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he has a 55 planted and has a lot of curent he has

1- australian rainbow
1- turquoise rainbow
1- parkinson raibow
1- red fin shark
1- bull dog pleco
2- blue rams 1 male 1 female
5- odessa barbs
6- common ottos

He wants to know if he should get more of anything or if he can get anything else in his tank to make it look cooler. He wants the best for his fish to. So seggestions would help a lot.

Maybe he can add a school of Corydoras, as bottom feeders.



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he wants to know if he should get more rainbows. Could he get some type of loaches. he ilkes the loches more than the corys.

more rainbows sounds nice, but they can get large, and like open swimming area. maybe some boeseman rainbows.

Well riri1,

There is always one person who is a critic, and today it's me

Rainbows in general are shoaling fish and like to hang with their own species. Although they stay together when mixed, this is not what they would do in nature.

In addition, many rainbows have the ability to interbreed and to create hybrids.

From an ethical point of view it is not a good thing to add individuals of various species of Rainbows in one tank.

I mean to say that the existing setup is not proper. If I would have an option then I woudl get rid of the Rainbow species mix, focus on one, and create a nice sized shoal (at least 6).

No offense,

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

do u think the austrailan rainbow fish would need some frinds because he chases the other rainbow fish all around the tank. and wat type of loaches do you think could go in his tank. Could a school of albino corys go in that tank. He has black gravle and it is planted wit a lot of back ground plants and some lace amazon sword plant and some reaglure amazon sword. It has a lot of open swiming area in his tank to.

Like Little Fish said, i would remove the rainbows except for one species and add more of that type so they have a group of around 6. You could probably add 3-4 smallish loaches if he wanted.

For the bottom get 6 yoyo loaches and 6-8 cories. I have 3 yoyo's and 14 cories in my 55g for bottom feeders and everyone gets along fine.
I think the yoyo's would be happy with more friends though, but I am afraid I would be overstocked. So I suggest 6 yoyos for your tank and a small shoal of cories.

By red tail shark do you mean red tail black shark?
I may be wrong but aren't those kinda territorial? Would they bother loaches and cories? I am not sure...I think I have heard that though.

Last edited by GirlieGirl8519 at 12-Jan-2006 22:11

*Kristin*

if you do get loaches, i'd watch the size on them.. clown loaches can get pretty big, but it will take a while... i would say go with some cories and a few small loaches...

*Chelle*
_______________________________________________
I love the fishes cuz they're SOOO delicious...

First off, sort out those Rainbows. They're shoaling fishes and you should have a minimum of 6 individuals of one species. Go to this page on Rainbowfishes which is one of the best out there, pick whichever of your current species stays the smallest in terms of maximum length, and rehouse the others while getting a shoal of the smallest species.

Second, if you have a Red Tailed Black Shark in there, or for that matter any of the Labeo type sharks, they're feisty, boisterous fishes that will make life a rough and tumble wrestling match for quite a few other bottom feeders. Plus, RTBS reach 7 inches or so and even in a 55 that's a big fish to cruise your gravel. Another candidate for rehousing if you want other bottom feeders.

Third, if you want to mix loaches and Corys, then in a 55, you have a few options. Once you've sorted out the other issues above, you'd room for, say, 10 Corys (14 if they're a small species like habrosus). As for loaches, well the best one you could go for by a country mile, if you can find it, is Botia sidthimunki, which is a little gem of a loach, stays a nice small size, is relatively sociable, every bit as good a snail eater as the Clown Loach, and with a stunning colour scheme to boot. And if you think black and white can't be stunning, take a look at these guys! Your BIG problem with the sidthimunki loaches will be availability and price (they tend to be expensive) but they're SO worth it. And, you won't ever need to rehouse them once they're in the 55, because they'll stay a reasonable size.

One thing though - make sure that whatever bottom feeders you get have LOTS of nice caves and shady places to occupy, as they'll all feel a LOT more secure, and paradoxically will be more bold and outgoing if they know they have safe retreat to return to in times of danger! Some judiciously arranged floating plants would go well too, especially if they're teamed with a nice intricate piece of hollow bogwood that has lots of holes in it. On a smaller scale, I have a feature called the bogwood 'boot' in my Panda Fun Palace™ - this is a hollow lump of wood that is literally shaped like an old boot, and which has a veritable maze of caves and openings for my Pandas, which explore them like mad!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

ok so he might get rid of all but the australian rainbow fish and get some more. could he get 6 yoyos 4 aoldof corys and 6salt and prpper corys.

yes but the RTBS needs to be gone to get them. It will most likely be very aggressive to other bottom feeders.

*Kristin*

ok it will be