Plannin new tank - need advice...

[guzzijason]

Hi everyone,

Soon I hope to start putting a new tank together. At this point, I'm thinking of a fully planted 75 gallon.

I'm trying to put together a strategy for this, but it seems I'm hung up on one basic little problem - I can't quite decide exactly what fish to build the tank for!

There are 2 fish that I *really* like - bala sharks and angelfish. Obviously, these are very different types of fish, and I'm going by the assumption that they won't get along together, so I may have to go one way or the other, or perhaps in a completely different direction that I haven't considered yet! Whew... I've been overthinking this *way* too much lately!

Other than the fact that this will be a planted tank, a couple other things that I'm sure of is that it will contain a few apple snails (bridgesii), 1 or 2 plecos (leaning towards common plecos), and perhaps a a few other bottom dwellers to be dertermined later.

My main dilemma is deciding on what fish will be the main focal point.

Right now, I'm sort of leaning towards doing a group of 4-5 balas and a group of 7-10 tiger barbs. I think they would work well together, but I just can't shake this odd desire I have to keep some angels as well (and a seperate species tank is not an option for me now).

Any advice? Does what I'm planning make sense for a tank of this size? And if I nix the barbs from the equation, is there a chance that the balas and angels will be able to get along with each other, assuming I can somehow aquascape in enough cover for the angels, and enough swimming space for the balas?

TIA,

__Jason

[LMOUTHBASS]

well you've got some good ideas !!! here's my thoughts -
75 is a nice size tank ! but plecos can get huge i woul only keep 1 - balas also will get very large and a school might outgrow your tank in time - angels ahhhhhhhhh my favorite they are gracefull , fun and awesome to watch especially when they want to eat!!! they will tear through whatever you feed them - they also have TONS of personality - get them when they are young and you will have an awesome time waching them grow in your tank plus they like plants and do not harm them! maybe you'll even get a pair! plus IME they mis well with most other fish heres some of the fish i keep with mine - clown loaches, pleco, cories,rainbow fish,gouramis,platies, swordtails, silver dollars -for the most part i've heard they don't like fast moving fish but i've found as long as they have room which in your tank they will they will be fine! the only dis advantage no neons or other small tetras they will eat them when they get bigger!
balas to me just look like shiners (fish we sometimes bait when fishing) kinda boring at leat with angels you can get different strains and you'll get a VERY INTERESTING fish!
let us know how you make out
my vote go angels - ps if you do no tiger barbs thoguh!

[guzzijason]

Nope... no tiger barbs with the angels - that's for sure! If I went with the angels, I'd probably choose tankmates such as rainbowfish and gouramies, as you noted.

I think that these types of fish would allow me to create a much more attractive aquascape than if I went with the balas. Definitely something I'm keeping in mind when I ultimately make my decision.

Thanks!

[Dangerdoll]

My vote is for the Angels as well, I love them. And the more complete a group of them, the better. The can be such little clowns. Beware if you get one, two or three though as there can be a potential for aggressive behavior. It's far better to have 4+ and you'll have the room for them. I've kept pretty much the same as below with mine at different times, and have also had various other loaches and cories, bolivian and german rams, a raphael cat, RTS as well as rainbows..... They're quite adaptable as a community fish but as LMB warned, they are not for some of the smaler tetras as the Agels are a tetras predator in the wild.

[WarriorZ]

I have a 150G tank with 6 large angles (fav), and 4 large Balas (8"). They all get along just fine. But the Balas are easly spooked, just by walking by the tank. Thats the only thing I don't like about them. They look so cool full grown.

Good luck

[zin]

From my experiance common plecos favor live plants.
youd probably be better off with some BN plecos