Stocking ideas for my new 125g tank

[garfz]

Hello everyone. My first post here.


I am upgrading my 40 gallon tank to a new 125 gallon tank (My second 40 gallon tank is currently overstocked due to this change). Planning on aquascaping the new one with high plant density. Got a whole bunch of plants, driftwood, rocks (from the river nearby), substrate, and ferts as well. Will be a couple of months before I introduce fish to this aquarium. I am quite confused about the combination of fishes to keep in the tank. The ideas suggested by the LFS are quite contradictory to what I have read about fish compatibility. One shop suggested a combination of discus, angels, neon tetras, cardinal tetras, rasboras, and german blue rams. But I have read quite a few horror stories about discus and tetras, so do not want to risk this combo. The other combinations sounded downright crazy for a heavily planted tank (e.g. clown loaches, black ghost knife, angels, discus, and cardinal tetras).

 

[verbal]

Discus and a planted tank can be tricky. If you really want to try discus, start with some young ones in the 40.

What about starting with moving your stock from the 40 into the 125?

You mention doing shrimp in the 125, I think usually a smaller tank is a better idea for shrimp. You will likely want fish in the 125 that will eat shrimp, so even if the population remains they will likely be hiding.

 

[Ray1981]

I'm a huge fan of the species only tanks. I would put like a whole bunch of a small schooling fish. Maybe neon tetras, harlequin rasboras, zebra danios or something like that. I think that would look awesome. They look much better in big schools. Anyways that's what I think.

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[Wren]

I like big schools too. Although I do like having a little variety - a couple big schools, or a school and a couple big angels. I have a school of 13 tiger barbs (not even a big school, in my opinion) in my 125 g and they are gorgeous! They are mature,so big and fat. The males have bright red noses. And they are always squabbling among themselves, but don't bother anyone else. I have some rainbows with them too. I really like the combination. I'd not recommend these guys for your planted tank though! Hee hee!

I also don't think clown loaches are good in planted tanks. Mine are big and dig stuff up. I can't keep anything planted in their tank at all.
wren

 

[garfz]

Strangely, the site was not allowing to post my entire message at one go. So broke it up into 3 parts..The other 2 parts are missing from the post. This was the rest of the post

"I was thinking in terms of denisoni barb (currently have 6), cardinal tetras, black neon tetras, rummy nose tetras, rasboras (currently have 6), and german blue rams (current stock of 6) along with red cherry shrimp and amano shrimp. Now I am not sure whether I should get otos, panda corys, or siamese algae eaters. I am also thinking of getting a few dwarf loaches (not able to decide which ones), but am not sure whether they would get along with the shrimp I am planning to keep. I stay in a small town so getting a good selection of fish is difficult and will have to get them on my trips to the metros. So thought that I should plan the stock now and arrange for their delivery over the next two-three months. Need some ideas on what other fish I can keep in this new setup. Also, is it a good idea to introduce the shrimp first (after cycling) and then wait for a month or so before I add other fish? Or can I add any fish at the same time as I introduce the shrimp?"

 

[garfz]

What about starting with moving your stock from the 40 into the 125?

The 40 gallon stock would probably be unsuitable for a planted aquarium. The fish there (BGK and clown loaches especially) wreak havoc on the existing plants in that aquarium. That tank went from a reasonably well planted one to a sparsely planted one in 4 months. Now there are no plants there except a couple of amazons. I plan to move the 6 denisonii barbs, and probably the lone pearl gourami to the new 125g aquarium. From the 40 gallon tank I am replacing, I am going to keep the 6 german blue rams (they were 2 month old juveniles when I purchased them), the 6 harlequin rasboras, the dozen odd neon tetras, and the dozen odd zebras. I am not sure about keeping the pearl gourami with the tetras.
I have never kept shrimp before. I was thinking that since I will mostly be keeping the schooling fishes and the relatively docile fish, the shrimp might survive if they are a reasonable size.

 

[garfz]

@Wren: The tiger barbs do look great, especially their chasing each other around. I had to sadly return my stock of 16 to make home for the juvenile rams. I found that they can grow real fast. I guess I will have to buy them back from the store, assuming they have not yet been sold. Or I can wait till the store gets a fresh stock. I have found it tough keeping rainbows in good condition (Boesemanis, Dwarf Neons, and Australian), so not sure I want to risk them again.

 

[Glabe]

The ideas suggested by the LFS are quite contradictory to what I have read about fish compatibility. One shop suggested a combination of discus, angels, neon tetras, cardinal tetras, rasboras, and german blue rams.

regardless of anything else in the tank... why would anyone plan on stocking neons with cardinals? "these are my pretty tetras, and these are their ugly lookalikes"

 

[garfz]

why would anyone plan on stocking neons with cardinals? "these are my pretty tetras, and these are their ugly lookalikes"

That is because I already have around 12 neon tetras which my LFS gave me some time ago in exchange for a batch of rummy nose tetras that died by the time I got them home. Been keeping the neon tetras in an old 10 gallon aquarium and not in the other 40 gallon aquarium. Did not want to give the BGK and the angels any more nice treats to munch on. :y220d: