Stocking changes - need some help

[rwilson24]

Hi all

I have a 5ft 120 gallon tank.

Currently housed in it are as follows:

1 x blood parrot (female)
1 x bristlenose pleco
3 x rainbow bosemani fish
2 x rainbow cichlids
3 x green severums

I am looking to rehome the rainbow cichlids and green severums, as they are often hiding (I hear I need more dither fish, but I am just needing a switch up and wanting a bit more of a tropical feel).

I know a BP and angel fish are cichlids, but I was thinking of adding one more BP, 4 angel fish, and a dozen neon tetras or some other colourful similar fish.

I am also open to any other stocking suggestions, I have been keeping fish for decades and am not quite sure where to go. I do love Red Tailed Black Sharks, but I know they have a tendency to nip fins.

Looking forward to hearing from you, thanks!

[Colin_T]

Your rainbowfish need to be in a bigger group. They do best in groups of at least 6 (preferably 8-10 or more). You can mix species of rainbowfish so you have 4 Melanotaenia boesemani and 4 M. lacustris to make up the 8 fish. The main thing is to have fish that grow to the same size and have even numbers of males (2, 4 or 6 males) and some females.

Rainbowfish need plenty of plant matter in their diet and at least 50% of their diet should be plant based. You can use vege flakes/ pellets, marine algae (sold in Asian supermarkets), small floating plants like Duckweed, or soft leaf aquarium plants like Ambulia. You can also try them on thinks like pumpkin, zucchini, cucumber, etc. Just avoid potatoes, onions and onion relatives.

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M. boesemani will usually eat small tetras like neons. They might not but I have seen 3 inch M. boesemani attack and eat a school of cardinal tetras that were an inch long. If you grow the rainbows up from a small size with the neons, they are usually ok, but mixing neons with adult rainbowfish is very risky.

The other issue with rainbows and neon tetras is they come from different water chemistry. Neon tetras come from soft acid water (GH below 100ppm, pH below 7.0).
Most rainbowfish come from harder water with a pH above 7.0.

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The tank is big enough for a redtail shark and the fish in there currently should be fine with one. Angelfish might not fair to well if the shark gets aggressive but if it has plenty of hiding places and lots of food, it shouldn't cause any problems to bigger fish.

[rwilson24]

Thank you - I will certainly add more rainbow fish then.

Do RTBS like to be single or alone, and 4 angel fish would be fine?

Would there be a fish similar to a neon tetra that would be appropriate, something that could do a decent group of schools? Or perhaps more rainbows would be appropriate.

Could I also add a school of panda cories?

[Colin_T]

Redtail black sharks and rainbow sharks do best on their own (1 per tank).

I would get 6 angelfish and if you want to breed them, get 8-10 the same size and add them together, then grow them up and let them pr off. You should get a pr from 6 fish.

Corydoras and medium to large cichlids don't always work well. What is the parrot cichlid like, does she bulldoze everything and move stuff around, show aggression to the other fish, or is she mild mannered and just does her own thing?
If she's mild mannered, then Corydoras might work. If you get Cories, they do best in groups of at least 6 (preferably 10) or more.

Most deep body tetras do better with rainbows than small narrow fish. Things like black phantom tetras, red phantom tetras, diamond tetras, rosy tetras are all higher in the body than neon tetras and much less likely to be eaten. However, most tetras and angelfish come from soft acid water.

Barbs are an option and like harder water with a more neutral pH. Black ruby barbs, rosy barbs, golden barbs, are nice and get along with rainbows and usually do alright with medium sized peaceful cichlids. Rosy barbs might be a bit boisterous or active for angelfish. However, if the angelfish are fine with rainbowfish, they should be ok with peaceful barbs.

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What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Depending on what the GH of your water is, will determine what fish you should keep.

Angelfish, discus, most tetras, most barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200-250ppm and a pH above 7.0.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids, or use distilled or reverse osmosis water to reduce the GH and keep fishes from softer water.

[rwilson24]

Thank you so much!

Sounds like Corys may be out. The BP isn't overly boisterous, but she does like to re-arrange everything.

Water hardness is 117ppm and PH is about 7.5.

Perhpas I will do 1 additional BP, 6 angelfish as suggested, another 3 rainbows and then a handful of larger body tetra or barb. Would the 7.5 PH be okay for these?

[Colin_T]

The pH is fine for all those fish.

The GH is a bit low for the rainbows but it's not that bad.

[rwilson24]

Fantastic.

Thanks for all the help.

I think my stocking will be as follows:

Rehome severums and rainbow cichlids.

Add:
1 x BP
6 x Angelfish
1 x RTBS
3 x Bosemani Rainbows
6-12 x large bodied tetras or barb

This is in addition to my one bristlenose pleco, 1 x BP and 3 x bosemani rainbows.

Would that stocking be appropriate?

[Colin_T]

If the blood parrot cichlids start breeding, there could be problems for the angelfish.

Get a small shark so it grows up in the company of other fish to help reduce its overall aggression.

Do big regular water changes and gravel cleans so the tank stays clean and you should be fine.

Just let us know what barbs or tetras you want before you get them because some don't do well with angelfish. The stuff I listed should be fine but if you pick something else, let us know what before getting it.

[rwilson24]

Great, thanks! I am going to try and find the black ruby barbs, I really like their look.

Are they fin nippers similar to a tiger barb, or are they a bit more mellow?

[Colin_T]

Ruby barbs are not fin nippers like tiger barbs. They look similar when not in breeding condition but when the males mature and show off their colour, they look completely different.

I had ruby barbs in a 4x2x2ft tank with angelfish and a number of rainbowfish and they all got along fine. I also had a rainbow shark in there and she was lovely, never bothered anyone. The tank also contained a pr of whiptail and pr of twig catfish, about 20 Botia lohachata (dwarf Pakistani loach) and 10 emerald Brochis catfish. It was heavily planted and got a 75% water change every week.

If you give barbs a cooling off period (have the water temperature around 18-20C) for a few months, they colour up better when the water warms up. Angelfish don't really like 18-20C water but can live in it if the temperature goes down slowly over a few months. However, if you have a second tank, you can move the barbs into it during winter and have a heater on 18C and let them live at that for a few months before moving them back into the bigger tank with warmer water. If you don't want to do this you don't have to but it's kind of cool watching them change colour due to the warmer conditions.

[rwilson24]

Hi all

So, I have not gone through with any changes yet. I’m debating keeping the fish, I don’t want to part.

What stocking could I still add. Perhaps some more rainbows, the RTBS, some additional severums, and the barbs as dithers, which would help with the cichlids being more comfortable.

Oh and another blood parrot. Would that be too much?

I’m open to any suggestions. Again, I currently have 3 green severums, 2 rainbow cichlids, 1 bristlenose pleco, 1 Blood Parrot and 3 bosemani rainbows