38 Gal Suggestions if you can

[Fishdummy]

I have a 38 Gallon Aquarium cycled and I want to stock it one of two ways:

1. Community -- preferably something with tiger barbs

2. Just a single or pair of bigger fish. Green Severum look very attractive to me, info I saw listed min tank size at 30 gal. So don't know if I could get two in there.

My preffered way would be the severums, or a pair of kennyi cichlids. I need to figure out if the tank is too small though for pairs of them. If that can't work for me then a community wouldn't be so bad. I like tiger barbs alot, I know they are rowdy so I would be lost to find something to go with em. Could some type of cory be compatible? Any suggestions would be appreciated, also what kind of pleco or algae eaters would you use?

More info on the tank in case it helps. My ph is 7.5, hardness is 6. I don't plan to use live plants, right now I have silk plants in there, I would say there are light to moderately planted, ranging in heights so there are basically three levels of plants.

Okay, if you need any other info please ask, otherwise, thanks in advance for any suggestions I might recieve

AP

[mkpeters6]

your tank will eventually become to small for a pair of sevrums, however, they are relatively slow growing fish. if you bought two juveniles they would be fine in that tank for over a year maybe longer. At that point you will have to get a bigger tank or trade them in.

[Fishdummy]

Okay so I guess community it is. I get attached to all my pet's, even fish, so I will not want to part with the fish and right now I don't see myself with the space for a larger tank.

So with that said, I definately want a school of something, preferably tiger barbs, but maybe neon's. I would like to have a few cory's also, so what do you guys think is the best choice to mix with cory's? Also, I think i read in a post here somewhere that I will need a different sort of fish to keep the school together, like an intimidator or something, any idea's on that?


Thanks mkpeters, and anyone else who responds.

AP

[scott]

There are pairs of cichlids you could keep besides severum. With a pair of small cichlids it would definately keep your school of barbs together with them nipping at them and such. You could try kribs. There are a couple of threads going right now in the cichlid forum.

[mickey]

If you put a shoal of 6 or more tiger barbs in the tank you'll find that they will be to busy chasing and displaying to each other to have time to pick on your cories or most other fish for that matter
(with the exception of bettas and other really long finned types)
Cheers.

[Fishdummy]

I haven't seen kribs, I will go look for a picture now. But with 6 tiger barbs will I have much room for anything else?

[mickey]

YOU WILL STILL HAVE ROOM FOR A FEW MORE FISH IF YOU DECIDE TO GO WITH THE TB'S,ALTHOUGH I DON'T KNOW IF TB'S AND KRIBS WOULD MAKE GOOD TANK MATES.
I HAVE NEVER KEPT KRIBS BUT I THINK THEY GET VERY TERRITORIAL ESPECIALLY AROUND BREEDING TIME.
CHEERS.

[Fishdummy]

Well I just got back from the lfs, and I decided to get a bristlnose pleco and came home with 10 Neon's. I wanted tb's but for some reason, the neons looked so nice to me in the display tank, now I am sort of regretting not grabbing the tiger barbs. Anyhow, what else could I throw with these guys, I want activity in my tank, and hope that the neons school.


Thanks,

AP

[scott]

You could still go with the kribs or some apistos. I don't think the are big or fast enough to inflict any damage on a barb but maybe they might get a neon. Cichlids will be cichlids.;) But hey, if they eat the neons you can get the barbs.;)

[Fishdummy]

I actually seen some kribs at the lfs today, they looked alot nicer in person than the photo's I have seen on the web. That is if I tagged them right, they were in a mixed tank with other stuff, but these looked like the photo's, just in the photo's I didn't really notice that they had quite a bit of irridescent scales, they looked very nice, AND they are on sale, 2.50 each till friday, is that a bargain?


Thanks,
AP

[scott]

That is a good deal. Go for it. Read up on how to sex them and pick out a pair. You will have babies, get to see some great cichlid behavior, and have your neons schooling in no time.

[scott]

Might I also recommend a clown pleco?

[Fishdummy]

Two pleco's?

Okay I will pick up the kribs, I am gonna research how the heck to sex em now then. Thanks scott.


AP

[scott]

No, not two pleco's. I didn't realize you already had one. Just one clown pleco would be perfect for the tank. Just make sure to feed him plenty of fresh frozen veg in addition to algae tablets and have a piece of driftwood in the tank. Sexing them is easy, I can even figure it out. I think you will be very happy with that tank. Good luck.

[Fishdummy]

Looks like one of the kribs has an extra fin under it, is it that simple? I am gonna hurry over to the lfs immediately after work tommorrow, I can't wait.

AP

[Beth]

The male krib has a distinct point at the back of his dorsal fin. The female's dorsal is rounded at the end and has no color on the very end of the dorsal fin. Typically, the female is much more colorful than the male (but, I've read, this is not always the case). There are other differences but those are the most obvious to me.

[scott]

"Some sexual dimorphism makes sexing easy; males have attenuated dorsal and caudal fins marked with eye-spots; females are smaller, more colourful and stocky, with a red/purple colour patch on the belly that deepens at brooding time. Females lack the eye-spots on caudal fins. "

Look for the color patch. If they are "ready to rock and roll", which they should be in a large tank of them, it should be easy to acertain.

[Fishdummy]

Got my Kribs today, I am baffled as to whether I got a pair or two males. I went there and looked at them, they had three left, one had a purplish belly and the others did not, so I got the one with the purplish belly and one of the others. Now, looking back at some of the other sexing tips you guys gave, I am confused because the purple on the belly is the only difference in these two, the fins look exactly the same, just the belly is a noticeable difference. So, do males ever have a red or purple belly?


Thanks,
AP

[Fishdummy]

Okay after further review, the one with the reddish purple belly does have a dorsal fin that is rounded at the end, and the other has a pointy end to it's dorsal fin, the thing that threw me off was they both have the exact same spots on the fins.


I guess I am the proud papa of a new pair of Kribs!! :)


Thanks again for all the help guys,

AP

[scott]

No problem. The reason I stay away from the dorsal fin ID is it is harder to see, especially if they are young and you don't know what you are lookin for.

[mickey]

You could have just asked the guys working at the LFS TO SEX THE KRIBS FOR YOU it would have stopped you wondering wether you had a pair or not ,after all thats what they are there for.
Cheers.

[Fishdummy]

welll I asked his advice and he was more lost than I was. He called over like 3 other guys and none of them seemed to know, I mean, one of them was trying to bs us, but you could tell he was just making stuff up.

[mickey]

Don't you just hate it when the LFS dosn't know his *** from his elbow.
Have you tried a google search on kribs.
Cheers.