New 60 G Tank Set up

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Quinnifer

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Nov 4, 2013
Messages
4
Hi there,
I am a newbie needing some help! I just bought a 60 gallon tank and am trying to decide what to stock it with. I currently have 6 zebra danios in there to get a cycle going. This is kind of the direction I'm thinking of going:

1x zebra pleco
1x ruby shark
1 x angelfish
4 x glassfish
2 x kissing gourami
4 x galaxy rasbora
3 x boesemans rainbow fish

I love the pink kissing gourami but I don't really want to limit my tank with such a large fish. I have read that there are dwarf pink kissers called balloon gouramis but haven't found a lot of info about them. Does anyone have experience with these guys and their ideal tank mates?

Thanks in advance for any help!!
 
First off Galaxy rasboras (aka Celestial Pearl Danio's) are nano fish and would not survive long in a tank with that stock. They are very shy and would be outcompeted for food.

You should also increase the number of Glass fish and Rainbowfish to a minimum of 6 each and in that size tank at least 8 of each would be good. Be sure to get 1m to 2 females in the Rainbowfish.

I've kept Angels over 30 years and have never kept them with Kissing Gourami's so I don't know if that would be a good mix since I've heard from friends who keep them that they are very aggressive. Maybe do a couple Angels and a pair or 1m and 2f Pearl Gourami. I have kept Angels and Pearl Gourami's together.
 
Thanks for the advice! I find that so much information I find online is conflicting and every compatability chart I look at is different too! I want to pick my centrepiece fish first then work around them. I have read that the angels should be in groups of either 1 or 4, so I was thinking one angel with something else cool as the larger ones. I was hoping the dwarf kissing gourami would have a similar temperament to the other more peaceful dwarf gourami rather than the aggressive pink gourami but maybe there is no difference.
Lol we are setting this up for our family of four and everyone had their favourites so I'm trying to figure out a way to make it work.
 
You can always try them but watch them closely and be prepared to remove them from the tank if they become aggressive with tank mates... I'm talking about the smaller dwarf kissing gourami.
 
Thanks for the advice. I am going to stay away from the kissers, as much as I love the "kissing show" I don't want them to wreak havoc on the rest of the community. Have you kept the angels in with balloon belly molly's? I've seen them together when they are young but I understand the angels can get aggressive as they get bigger. As you've been keeping angels for so many years, I'm also interested to hear if you keep them in specific numbers of groups.
 
I'm not a fan of most livebearers except Endlers so no I don't keep mollies with angels but many people do successfully. When angels are bought with smaller nickel sized body and raised around other fish they tend to be pretty decent community fish even when they pair up and spawn. They aren't the monsters many make them out to be. Now the one thing I've seen many times over the years is when some of my males grow large and become extremely aggressive with everyone... other angels and any other fish in the tank. They just have a bad temperament. I've always removed them and overall peace prevailed. I seriously doubt you'd have problems down the road with angels and balloon mollies.

As for numbers many people want a pair or two so they get 6 small body size angels and let them mature together in a tank. They become sexually mature at 8 months but it may be months before they pick a mate and spawn. Anyway they wait for at least 1 if not hopefully 2 pairs and then rehome the remaining unpaired angels. You could do this and keep 1 or 2 pairs but no more. 1 pair would be very happy in a tank that size but 2 will work especially if you plant it properly with some tall plants and an Amazon Sword so the line of sight in the tank is broken up. If you had a larger tank then I'd say 6 or more because when you keep a group of at least 6 angels aggression is spread out enough that no one angel gets picked on all the time. So you can do 1, 2, or I'd do 6 and wait to see who pairs up when mature and rehome the rest.
 
Okay, so if I don't want to have to worry about rehoming them and I don't want them to get aggressive towards their tank mates as they mature then maybe two female angelfish for my community?
 
Angelfish are cichlids which are considered semi-aggressive. Two females, even one female with a bad temperament can cause a problem. You also can't 100% sex an angelfish until the spawn and you see their breeding vent. So in your case you'd be best to get 1 or 2 young angels and let them mature together.
 
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