fish for 30 gal.?

[andyt1286]

What kind of fish would be nice in a 30 gal.? I have a 7 japanese medakas, which are nonagreessive and abou 1 1/2 inches. I am thinking along the lines of cichlid, angelfish, needlefish, gourami. Thank!

andy

[carpguy]

You're thinking about fish that tend to be aggressive and territorial.

I'd nix the angel straight out because of the height thing. 30s are on the shortish side of the coin. (Personally I like the 30 -- my humble tank is a 30 -- but angels should have more up and down).

Cichlids are a big (BIG) category. You might want to narrow it down a bit if you want useful feedback. There are a number of smaller cichlids that I think are stunning and extremely interesting fish, but they aren't something I know all that much about. Some species may or may not be able to cohabitate with some gouramis, but it could just as easily be a bad thing.

Gouramis are great fish, but a spawning pair can dominate a tank that size. I have one pair (of pearls) and I'm happy with them, but I wouldn't add any fish that I thought might compete with them for territory (mostly near the surface). I keep them mostly with rasbora and loaches and everyone is happy. The loaches own the bottom and the rasbora wander around aimlessly.

If you're talking about this needlefish (http://www.aquariacentral.com/species/db.cgi?db=fresh&uid=default&ID=0392&view_records=1), they get awfully big and will probably eat your medakas…

The medakas, BTW, seem like very cool little fish. Never heard of them before, but very cool.

[Dragon_Lord_Tia]

try 1-3 lemon cichlids(neolamprologus leleupi) from lake tanganyika
along with 2-3 regans julies(julidochromis regani) or any smaller fish from that genus would be good.
some brichardi(neolamprologus brichardi) not sure on there aggressiveness but from the same lake.