75g stocking thoughts

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El Paso, Tx
I am currently thinking about stocking my 75g when I get back from my deployment. I am planning on having a rock stack on one side, about a quarter of the tank on the right side most likely and then I was thinking about types of fish. Here is the list I have come up with, let me know what you guys think:

2 Marble Veil Angels
7 Green Tiger Barbs
1 Cuvier Bichir
1 Bristlenose Pleco

I think that would about load out the aquarium. I plan on having the area without rocks to have plenty of plants to include swords, java ferns, some red plants, some anacharis, and then java moss on the rocks. I will be running a 30g-55g sump/refugium depending on what I can get from CL or if I have to buy a brand new tank. So all in all my water volume will be over 100g.

I would love to have a couple needle nose gar again, does anyone have any experience with them? I really don't think that the gar would be a good idea in a 75g even though I had them before. Mine were maybe 8-9" when I had to tear my tank down and took them back to the pet store. They are so fast and really need a bigger aquarium in my opinion.
 
First, I don't think the bichir is a good idea. It'll eat everything in the tank as it grows. They're generally species only. I've seen some kept in groups or in large tanks with arowana and other large fish.

Second, be careful with barbs and angels. Barbs can be fin nippers. The large group is a good idea to curb the aggression.

I'd also caution against the gars. They might eat your barbs. I agree with your thoughts on them needing a longer tank.

I will say that I think you'd have more room for fish, even if you could get that stock list to get along. Sumps can provide massive filtration if designed properly. I'd think something like:

4-6 angels
7-10 green tiger barbs
5-10 scissortail rasboras
6-10 cories
1-2 BNPs

Larger tetras could work instead of the rasboras.

Love the avatar by the way.
 
The bichirs grow very slowly though and even my brother's at about 9 inches wouldn't be able to eat a fully grown 3" barb. It would have trouble eating even a 2" barb I'm pretty sure. What about:
1 Cuvier Bichir
4 angels
7 green tigers
7 tiger barbs
2 BNPs

I really just don't want to overstock my tank. If I didn't get the bichir it would probably be more like:

2 angels
7 green tigers
7 tiger barbs
10 celestial pearl danios
6 Schwartz cories
2 BNP

I forgot to put that I am either going to go with black flourite or Eco-complete I'm pretty sure. I really like the dark substrate. I definitely want something similar to sand so I am leaning toward the flourite.
 
Either way I'd say you're good if you add the fish slowly. I'd be interested to see a bichir in a community tank.
 
I figure I would add the bichir last. I can't remember what all I have had as tank mates for my bichirs but I remember my bichirs pretty carefully choosing their prey to things that they could swallow relatively swiftly. Once I actually get to working on the tank I will certainly post lots of pics!
 
Hey SP,

I am not sure if you already responded to this, but angels + Tiger Barbs = shredded angelfish. If the Angels are in their prime when you add baby barbs you might have a better result... but that's basically like dangling string in front of a cat.

Just a thought. It's not totally unheard of, but it's one of the first things most Tiger Barb owners are warned against. If it doesn't work out... your angelfish will be nipped mercilessly. I made the mistake of mixing a betta with Tiger Barbs and holy canoli, it was just so SAD. Especially when I couldn't help at first. Watching those poor, slow-moving, beautiful fish, get attacked by those swarming barbs, is what made me want to do research and learn so it would never happen to my fish again!
 
I have three angels in with six tigerbarbs in my 55gal.. They get along. Not to say that it will work for you but it did for me. I think if you give them enough room and get enough of them you should be ok.. but buyer beware... I got all of my tiger barbs as babys too.. They were all about medium sized when i added the angels.

my tiger barbs also get along everything in my tank... including neons , blood finned tetras, gouramis , mollies and sword tails.
 
Well, I had an angel before and I really liked it. I want to say that I had cichlids in with it without a problem. It may have been tiger barbs because I really like both but the moral of the story is, the angel ran the tank. I figured what I would do is put the angels in first so that they get accustomed and the tank becomes their home before I add any of the more aggressive fish. I have heard that the barbs are a lot less aggressive in schools too.

The other idea is getting an African Butterfly fish or two. I don't know anything about them other than that they look super cool. They sound like timid fish but they are listed as aggressive on liveaquaria.com. If anyone has any experience perhaps I could trade the angels for them with better success.

I will also be putting MTS in the tank to clean the substrate.
African_Butterfly_Fish.jpg
 
I figure I would add the bichir last. I can't remember what all I have had as tank mates for my bichirs but I remember my bichirs pretty carefully choosing their prey to things that they could swallow relatively swiftly. Once I actually get to working on the tank I will certainly post lots of pics!


Aren't bichirs brackish water fish??? Would it hurt the other fish if you added salt to the tank? I know mollies can thrive with it, but I don't know if barbs or angels would fare well with salt. I also don't know if the bichir would fare well in freshwater?
 
Hey SP,
I am not sure if you already responded to this, but angels + Tiger Barbs = shredded angelfish. If the Angels are in their prime when you add baby barbs you might have a better result... but that's basically like dangling string in front of a cat.

I have an angel (all fins intact) in my tank with 10 tiger/ruby barbs and they all leave him alone. I also have a gold fish with longer flowing fins and they are all intact. Honestly the biggest problem I have from them is they want to mess with the algae wafers relentlessly and my smaller plecos have to run them off to eat. There WERE two gouramis in there (they've since died) and they had all of their little stringers and fins too.

I treat tiger barbs like kids in on a playground, as they act like they have ADD and are constantly running around screaming, waving their hands in the air trying to play. If they don't have other "kids" to play with, they mess with the "adults" who get stressed out and can't put up with it. Putting them in groups of 7 or more give them others to chase and leave the adults alone. How's that for an analogy.

I've only ever seen a problem when I only had 5 in my 10 gallon. They bugged one of their own over 2 nights and ended up killing him. I added 3 more and all the problems went away.
 
I treat tiger barbs like kids in on a playground, as they act like they have ADD and are constantly running around screaming, waving their hands in the air trying to play. If they don't have other "kids" to play with, they mess with the "adults" who get stressed out and can't put up with it. Putting them in groups of 7 or more give them others to chase and leave the adults alone. How's that for an analogy.

I've only ever seen a problem when I only had 5 in my 10 gallon. They bugged one of their own over 2 nights and ended up killing him. I added 3 more and all the problems went away.



lol.... I want some now! I want a bunch of hyper fishies lol. I really have wanted tiger barbs for a while but I don't want them to mess with my fish. I guess if I get enough of them they will probably be ok, I continue to read that this works pretty well.
 
My understanding is that the Bichir needs brackish water to breed but can live in freshwater just fine. I can't seem to find anything saying that they have to be in brackish water and I have found other people that keep them in a freshwater tank, myself included. Of course, lack of research means that I have done some things that weren't really great ideas.

I love the analogy of the barbs lol I would really like to get them and see them school. I also like the angels just because they are so big and pretty to look at. I was thinking about some gouramis but I think that I would rather just have a couple angels.
 
Updated stocking list:
After doing some looking around online I have come to the conclusion that I will be getting no smaller than a 55g aquarium to use as my sump and I started thinking about what I want to put in it. This is what my plan is:

Display Tank:
3 Dusky Panther Gobies
4 Angels
7 Tiger Barbs
7 Green Tiger Barbs
7 Boesemani Rainbows
2 Peppered Cory Cats
2 Swartz's Cory Cats
2 Bristle Nose Plecos
2 Red Lobster
4 FW Clams

Sump:
4 FW Clams
20 Ghost Shrimp
15 Guppies

I will have low-medium light plants in the display tank and probably 40 pounds of rock. I will also have low light plants in the sump. I figure I will dose ferts in both and then have a DIY CO2 set up. If the DIY CO2 doesn't work I will convert to a pressurized set up. I am planning dark fluorite for both, probably 4-5" in the sump and then 2 1/2" in the display tank. What are everyone's thoughts?
 
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