36 Gallon Stocking

[Gawang]

For my 36 Gallon Bowfront which has been cycled and is currently well planted with Cabomba, Red and Green Foxtail, crypts on the bottom and a few amazonian swords. Trying to figure out what exactly I'd like to do with it, any advice on what to stock. I'm debating on several small schools of Tetras with highlight fish or something the complete opposite of that. So any help would be great!

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

This is pretty broad! Do you have any specific species you like? Or maybe a color scheme?

 

[NYgiantsRP]

2 angels, 4 rainbows, 6 striatia botia, 8 cardinal tetras

Or

10 penguin tetras, 8 tiger barbs, 6 kuhli loaches, and some shrimps and snails.

 

[LyndaB]

I love community tanks! And I love tetras. If it was me, I'd have maybe 3 different schooling fish, decent size schools, then a nice group of kuhli loaches or corys for the bottom.

 

[absolutangel04]

Do you want a centerpiece fish like an angel or gourami of some sort? If so, sometimes it helps to decide that first and then plan schooling fish around that.
Some cool fish to look into in addition to ones listed by others are pearl gouramis, black neon tetras, diamond tetras, dollar sunfish, paradise fish, pencilfish, porthole catfish, and apistogramma cichlid species.
There are seriously huundreds of options, so knowing a little more bit more about what are interested in helps us.
Happy stocking.

 

[Gawang]

Thanks! I was thinking of potentially doing two schools of Lemon and Glowlight Tetras. I was also thinking of Cherry Barbs, a Mix of Black Phantoms and Serpae Tetras. Right now I'm just running over everything trying to get a list together. I definitely want some interesting bottom dwellers, like Kuhli Loaches. Has anyone had experience with them at all?

PS. I love Angelfish but I hear that sometimes they can eat and/or harass smaller species of Tetra.

 

[absolutangel04]

Angels will often eat smaller tankmates, but anything spade shaped or else like 2 inches should be fine. Usually aggression happens when you have a mated pair, but sometimes even a single angel will cause troubles. Usually though, one is fine.
I really like lemons, glowlights, and cherry barbs. Keep in mind serpaes can be rather nippy. They should be totally fine with the tankmates you suggested, just make sure you have like 8 serpaes to cut down on any potential issues.
Kuhlis are great. They do well in groups of at least 4, but more is better. The more of them you have the more often you will see them. I have kuhlis. LyndaB does too.
Black phantoms are cool, but you do have to watch the gender ratios with them to avoid aggression between males. Black skirt tetras are another cool spade shaped fish. They can also be nippy, but a group of 6-8 should be fine with some of the other tetras you are talking about.

 

[Gawang]

I've kept Serpaes before and not had too many problems, mostly they just harass eachother. I was thinking about doing a contrast between like Red and Yellow or Red and Black. I was also thinking about Serpaes/Black Phantoms with Keyholes as a white contrast. Then I also want some bottom dwellers like maybe some Bristlenose Plecos and a few darker color corys, maybe some Sterbas.

 

[absolutangel04]

I think that would probably be ok. Keep an eye on the serpaes with the keyhole though because problems could arise. But, keyholes don't have flowing fins or anything so hopefully its ok. Keyholes will stay on the bottom of the tank mostly.

 

[nanofish]

Have you thought about either rosy or bentosi tetras? EIther one look fairly similar to the serpae but without the nippiness. When I was first planning things for my tank I had put serious thought into the Bentosi and black phantoms. I ended up with rosy and never got the black phantoms but I still think they would have looked amazing together. Good choice on the Sterbas I have those myself.

 

[Gawang]

Never thought of Bentosi actually. They look quite nice. I also don't want too many nippy fish, as the Bristlenose I'll be getting will be relatively young, maybe only 6-12 weeks old. My friend recently bred them and she has no where to house them all.

 

[absolutangel04]

Wow, that is a young one. Bleeding heart tetras are a bit less potentially nippy than serpaes as well. But I think the suggestion of bentosi or rosy tetras is really good.
Is your bnp going to be regular colored or albino? It doesn't matter, I am just curious.

 

[Gawang]

It's regular coloured. They are really cute though when their young. I was joking with her that "How can she have no where to put them all when you own 47 tanks?" the other is "What's your electric bill?"

 

[nanofish]

You can look for HY511 as well. Bigger than the Bentosi but smaller than bleeding heart. Just to give you yet another option I forgot. Not sure how nippy they get though.

 

[Gawang]

I think my official list so far is:
Bentosi
Black Phantom
Sterba
2- Bristlenose Pleco
2- Keyhole (Hoping for a mating pair)

What are good numbers to keep these guys in? I'm assuming between 6-8 for the Bentosi/Phantom but I haven't kept corys a bunch. I've heard they're good between 4-8 and that large groups can be really awesome looking.

 

[absolutangel04]

Hooray for keyholes! I have to say that keyholes have been some of my favorite fish ever. I know people have a hard time getting pairs, but it would be pretty cool if you got lucky.
Remember to watch the gender ratios with black phantoms. They do best with only a few males in a tank. You have enough space that it really shouldn't be a big deal, but you will see more cool behavior is you only have like 2-3 males. They are not really a school fish, but more of a shoaling fish and the males will display for each other and try to seduce females sort of like livebearers do. If you get too many males, sometimes things can get a little serious.

 

[Gawang]

Awesome, I'm betting that's sort of similar to my Serpaes in my 20 gallon. They only school if there's something scary or if my German Blues decide that they got a little too close to their cave.

 

[Gawang]

A tad off topic, But I've had a strange experience with my German and Bolivian rams. I got the bolivian rams on a whim and intend to move them from my 20 Gallon to a different one. But my Germans and Bolivians have all of a sudden buddy'd up. I thought this was incredibly strange as I have heard that they typically dont like sharing the same territories. They even let them around their cave, which they dont let the other fish into. I do know for a fact that they are indeed Bolivians and not just deceptive German Blues.

 

[absolutangel04]

Well, Germans and Bolivians are pretty closely related. The 2 species will actually interbreed. So, its not too surprising that they like to hang out. Some rams are more territorial than others. Do you know what genders they are?
About the black phantoms, they behave differently than the serpaes. They are one of the few tetra species that you can keep singly or in pairs. The males display for each other and will vie for females. They actually act a but like livebearers rather than like your typical tetras. Thats what I mean by saying they are not your typical schoolers. The females tend to hang out together more though.