75 gallon stocking

[HeatherW]

still planning out a potential 75 gallon tank. Would these fish be compatable and would this be overstocked?

I want the focus to be the Bala sharks, so they are a must.

3 bala sharks
3 clown loach
6 tiger barbs
1 red tail shark (can he go with the bala sharks?)

either 3 silver dollar or 3-5 zebra danios
how many zebra danios count as a small school? are they ok with the bala sharks or are they too small? are silver dollars ok with this combination? they say they are peaceful and this is kinda semi-aggressive i think.

do I need drift wood in the tank or can I just have cave like structures (thinking sunken ship with holes to swim in and out of type thing).

lastly - what kind of gravel. regular gravel of something finer?

is this too much or can I do more? think I am close to or overful with this list already, but wasn't sure with the bigger tank

 

[librarygirl]

I think that's pretty overstocked IMO. Bala Sharks should be in groups of 5 and same with the Loaches. I'm not sure if the Red shark would go with the Bala. Sharks should be in larger tanks, at least 125 gals.

 

[Phranque]

I don't disagree with Librarygirl very often, but I'm going to have to on this one. Bala's do not belong in a home aquarium..... period. Not even a 125g.

Here's my reasoning:
I curently have a 29g community with one of my schools being Rummynose tetras, which are fairly similar in character to the Bala (sprint swimmers). The 29g is 30" long, and the RNT's are only about 1.25" long. Sitting back watching the tank, the RNT's will take off from one side of the tank and barely get up to a good sprint before they are hitting the other end and have to stop literally within a second, and thats 24 times their body length room to move. I'm looking at upgrading tank size to a 4' tank (either 55 or 75) just to give those guys more room.

Now... you're looking at putting a school of fish (with similar characteristics) that can grow to a FOOT+ long into something that is only 4 to 6 times it's own body length long. If you lived in an 800sqft studio apartment with no place to run, would you buy a Great Dane?? Or, for another analogy, you're putting a Tang into a 16g nanocube....

 

[debisbooked]

still planning out a potential 75 gallon tank. Would these fish be compatable and would this be overstocked?

I want the focus to be the Bala sharks, so they are a must.

3 bala sharks
3 clown loach
6 tiger barbs
1 red tail shark (can he go with the bala sharks?)

either 3 silver dollar or 3-5 zebra danios

Heather-I have a 75 g and once had three clown loaches, which, after much research, I felt was the bare minimum since these guys do best in a group. However, two years ago they all died within one month because of ich. I aggressively attacked the ich but still they died. [Note: ALWAYS stock slowly and quarantine new fish. The ich came via neons bought at at a LFS that prides itself on disease-free fish. I foolishly did not quarantine these and they died along with the clowns-very devastating]. Clowns need a lot of room to do really well. I think another reason my clowns succumbed to ich is because a 75g eventually becomes too small for them. It not wrong to house clowns in a 75g if one has a plan to give them a bigger 'house' at some point though. As for your other fish, I have no experience with them except with danios. I like danios and how they zing around the tank-so cheerful!

 

[HeatherW]

Thanks everyone! I will go back to my planning. So no to the bala sharks, and no to the clown loach? Is there a size guide I should be using for this?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Thanks everyone! I will go back to my planning. So no to the bala sharks, and no to the clown loach? Is there a size guide I should be using for this?

That's right no to both of them and I'd say no to the silver dollars. They get very large and need schools of 6+ as well.

 

[HeatherW]

So what are some good combinations? I like color and activity. I love my cherry barbs and the color I get added to my tank by the blue dwarf gourami and the black mollie and the platy, but I don't want the same thing in the bigger tank that I already have in the smaller tank.
I like the tiger barbs. What else?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

If you want tiger barbs that limits your options a bit. Nothing with flowing fins, etc. You could have a rainbow or redtail shark. You could do loaches for the bottom like yoyos or zebras.

 

[HeatherW]

OK, so if we take out the tiger barbs I am looking at a different combination.

how hard are discus to take care of?

second question: what about Boesmani Rainbow?

can these two go together?

what if I do something like this:
5 Boesmani Rainbow
5 zebra or yoyo loach
5 zebra danios

what else? thanks for helping me out!!
I know I keep changing my mind, but that is the point to the planning part right??

 

[Mumma.of.two]

OK, so if we take out the tiger barbs I am looking at a different combination.

how hard are discus to take care of?

second question: what about Boesmani Rainbow?

can these two go together?

what if I do something like this:
5 Boesmani Rainbow
5 zebra or yoyo loach
5 zebra danios

what else? thanks for helping me out!!
I know I keep changing my mind, but that is the point to the planning part right??

Discus are a bit finicky about water conditions so you need a stable, cycled/established tank. They don't agree with ammonia or nitrite at all and you have to keep nitrate as low as possible. They are one of the fish you kind of need to change the pH of the water to keep well. To tell you the truth they scare the heck out of me other wise I'd have some.

You can definitely have the rainbows, loach and danios. I'd up the school of danios to 6-8.
What else are you interested in?

 

[minky123]

Ok well these are all everyone's opinions, I personally had tiger barbs with Angelfish and a male betta and had no problems what so ever. Fish are all diffrent so the only way to actually really find out it to try