View Full Version : what fish in planted tank
55fresh
06-12-2009, 6:25 PM
what fish does everyone keep in their planted tanks? I have seen the Black Kuhlii Loach and like it, possibly a gourami? I would like to have a variety in there, but nothing that gets too big.
55fresh
06-12-2009, 7:39 PM
shrimp only? or can fish and shrimp survive together?
Flying_Diamond
06-12-2009, 7:46 PM
you could keep almost anything in a planted tank, it just depends on what size the tank is. and yes, shrimp and fish can live together if the fish isn't big enough to eat the shrimp. you could keep livebearers, tetras, gouramis, cichlids, loaches, and catfish in planted tanks, just to name a few.
what size is your tank though, what plants do/are you going to have, and what fish interest you? there are many varieties of gouramis you could keep if that's what you're interested in.
55fresh
06-12-2009, 7:52 PM
like I mentioned above the only fish that I have seen that I like is the loach above. I havent looked that much yet. the tank is a 55g. not sure about the plants just yet. I know that I dont want any aggressive fish in there as I am about to take a chiclid(sp?) back to the LFS.
Flying_Diamond
06-12-2009, 8:09 PM
well you could easily keep 6+ kuhli loaches in a 55g planted tank, depending on what else you'd like to put in there. and you get just about any gourami you'd like. i have an opaline gourami in my 55g, and although they can be known to be aggressive occasionally, i keep mine with very small and peaceful fish and he's no problem at all. they get about 6". you could also get one or two schools of tetras and a pair of rams or apistos. you could get angels. you have a lot of possibilities with a 55 gallon tank and only some kuhlis in it.
SMinNC
06-12-2009, 9:31 PM
In my 55g I have.
20+ neons
8 harleys
12 corys
2 flame tetras
some otos
1 guppy
clb2196
06-12-2009, 9:57 PM
Cardinal tetras are a must for me in a planted tank. They just look so gorgeous in there! I'd say some cories too, and the loaches should be fine.
bazil323
06-15-2009, 1:08 PM
I like schoolers for planted tanks. You have to have more fish to have a real school (at least 10 IMHO), so you get a better view when looking at a heavily planted tank. When you only have a couple fish or ones that hide, it can be somewhat boring.
In my 2.5g planted, I only have a nerite snail to get after the algae bloom from overdosing my ferts (my advice is to read the label properly, lol!).
In my 20g long at home, I have 6 scarlet badis which hide all the time (had them for about 1-1/2 weeks) and between 6 and 8 exclamation point rasboras (little suckers are hard to count and had several of the 12 I bought die in shipping). I also have cherry shrimp, amano shrimp, and zebra nerite snails in there. It was originally a cherry shrimp/pond snail/ramshorn snail breeder for my puffer fish, but all my snails mysteriously disappeared! This was before the introduction of the fish and after the introduction of amano shrimp and some new plants. I have no idea why they all died. They were thriving for almost a year and then one day I realized that I hadn't seen them for a while, and when I looked closer I couldn't see any at all!
Anyway, my 75g community is slowly being turned into a planted community tank. Of all the fish, I love the diamond tetras best. I had a school of 19, but my breeding kribs bullied them and I'm down to 16. I liked the kribs, but I have learned the hard way to not keep breeding pairs in a community. Females only for me! Also, honey gouramis are lovely, but again, I would not do breeding groups if you have other fish in there.
I have a planted 55g.
I have Danios, Cherry Barbs, Corydoras and a Bulldog pleco.
... and some ghost shrimp. The shrimp were quite scared of the activity the first few weeks- but they've adapted well and are out and about most of the time now.
All of these would be compatible with Kuhli loaches. Infact, were I able to locate banded Kuhlis locally I would have got some. I almost went with the black Kuhlis instead- but decided to get extra Corys when I couldn't find any banded Kuhlis.
Gourami would likely kill and eat shrimp... unless you go with one of the more peacefull species of Gourami. Which type of Gourami did you have in mind?
smartdog126
06-15-2009, 1:29 PM
you could keep almost anything in a planted tank, it just depends on what size the tank is. and yes, shrimp and fish can live together if the fish isn't big enough to eat the shrimp. you could keep livebearers, tetras, gouramis, cichlids, loaches, and catfish in planted tanks, just to name a few.
what size is your tank though, what plants do/are you going to have, and what fish interest you? there are many varieties of gouramis you could keep if that's what you're interested in.
chiclids dont eat shrimp? i thought they would they ate my pond snail lol
Cichlids, even dwarf ones will eat shrimp.
As will most loaches for that matter... Kuhli loaches are safe because they have small mouths- but a Clown Loach would have no hesitation.
Flying_Diamond
06-16-2009, 1:26 AM
i wasn't listing types of fish that are compatible with shrimp. i said you could keep all those types of fish in a planted tank. i just didn't order my paragraph correctly and i believe it confused you.
55fresh
06-17-2009, 2:13 AM
no specific gourami as of yet. Im going to switch out the substrate before I get serious about the inhabitants