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Hello again. I'm thinking of getting an 80 gal as I have found some room where it ould go.
would these all fit in it and be ok with eachother?

Coulour/fun
Middle:
2 angel fish
2 Kribs
scohal of (i dont know how many) harlequins.
1 male 2 female guppies
1 male 2 female swordtails
1 male 2 female baloon mollies
5 X-ray tetras
5 congo tetras
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Bottom:
5 Peppered cories
3 Polka dot loaches
(I dont know how many) clown loaches
2 red tailed sharks
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Cleanup Crew:
4 red clawed crabs (im worried about these being attacked by the anglefish or Kribs)
5 Amano Shrimps (Im worried the same as the crabs)
2 plecos (I don know what sort- not too big though)
____________________________________________________
Would this be ok? understocked/overstocked not big enough for Male and female angelfish/kribs?

Thanks lots, I need somethng for the top i know but im not sure yet and it may be overstocked as it is.Those are the fish that I really want but I might keep th X-rays in the 25 gal.
Im looking to have it heavily planted too.
Some of these fish/inverts I already have in my 25 gal.




Last edited by br0ke_1T at 04-Jan-2006 09:18

Well i would up the school to at least 6 for the tetras, possibly only do 2 different schools, personally i think a larger school of 1 tetra looks better than a couple smaller schools but thats just me. And with the kribs they get very nasty when breeding so if u get 2 males then u might be ok, maybe just go with the kribs or with just the angels and up the amount to maybe 4 of each, if u go with the kribs LOTS AND LOTS OF CAVES and rocks for spawning.The red tailed shark i suppose it is the red tailed black shark really u should only have 1 in a community for territorial issues in a 80 while juvenile will work when they get larger i wouldnt think so. the corys up them to say 8-10 i would do more b/c peppered stay smaller than most and again the more the merrier. The CL's i would do 4 while juvenile again the CL's get too big for 80G so they would generally need to moved later on down the line.

How big tank would I need for clown loaches too? adult ones? then I'd be able to fit more other fish in anyway.

Well it def depends on how many u have if u have 4 full grown CLS, then i would say maybe 250G possibly would suffice, i only have juvies as it stands but if they are as zippy as mine at a adult age i dunno even if 250 would suffice.

really?
it says here 125 gal would be fine:
http://www.clownloach.info/setup.php
and here http://www.fishprofiles.com/articles/freshwater/clownloaches.asp

I'm sure that ive seen before somewhere that they can be kept in a 70 gal +

Oh well ill seen if i can track down a 125 gal for a good price, any reccomendations?

Issues outstanding:

[1] Red Tailed Black Sharks. Become bad tempered with conspecifics as maturity approaches, and continue being bad tempered with each other thereafter. Either keep just the one, or wait till you have sufficient space to keep at least 6 so that aggression is distributed and not concentrated on one fish. However, to do this you'll need a very large setup - for 6 Red Tailed Black Sharks to live in something approaching reasonable harmony once they're adult, you'd be looking at 500 gallons upwards ...

[2] Clown Loaches. These are a food fish for humans in Borneo, which gives you an idea how big they grow to be! They'll reach 16 inches in the wild, and 12 in an aquarium if they have the space. While their growth rate is such that you would have time to plan for relocation if they became too large, you should plan ahead NOW - consider either passing them on to someone with a huge aquarium once they reach a certain size, or buy a huge aquarium yourself. Again, you would be looking at 250 gallons as a baseline setup for big adults, and prefereably a good deal larger - 500 gallons wouldn't be overdoing it by any stretch of the imagination.

[3] Crabs. I was told in another thread that most so-called 'freshwater' crabs are actually brackish in the wild, but capable of living in freshwater for some time. However, they need brackish water eventually, and they also need easy access to flats of 'land' that they can crawl out onto, because in the wild they're shoreline creatures that spend some time out on land. They tend to be less than happily compatible with fishes too. I'd abandon the idea of keeping crabs of any sort in a FW aquarium alongside fishes.

[4] Peppered Corys. They're actually one of the larger Corys - they reach 70 mm in length - and so if you want a bigger group of Corys, a different choice of species such as metae might be in order.

[5] Cichlids. Your Kribs will want caves. So will your Plec when you choose one. Your Corys will probably take up residence in some as well. You're going to need a LOT of them! And that's BEFORE we consider the Red Tailed Black Shark, which will also claim its own piece of 'real estate' and might be less than delighted at having to share it with the Corys, the Clown Loaches, the Plec and the Kribs. Quite a bit of scope for conflict there I'd say ...

[6] Livebearers. Mollies in particular want hard, alkaline water. Most of your other fish choices prefer soft, acidic water. An incompatibility you'll have to address right from the start by finding alternatives. Chances are your Guppies and Swordtails would prefer hard, alkaline water as well, but they're more adaptable in this regard.

Recommendations include:

[1] Substitute Anomalochromis thomasi for your Kribs if you can find them. They're a LOT more peaceful, and much less likely to cause trouble over caves with the other fish species.

[2] Go for smaller loaches than Clown Loaches. If you can find them, Botia sidthimunki, the Pigmy Chain Loach, will be a MUCH better choice because you'll know they won't ever outgrow an 80 gallon. They'll actually live in considerably smaller quarters, and an 80 gallon will suit them down to the ground. However, this could be an expensive option in terms of purchase price for the fishes, but so worth it once you get hooked on these little guys!

[3] Abandon the Mollies in particular. Apart from anything else, this will let you have more space for those Congo Tetras you're planning on, which will be active and fairly large Characins (5 inches each). I'd probably abandon the other livebearers too, but you might be able to get away with the Guppies and the Swordtails. The Cichlids will act as fry control

[4] Think very carefully before putting a Red Tailed Black Shark in there. Okay, they're herbivorous, they'll graze algae off plants, but Otocinclus or one of the other smaller Loricariids such as Parotocinclus maculicauda, a lovely and much underrated fish, will do the job far better and with far less scope for warfare breaking out in the aquarium. They'll also get along with some of the other Plec choices you may be thinking of. In fact, if you find Parotocinlus maculicauda, you might not want a Plec in there at all once you find out how attractive these guys are!

[5] Forget the crabs. Bad news.

So, if you forget the Mollies, leave out the RTBS, go for a smaller Loricariid and smaller loaches, you'll be able to have more Tetras to zoom around in there - 8 Congos and 10 Pristellas (in happier shoals as a consequence) instead of 5 of each. What you miss from the Clown Loaches will be more than compensated for with bigger Tetra shoals! And you'll still have space for, say, 10 Harlequin Rasboras.

So, here's my suggestion:

2 Angels
2 Anomalochromis thomasi
10 Harlequins
10 Pristellas
8 Congos
12 metae or other similar sized Corys
6 Botia sidthimunki
6-8 Otocinclus or Parotocinclus maculicauda
(or 4 of each if you like - they'll live happily together)
Your Amano Shrimp

With that stocking, built up over a 3 month period after cycling is completed as your biofilter matures, you'll have a display that will be a delight to the eye, but will leave you with some room for manouevre should you want to add something else (e.g., some Melanotaenia mccullochi Rainbow Fishes) later in the day.

Hope this nice long post has been helpful!



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002