Restocking my tank after deaths

Well...

Over the Halloween weekend we were hit with a huge storm and it caused a 4 day power outage with temps in the 20's.

Unfortunately due to having a 3yr old, I could not stay at home indefinitely, and was not able to keep the temperature up high enough in the tank. it dropped down pretty low(high 60's).

I was surprised when I cam home and I had only lost 2(of12) tiger barbs. These were the only casualties, at the time.

But, over the next few days, more barbs were dying off. A total of 7 died as of yesterday.

Since they needed to be in a larger school, I decided to rehome them to a friends 75 gallon who already had 6 tiger barbs.

I think I will restock with 2 angels and some mollies.

This will leave me with 2 peacock eels, 1 sengal bichir, 8 cories, 1 rainbow shark. Then the addition of 2 angels and some mollies.

I just wanted to get some get opinions on this idea.

 

I think it's best for you to return the bichir. They can get close to 2 feet and should be in a larger tank. Not to mention that they eat what they can fit in their mouths so your other fish are on the menu.

Also, I think the peacock eels should be in a bigger tank aswell. A 46 gal footprint just isn't gonna do it.

Another thing is that the rainbow shark will grow more aggressive as it matures and might attack other bottom dwellers since the shark mainly resides on the bottom area of the tank. Just a heads up. So I think you could do a stock like

2 angels
3 mollies
8 cories
Possibly the rainbow shark if it does not cause any problems.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

 

I have read that both the eels and bichir cap out at 10-12" in captivity.

This would be a temp housing, as I am currently building a 100 gallon tank into bookshelves in the living room, and this will be ready for january/february.. I am counting on the angels, eels and bichir to eat the molly fry as they are popped out.

 

After looking at your proposed stocking and what you currently have in the tank I would recommend to not get the Mollies until after you get your new tank set up. Mollies are called the goldfish of the tropical world for a reason. They are very large waste producers and with the fish you already have and the addition of the Angels and Cories I am not sure your filter could keep up with the bio-load. You might get away with it for awhile if you were running two filters or a sump system but I would personally hold off.

You could always use your old 46 gallon tank as a Mollie breeding tank once your other tank is up and running. Also I would recommend you think about male to female ratios on the Mollies. To keep everyone happy you should house one male to no less than three females because the male would stress out the females if you have one male to two females. I personally house two males to 10 females in my breeder tanks and I have new fry arriving all the time.

 

There are different species of bichirs. Some are bigger than others and can reach 2 feet, but the senegal is not one of them. That being said, anything less than a 4 ft tank is not big enough for a 10-12 inch bichir. The eels can be kept in a smaller tank (for their size) because they are not a "swimming", active fish.