Lights!

A good start, agreed. Adding more cardinals (aim for 8+), and a dark background (black construction paper works very well, I use this on my small and medium tanks), and some floating plants will bring out the cardinals. These fish occur in very dim waters and in fact have what one source terms a light phobia.

Byron.

Nocturnus said:

I plan to add more once the tank gets cycled. I want a good group of them and I'll be putting some angelfish in (getting ~6 dime-nickel sized) to start. See if any pair off later, move a pair to another tank and rest to the LFS. I'd love to do clowns again, but not sure. I'll prob go with otto's and Corys for the bottom.

Would Rams be to nippy with the Angels?

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What size is this tank?

Nocturnus said:

65 Gallon

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OK, a shoal of angelfish would work then. Angelfish may eat, or attempt to eat, cardinals [and before others start nay-saying this, it is a fact but not a certainty]. Clowns presumably means clown loach, and this tank is too small for them, unless a 6-foot or larger tank is in the immediate future.

The rams and angels can work, but assuming you mean the common blue ram, a temp of 80F or higher is best for this species. While the angels can manage with that [wild caught angels need this, but tank-raised fish are OK at normal temps around 77-78F] many corys cannot. The "warm" temp species like C. sterbai and a few others are OK.

Byron.

FreshyFresh said:

Wouldn't 6 angels be a bit much for 65g?

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That is a good observation Joel. TBH, I missed the number previously. But now that you've mentioned it...here the fish are not "permanent," as there will certainly be pairs forming (assuming the six juvenile fish result in male and female of course) long before the angels are anywhere near their max size, and Nocturnus indicates the pair will be moved and the rest removed elsewhere. So in this case, it can work up to that point.

Byron.