Tank needs some color!

B

bogey77

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Dec 9, 2005
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My tank is a 29 gallon with natural brown substrate and fake plants along with a nice piece of malaysian driftwood. Current inhabitants are 8 Black Neons and 3 Emerald cories.

I need something to add a little color to my tank. I recently bought a male german blue ram that died within a few days. I checked with the LFS and he confirmed that it was a problem with the batch he got from the supplier. Because of my location in rural N. Alabama, I have very few options for getting quality stock and understand that Rams are not very hardy or long lived. I may drive the 60 miles to another fish store and look for rams there. However, I would like to hear some other suggestions or possibilities.

I have looked at Rainbows, Apistos, Bolivian rams, etc on the web. I don't particularly like angelfish or gouramis, so those are out. Any ideas on what would work for me and my tank?

bogey77
 
Im sure ill get corrected if im off, but there are a few breeds of small african cichlid that will fit for size (if your water is up to snuff) of the psuedotrophous (sp) family, hit up the profiles on this site for pics.
Seems like the tetras would school up nice with one or two agressives in their mix...The africans wouldnt be fast enough to catch them i dont beleive-friend has a mostly demasoni tank with 5/6 zebra danios from the cycle, they just can catch em but its fun to watch.

Maybe I am way off, ive just started looking around at africans, so best of luck to you.
 
branflake12 said:
Maybe I am way off, ive just started looking around at africans, so best of luck to you.
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African cichlids need to be kept with fish of their own general kind in hard alkaline water. I wouldn't recommend them in this application.
 
I recommend something to go with what you have. Looks like you have a Amazon biotope in the working. So stick with the tetra fish if you want something small and colorful. There are plenty of tetra with nice coloring, cardinals, bleeding hearts, von rio flames, neons, glowlights, purple emperor (hard to find though), green fire, and my personal favorite, the Silvertip tetra (sometimes mislabled Lemon Tetra). Killifish are a good choice for color, but fairly expensive, as most ive seen run $30 bucks and up for one fish.

If you want something larger, and dont like Gouramis, then may I suggest a breed of Rainbowfish? Suprised Roan didnt. They are all pretty colorful for the most part, but some can grow to 5 inches + in length, so do your homework before buying any. Hope that helps.
 
aquarob said:
If you want something larger, and dont like Gouramis, then may I suggest a breed of Rainbowfish? Suprised Roan didnt. They are all pretty colorful for the most part, but some can grow to 5 inches + in length, so do your homework before buying any. Hope that helps.
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Didn't cause he only has a 29g tank and already has a decent sized school of black neons. Rainbows are very active and the neons would just get in their faces. The neons would end up on the bottom of the tank, mostly hiding and trying to get out of the way of the bows. I've a school of 8 baby millenium rainbowfish in my 36g -- growing them out -- none is over 2" and most are 1½". The neons are on the bottom, hiding and staying out of the way.

One or the other, IME.

I'd go with a non-schooling fish with the current stock.

Roan
 
Maybe you could be patient and get another German blue ram or 2. I would really LOVE a couple of those (but I don't have the room).

Let your local store know that you want them and find out when they will get more.

Also, just wanted to say hello to another Alabama fishkeeper. I'm in Birmingham.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. I was also thinking along the lines of Roan. I really don't want another schooling tetra and I think the rainbows would cause my tetras distress in a small 29 gal tank.

I like the killifish idea, but I'm sure I would have to order them since I live in the sticks.

Yuccapatrol, good to see someone else from Bama on here. Any fish stores in the Birmingham area that you really like? I know of a few in Huntsville that I'm going to make a trip to in the near future, but would like to know of some good ones in B'ham. BTW, I'm going to get another blue ram if I can find some good stock. But I just wanted some options in case that didn't work out.

Thanks everyone,
bogey77
 
Bogey77, I haven't found the perfect fish store, but I like the following:

Aquarium Imports
1941-H Hoover Ct
Hoover, AL 35226

They often have interesting fish that I don't see elsewhere. They are a little expensive, but I've never had one of their fish die on me either. Sometimes their stock is low, but they are also happy to order something

There is another one in Trussville that I like a lot but I can't remember the name and don't have a phone book here to look it up.

I am going to check out another one today if I have time.

But whatever you do, do NOT go to Ed's Petworld! That place is completely disgusting. It is like going into a filthy junk store full of animals. Look between the tanks and you will see years of dead dried up fish that jumped out of their tanks and died right there. That place just creeps me out and I only go there when I am waiting for my wife to get her haircut nearby. I go there only to look and be creeped out
 
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