Recommendations for Peaceful Tankmates

[Renathen]

Hi! First off I would like to tell you a little about my tank so you can understand what I'm going for, and then, with luck, you can help me out.

I bought a 40 gallon fish tank about 3 months ago from a family member for $50. I cycled it without fish and everything and then went out to the LFS and bought me some fish. I didn't have much money at the time so I only got 6. My choices were: 3 Red Serpea Tetra, 1 Marble Angelfish, and 2 (1 male one female) swordtails. A week after I bought them, the female swordtail died, I am still not sure why. The only thing I could think of was she had a little bulge in her stomach area...?

Anyways, a week after that I bought myself a Betta, because I aways wanted one. I put the Betta in and all of a sudden the Serpea got aggressive. Not only did they start chasing the Betta, they went after my Angel and my lonely Swordtail too. I got rid of them ASAP, they went to my cousin to live with tiger barbs and zebra danios. I must mention they were quite difficult to catch. 8O

So here I am now, for over a month I've had a tank with three fish in it. I hope you can see my predicament. They ignore each other for the most part, the Angel will sometimes buddy with the Betta but not often. I can't figure for the life of me what other fish I could put in there. I want this tank to be really peaceful, no more serpea-like incidents. Maybe some more swordtails? I was also considering some danios of some sort but they are fast swimmers and I hear Bettas arent too fond of them, and my angel is a pretty slow mover too.

I would like to get some algea eaters and bottom feeders in here too, and some live plants eventually. Can someone make any suggestions as to what would co-exist well in my 40 gallon tank? I am sorry for the long posts and all the questions but I want this tank to be a stunning display of habitat and right now it's not looking too good.

Thanks in advance!

 

[TankGirl]

Welcome to AA, Renathen!

How about a school of harlequin rasboras? Then a bristlenose pleco and 4-5 cory cats would round out your setup.

If not rasboras, there are many tetras to choose from as well.

 

[Renathen]

That sounds mighty fine! I forgot to mention that I wanted a school of something. I also want to showcase around my angel.

When I got my fish they had some harlequin rasboras there that I considered getting but I opted for the Serpea instead, dumb luck I guess...

 

[Menagerie]

The wider-bodied tetras tend to be nippier.
Silver tip tetras are nice, or Celebes rainbows! I also agree that you should get cory cats, but instead of a bristle nose, I highly recommend clown or rubbernose plecos. Bristle nose are okay, if you like bristles!

[center:21e914eab9] Welcome to AA, Renathem! [/center:21e914eab9]

 

[Rocket2001]

a few giant danios might work

 

[_dan_]

a school of glowlite tetras might be nice. they are very smialar to neon tetras but insead of a blue band the have a reddish gold band. i find them better than the neons because everyone buys neons. glowlites are also great schooling fish so 10 wouldnt be too much for your tank.

 

[robertmarda]

You might want to consider gold pristella tetras. They will add a nice shade of yellow to your tank. I have some of them and some glowlites. You could try 5 gold pristella tetras and 5 glowlite tetras if you want two groups of schooling fish.

 

[_dan_]

that might be a good idea robertmarda i tried something similar with neons and glowlites, but im running out of room in m tank for more fish so i had to settle with 2 glowlites and 2 neons

 

[fishlung]

Speaking from experience, depending on the size of your angel, don't be surprised to find that some of your smaller fish go missing. Cardinal tetras are neat. They're a little stockier than neons, if you catch my drift. Rasboras are great, though. Their behaviour in a school is really fun to watch, much like tiger barbs. Lots of fun. Their schools are way tighter than neons. You'll rarely see loners wandering in a corner somewhere.

 

[bassholedrifter]

You might check out some Boesemani Rainbows, they are a very peaceful and active schooling fish not to mention very colorful! I agree some cories would be a nice addition.
I agree with fishlung, your smaller fish may start to disappear with an angel in there....
I had a very colorful tank in the past that consisted of sunburst platies, dalmation swordtails, black mollies and a betta, along with a few cories. They all got along wonderfully.
Good luck and have fun!

BASS