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I think I have made a decision on my tank inhabitants

2 Keyhole Cichlids
2 Festivums
6 YOYO Loaches
10 Pencilfish
10 Black Neons This is the only thing I am not 100% sure about because I really like color and if I can find soemthing that has more color that works just as well I might use something else.
16 Cories (6-8 of each species... or more) pandas are becoming morea and more readily azailable around here i think so I might get a school of Pandas or Juliis and maybe a school of skunks. Unless I can find some Corydoras polystictus, then I might change my mind to a school of those and a school of skunks, which I have not really seen the skunks around here either.
1 Clown Pleco unless I find a Queen Arabesque, or even better a Butterfly Pleco, which I HIGHLY doubt I will find either of those.


Christina

Figure eight puffers are not freshwater and do not belong in a community tank. They require brackish water to survive long term. No puffer really belongs in a community tank anyway. Dwarf puffers are a possibility but usually end up at least destroying their tankmates fins one day if not killing several tankmates. They also aren't very fast and can be very difficult to feed in a community tank of fast schooling fish. Yoyo loaches will eat snails as well or better than a puffer without causing any of those problems.

if u get angles then get them when there babes so they wont eat tetras or small fish they were around oh and for the snail problem i would say.... puffers (for me a figure 8 puffer)

I think I'd leave out the congos considering the size of the other fish and the type of tank your thinking of going for. Lots of small schooling fish would look quite dwarfed and hidden when compared to congo tetras. Originally in my 55g I had 8 congos, a few emperor tetras, 4 panda cory, 4 yoyos, 1 pleco, and a blue gourami. It looked pretty good since emperors are not schooling and scattered around in the areas the congos didn't use. You definitely want at least 6 of each cory and loach species you choose but finding either pandas or yoyos here is near impossible so I'm still working on those schools. Now in the 90g I've added threadfin rainbows and several smaller plecos but I think in any smaller tank and without a huge school of threadfins you wouldn't notice them because of the size of the congos. 1 school of black neons might work as they are a bit bigger and more colorful as well as a very different and contrasting color to the congos. If you put in 1 very large school of black neons or similar sized and brightly colored fish and 1 school of congos that would probably be it for schooling fish and I definitely wouldn't add something as large as angels to that mix. If you want lots of activity and different schools as well as other mid swimming fish I would stick with the smaller schooling fish.

Hi Christina,
I think your stock list there looks
great!
I would go with 2 festivum and 2 keyholes.
That way you can see how they interact with
another of their kind.
Congo Tetras- these are a very large tetra- think
about the same size as a large male pearl gourami if
youve seen one, or about 4 inches.
If you lessened the schools of pencils to 6 and the glowlights to 6, you could probably go with a small school of 6 Congos. They are gorgeous and of course suited to your tank, but do occupy a great deal of space.


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I think I liek that list, Poison.
Would I be okay if I had 2 festivum? I wasn't sure if I could have two.
I don't care so much about the cories schooling really I just like the different types of cories really.
The only thing I haven't decided on at theis point is what type of pleco. I loke the clown plecos but I was going to put onf of those in my 25 gallon tank. I am trying not to have any of the same fish in each of the different tanks. Would there be another pleco that would fit better in my 25 gallon? I really do not have room for a piece of driftwood in the tank.

2 Keyhole Cichlids
1-2 Festivums
6-8 YOYO Loaches
10 Pencilfish
10 Glolight or cardinals
12-16 Cories (6-8 of each species... or more)
1 Pleco (clown, BN, queen arabesque (sp?), etc... something small, but cute )
Of course I will have a cute pleco! I would NEVER have one that wasn't cute!!!

No one ever gave me an answer about congo tetras. I think they are pretty and thought abotu putting them in this tank, but no one ever gave me an answer on whether or no that was a good idea.
I just need to make my final decisions I guess.
Oh yea, I have a few minor things I still need to get. As soon as I move and have my stand built, Iwill get that stuff and Set it up. I will try to do a post on it when I set it up too. I am oging to need lots of help on the aquascaping.


Christina

Poison's right. Your plec -should- be cute.
My clown is downright adorable.
I've been looking at bulldog plecs (chaetosoma sp., if my little book is correct) for my next 'small fish' tank. They look pretty interesting too, but not quite so 'cute'. Farlowellas are pretty peaceful, and they're a real conversation-starter.
And they've got pretty eyes.

______________
Cake or death?

With multiple schools of cories, make sure that you've got atleast 6 of each species, otherwise they'll feel intimidated and school in one big group, and it completely defeats the purpose of mutliple schools...

I'd personally do 2 schools of 10 each (probably pandas and delphax or agasazzi), but 6-8 of each species would be just fine. The more you've got, the more seperate the schools will be, an' the happier the cories will be, an' the bigger the chance they'll breed

I USED to have a couple decent sized schools in my 29, but hydrogen sulfide wiped half of them out I'm getting more sometime, but not sure exactly when...

My ideas for a stock list -

2 Keyhole Cichlids
1-2 Festivums
6-8 YOYO Loaches
10 Pencilfish
10 Glolight or cardinal tetras
12-16 Cories (6-8 of each species... or more)
1 Pleco (clown, BN, queen arabesque (sp?), etc... something small, but cute )

I'd definately put some driftwood in, an' put in at least a few plants for the cories an' loaches to play/hide/breed in. Some of the lower light aponogetons would work, as would most crypts. Java moss, java fern, hornwort, anacharis, etc wouldn't be a problem in low light either.

Have fun

I think your much better off with the keyholes than the angels. Tank size and angels is a tricky think. If your tank isn't really going to be scaped with pieces of driftwood, rock and alot of plants than a 55 obviously is plenty big, up if your going to do all those things, within a year those angels are going to look really crowded and it will take away from anything you've done with the tank scaping-wise. I'm not that familiar with festivims, I usually don't see those put in the mix you have. Make sure they are soft water and not aggressive.

My Scapes

Anyone know a way I can find Bolivian Rams? I cannot find them ANYWHERE!


Help!

Christina

Well, I am still ahving trouble finding the Bolivian Rams, I guess I will ahve to request them from my LFS. I hope they can get them... I also have a feeling that I am going to have to do that with the Keyholes and possibly some other fish as well.

I went to Petsmart the other day and talked to a close friend of mine that has worked there for a few years now. I asked her if they still sold Keyhole Cichlids there and she had NO clue what I was talkign about. Keep in mind that she seems to think that she knows everything about fish just because she works in the fish department at some big chained pet store. *Rolls Eyes* I just had to laugh because that is not the first time I have asked her about a fish and she had no idea what I was talking about. That goes to show you that just because you have experience with something doesn't mean you know EVERYTHING about something... Now if I could just get her to realize that she doesn't know everything...


Christina

Common, but since you didnt specify I assumed. my bad, hey i migrated my tank today
not sure about the mortality of the babies yet.

What kind of pleco did you have though? Some of them are wors than that tan others. I have seen some tips on how to keep your plants in the substrate to keep them from uprooting them. Like I said I would love to have a scribble pleco and since they only get to be like 2.8 inches I doubt he will be able to do much damage to the plants, especially if I add him last after all of my plants have rooted themselves down into the gravel. I just love plecos so I must have one. I am of course still tryign to decide what I want for sure so who knows what I will end up with.


Christina

Chrissy,

If your tank is really heavily planted you don't much have to worry about the sand going anaerobic. Also getting small burrowing animals will help with that also. If you only use an inch of sand it wont go anaerobic so easily so I would get the plants started and then add sand as your plants start to fill in. The gravel vac will work well you will just need pick it up to let the sand filter out of the vac. You may end up having to put the siphoned sand that did make it thru the vac back into the tank.

I also suggest droping the pleco if you plan to have heavy plants mine at 4 inches was uprooting every plant it swam next to


Last edited by mrwizerd at 03-Dec-2005 10:58

Yes I am going to try to do a log on the set-up. Maybe I will get a digital camera for christmas like I asked for. I doubt it... when I told my mom that I wanted one she said too bad she all ready asked for one this year. I said that wasn't fair but she didn't seem to care... I am trying to decide what substrate to put in the tank. I talked to a friend of mine last night and she suggested sand... I will have live plants so that should work right? I can do either black or white sand or I could do both and mix it. The only problem with the white sand it that it might wash out the fish so either I could do all black or I could figure out some sort of mixture for both that won't wash out the fish. I know is SW tanks that there are certain fish snd such that stir up the sand on their own but I don't know of anything like that in FW Do you guys? What do you think of the sand?

Also, If I were to do sand, would I be able to use the gravel vac or would it suck up the sand when I am tryign to use it? I have never used sand as a substrate before. I do not know much about it honestly. I do know you have to stir it up because it can get pockets of chemicals and that can be bad for the fish.

Well, here is the latest stock list, I thought I had decided on the list but then as I was typing it out I changed my mind. lol I change my mind a lot. :%)

2 Keyhole Cichlids
2 Bolivians
10 Harlies
12 Danios (a few different kinds)
4-6 YoYo Loaches
16 Cories (2 Different Types) I am thinking about doing just one school of maybe 10 instead of 2 because I am also going to get the YoYo's for the bottom
1 Pleco
4 Ottos? This is a new thought because I know plecos can get lazy on the algae upkeep, but I know these guys love it.


Christina

Last edited by dvmchrissy at 21-Dec-2005 15:26

You -sound- really excited. Are you going to do a log of the tank setup?

______________
Cake or death?

AWESOME! That is exactly what I was wanting to do! I love watching them flit around the tank! They are lots of fun!

I will probably do like 3-4 of each because there are like 3 different kinds at the LFS that I go to so that is exciting!

That makes me so excited!


Christina

Christina,
all danios are the same species or very very closely
related subspecies. Zebras, Leopards, and albinos/long fin varieties of all these types with school together. Leopards are my fave. You could do a large mixed group of danios that would look nice.


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Christina,

I am not so sure as for the danio however the pristellas rummy's and neons i had in my 29 gal all swam together. As for top I still say killi

I am thinking Danios sound good because I was actually thinking about using them to cycle my tank anyway. I will have a planted tank and people have said do not do a fishless cycle because it is not good for the plants.

Anyway, would 2 different groups of 5 danios be okay? I really liek the ones with the longer fins and tails the spotted danios ( I think thats what they are called) and the Long Finned Zebra Danios are really pretty. If there is a 3rd kind what abotu 3 groups of 4? Will they swim together? I can't remember. They are very similar but yet a bit different too... What do ya think?


Christina

Just make sure that your schooling fish choices are mid-upper water fish.
Some I know of:
Marbled or Silver Hatchfish

White Cloud Mountain Minnows- dont underestimate
these little fish. They were called the Poor Mans Neon
because they have almost as good a colors as the neon.
Espescially when young. An Active, energetic top dweller,
these little guys are cute, friendly, and engage in amazing displays to each other.

Buenos Aires Tetra -My absolute favorite tetra,
the buenos aires is a larger tetra at 2-3.5 inches,
and is gorgeous! I just finally managed to get some
more to fill my school out to 7 yesterday. Amazing fish.

Any Rainbowfish
Any Danio


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it wont let me fix it.



http://www.cityofmist.com/aquaria/Planted29g

This link will work

The bolivian ram at

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1082

is a good place to start. After that, some of the really ornate killifish would be awsome since I know that you dont much care for hatchets. I currently have some golden wonder killifish, you can see the male in full display at

http://www.cityofmist.com/aquaria/Planted29

They are loads of fun when you stick smaller crunchy floating live bugs in there. I really recomend them as you already know The only problem with the golden wonder is that they tend to be annual fish meaning they live 1-2 years, but they are VERY easy to breed with a yarn breeding mop