Compatibility ideas

[bsherb34]

Hello, I am a newb to this forum, but do plan to use it often, as everyone on here seems very knowledgable.

So.... I have a 47 g tall tank square. It was a lot bigger than my original idea of a 20-30 g but what the ****. I got too good of a deal to pass up. But anyways. We have about 8 live plants at the bottom (2 plants of four different kinds). The lady at the pet store convinced me to go with traditional smaller gravel stating that it is easier maintenace and most fish like it. I also have one cave looking thing in there that might be nice for fish to hide in. I havent had a tank in probably ten years so Im gonna deem myself "new" to the fish world again.

Originally I wanted to get about 4 African Ciclids (electric yellows) but somehow my fiance convinced to that we NEEDED angelfish to i ended up switching my whole tank set up and plan to the current one. I know ciclids do not like live plants and tear them out as well as needing a higher pH so that is why i cannot use them. So therefor i am planning on a semi agressive community tank.

With that said we are planning on getting angelfish as the primary because thats what she wants.

My questions are fairly simple:

How many angelfish would be recommended for a 47g tall tank?

What other fish would you guys recommend as far as compatibility with the angels?

I do not want to waste the space so i did a little research to find that angelfish tend to swim towards the middle of the tank so I need to find some fish that swim towards the bottom and likewise towards the top. Other than inverted fish what kind of fish would stay more towards the top?

What kind of bottom feeders are recommended?

All suggestions and ideas are GREATLY appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time.

Just wanted to add that cause i thought it was neat... haha

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

Def. Go with corys for bottom feeders imo they are the best but I hear good things about loaches although they do get big. I would go with smaller tetras(rummy nose, glolight, neons) they are not really fin nippers and they add a pop of color.

 

[ampa one]

welcome to AA . you could put some rainbowfish nice color

 

[mfdrookie516]

Welcome to AA just so ya know, not all cichlids eat or tear up plants. Rams, angels (which are indeed cichlids), most any of the dwarf cichlids all do very well in planted tanks, along with discus and some others (of course most of those you wouldnt be able to keep in that tank anyways)... What are the tank dimensions? Im almost worried that if you got more than one angel, territory would be a problem, especially around breeding time.

 

[bsherb34]

Tank dimensions are 20Lx20Wx36H... Would the tank be better set up for my initial game plan with the electric yellow African ciclids? Of course that would be with a little tweaking of ph levels and removal of live plants...

 

[mfdrookie516]

no, africans, with the exceptions of shellies, need at least a 55g tank, some need bigger. and a good tip for ph, if its stable, dont mess with it

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

I would go with dwarf cichlids like rams or kribensis as they can do a lot better in the smaller tanks. You could keep jewel cichlids as a pair but when they start spawning its game over for any other fish in there.

 

[bsherb34]

well the cichlid idea is pretty much out of the question. My fiance said no so we are gonna stick to the semi agressive community tank. Angels, Gouramis, and a few sharks. What recommendation would u give for quantity of fish. I was thinking maybe:

4 Small Angels (the "spotlight" of the tank)
5 Small Danios
4 Harlequin Rasbora
2 Blue Gouramis (they seem to be most popular)
1 Rainbow Shark
1 small Plecostomus

too much, too little? like i said it is a very large 47 gallon tank.... all of them seem to be school fish with exception of rainbow and pleco.

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

IMO, your pretty much stocked. If you really need to add more I would add a few more harlequin's but other than that I'd say your OK.