Ideas for new fish?

[elliott_001]

Im on the hunt for a new fish or small group of fish for my tank.

I currently have:

3 zebra loach
1 black spotted bulldog pleco
3 oto's
4 cherry barbs
2 german blue rams
1 Rainbow shark

Any suggestions? Open to all ideas.

I would love to get another type of small loach in there, like chain loach, but i dont really know if its a good idea. Ive seen other members with more than one type of loach together. Another thing of course is the bottom space they have. (30Gal)

It would be good to get a fish that can live alone, but i cant really think of any!?

Or maybe another small school of small fish, like cardinal tetras?

TIA.
David

 

[BrianNY]

I don't know about any more loaches but 5 or 6 cardinals would fit in. You might also consider some pygmy corys.

 

[elliott_001]

Thanks Brian, sounds good, as corys were also something i thought about. Dunno if there will be a problem for space on the bottom though? What with the rainbow, 3 loaches and pleco?

How many corys minimum? Would the tetras school? Or would they tend to spread out more? There isn't anything in the tank that is particularly threatening.

Any more suggestions?

 

[rich311k]

I think your bottom is kind of full as well. Maybe get a few more cherry barbs to fill out the school.

 

[elliott_001]

Yeah, i was thinking about adding to what i've already got, but i'd be more keen to get another loach, or ram rather than more cherry barbs.

I like the idea of keeping more different types of fish in lesser numbers than having perhaps only 2 or 3 large groups of fish.

What about algae eaters? I do have a hair algae problem, would it eat this? It'll be a fatty in no time if it does! lol

 

[lyquidphyre]

Why don't you try some golden barbs? They are slightly different than the cherries, and add a nice yellow color to the tank =o)

 

[elliott_001]

Hadn't seen them before (just googled it), they're a possibility, they look pretty nice, look slightly bigger than cherry barbs?

Are angel fish out of the question? Just a thought...

 

[lyquidphyre]

Hmmm angelfish... *maybe*
I like keeping angel fish in pairs, and two would really put you over your bioload, but your signature says its planted, and if you keep an eye on your parameters, you could possibly get 2.

I love my golden barbs, some stay small, while others get piggish... really cute, colorful addition

 

[elliott_001]

hmmmm indeed! I have seen them kept alone before, but this is not ideal? How big do they get on average?

Yes, my tank is planted fairly heavily, my tank doesnt seem full at the moment, its the shark, loach and pleco that are gonna grow!

Im going to take a trip to the lfs tomorrow, i will look out for golden barbs, havn't seen them before though.

 

[lyquidphyre]

Just a little fyi, sometimes the golden barbs aren't totally golden.. they look more like this:
http://images.google.com/imgres?img.../images?q=golden+barb&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&sa=G

so you might find variations of that (some less black, some more black).

You can keep an angelfish by itself, I just think they seem to be much happier in pairs.

Also, if you get them small.. they can, bioload-wise, grow into your tank. And you never know, in a few months, you could have a 75gal to transfer them to!

 

[lyquidphyre]

Ack! One more thing.. if you do get angel, and you do it get smaller ones, make sure they aren't TOO small... the super small ones (nickel sized body) are really hard to acclimate.
Get the "medium" sized ones if you can.

If you do get angels, you might want to reconsider the golden barbs (or just get two) or a small number

 

[elliott_001]

Ok, cheers, the black looks pretty good! I like it. How do you mean 'grow into your tank'? They will sort of fit themselfs into the bioload and not overload?

Edit: Thanks, thats helpful, i'll avoid the smaller ones then! Im thinking of only getting one type of fish i.e either the angel(s) or the barbs, or something else.

Thanks again

 

[lyquidphyre]

It would be one thing to have a moderatly full bioload and you add a small fish.. and it gradually adds to your bioload, its another to have a moderatly full bioload and then you add a large bioload to the tank- that could cause more problems.

Its not so much that they wouldn't overload the bioload, but it would be so gradual, it might not affect the fish as much

 

[elliott_001]

Oh right, i see. My fish are all small at the moment, (the ones that will grow bigger anyway), so the bioload will be very slowly increasing. If i put a small angel or two in there, they will grow into the tank with all the others.

 

[rich311k]

Just a thought. Barbs and angels do not mix well. I know cherries are sweeter than most barbs but you will want to keep a close eye on the barbs nipping at the angels fins.

 

[RoK]

What about a dwarf gourami?

 

[elliott_001]

I've had dwarf gouramis before. They are basically what im replacing. I had a pair (male + female) for a good 3-4 months, then all of a suddden the female died, so i replaced it, then the male died, then the replacement female died. All out of knowhere, after about 2months of being in the tank.
So I've decided against them.

My cherry barbs are not aggressive at all! They never pester any of my other fish.

I'll be off to the lfs soon to have a look at what they have to offer. I bet i come home with another zebra loach or 2! lol


EDIT: I bought myself a single angel fish! It's 'medium' sized. The girl i spoke to said it would be ok on its own. It seems to be getting on fine.