Stocking 75 Gallon Community (Breeding Feeder Fish for O?)

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twodaend

AC Members
Jun 28, 2006
80
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Alsip, IL
Well I convinced my wife to do a community tank with some live breeders in it for me in which I can give the fry to my O when they get bigger. I presented her the idea of getting another 75 gallon so that we will have 2. One for my O and 4 SD's and the other as a community tank (a separate 15 will be for raising some of the fry to be large enough to be feeders) When I told her that we would have the same kind and they would "MATCH", that did the trick. Hopefully nature will handle what I choose not to raise as feeders so that should work out for me.

Ok, now on to what I should stock the tank with. I haven't gotten anything yet. I plan on using the same kind of pool filter sand that is in my O's tank (possibly a little more) and I will use either 1 or both of the AC110 on the O's tank and replace them with a Rena X3, but not before letting the BB build up in the Rena first.

I'm looking to have full tank with lots of life, color, and movement. So far my stocking list looks like this:
1 male betta
2 Angel Fish
1 Bolivian Ram
8 tiger barbs (maybe)
4 mollies (1 male, 3 females, mixed colors)
2 sword tails (maybe, 1 male, 1 females, mixed colors)
4 platties (1male, 3 females, mixed colors)
3 cory cat

Tiger barbs and sword tails are not a definite yet. TB may pick the fins of my betta and angel, but I heard they usually won’t in larger groups. The swordtails look similar to the platties without the tail.

I really would like some inverts as well (hopefully at least 1). I did not know there where FW inverts. I'm still reading about them, so I'm open to any and all suggestion on them. I really like the Blue Lobster and the Flower and Fire shrimps. From doing reading on the Blue Lobster, I’m getting mixed opinions on them. Some say they will eventually eat my fish, especially at night when they are on the bottom, and others say they only eat smaller slow moving fish.

Inverts
Lobster (choose of 1 hopefully)
Hammers Cobalt Blue Lobster
Red Lobster

Shrimp (choose of 1 hopefully)
Ghost shrimp
Flower shrimp
Fire shrimp

Snails (not sure)

Thanks a lot for all the help
 

jm1212

Pterophyllum scalare
Jul 22, 2006
23,652
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Real Name
Jon
everything is fine except the mollies, platies, swordtails and the tiger barbs.
the livebearers need harder water then the angelfish. rams, and betta, and they also are very prolific (they breed alot), so youre going to have alot of fry if you mix genders. also, male mollies and especially male swords can get agressive if they do not have enough females to distract them from the other fish. you have the right idea, 1 male, 3 females, but they still may pick at the slower tankmates like the angel and betta. i have had no problems with platies in the past, and as a matter of fact they are very nice fish, but they need hard water like the others and they breed very, very much and sometimes will even breed with the swordtails.
the tiger barbs will be agressive towards the angel and betta and nip the fins no matter what you do and no matter how many fish their are in the school. having more fish in the school only distributes agression to more fish, it does not eliminate it. each of the tigers will take a quick dash at the angel and betta now and again, and rip their fins. the rule is not to put angels, discus, bettas, tetras, and gouramis with tiger barbs because the all have long fins of some kind that can be nipped, and tetras could get picked on by the tigers, especially ones with very long fins such as diamonds.
the corydoras may get in the way of the ram now and again, but if it does not go into "breeding mode" they should be fine.
you could modify your plan into three, with more fish suited to the ones you put.

PLAN A.
1. 4 angels
2. 2-3 rams
3. a school of 10-14 larger tetras (black skirts, diamonds, bleeding hearts etc.)
4. you might be able to get away with a small school of 4-6 marbled or silver hatchets
5. 6 corydoras
6. betta (be careful with this one, as some people have had lots of trouble with agressive bettas)

PLAN B.
1. 20 tiger barbs (there are three color morphs that are not dyed, regular, green, and red (albino)
2.6 corydoras

PLAN C.
1. 2 male mollies and 6 females
2. 2 males swords and 6 females
3. 2 male platies and 6 females
4. 4-6 corydoras
NOTE: you can change around the ammount of livebearers i put, but you need to keep the ratio 1:3 (for example, 1 male molly and 3 females, and then 3 male swords and 9 females) to keep agression down between the males

i would also go with the shrimp, and i would start out with ghost shrimp (since they are cheap) and see how long you can keep them alive before getting the more expensive ones (not counting the ones your fish may eat lol)
 
Last edited:

twodaend

AC Members
Jun 28, 2006
80
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Alsip, IL
Just wanted to give an update on this topic. I now have the tank setup and running. So now I have my O and SD's in a 75 gallon and she has a 75 gallon community tank. Right now, we have it stocked with 8 various mollies (all female), 2 platies (1 male, 1 female) and 1 crown tail betta. 2 male mollies will be added in about a week.

This morning I checked on the tank and I saw about 5 fry from 1 of the black mollies. I see them hiding and try to stay out of site, but I can't believe it already I have fry. I think I need to make a few more hiding places with plants, but for now I'm amazed.

Right now, they are very small. I was wondering what is the growth rate for mollies? I'm just going to leave them in the tank and let nature take it course.
 

wataugachicken

The Dancing Banana
Jul 14, 2005
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Charlotte, NC
i'm glad you didn't add any of the angels or barbs. aside from their aggression issues, they probably would have eaten every single fry in the tank.
 
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