Wondering about stocking idea

[prettywolf]

Ok this is the stocking list that the daycare director came up with for our 150 aquarium... is it possible that it'll work?
6 Koi Swordtails, cherry shrimp, 6 glass catfish, 4 south american leaf fish, 2 siamese algae eaters, 5 silver dollars, and 2 female betta's.

 

[Lowryder]

My vote...Go with African cichlids, the kids will enjoy the colors. I might add that I am a cichlid nut!

 

[prettywolf]

The director really doesn't want African Chiclids... though I think it would be cool

 

[HN1]

Yes, BUT.... the shrimp would be eaten and the glass cats should be in a larger group (12+) in that large of a tank IMO.

 

[prettywolf]

Is there any shrimp that I could get that still have that nice color and are large enough that no fish would bother eating them?

 

[BigJim]

There are crayfish, but they'll eat some of the other fish. Bamboo shrimp might work, but they're not nearly as colorful as RCS.

 

[prettywolf]

The director doesn't want crayfish and doesn't really want bamboo shrimp either. According to the director the shrimp and the swordtails are mainly to provide food for the leaf fish. But I also heard that there could be issues with the Silver Dollars is there something else instead of them that I could do?

 

[BigJim]

Sounds like your director pretty much know what he or she wants.

What kind of issues are you possibly expecting with the silver dollars?

Ghost shrimp are a heck of a lot cheaper than RCS.

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

your going to have plenty of space left, remember the swordtails will reproduce quite a bit and I assume that's what you meant by them producing food. Silver dollars will get large and pretty much any kind of inverts you put in there will get munched on. There are exceptions as always but its either you do it and the fish who eat em are happy or they survive. I would advise against the SAE's as they can become angry little turds as they get older. +1 on more glass cats too. Id look into some more bottom guys like clown loaches or cory cats since the size of the tank will allow plenty of floor space.

 

[prettywolf]

Well we have four cory cats in another tank right now that we have to take down anyway so we were gonna put those in there as well for guys at the bottom. What else besides the SAE's will be a good algae eater thats not so small that they'll become food for the other fish that also is a good algae eater but isn't a pleco the director looked at different kinds and for whatever reason feels they won't work in the tank.

 

[prettywolf]

I can talk the director out of the leaf fish if you can give me another idea... also the silver dollars if you know of anything that gets large like that and is peaceful and will work with the other fish.

 

[prettywolf]

I think the daycare director is thinking of keeping our ten gallon up and running and turn it into a shrimp tank so that her husband can come home and put some shrimp in the tank for the fish to eat. I think she also decided against the swordtails because she thinks they'll breed too much and over populate the tank even though every fish will probably take part in eating the fry she doesn't want a bunch surviving.

 

[prettywolf]

new stocking list 6 ghost catfish, 2 south american leaf fish, 2 siamese algae eaters, 5 silver dollars, 3 angel fish, 5 cory cats, 5 rainbow fish

 

[Jim173]

this makes great reading! lol

I hope you and the director make the right choice. Giving time to think about stocking is important.