Ideas for 45 gallon- *edit*- I decided!

[severum mama]

I'd like to add more tetras to my 45 gallon planted angel tank, and I'm open to suggestions. The dimensions are 36"x12"x24". The current stock list is:
1 big angel
2 keyholes
1 nannacara anomala (golden dwarf cichlid)
3 yo yo loaches
1 clown pleco
6 gold pristella tetras
1 remaining glowlight tetra (others have died from old age)

I'm considering cardinal tetras. I haven't tried them in a long time (couldn't get them acclimated in the past), and now I have a 10 gallon QT that I could use indefinitely. I don't want them to be eaten by the angel, though, and I've heard conflicting info on whether or not that would happen. I'd like to keep about 10, if that would be possible. I'm also open to suggestions, as always. What do y'all think?

*edit* I just posted this in the wrong forum. Could one of you mods please move it to gen. discussion???

 

[Devilishturtles]

Moved.

I attempted neons with my angels once...instant snack. And an expensive one at that.

 

[severum mama]

Yes, I knew that about angels and neons... but was under the impression that cardinals were a bit larger than neons so that maybe it would work out.

I've also thought about hatchets instead.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Ack, sorry. See that now. Maybe cardinals would be okay. Hatchets should be good, I would think. Though they are quite sensitive aren't they?

 

[severum mama]

Sure, but I can't imagine that they are any more difficult than cardinals. At least I have 1 surviving hatchet (in my discus tank)- all the others jumped or just simply died- but I have NEVER had any luck with cardinals. Then again, I am a lot more experienced this time around.

 

[patryuji]

"Big" Angel? In that case you better make sure the cardinal's are fully grown. If they are small enough to fit in the mouth of the Angel, they will eventually end up in the Angel's mouth...and gradually disappear from the tank.

 

[severum mama]

The angel is about 3 inches (body length only). I didn't give a total length estimate because it is a veil tail angel and has very long fins. It's been living fine with glowlight tetras for some time (roughly same size as cardinals) without issue. I only have 1 remaining glowlight, but that's because the others died from old age, and I did find the bodies so I know they weren't eaten.

*edit* I made up my mind!

I went to Meijer tonight to grab a couple things, and stopped by the pet dept. Now, I would normally never buy fish from Meijer, but the tanks actually didn't look that bad... no worse than a chain pet store. I ended up buying a sweet Amazon sword (a big one, for $3.49!) for my discus tank, and I just couldn't resist getting my remaining harlequin rasbora a couple of pals. I also bought 3 red wag platys. Surprisingly, with all the other species I've kept over the past few years, I've never kept any platys... plus, I thought they were REALLY, REALLY CUTE! I figure that even if they have a ton of babies, the angel, keyholes, golden dwarf cichlid, and yo yo loaches will have little trouble with population control.

All the new guys are in quarantine in my 10 gallon. We'll see what happens. After they move into the display tank, I'll pick up a few more rasboras, since I know they will be happier in a group larger than 3. I'll keep you guys posted!