I’m in the process of starting up a 65 gallon planted community. My fish plans are :
- 3 pearl gourami
- 2 angels
- 2 blue rams
- A school of cories
- A school of tetras or rasboras
- A pleco, undecided on type yet
Questions:
- Is 2 a good number of angels?
- Which fish would you add first?
- Any other fish you would recommend?
Hello and welcome to AC, EllieAtkin.
So to address a couple of things brought up in this thread so far:
Rams and angels will be fine together. They occupy different levels in the aquarium. Blue rams, however, tend to be delicate and exacting about conditions. I consider blue rams an 'expert' level species. If you don't have any experience in the hobby, I would suggest looking at one of the common
Apistogramma species, like
Apistogramma cacuatoides or
Apistogramma agassizii, or Bolivian rams (
Mikrogeophagus altispinosus) instead of a blue ram (
Mikrogeophagus ramirezi) or any of it's variants, like electric blue rams, gold rams, etc.
FishAddict 74 is right, two angels can be tricky. There's a good chance that one will start bullying the other. I would suggest a single angel as a centerpiece fish to avoid any heartache.
FishAddict74 also has a good point about the angels and pearl gouramis. Angels are semi-aggressive, and pearl gouramis are as peaceful as gouramis get. I suggest making sure your plants and other decorations like driftwood are strategically placed to break-up the line of sight in the tank so that is easier for any bullied fish to get out of the way quickly and easily.
Some tetras and rasboras can be very persistent about picking at longer fins of larger, slower fish, like the extensions on the dorsal, tail and anal fins of angelfish and the long, narrow pelvic fins of both angels and gouramis. This stresses out the larger fish. Serpae tetras and black skirt tetras are a good example of this. When choosing a tetra or rasbora species, make sure you research your schooling fish and get a peaceful species that won't harass the angels and gouramis.
Finally, the pleco. Make sure you know what species your getting and how large it gets. Any of the plecos sold under the moniker "common" pleco are going to get from 10" to 24" (possibly even larger). There are plenty of attractive pleco species that are 6" or less that would do well in this set up. It's worth paying a little extra money to get a pleco that you know is going to do well long term instead of buying a "common" pleco for $6.00 and be stuck with a fish that is going to outgrow your tank and that you very may well not be able to get rid of easily once it does.
WYite