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I have a 46g bowfront. 1 power head. temp steady at 78.
2 dwarf gouramis
1 bichir
6 tiger barb
1 sailfin molly
1 red-tailed shark
1 crab (red claw)
1 pleco (the cheap brown kind
2 corys

Aside from 4 more corys - which I'll get as soon as I fix some water issues - what else if any do y'all think I can put in there? Would the four more gouramis do it? The birchir is only about 5 inches now. The total on the math last time I checked came to about 32 inches - but the fish are of such different body types I'm not sure what to think.

If there's room for more - any suggestions?

Thank you sooo much!

Ooops - I meant not "Would the four more gouramis do it" but four more corys. Sorry.

You could add 4 more corys. What type of Pleco is it?

It's either sailfin or common pleco. I'm gonna add the corys for sure, i feel guilty for leaving those two alone for so long. Primarily, I was curious about whether I'll have enough space to add anything after the corys (I'll be switching out the pleco if he gets too big). After reading the thread I think you started I have lots of ideas on what I could put in. I just don't know how much more I CAN put in

What type of cory are they? Peppered, bronze, albino,panda, julii, habrosus,? Because some only get to about 3cm and some can get to about 7.5cm. It your tank a 46g with the corners taken of, and the glass space and gravel and 1cm at the top? What are the dimensions? Once I know that, I can help you with stocking levels.

Both common, and sailfin pleco can get up to atleast a foot long. So can the bichir. The red claw crab is very small, but needs to be keeps in a high ph adn brakish water. It will not survive very long in a completely freshwater tank. the sialfin molly can get up to atleast 15cm.(6" and the tiger barbs are aggressive so you can't add any more top and middle dwellers. No more bottom dwellers ethier. the red tail shark will can get really aggressive when it gets bigger. Are ethier the shark or barbs being aggressive? How big are they? You have to get rid of the Pleco and Bichir because they will get much to big for your tank. Unless your tank is atleast a 5 foot. Because it will stunt their growth. Unless you can move them to a 4 foot or more, when they get over about 20cm, you will have to find a new home for them. The crab won't be happy and neather will teh molly if there is no salt in the tank. I would suggest getting a new home for everything except the tiger barbs,corys, shark and gouramis. Now that all that is gone you are left with:
2 dwarf gouramis
6 tiger barbs
6 corys(please tell me what type)
1 red tailed shark
Good. I would add some more corys depending on what type. Maybe bump it up to 8. Now there is lots of room for anything you would like. Maybe some Bristle nose catfihs, to clean the algae? Another school of tetras or even harlequin rasboras. Are the tiger barbs aggressive to each other or the other fish? If not, go ahead wiht tetras or rasboras. Make sure they are biggish though.

Good Luck! Hope you can move alll those fish or get a bigger tank(atleast a 5 or 6 foot if you want to keep all your fish.)





Labrakitty

Last edited by DarkRealm Overlord at 24-Dec-2004 13:03

Intersting stuff. Okay, I'm a bit of an organizing freak so here we go:
A) Big Fish. I know pleco and bichir will eventually have to go - but they are my original fish and the ones that I wanted (i generally prefer carnivorous fish). But my mom doesn't particularly like them - so the rest of the fish are for her and the bichir is the only one I have left. I know he'll have to go when he gets bigger (Another 2 or 3 inches) but in the meantime I'd like to hold on to him. The pleco I can live without and will bring him back to the LFS for my standard 2/3 price loss.
B) Aggression. The barbs are only aggressive with either much smaller fish (the guppies I feed my bichir) or each other (and the earth worm I put in for my bichir). Otherwise they ignore everything else in the tank - except occasionally when the crab gets an algae tab - but the crab is pretty scrappy and those Barbs don't stand much of a chance against an exo-skeleton.
C) Water. While the tank is basically freshwater - I have added a small amount of salt - approx 1 tbl/5g (total a little over half a cup) I can check the spec. grav. But the Ph in the tank remains high at about 7.8. Not much I have been able to do to reduce it so I've been using distilled water for evaporation replacement.
D) Dimensions. 36x12(17)x18. Those are the actual water dimensions (compensating already for sand substrate and top). The 17 in (parens) represents the full dimension at the bow. It is a bow front after all.
E) Can I get 2 or 3 female mollys for my sailfin? My mom really likes the mollys. Are the tiger barbs the issue there? cause the tiger barbs tend to spend most of their time in the front lower-mid portion of the tank.

Thanks so much. Oh and the cory ID is really a tough one. I have searched for literally hours trying to figure out which species they most closely resemble - not to mention days at the fish stores looking for the same fish. I'll just have to wait til I see it and buy them up fast when I do. I've seen ones that are close but not quite it - I'll try to write them down and get them to you sometime (not soon though - holidays and all).

Thanks so much for your help. Hope I got to it all.

-Oops - of course I forgot the about the crab. Well, the crab is about all I have left of my ex-fiancee - so suffice it to say he's gonna stay.

3 mollies would be ok to swap for the sailfin. 2 females, 1 male. stay away form the balloon variet, as they are extremely aggressive.

Since there is salt the crab can stay. Definetely remove the Pleco, and find a new home for the Bichir when it gets about 2-3 inches bigger.

Definitely get atleast 4 more corys. Making it 6 or more will increase activity a lot.

You could remove the barbs if you don't mind.

[font color="#C00000"]*Edit* Consolidated 4 posts that were posted within 4 minutes of each other. Please just use the edit function and add to the post instead of posting multiple replies back to back.

DRO[/font]

Last edited by DarkRealm Overlord at 24-Dec-2004 13:02

THANK YOU. I think everyone got tired of talking about stocking tanks ;(
I will get rid of the pleco and pick up the 2 more mollies (female). Corys are on the list also.
Thanks for lettin me know if I could put more in.
I'm not a huge fan of the barbs, but my mom likes 'em so they'll have to stay for a while.

Oh and this is funny. I had all but given up on ID'ing my cory when I saw a post by someone who had it as a PIC (avatar). How awesome is that? It's a trilineatus. Gonna get him/her some friends!

trilineatus rule!!!!!!!!!!
that's ok, the barbs are not a big problem, just amke sure you get more corys!!!!

Good Luck!

Labrakitty

Last edited by Adam at 24-Dec-2004 17:05