Help With Stocking Ideas??

[Aqualung]

Hello, I am new to this forum. I'm not totally new to the hobby, but consider myself a newbie. As a kid I kept two tanks (a 20 and a 10 gal.) and even did a bit of breeding (accidental at first, but then I got into it). I ended up with lots of beautiful color phase platies......haven't seen any others with the samw color ever. Anyway, that's a different story.....I plan on starting a couple of tanks up this year, and have been doing some research. It's amazing how much the hobby seems to have changed since I was younger (and I'm only 25!).

I plan on having two 50 and one 90 gallon tank. Now I don't plan on starting them all up at once, and I won't start any for a while since I don't even have a tank yet. Just want to research and plan ahead so I don't have too many problems.....so right now everything is hypothetical.

I noticed that people seem to be stocking far less fish in their aquariums than what use to be considered average. I assume this is for easier maintenance and overall better health of the system. Do these stocking plans seem excessive? I am guessing I may have to scale back. How about compatability? Any and all suggestions are appreciated. Of course some of these fish are a bit hard to come by, so there will inevitably be some changes.

50 gallon: 4 marbled hatchetfish
2 pygmy gouramis
6 endler's livebearers
8 otos (preferably zebras)
6 pygmy corydoras
8 glolight tetras (albino)

50 gallon: 2 dwarf black stripe cichlids
4 killifish (blue gularis)
6 danios (red glow)
8 otos
8 panda corydoras (stripe tailed)
4 shadow catfish

90 gallon: 4 german blue rams
2 red cockatoo cichlids
12 gold neon tetras
4 killifish (golden lyretail panchax)
4 zebra plecos
4 angelicus loaches
8 otos


So....any initial problems with this list? Too many fish? Any compatibility issues? Thanks!

[PumaWard]

Well, they don't look horrble to me. The only thing I would change is your planned stocking for the 90g. I would either get 2 pairs of rams, or a pair of rams and a trio (1m/2f) of cockatoo cichlids. The only reason I say that is if you go with 2 pairs of rams and a trio of cockatoos, one of the pairs is probably going to be killed or harassed 23/7. The cockatoo females will also be aggressive toward each other.

A pair of cockatoos won't work all that well, it might, but they are generally a polygamous specie so there should be more females than males.

HTH

[Aqualung]

Thank you for the reply, Pumaward. Your input is much appreciated. Due to your reply and some additional research I have decided to change the current stocking plan for the 90 to 2 rams and a trio of cockatoos. Hopefully this combination will work out well.

I have been looking through my old aquarium books and I had forgotten what an endless assortment of fish there are to choose from:p Still I like the overall scheme of my plans and don't plan to change too much if at all possible.

One thing concerns me a little though...........my references say killifish are only suitable for monospecies setups. Is my concern valid or should the killifish get along with the other species? I realize my books are a bit outdated, perhaps the information is not totally accurate:confused:

[Ryoken]

Ahh, you can keep certain killies in community setups, and the 2 you picked would probably be okay, but: The blue gularis (F. sjoestedti) get 5, 5.5 inches long (and they're all mouth) so they might eat the danios in the 50. I'm willing bet that the gularis will nip/bother/kill the Dwarf Gouramis as well.

I assume the golden lyretail are A. Australe? If so, they might harass the neons to death, although I have seen some pretty docile Australe.

Most killies are pretty aggresive (and you even picked some less aggresive types, but..) and will become territorial with anything they can push around. IME they eventually chase and nip at the victim nonstop until it dies from stress, carpet surfing ect. The males also chase the females quite often, and sometimes the males kill each other...

Bottom line with killies is that in most cases you wont know until you try it, so I'd have a backup plan in case it goes wrong. Killies reputation as species only is a bit overblown, but it is a lot safer that way.

[Captain Hook]

I don't think your stocking levels are high at all. I just got my first pair of killiefish but I can offer some input. My A. Australe pair are very peaceful and get along well with other tankmates. They are in with endler's, including a few small fry, but have left all of them alone. Although I should note the killi pair are still fairly young fish.

[Aqualung]

There seems to be some conflicting info available on the net. When I originally put my plan together I was going by a source which said the killifish could be kept in community tanks, but elsewhere it says different. Also, I didn't know the blue gularis could get that large. Perhaps I will look into other species. The danios I don't really have my heart set on, so I could eliminate those if need be.

The golden lyretails I mentioned are in fact A. Australe. Captain - good to hear yours are peaceful so far. I am hoping I will be able to keep these without problems because I love the vibrant colors.

I still have lots more research to do! I just wanted to get a good idea of what I want for fish before deciding on how to go about setting up each tank. Thanks very much for the help everyone!

[snakeskinner]

I agree with the conflicting info. Many people say not to put more than one male and one female in a tank yet I see numerous people with 3 and 4 rams listed in their sig's and I had a guy over at the cichlid forum tell me he used to have a 90 gallon with 30 rams in it and never had problems. He advised that I could put about 6 in my 55 community and never have any damage done since they never actually fight, just bluff eachother. It's hard to decide who's advice to follow since everyone has different experiences or different tastes. Plus it all depends on the particular fish. I just keep having to remember, fish have individual personalities just like people so no matter if every other book, website or person tells you one way, it can always go the other. good luck on your reintroduction to aquariums, I am loving it after a long "fishless drought". Kyle

[tomm10]

The only thing I wanted to add is that I would put more pygmy cories in the 50. They do tend to school pretty well and they love to be in numbers. I had 6 and am down to 5 but am seriously considering get 3 or 4 more. They're so tiny (only and inch tops) that in a tank that big adding a few more won't make too much more of a difference in bioload or swimming space. But I'm biased because I love the little guys.

Tom