55 gallon tank

[allaboutfish]

seriously? ive always heard blood parrots where barely aggressive at all. and if they were aggressive they couldnt hurt anybody bc of their mouths. i dont think the eel will change anything. ive been researching them and they seem to be very peaceful but will eat any fish that can fit in their mouth and they hide alot in the substarate and such.

 

[allaboutfish]

would 1-2 female convicts work or could they hybridize with the cutteri?

 

[RazzleFish]

AAF, I think you need to consider what you have now before planning out crazy stocks. You already have the cutteri pair so let's go with that as a starting point. Then you have the BNs right? So the two cutteri and 3 BNs. I'd stick with something along these lines:

2 Cutteri
3 Bristle Nose Plecos
10 Black Skirt Tetra (or similar)

IMO adding another cichlid to the tank would cause a pretty big issue. Having to deal with a breeding pair of cichlid would be difficult at best and I just can't see a single FM, BP or Slavini being able to put up with a breeding pair of cutteris for a long period of time.

 

[allaboutfish]

AAF, I think you need to consider what you have now before planning out crazy stocks. You already have the cutteri pair so let's go with that as a starting point. Then you have the BNs right? So the two cutteri and 3 BNs. I'd stick with something along these lines:

2 Cutteri
3 Bristle Nose Plecos
10 Black Skirt Tetra (or similar)

IMO adding another cichlid to the tank would cause a pretty big issue. Having to deal with a breeding pair of cichlid would be difficult at best and I just can't see a single FM, BP or Slavini being able to put up with a breeding pair of cutteris for a long period of time.

could i still do the peacock eel? he's like the main thing i want if i can have him.

 

[RazzleFish]

I would say no to the eel. Personally I wouldn't keep one in anything less than a 75 as they can reach up to 12 inches. In addition you would have to remove the tetras in my stock to make room bioload-wise for it. But even so, that creates your entire stock mainy at the bottom of your tank.

 

[allaboutfish]

oh... what if i removed a pleco? is there anyway to make him fit in? if not are there any personable schooling fish?

 

[allaboutfish]

ive read that theyre generally 6 inches and if they get to 12 its not like regular fish bc theyre flexible so are still able to turn around. depending on how fast they grow, i might have a 75 gallon by then anyway.

 

[RazzleFish]

Even in an empty tank, I wouldn't do an eel. IMO the tank has to be at least 2 or 3 inches deeper than the fish is long but that's just my opinion. Both my skirts and black phantoms are fairly personable. But IMO the black ruby barbs are much more interested in the outside of the tank than either of the tetras. They are a little hard to come by but I think they would work perfectly with the cutteri and BNs. They are more than fast enough to keep out of harms way but are still colorful and they do school fairly well.

Addition: I always stock based on the maximum size rather than the average. Given the space there is no reason to say they can't reach their full 12 inches.

 

[allaboutfish]

darn! i liked its snake-like appearence and that it would burrow. are rainbows personable? ill look for black ruby barbs though too.
EDIT; the barbs looked a little too plain. id want something more colorful.

 

[allaboutfish]

could i take out a shortfin green bristlenose pleco, and get a couple of khuli louches? since theyre kind of snake like and the burrow?