Fish with personality in a 45 gallon tank?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

ManannanMacLir

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jun 6, 2006
Messages
41
I'm thinking of buying a used 45 gallon freshwater tank setup. However, this time around, I don't want to get fish for ornamental purposes only. I would like to get a fish that has some personality and/or interesting behaviors, but it has to fit inside of a 45 gallon setup. The woman I talked to said that the tank is 48 inches long, so I'm assuming it's a 45 gallon long.

I'm wondering, would a single oscar do well with a 45 gallon setup? Or how about a pair of convicts? Or should I forget about cichlids altogether and focus on some other type of fish? Your suggestions would be gladly appreciated.
 
You might look into a black ghost knife, or a small school of clown loaches (keeping in mind that a long ways down the road they may outgrow the tank). I think oscars should be in at least a 55 gallon, though (could be wrong, and it could work in the meantime until he got too big). Good luck!
 
first off, if you are upto the challenge and hard work (comparitively to other freshwaters): discus. they are king of freshwater fish and a community tank with discus centerpiece are top of the food chain.

second: an african cichlid tank. you can look up alot of resources, types. the vivid colors and behaviours (sp?) of these tanks are wonderful to watch.

-a single oscar would do well but it would be lonely and until it gets larger it would be kind of boring. possibility would do 6 of them and take out them as they grow larger.

-convicts are fun but wouldnt recommend anything other than a species tank. extremely territorial when breeding. same problem as oscars. having two juvvies in a 45g would look pretty sparse.
 
DISCUS ARE BEAUTIFUL!!!! but they are sensitive to water quality. I personally don't think an oscar would be a good for a tnak that size, they need at least 55- 75 gallons minimum to be happy, the clown loaches area good idea, they are nutty as can be lol, have you considered an african butterfly fish???? not only are they crazy looking, but they are only like 4 inches long, and they spit water LOL they are highly aggressize though
 
Thank you for the responses, and the advice. I'll definitely look into these fish.

Chotie, are African cichlids difficult to maintain? I've read that they require a very high ph, and most tap water is usually low ph.
 
The pH is not really the problem. They do indeed require a high ph, but like any tank, a good maintenance schedule and some good advice and they are no harder than any other. The only problem with Africans is that it wont be long before you wanna tear down the 45 for a larger tank. I have a 55 and already want a bigger tank and this one is only a year old. But I guess that makes sense considering my 55 was my SW tank that I upgraded to a 125. HAHA!
 
ManannanMacLir said:
Chotie, are African cichlids difficult to maintain? I've read that they require a very high ph, and most tap water is usually low ph.

depends on the cichlid really. most arent though. i would do my research. most problems with african cichs can be attributed to different cichlids being mixed (lack of research on what are good tankmates). ph isnt going to make a difference. some af-cichs get rather large so watch out in planning the stock.
 
Back
Top Bottom