The 150: a work in progress.

[dvandevelde1]

I really like the mixed species you have in the tank. All the gouramis is a nice touch. Are you going to add more of them? Have you seen any aggression? Your school of barbs is great as well. What's the total stocking list?

Total stocking list so far is...
A pearl gourami
A flame gourami
A gold gourami
A male and female blue paradise gourami
2 medium Angels
1 smaller angel
3 green tiger barbs
3 Cory cats
A dalmatian molly
A zebra danio
A red eyed tetra
A lace catfish
2 plecos
I will be getting more gouramis and maybe two more Angels. I also really want to replace a clown loach that passed a few weeks ago due to a pretty bad case of ich that was spread through the tank(Damn my local petsmart). That's also why I only have 1 zebra danio and 1 red eyes tetra, all the others died when the tank had ich. All in all I think I will be getting two more gouramis(an opaline and a blue), two more Angels, a clown loach, a yoyo loach, a medium sized school of Cardinal tetras, and maybe 3 more corys. That will be all I think. And to answer your question about aggression.... I don't have much. I did have a betta in here at one time... He died. Him and the male paradise didn't get along too well... The gouramis don't seem to mind each other though.

 

[Belltrain]

Yea I think a display of different gouramis would be awesome. As far as the clown loach goes I think they would want to be in a school of atleast 3. What are you going to do with the tetras and danios? They will want to be in a school as well. You could have a couple seperate schools of tetras, barbs, danios. And centerpiece fish of clown loaches. Tanks going to look awesome, great job on it already.

 

[Zardra77]

Looking good, I like the gourami variety. As for young people in the hobby, your right very few are interested. I work with a young man (20) and he has a nice set up of fish and turtles but he is like the only young person I know. My friend is trying with her 2 boys, and I think my 4 year old daughter is going keep with it so she can possibly be that unicorn at the club.

Keep up the good work, and keep us posted, your tank is already more impressive than I've ever had in the 30 years I've been keeping fish.

 

[fishorama]

OK, I'm gonna go "there" & you may not like it but...You have just 1 or so of many fish that are shoalers & way too much variety in species & compatibility. You have an awesome big tank & a nice layout! please don't do the 1 of each thing, pick a few compatible species by temp &/or temperament (not like now) & make it wonderful! Talk to us before you buy any more & get a focus on where your tank is going...Random is not working now or into the future.

I'm sorry to sound so mean, many (most) of us have been there & hope to help you avoid our mistakes. I mean this in the best possible way even if though sounds harsh. We want to help you suceed!!

 

[dvandevelde1]

OK, I'm gonna go "there" & you may not like it but...You have just 1 or so of many fish that are shoalers & way too much variety in species & compatibility. You have an awesome big tank & a nice layout! please don't do the 1 of each thing, pick a few compatible species by temp &/or temperament (not like now) & make it wonderful! Talk to us before you buy any more & get a focus on where your tank is going...Random is not working now or into the future.

I'm sorry to sound so mean, many (most) of us have been there & hope to help you avoid our mistakes. I mean this in the best possible way even if though sounds harsh. We want to help you suceed!!

I completely understand what you mean. I did though, before the ich, have 5 zebra danios and 4 red eye tetras and 5 mollies. I don't like the one of each thing at all. I will be either rehoming the Tetra, Molly, and zebra danio or I will be adding more zebras mollies and red eyes to the tank. I'm undecided as of right now.

 

[fishorama]

I cried as I typed, maybe still a bit now, sniff. Really, we all want you to have an amazing tank, yours is so much bigger than the 10g most of us started with & I know it's hard to deal with all the choices available. You may want to get a 10g for a quarantine before you add new fish. It'll be well worth the investment, not much at a garage sale but much cheaper that treating your big tank. You have incompatible fish with regard to water hardness, temperature & temperament, they cannot live their full lives that way for long, ich or not.

Before you get any more clown loaches, be aware they get HUGE (at least 10 inches!) & need to be kept in a group or 6 or more...sorry, again, I'm a loach nut.

 

[dvandevelde1]

I cried as I typed, maybe still a bit now, sniff. Really, we all want you to have an amazing tank, yours is so much bigger than the 10g most of us started with & I know it's hard to deal with all the choices available. You may want to get a 10g for a quarantine before you add new fish. It'll be well worth the investment, not much at a garage sale but much cheaper that treating your big tank. You have incompatible fish with regard to water hardness, temperature & temperament, they cannot live their full lives that way for long, ich or not.

Before you get any more clown loaches, be aware they get HUGE (at least 10 inches!) & need to be kept in a group or 6 or more...sorry, again, I'm a loach nut.

6 loaches? Wow. I didn't know they were meant to be in large groups. Anyway, I forget where I was reading but I read something along the lines of "because the breeders and local fish store don't specialize their water parameters to the species of fish, keeping them all together is fine because it's the water they've always been kept in" idk how wrong that is but...

 

[fishorama]

It's not that the fish drop dead from "wrong" water hardness, temp, etc although some die from sudden changes in osmotic pressure pretty fast. It can shorten their lives & make them more disease prone. Sometimes they can't breed or eggs can't hatch. Kept too cold, fish maybe sluggish, too hot kinda speeds up their metabolism & can shorten lives.

Gouramis often don't get along with other gourami species or angels. Tiger barbs may nip either. Barbs, danios, tetras & corys (& many loaches) are shoaling species, 6 of 1 species is a minimum for normal behavior, more is better, you have lots of room.

Paradise fish are colder temperature. Mollies do better in hard water