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I recently moved and i had no house for about 2 weeks, so my arrowana, oscar, dempsey, pleco and large clowns loaches went back to the store. anyways just wondering what some suggetions are for stocking a community tank. My wife never liked the larger fish.

Currently i have 8 false julii cory cats
1 clown pleco
8 gold fish (these i will be giving back to the fish store when i buy my next fishes just cyclers)

I was thinking of maybe getting some boesemani rainbows and rumy nose tetras i am not used to community tanks so any advice on school fish is great, i have a 120 gal tank and it is overfiltered because i used to have the big fish
I have no idea how much stock i can fill this with on smaller fish but i have 3 magnum canister filters right now i only have 1 running thanks for the advice and help with a stock list

Brodie

Congrats on the 120! First of all, I'd recommend not using Gold Fish to cycle the tank. If you have another tank to put the Pleco and Cories in I'd recommend a fish-less cycle using ammonia or fish food. If not then I'd keep up on your water testing and changes when the levels get high.

As far as stocking you could get a big school of Rainbows and another big school of Tetras. For the bottom you could up the school of the Cories you have now, or you could get another type and have 2 schools of Cories. I think Clown Loaches would work in a 120, they get big and like to school though. You should go through the profiles and right down the fish you like, come back here and let us know which ones interest you. That way we can help you come up with a stocking list that is both appropriate for a tank that size as well as a tank that is appealing to you.

no i already cycled the tank using the gold fish, the cories were the first fish i added after the tank cycled,
how big of schools of tetras and rainbows can i put in the 120?

You could easily get 20 Rummy Nose, and maybe more if you wanted. For the Rainbows I'd say 10-15 but I'm not sure. Someone else who can give you a better estimate will come around soon though.

Since you have the space, I'd increase the corys, maybe even add a second school. They're pretty fun to watch and will probably be the ones your wife watches the most even if she doesnt like some of the others in the tank.

I agree with truestars suggestion. Have a look through your LFS and see what they have in stock, check up in the profiles, make a nice big list then come back.

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ok so if i go with 2 schools of cories will they stay separate schools or just mix together, and if i do go with 2 schools how many can i do in each, second kind of corie would probably be panda cories,

my main concern is stock how many small fish can i put in a 120 i am used to have 4 big fish in that tank and a small school of clown loaches, i am new to the community tank.

So i guess my main question is how many fish can i stock my tank with if nothing is too much bigger than a Rainbow fish? I have 3 magnum canisters under the tank, although that is another concern of mine is that over filtering the tank what should my max be on GPH filtered??

The 2 Cory schools could probably be 12 each, maybe more, and they might all school together sometimes. You could probably have around 60-70, maybe even more if they are all smaller schooling fish that don't produce much waste.

You can't really over filter a tank. The concerns you'll have is flow issues. Some fish like rather still water and depending on how the outflow of the filters is you may find your fish are stressed swimming against the current. If you have a spray bar this will help. Connected to this issue is the intake. I've lost a fish or two getting sucked up a tube or exhausted from swimming against the current found them in the intake the next morning.

As for numbers, 12 each cory schools sound good to me. You could probably have another 75+ small fish with a few rainbows tossed in for good luck. If the tank is planted, and still gets regular maintence you might be able to get away with even more.

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I also think that 2 schools of Corydoras & a mixture of Rainbows, would be great. As for the other fish in the tank, i would go for 2 schools of Tetras & keep the Clown Pleco.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

Ok so this is what i am thinking so far...

filling out my school of false julii cories to 12
getting another 12 panda cories
keeping the clown pleco
about 10 0ttos
school of about 12 boesemans rainbow fish
school of about 15 rummynose tetras
and then i was think of either

Rosy barbs or
cherry barbs
if these dont work i might use red Irian rainbows

Any comments on these last two fish will they work ok with the others i have choosen so far.

Or any suggestions on the stock list so far

That looks good to me. About the two different Barbs, I'd go with the Cherries even though they tend to be more shy. I have found, with mine at least, is that they are a lot happier and not shy at all when kept in schools of at least 6. If you could add about 9 or more they should do fine, even with the faster moving Rainbows and Tetras. Mine are in with a RTBS and a school of Zebra Danios, and the movement doesn't bother them at all anymore now that they're in a school. If they don't work out you could return them and try the Rosies, but catching them would be a huge pain in the butt. I had to catch 6 out of a 20 gallon high tank and it still took me 30 minutes. I wish I had the problem of deciding what to stock a 120 gallon with, I'm so jealous! Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

I've never had cherries, but rosies were my first fish so I'm going to be a little biased here.

Rosies are wonderfully hardy (mine were anyway) and for the larger sized tank they may make a better impact than the cherries. You'll see them across the room! From what I've heard cherries are a little calmer than some of the other barbs. IME Rosies are very active fish and will really appreaciate the size of the tank. I've found them just as active as any zebra danio or WCMM and just as hardy.

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