Major tank change... suggestions please

[ROLLIN]

Soon I will be moving my 66 gallon from the bedroom to the living room. When I do I think I am going to take the fish that are in it to the lfs (jack dempsey, sailfin pleco). One fish that will be going in for sure is a female blue gourami from another tank, other than that it will be empty. I think for my main school of fish, I might put something like 15 - 20 zebra danios, then I might buy a few more blue gouramis. I would like to keep an asian theme, but it doesnt really matter. Id like suggestions from you about what to put in it, and what would you do if it were your tank?

pH: 7.4
Filter: aquaclear 500
Hardness: dont know
Substrate: regular gravel
Dimensions: 48"x16"x20"

[downloader]

Have two or three schools of fish, zebras, neons, rasboras. Then have another school of corys for a clean up crew.

[JP457]

i would go with some type of rainbowfish

[luvthesea]

In staying with the Asian theme you could Keep some sort of loach as a bottom feeder...yo yo loaches, dwarf chain loaches, zebra loaches, kuhli loaches, even clown loaches if you are prepared for them growing quite large (although that takes a bit of time as they are slow growers). Other schooling fishes could be cherry barbs, rosy barbs, Black ruby barbs, other danios like Pearls and leopards, etc.

[demon_surfer]

you could try and get some female bettas, they are imho prettier than the males and intresting to watch. They are in keeping wiht your asian theme too =)

[delmore]

Originally posted by ROLLIN
...I might put something like 15 - 20 zebra danios, then I might buy a few more blue gouramis.

You can do better. If you want to have a tank that will knock people's socks off, go with african cichlids from lake malawi -Mbunas. Then again, if you want plants in the tank they are not a good option.

See:

http://www.africancichlids.net/malawi.html

Another tank that I like is SA theme - not a biotope:
*8-12 cories, most of the same type
*a nice size school of Neons
*glowlight tetras
*swordtails for color - the green "originals" are good if you can find good stock
*maybe a keyhole cichlid (or two if there is plenty of room)
*lots of floating plants and planted (consider the red flourite substrate)

Good luck!

[ROLLIN]

Thanks for the suggestions. The only mbunas I have seen here have been kennyis, auratus and electric yellows. I dont really like live bearers. I like the female betta idea. Hmm now to decide...


EDIT: Theres not a very good selection of fish here, so rainbows are out. I like the loach idea, and also the zebra danio idea. My fish budget is pretty limited so I need cheap fish.

[ROLLIN]

Maybe I'll go away from the asian theme a bit and add 6 small angels...

[Alex]

Don't forget Rasboras and most Barbs are Asian/Indonesian.

Alex