67 Gallon Stocking

[.ReefPlague.]

Hey guys,

Just finished cycling new 67 gallon tall tank with the dimensions 36" x 14" x 24" and have added some new fish over the last couple of weeks as well as some live plants. Currently the tank is stocked with

10 x Neon Tetra
12 x Glowlight Tetra
1 x Blue Ram Cichlid
3 x Bristlenose Pleco

Just wanted opinions on other fish to add to this tank I was planning on adding

2 x Keyhole Cichlid
8 x Bronze Cory

and possibly 2 pearl gourami's

Thanks

 

[goatnad]

Pearls! Go pearls! I love gouramis. Can you tell? Pearls are one of the prettiest of gouramis. Only second to a chocolate gouramis.

I will say if you go pearls go maybe even 3-4 of them and plant the tank well. 60-70% coverage.

 

[King Fisher]

I think you'd be ok going with all those fish minus one of the key hole Cichlids. Or 1 bristlenose pleco and 2 key hole Cichlids. Your tank would be maxed out IMO. With that said, I'd also plan on doing 50% water changes weekly and bump up your filtration if you haven't already. I'd also run the tank at 78 degrees.

 

[.ReefPlague.]

Hey thanks for the quick responses

If I was to go with 3 pearls would you recommend a ratio of male to female. Also I can’t really have only 1 Pleco I already have all three situated in the tank would it be possible to switch the Cory’s out for something else and keep both the keyholes?

Thanks��

 

[King Fisher]

It's my understanding you can keep all male Pearl's together but Goat would know more about that. You could go ahead and add another keyhole and slightly overstock it. You just have to keep up on the water maintenance and filtration. Also be aware that overstocking can possibly cause aggression.... again, you just have to keep an eye on things.

My personal opinion is that keyholes are perfectly fine being a loner in the tank. I don't see a need to have two of them. Pearl's on the other hand behave better in groups.

 

[.ReefPlague.]

Hey

Ok I think I’m going to go with the single keyhole and then 4 pearls as well as 7 cory’s. Temporarily I have an internal filter rated for 45 gallons and a HOB filter rated for 35 gallons but should soon be upgrading to an ehiem canister filter. Also are there any good quite hardy small plants to cover some open space in my tank that you would recommend

Edit: and do 50% water changes weekly

 

[King Fisher]

Look for the gph (gallons per hour) for each one. You are gonna want 10-14x tank turnover per hour. So 600 to 800 gph total.

I'm not good with plants and positioning them aesthetically. Again, Goat is the man to ask.

 

[fearlessfisch]

You've picked some of my favorite fish. I adore neons and glowlights, as well as blue rams. I would get a male/female pair of rams, myself.



I was going to say three bristlenose plecos sounds like a lot. They are often advertised as maxing out at 3 to 5 inches, but mine easily reached six to seven inches. I felt sorry for him in my 55 gallon and always wished I had a bigger tank.



I always try to add a betta to my community tanks, but I always have a second tank available in case it doesn't work out. It usually does, but a gourami is always a risk...

 

[.ReefPlague.]

The ram, bristlenose and a few neons came from a 20 gallon I had set up and once I saw the size that the plecos had gotten to and the waste they produced I pulled the new tank out of my dads garage and set it up for them. The largest of the bristlenose is roughly 4 inches and it was horrible seeing him in the 20 gallon

Any more thoughts on plants

 

[goatnad]

Hey

Ok I think I’m going to go with the single keyhole and then 4 pearls as well as 7 cory’s. Temporarily I have an internal filter rated for 45 gallons and a HOB filter rated for 35 gallons but should soon be upgrading to an ehiem canister filter. Also are there any good quite hardy small plants to cover some open space in my tank that you would recommend

Edit: and do 50% water changes weekly

I would keep all males to keep out the aggression that can occur during mating but I have seen many people do male and females just fine so really up to you if you want to possibly deal with aggression and babies. I would recommend to get gouramis one week and then a week later add the cories and keyhole or vice versa. Get the tank decently planted before adding the gouramis.

For plants there are a wide range of anubias plants that require very little if any attention to survive. Golden, Nana petite, barteri round leaf just to name a few. Easy species of crypts like crypt wendtii should do well but you Weill want to put root tabs under them. Buce can be easy undemanding plants but they can be sensitive to large changes in water parameters and they are susceptible to algae since they are such slow growers. You could do something like java moss tied or glued to rocks or driftwood.
Other plants I found that were easy to grow but needed weekly grooming to be kept at the right height is creeping jenny and bacopa Caroliniana. Juncus repens Is another easier to grow plant if you like the grassy look.