Centerpiece Fish ideas?

[AaronW]

Wow its been a while since I've had a post on here. Anyway I'm getting rid of 2 severums, a pleco, and a pictus cat.

My tank is 60 gal long.

The stock will be 3 congo tetras and 2 clown loaches.

I want a good centerpiece fish. The tank has also been running since november so are rams a viable option?

Also I plan on getting a couple SAEs.
What about a few rainbows? Discus? Not really sure. Any help is appreciated!
What do you guys think about this?

 

[Scottyhorse]

Well, personally I would get rid of the clown loaches unless you plan on upgrading to a 125G or larger in the near future. Anyways, I think a cool and colorful stock would be:

3 Discus
6 Congo Tetras
6 Spotted Blue Eye Rainbow Fish
6 Threadfin/Furcata or Forktain Rainbow Fish
3 SAE
1 Trio of German Blue Rams

I think this would work well, and if you plant the tank with high light and co2, it'd look awesome! Keep up with pwc and It should work pretty well.

 

[AaronW]

Wouldn't I be a bit overstocked with that? I like that idea but right now I'm only running a fluval 405. My AC 70 died.

 

[AaronW]

Well, personally I would get rid of the clown loaches unless you plan on upgrading to a 125G or larger in the near future. Anyways, I think a cool and colorful stock would be:

3 Discus
6 Congo Tetras
6 Spotted Blue Eye Rainbow Fish
6 Threadfin/Furcata or Forktain Rainbow Fish
3 SAE
1 Trio of German Blue Rams

I think this would work well, and if you plant the tank with high light and co2, it'd look awesome! Keep up with pwc and It should work pretty well.

Right now I have pretty decently planted tank. Right now I'm low light low tech. But I wanna upgrade to 108 watt HO. But for some reason my swords do better in low light??

 

[Scottyhorse]

Wouldn't I be a bit overstocked with that? I like that idea but right now I'm only running a fluval 405. My AC 70 died.

Maybe... At least right at 100%.. I think if you got rid of one school, it would look really good!

 

[AaronW]

Yeah. I think maybe one school of rainbows would be cool. Also I have never looked into discus. Are they hardy? I've heard they're sensitive

 

[Scottyhorse]

I have also read they are sensitive, but it also depends on where you get your stock from. If you feed them right, and make sure you do enough PWC.

 

[AaronW]

I have also read they are sensitive, but it also depends on where you get your stock from. If you feed them right, and make sure you do enough PWC.

We're pretty good about our PWCs. 1 50% every week. As far as filtration goes. Should I replace with another filter? Perhaps a power head?

 

[Scottyhorse]

I know people with discus do multiple water changes a week, and really large ones too.

I would get a larger filter, since the 405 only filters up to 100G. With a discus tank, I would want to do 5x the amount of water, just to be safe and make sure the water is extra clean.

 

[AaronW]

I know people with discus do multiple water changes a week, and really large ones too.

Maybe 2 50% PWC weekly?

 

[Scottyhorse]

I've read sometimes they do 90% WC's! Too much for me I would just google discus stuff, since I've never kept them!

 

[AaronW]

I've read sometimes they do 90% WC's! Too much for me I would just google discus stuff, since I've never kept them!

Whoa! That seems a bit excessive. I'll wait for maybe another member to chime in. Have you ever kept rainbows?

 

[Scottyhorse]

I was, but I couldn't find any around here, and at the time I didn't want to buy online. From what I read, they are peaceful, and pretty easy to keep!
Depending on the filter, I would think 2 50% water changes a week would be enough, but I too would wait for another member to chime in

 

[AaronW]

Well at this point I may just skip the discus and get a school of rainbows and up the school of Congo tetras. Discus need a specific set of parameters and aren't very forgiving from what I've learned. I don't want to have to lower my hardness and PH for them ha. Plus they cost like 30$ a fish! Ouch!

 

[Scottyhorse]

Seems like a good idea to me!

 

[AngelFishGirl]

Hello! I think a great centerpiece fish would be Angels!! They're elegant and beautiful! You just have to watch out, because tetras are known to be fin nippers (although I keep 4 angels with 13 tetras and they all do just fine)

Maybe some glass fish? They're a shy type of catfish with a see through body. They like to be in groups of 4 or more.
A group of Black Skirt Tetras would like nice.
I also personally am a big fan of Dalmatian mollies. Buy males to avoid the hassle of fry if desired. Males tend to have more elegant top fins!

You could try a FEMALE betta, but it'd be a little risky. It depends on her personality. It would be a pretty centerpiece though.

 

[Scottyhorse]

Hello! I think a great centerpiece fish would be Angels!! They're elegant and beautiful! You just have to watch out, because tetras are known to be fin nippers (although I keep 4 angels with 13 tetras and they all do just fine)

Maybe some glass fish? They're a shy type of catfish with a see through body. They like to be in groups of 4 or more.
A group of Black Skirt Tetras would like nice.
I also personally am a big fan of Dalmatian mollies. Buy males to avoid the hassle of fry if desired. Males tend to have more elegant top fins!

You could try a FEMALE betta, but it'd be a little risky. It depends on her personality. It would be a pretty centerpiece though.

Black Skirt Tetras are very nippy, and mollies really should be in brackish water.
I personally wouldn't try a betta with angels, since they both have such large personalities.

 

[Shane fish]

14 year old synspilum in my juwel vision 450

 

[FreshObsessed]

Clown Loaches are very skittish schoolers and get large so a 60 gallon long isn't the most accommodating to the clown loache's needs. But, up the school of Congo tetras to 6+ and they'll do great! You can even add a good amount more if you wish. In larger tanks I like to have larger schools of a couple different types of fish. But it's personal preference!

 

[AaronW]

Clown Loaches are very skittish schoolers and get large so a 60 gallon long isn't the most accommodating to the clown loache's needs. But, up the school of Congo tetras to 6+ and they'll do great! You can even add a good amount more if you wish. In larger tanks I like to have larger schools of a couple different types of fish. But it's personal preference!

I like the idea. I added some boesmani rainbow fish and a couple balloon rams to my setup.