New 120 litre / 26 UK Gallon tank

[gwithyen]

I have a new 120 litre Juwel tank, running fishless at the moment, looking for stocking ideas!
Tropical, freshwater, Light yellow sand substrate, a few decorations, bog wood etc.

Any ideas guys?! I've already got a 110 litre guppy tank, a 50 litre platy tank with some danios so looking to go a bit different but still in my first year of fish keeping... It's become a tad addictive, hence the third tank!

Thinking of maybe a centrepiece fish or two, some sand loving bottom feeders and maybe a shoal of something else.

 

[Galligak]

I have a new 120 litre Juwel tank, running fishless at the moment, looking for stocking ideas!
Tropical, freshwater, Light yellow sand substrate, a few decorations, bog wood etc.

Any ideas guys?! I've already got a 110 litre guppy tank, a 50 litre platy tank with some danios so looking to go a bit different but still in my first year of fish keeping... It's become a tad addictive, hence the third tank!

Thinking of maybe a centrepiece fish or two, some sand loving bottom feeders and maybe a shoal of something else.

How about some cories at the bottom. Cute little fish, IMO. A gourami, angelfish, dwarf cichlid would work as a centerpiece. A school of a tetra or danio would work for the school/shoal you wanted too. Another few fish to think of are killifish and other smallerish fish as well!

 

[gwithyen]

Love the cory ideas, cheers! With regard to the centrepiece, my aquascaping is so far sparse shall we say so not sure an angel or killifish would be happy!!
So any thoughts on a particular gourami or cichild who would enjoy themselves if they were the only one of their type in the tank? I'm UK based too!

 

[Sarah Guppy]

How about some black sand and live plants and driftwood. Very plain but looks beautiful. Best way to get ideas is utube. Loads of lovely ones on there. I'm also in uk yeeyyyyyy

 

[gwithyen]

Sand is in, washed and settling, thanks to the Early Learning Centre play sand!! So it's a light yellow!
Will a paradise gourami work or too tricky to find? Plus some research suggests I might need more hiding places for the fish, cichlids, gouramis and tetras seem to live cover, is this true? Are neon tetras really that delicate?!

 

[Galligak]

Sand is in, washed and settling, thanks to the Early Learning Centre play sand!! So it's a light yellow!
Will a paradise gourami work or too tricky to find? Plus some research suggests I might need more hiding places for the fish, cichlids, gouramis and tetras seem to live cover, is this true? Are neon tetras really that delicate?!

I've never had a paradise gourami so I don't really know but the research I've done says that they're fairly easy to take care of just don't get 2 males
I find that all fish will adapt to their surroundings and as time goes on you can always add more plants for your fish tanks to make it be better so I think that most dwarf cichlids would do well as would gouramis and angelfish. I've never had an issue with neons but then again the last time I had them I was 8 and had no clue what I was doing and they lived about 2 years.
An easy and non expensive way to decorate your tank is DIY driftwood and rocks! I use both of those in all my aquariums and they are very useful!

 

[Ickletas]

Sand is in, washed and settling, thanks to the Early Learning Centre play sand!! So it's a light yellow!
Will a paradise gourami work or too tricky to find? Plus some research suggests I might need more hiding places for the fish, cichlids, gouramis and tetras seem to live cover, is this true? Are neon tetras really that delicate?!

IME the more places you have for fish to hide the less likely they are to feel the need to, if you see what I mean.

 

[gwithyen]

Chatted to guys at the LFS, think I'm heading for an Asian Biotope feel, given the sand and light! So how does some leopard danios, tiger barbs and a single (juvenile!) red tailed black shark sound? Too much? More variety needed? How planted does it need to be?

 

[Galligak]

IMO a red tail shark doesn't belong in there. They get very very territorial even if put in as a juvenile. I would stick to gouramis. I also think that you can put in one more school of danios as long as they aren't huge!

 

[agwats]

I would have to agree on the red tail being too territorial for the tank but the rest seems like a great idea. Cool side note about tiger barbs is the regular and green ones will school together which makes for interesting color contrast just remember to get six or more, they tent to be less aggressive in larger groups. I do believe you have room for some more small fish or one or two more med ones. Have you thought anymore about bottom dwellers or a cleaning crew?

 

[gwithyen]

I sort of had my heart set on a rtbs! Sad times! Would some peppered cores fit? Or are they slipping out of the Biotope schema?!
Plus "green" tiger barbs? Sounds awesome!

 

[agwats]

Plus "green" tiger barbs? Sounds awesome!

They are a rather common color variation are are quite cool looking especially when mixed with the standard colored ones you should look them up

 

[Galligak]

I sort of had my heart set on a rtbs! Sad times! Would some peppered cores fit? Or are they slipping out of the Biotope schema?!
Plus "green" tiger barbs? Sounds awesome!

Yes peppered cories would fit in there, but alas they come from south America. I love the look of the tiger barbs!! They look awesome! Oh and I'm sorry for bursting your bubble with red tailed sharks...

 

[gwithyen]

So potential stocking goes like this...
120 litres
10 leopard danios
10 tiger/green barbs
And...?!

 

[Galligak]

Gourami is the only thing that I can think of but I'd also listen to others opinions too!

 

[agwats]

Gourami is the only thing that I can think of but I'd also listen to others opinions too!

That's what I was gonna say. If you wanna stick with the asian theme id get a gourami. They make nice centerpiece fish and will get along with the tiger barbs just fine plus there are many diff varieties that are easily available.

 

[gwithyen]

Now I'm confused! Was at a LFS today, chatting to the chappess there, she said the barbs would pick on the gouramis! I do like the look of the gouramis, they look so cool!
Guess I'm just getting impatient to populate the tank!
So, referring back to an earlier question, for bottom feeders, what fits in an Asian Biotope theme that would combine well with this setup?

 

[Galligak]

Ghost shrimp would do great IMO. There are also a bunch of other shrimp that would do good too! As for the gourami I don't think that you'd have an issue. My gourami lives with a yellow bellied slider and 2 rambunctious goldfish and it holds its own. So I think that the gourami would be perfect especially if you like them!

 

[agwats]

Now I'm confused! Was at a LFS today, chatting to the chappess there, she said the barbs would pick on the gouramis! I do like the look of the gouramis, they look so cool!

Dwarf gouramis are passive and the barbs would pick on them but the bigger gouramis are semi-aggressive and get bigger than the barbs. tiger barbs have been known to get up to 4 inches but tend to stay around 3 while gouramis regularly get 3.5 to 4 inches and the barbs tend to leave fish bigger than them alone. Tiger barbs make great companion fish for gouramis as long as you have a good number of them. Tiger barbs tend to be fin nippers if they don't have a school but they calm down a lot in groups of 6 or more. Actually I am setting up a tank for a blue gourami and tiger barbs were the first companion fish suggested on this site and by my LFS

 

[gwithyen]

Some of the gouramis on you toob are enormous! They won't get that big will they?! Or I may need a bigger boat...!