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Hi all,

I'm a new member to the forum but have been lurking as a guest for a few months now.

Just want to see what you all think about the current stocking levels on our 6 foot tank and see if anyone has any suggestions for suitable new tank mates (if any).

This tank is an open top that has been running in its current form for about 6 months but has been running in various lesser forms for the last 7 or so years.

Usual test readings (Using 5-in-1 test strips so accuracy may be questionable):
temp - 30 degrees Celsius (no heater - as the name suggests we're in the tropics here!)
pH - between 6.5 and 7
KH - 40 - 80 ppm
GH - varies between 60 and 120 ppm
Ammonia - 0
NitrItes (NO2) - 0
NitrAtes (NO3) - constantly 80-160 ppm (I know this is high but it is always in this range irrespective of water change frequency)

Equipment:
1 x Aquaclear 500 HOB (1000 lph)
1 x Jebo 819 Canister (1200 lph)
DIY CO2 - 2x 2L bottles with airstone placed close to groupings of plants
1x 30watt (10,000k) - 36 inch
1x 40watt - 18 inch
3 pce shipwreck ornament (3x 1 foot pieces)
5cm deep gravel (3-5mm grain size)

Plants:
Lightly planted - Mostly Native Val

Livestock:
1x Black Ghost Knife (18cm)
2x Peacock Eels (15cm)
2x Angels (8cm high tip to tip)
4x Sparkling/Croaking Gouramis (4-6cm)
1x Platinum Gourami (12cm)
2x Opaline Gouramis (10cm)
8x Threadfin Rainbows
8x Serpae Tetras
3x Black Phantom Tetras
8x Lemon Tetras
8x Silver Tip Tetras
12x Harlequin Rasboras
3x female Platies
1x male Swordtail
1x Waterhouse Snail (plus many tiny offspring)
3x Trumpet Snails
2x Hillstream Loaches (4cm)
3x neon tetras (originally 30 - an experimental addition gone tragically wrong)

Let us know what you think.

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

youve got a lot of big fish in there id be care full about filtration. For a sugestion how about a nice school of congo tetras or a small school of silver dollars? perhaps 4-5

Hi, exactly how many gallons(or litres) is the tank? Im not os sure, but the gouramis may fight a lot, is this true? Do you have any other swordtails? You should worry greatly about the nitrates, as they are probably uber high and stressing. Try to add more fast growing plants to eat the No3 up. The austrailian cabomba might be good(its native, but might be classifyed as a pest ) As for stocking, you should include:

3-5 more loaches,
at least 3-4 more neons.
3 black tetras
-the trumpet snails if no loaches
and maybe removal of one of the tetra schools.

I admit, it is pretty stocked, and may be too crowded. Just watch your tank, and add more plants to balance it out! have fun!


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Thanks for the comments / suggestions.

The tank measures 6x2x2 feet so just under 180 gallons.

The Opaline Gouramis are quite peaceful, they don't have a problem with the other fish in the tank and the Sparkling Gouramis are the most placid fish in there (they're pretty small too, only 4-5 cm max - I don't think they will get much bigger than this) . The Platinum Gourami on the other hand... He thinks he's boss and wants everyone else to acknowledge that! (We might need to find him a new home if he gets too quarrelsome),the only true aggression is toward the other two large Gourami otherwise he's passively agressive and just pushes the others out of his way.

We did have a few other livebearers - guppies, platies and swordtails, but they have over time, gone to the big fishtank in the sky. I'm thinking that we want to go in a different direction with this tank now.

Regarding the suggestion for cabomba - As far as I know there is no native australian species and Cabomba has recently been declared a "weed of national significance" in Australia so it is definitely out of the question.

I think that there is a native species of ambulia which looks similar to cabomba - will that suck up nitrates as well as cabomba? Are there any other plants out there that suck huge amounts of nitrates but dont't requitre lots of light (that are also not declared weeds - therefore illegal!)? I would prefer not to have lots of floating plants as we are limited by the lighting we currently have on the tank.

Edit: Update, 4 more threadfin rainbows(1 male 3 female) added along with 2 delicate blue eyes.

I can't believe the LFS actually put the blue eyes in the same tank with female threadfins, however this was to our benifit as they only charged for 5 fish and at the cheaper rate because they were having so much difficulty distinguishing between the two species that after they had caught the only male in the tank, I said just give us a scoop of the others and i'll take my chances.

This tank still needs more smallish fish, I feel like it is only half stocked even though this is the most fish it has ever held at any one time,
we are still open to any suggestions others may wish to contribute

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.