.

55 Gallon # 2
6 Emerald Green Corydoras
Black Spotted BN Pleco
Red Cherry Shrimp
Gold Ram Pair
room for anything else?

Rams will eat the shrimp, so I would not keep the shrimp in here.
BN plecos are not temp compatible with the rams and will have shortened lifespan at the higher temps needed by the rams.
Add more cories - I would go with 8.
You could keep the EB acara in here.

45 Gallon
Angel Fish Growout

36 Gallon
Angelfish pair

30 Gallon
1 hill Stream Loach
KhulI Loaches
what else?

Make this a stream setup - high flow, cool water, lots of oxygen - for the hillstream loach.
What about a cool water schooling fish? WCMM, danios, etc. would work.

10 Gallon # 1
The Female Guppies

10 Gallon # 2
The Male Guppies

 

TexasDomer
Thanks for the info so how about

55 Gallon 1
5 Albino Corys
6 Emerald Green Corys
Albino BN Plecos how many?
Black Spotted BN Plecos how many?
Red Cherry Shrimp how many to start with for a colony

What schooling fish can I do
That will swim in the middle/ top of the tank that won't bother the other fish or eat them

55 Gallon 2
Electric Blue Acara/ when the other tank becomes over populated From BN Plecos and Corys When They Get Big Enough ill move them to this tank?

30 gallon hill stream setup

Hill Stream Loach how many?

KhulI Loaches

Clown Loaches??

Can I make this a loach tank with
A school of danios


36 Gallon
2 Angels


45 Gallon
Angel Grow-Out Tank

I will be getting another 30 gallon for the left side bottom rack just for a ram tank


I moved the two 10 gallon guppy tanks to my living room

 

@ KingD






Heres the rack with the tanks on it hard to get a full screen pic as its 8 feet long best I could do

All the fish in these tanks will be re homed

Forgot to mention theirs also kissing gouramis and a gold severum

 

Also here is my other tanks not in the fish room

 

TexasDomer
Thanks for the info so how about

55 Gallon 1
5 Albino Corys
6 Emerald Green Corys
Albino BN Plecos how many?
Black Spotted BN Plecos how many?
Red Cherry Shrimp how many to start with for a colony

I would increase your cories to 8-10 of each species, and move one species to the 55 gal with the EB acara.
I'd also only do one male BN pleco per tank. Do you want the BNs to breed?

What schooling fish can I do
That will swim in the middle/ top of the tank that won't bother the other fish or eat them

What about a group of cherry barbs, harlequin rasbora, or lemon tetra?

55 Gallon 2
Electric Blue Acara/ when the other tank becomes over populated From BN Plecos and Corys When They Get Big Enough ill move them to this tank?

30 gallon hill stream setup

Hill Stream Loach how many?

KhulI Loaches

Clown Loaches??

No clown loaches. They get much too big.
I would personally leave the kuhlis out of this tank. If you really want them, what about putting 10-15 in the first 55 gal, and moving both cories to the tank with the EB acara?

Can I make this a loach tank with
A school of danios

Danios are a yes.

36 Gallon
2 Angels


45 Gallon
Angel Grow-Out Tank

I will be getting another 30 gallon for the left side bottom rack just for a ram tank


I moved the two 10 gallon guppy tanks to my living room

See green above.

What fish do you really want to breed? Many will not successfully reproduce in a community tank.

 

BN Plecos and Cory’s I would want to breed the most and want to try the kulis

 

If you want to breed them, I would keep them in their own tanks, away from fish that will try to eat their eggs.

 

So then to make it simple and clarify

55 1
Bn pleco

55 2
corys

36
angels

30
hill stream setup

10s
guppies

When I get the other 30 it will be rams

I only have 2 khulis atm so I will either rehome them or put them in a 10 with the guppies?

And will the blue acara bother corys eggs ?

 

Blue acara might eat cory eggs, yes.

For the kuhlis, you should be able to keep them with the BN plecos. I don't think they'll eat the small fry, and I don't think they'll bother the eggs while the male guards them.

Have you raised fry before? The BNs will do it themselves, but you may want to remove the cory eggs from the tank and raise them in another, so the adults don't eat them.

 

Only fry I raised so far was convicts & guppies which I didn’t really do anything in particular I have watched videos and researched how to breed Corys & Bn Plecos

Now is ok to mix the cory species or should I pick one type ?

And do bn pleco breed with other colors so a albino and a black spotted ones etc or are they like corys and only albino can be with ablino etc?

 

I would pick one species to breed if that's your aim.

Albino cories can breed with non-albino cories if they're the same species. Most albino cories are C. aeneus, and they can breed with non-albino C. aeneus (called bronze cories).

Albino BNs can breed with non-albino BNs.

 

Okay then
thank you every one for the help and suggestions I know now what ill be doing

 

I'm a fish room guy - I have had one for many years. I prefer all wood racks, because if you make them with 2x4 and 2x6, they can be moved.
Always plan for more tanks. Once you start breeding fish, tanks come to you. It's some sort of magic, but it happens.

Honestly, once you have a fishroom going, the fish you have now will change. Stocking is a temporary thing. So build for the room to work no matter what's in it.

 

Good tip wish I started with that knowledge I do how ever have some room left I could probably fit another 15 or so 10 gallons now the time to do it is another thing entirely

 

Welt okay thanks again for the help I am going to hop off for the night I’ll definitely post pictures when its done or its progression if you all want have a good rest of the night