120g Stocking Fun!

[Hypostomus]

As I sort out my plant/aquascape issues, I've also been putting together some ideas on what fish to put in a tank I'm setting up next year. Dimensions are 48"x24"x24". The filtration will be picked out to meet the needs of the fish.

African Biotope-ish Tank:

Decor: sand substrate, smooth boulders, few bits of driftwood, *maybe* some low-light plants (if they survive :/).

1 Xenomystus nigri (African brown knife) / 12"
1 Polypterus: ansorgii, delhezi, palmas, or retropinnis / (Guinean - 11", Armored - 14", Buettikoferi and Polli Marbled - 12"-14", West African - 13")
1 Synodontis: angelicus, alberti, decorus, eupterus, notatus, or schoutedeni / angel - 8", Congo high-fin - 6", clown squeaker - 12", featherfin - 8", one-spot - 12", vermiculated - 5" (other suggestions welcome here)
10 Phenacogrammus interruptus (Congo tetra - 3") or 2-3 Pantodon bulcholzi (African butterflyfish - 5"[?])

The tetras/butterflyfish would be removed if I chose one of the larger Synodontis sp., but I probably won't.

South American Biotope-ish Tank:

Decor: river stone and gravel substrate, lots of driftwood, fake leafy plants, slate caves

2 Microgeophagus ramirezi (dwarf blue ram - 3")
2 Microgeophagus altispinosa (Bolivian ram - 3")
10 Gasteropelecus sternicula (common hatchetfish - 3")
15 Nematobrycon palmeri (emperor tetra - 2")
2 Hypancistrus sp. or Peckolita sp. (Queen Arabesque plecostomus - 4", King Tiger plecostomus (L-66) - 5 1/2")
4 Pterophyllum: scalare or altum (angelfish - 5", altum angelfish - 6")

Crazy Biting Fish (Barb) Tank:

Decor: --- (undecided)

8 Puntius denisonii (red-line torpedo barb - 6")
20 Puntius tetrazona (tiger barb - 3")
10 Barbus everetii (clown barb - 4")
10 Barbus nigrofasciatus (ruby barb - 2 1/2")

Totally Awesome Fish That I Love Tank (a.k.a. Random Jumble Tank):

Decor: --- (undecided)

2 Microgeophagus altispinosa (Bolivian ram - 3")
2 Pantodon bulcholzi (African butterflyfish - 5")
3 Trichogaster leeri (pearl gourami - 5")
3 Trichogaster microlepis (moonlight gourami - 6")
10 Kryptopterus bicirrhis (glass catfish - 4"-6")
(insert awesome fish here) or 4 plecostomus (undecided sp.-- may just steal the ones from my house )


Any suggestions, recommendations, or completely new stocking lists anyone wants to come up with...feel free to post it here. I haven't stocked a tank this big before with complete freedom over what I can put in there, so input is certainly helpful. In particular if anyone has any ideas for some weird fish I'm missing-- I was half-considering doing a paludarium for mudskippers and some brackish fish too .

 

[heavenly]

I liked your last two. I am more of a smaller fish lover than bigger fish. I hope that in the end the fish tank is what you want and that you will have frun picking out your fish and enjoying them when you are all set up!

 

[heavenly]

I liked your last two. I am more of a smaller fish lover than bigger fish. I hope that in the end the fish tank is what you want and that you will have frun picking out your fish and enjoying them when you are all set up!

 

[Hypostomus]

Believe it or not, I have dumped all of these ideas in the past few days in favor of a Lake Malawi tank..just because I've never done it before.

I may change my mind before the time actually comes to stock it, but after a conference with some African cichlid enthusiasts I have come out with a stocking plan of:

5 Cyrtocara moorii (1 male, 4 females) / Malawi blue dolphins
3 Otopharynx lithobates (1 male, 2 females) / .....magic color transition fish
8-10 Labidochromis caeruleus (no ideal-- just so they aren't bugging each other) / electric yellow labs

All of these fish will probably be purchased as unsexed juvies and changed around till I get the gender ratios/compatibility levels I want. Substrate will either be aragonite, pool filter sand, or Tahitian black moon sand, with exclusively rock decor (hopefully I can find some good round rocks around here) and Java fern.

The idea is to have blue showcase fish (moorii), a "transitional" fish that's a bit smaller (lithobates), and then small contrast fish (labs).

 

[xray]

Wow you have just described the stocking list I have been planning for my 90gal. I love the yellow labs, and blue Moori's are my fav's. I was going with Copadichromis or a Protomelas species, for the others. A good place to go for help on stocking a Malawian tank is www.malawicichlid.com.

 

[xray]

Wow you have just described the stocking list I have been planning for my 90gal. I love the yellow labs, and blue Moori's are my fav's. I was going with Copadichromis or a Protomelas species, for the others. A good place to go for help on stocking a Malawian tank is http://malawicichlidhomepage.com.

 

[Hypostomus]

Now my mind is starting to change again.
It's definitely going to either be the cichlids or the African continentish biotope. At present I'm concerned about one dissenting voice among my supporters at another forum that C. moorii needs 6' of swimming space (whereas my tank is 4'x2'). Said they had a female who couldn't "break the chase" from a male and decided carpet-surfing was a better idea.

Plus apparently other people like brown oddball fish as much as I do...I dunno..so hard to decide!

The oddball African tank is certainly less expensive. There's people selling appropriate driftwood on EBay for it for about $10 w/shipping included.

 

[Menagerie]

I would not recommend the Tahitian black moon sand becasue it looks unnatural and you will see every scrap of poop *YUCK*
With all rock decor--that tank will look lovely!!
Since most Malawi cichilds like their veggies, I'm not sure how long the java fern will last with them.