Community stocking scheme: not urgent 10/1/07
My new tank is 41W X 18D X 23H inch, which I make ~70 US gallons. It has a dark, pea-sized gravel substrate, plastic plants, rocks and a log to make hiding places.
<Sounds nice. 41 x 18 x 23 inches = 16974 cubic inches = 9.2 cubic feet = 73.3 US gallons.>
The first residents will be 4 blood parrots (I know some would not start here, but I already have these guys from the days before I knew anything
about fishkeeping and have got attached to them).
<Assuming you move across a mature filter (or at least mature filter media) you can start off with cichlids. But placing cichlids in an immature aquarium will kill them.>
I plan to add 4 angelfish (Pterophyllum scalare), and a school of Corydoras catfish (would 6 be too many?) suggestions for species greatly appreciated)
<Nope. Angels and Corydoras should not be mixed with blood parrots. Blood parrots are hybrids of some selection of Central American cichlids, perhaps with some Severum cichlid thrown in. Because they are hybrids, their behaviour is completely unpredictable. At worst, they can be very aggressive towards other fish. They are also very large, easily 8" and often 10" in length. Domesticated angels (also hybrids) rarely exceed 4". Even a mildly aggressive blood parrot will hammer a small angelfish. Corydoras simply cannot be mixed with territorial cichlids. Corydoras evolved to live in open streams and rivers away from the shady slow-moving riverbanks where cichlids live. They have no ability to "learn" about territories, and repeatedly blunder into them as they swim about looking for food. Even Apistogramma and Kribensis have been known to pluck out the eyes from these little catfish. If you want catfish for blood parrots, get something robust and/or semi-aggressive itself. Plecs are ideal, but medium sized Doradidae (such as Platydoras costatus) and the bigger Callichthyidae (like Hoplosternum littorale) would be ideal.>
From what I have read up, I don't think there will be incompatibility issues with these tankmates.
<Not sure what you've been reading...>
To complete the community, I my first pick is lemon tetras (Hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis), but I am also drawn to dwarf gouramis, swordtails
(Xiphophorus hellerii) or rainbowfish. Any potential problems here, particular species, or suggestions for better alternatives?
<Scratch Dwarf gouramis from your list. The quality of the commercial stock at the moment is incredibly low. The people who ignore this are the people who end up with dead Dwarf gouramis. Rainbows should work acceptably well with blood parrots, and potentially swordtails too. These are both fairly large, fast moving fish. In a spacious tank, they should avoid the worst of the trouble. Lemon tetras would not be my first choice though. I'd be thinking more along the lines of Silver Dollars or Tetragonopterus argenteus; something fairly big, schooling, and robust enough to be able to thrive in a fairly busy aquarium.>
I am wondering which of these might be best to complement the depth and behaviour habits of the other residents. Also would tetras plus a few of one of the other choices be overstocking a tank of this size?
<No, the tank you have is a fair size and you have plenty of space to work with. Four blood parrots, a school of half a dozen silver dollars, a medium-sized Plec, and a novelty day-active catfish like Hoplosternum would make quite a nice, reliable community.>
Finally, which if any of the above would be the most suitable fish for cycling the tank?
<None of the fish you suggest is really hardy enough for this job and suitable for long-term inclusion. Hardy Corydoras, such as peppered and bronze Corydoras typically do very well during the cycling stage assuming the whole process is handled delicately (i.e., no overstocking, lots of water changes). But if you already have a tank, then just move 50% of the filter media from the old tank to the new one. This will effectively "instantly" mature the tank so you can add fish immediately with little risk. Keep an eye on nitrites, and don't overfeed, and things should go fine. This is called "cloning a filter". A filter can lose 50% of its media and not substantially lose filtration capacity, because healthy bacteria grow back incredibly quickly.>
Thanks in advance, and please don't treat as priority, I'm still waiting to sort out a problem with my filter setup, so won't actually be going to buy
fish for a few weeks yet.
Dave
<Good luck, Neale>

Re: Community stocking scheme: food for thought 10/2/07
Hi Neale,
<Hello Dave,>
Thanks for the very helpful advice to nudge me a step up the learning curve.
<Glad to help.>
I did not think the blood parrots would be such an issue, or grow quite so big.
<A common mistake!>
Presently they are only 3" and quite placid, apart from skirmishing amongst themselves.
<They are juveniles. Aggression becomes more serious as they mature, and it is the males that are most aggressive.>
I do not think I have seen their true colours as they have been sharing a 25 gallon tank with the 8" Arowana and two angelfish that I inherited from my brother-in-law, and were probably too scared of the Arowana to bother the other fish.
<Hmm... the colours are more genetic than mood-related. But it is important to make sure their diet is balanced. In general, fish develop their best colours when their diet contains lots of crustaceans (shrimp, krill, daphnia, etc.) AND algae (algae flakes, Sushi Nori, etc.). It's these too food sources that seem most closely related to bright colours. Most cichlids feed to some extent on algae and soft plants, so putting some Sushi Nori in the tank for them to graze on would be quite useful.>
The irony is I got the blood parrots on the advice of the LFS for fish that could hold their own against the Arowana, but now have fish that are too aggressive for gentler species, not to mention the constant gravel rearrangement.
<Blood parrots might well be okay with Arowana. As a rule, South American Arowana do well with non-aggressive cichlids, such as Oscars. The Asian Arowanas are usually too aggressive to be kept with anything. To a degree this depends on the depth of the tank, since Arowanas are most aggressive towards things that swim at the top of the tank.>
I'm beginning to think that perhaps I may be better off starting my new tank from scratch with a larger number of smaller fish, including some of the
ones you mentioned, perhaps cycled with hardy Corydoras.
<Mixing Blood Parrots isn't too difficult, but you want to pick things that can hold their own without actually being aggressive. The problem is that while Blood Parrots can be aggressive, they're also too "mutated" to follow through, so if they pick a fight with another aggressive cichlid, they'll get creamed.>
However, if I do decide to keep the blood parrots I will follow your suggestions re: rainbows, swordtails, silver dollars and a Plec and see how that goes.
<These would be sorts of fish that should work well.>
I now have my canister filter working, so will clone my filter from the 20 gallon tank to get that up and running.
<Sounds a good plan. Long term, a 20 gallon isn't suitable for a group of Blood Parrots though, especially if one or more fish turns out to be a territorial male.>
Thanks once again,
Dave
<Cheers, Neale>

Platys, Mollies, and Plants - Oh my! FW lvstk. sel.   4/13/07
Greetings Crew!
<Jen>
I currently have a 20 gallon tank, freshwater with some salt added.
<Mmm, why the salt?>
The aquarium contains 4-6 plastic plants, a hollow ornament that the algae eater
<What type, species?>
and the clown loach share, and both an air stone and a "bubble" ornament.  
Currently living in it are:  4 platys (I think 2 males and 2 females, but I'm not sure),
<Easy to sex>
5 black sailfin mollies (4 males and 1 female), an algae eater of unknown type (brownish green with grey spots, about 3.5 inches long)
<Do see the Net, WWM re Gyrinocheilus...>
and a clown loach (gender unknown).  After doing a bit of research, I've realized that I've been very lucky so far.  I have had both platy and molly fry, some of which have survived to adulthood.  In fact, most of my current fish were born in my tank.
However, I have had several mollies die for mysterious reasons over the past few months.  After doing some reading, I am pretty sure these were females that were harassed to death by the males.  My mollies also suffer regularly with what I think is Ich (white spots on their sides), which usually clears up fine after some fizzy fungicide is added to the tank.  I know I need more females in order to save my final female from harassment, but I can't see how to fit in the 7 or so females needed, and the local pet store is not interested in taking any of my mollies.  
<Gift some of the males to a school... to interested youth whose parents/guardians will allow this>
I'm pretty sure that my tank is at or near capacity already.
<Likely so>
I would really like to upgrade to a larger tank (40 - 50 gallons), and I want to be sure to get things right this time.   I would like to add some live plants, as it seems these help keep the aquarium healthy.
<Yes>
  I was also thinking of adding another type of fish (I'd love some colorful schoolers - tetras look nice, but I'm not sure how they would get along with all my current fish).
<Don't like salt... Compatibility for all is posted on WWM>
  Another algae eater is also needed; I had planned on getting Otos, but luckily did some reading first and learned that they will not be happy in my slightly salty tank.
<Correct>
I really need advice on both fish and live plants that could be added to my current set-up once I upgrade to a larger tank.  
<... Read>
I've read that livebearers get along best with other livebearers, so I know mollies, platys, and swordtails will do well together, but I was hoping for something a little more different, and I don't want to take the chance of my livebearers interbreeding and getting lots of platy/ swordtail "mutts."  I am also concerned that my mollies will get too big and eat my platys. (It turns out my "Black Mollies" with a max size of 2-3 inches are actually "Black Sailfin Mollies" with a max size of 6.5 inches.)  Please help me figure out what to do.
Thank you very much,
Jennifer
<Consider the types of water quality all this life "likes", will tolerate... not much overlap with the Mollies and Tetras... A bit of reading is in order... Bob Fenner>

Need suggestions for new fish, FW    3/4/07
<<Hi, Mandy. Tom with you.>>
Right now in a twenty gallon tank I have 3 tiger barbs and 3 Cory catfish. I am getting rid of all my tiger barbs because they have killed 4 of my other fish. I don’t know who the culprit is so I'm getting rid of all of them.
<<Going to a nice home, I hope. When someone says that he/she is “getting rid” of fish, it makes me a little nervous. ;) >>
I would like to get some more catfish and an algae eater and some top and middle swimmers but I don't know what kind or how many.  Please help me.
<<Getting more Corys won’t present a problem in a 20-gallon tank. Three or four more would be fine. As to the “algae eaters”, there are only two varieties that I would recommend for this size tank. You could go with two or three Otocinclus (Otos) catfish or a couple of SIAMESE algae eaters. Please note the emphasis on ‘Siamese’. “Chinese” algae eaters (you may see these listed as “Golden” algae eaters) should not just be avoided, they should be shunned! You may have to do some hunting to find either of the two species I’ve mentioned since they’re not always readily available at even high-end fish shops but they’re well-worth the effort. Middle/top dwellers are going to be pretty easy to find, depending on your tastes. Most any of the Tetra varieties would do well as would livebearers such as Platys and Swordtails. Should you decide to go with Platys or Swordtails (avoid Mollies as these require salt that your catfish won’t really appreciate) make sure you stick with one male per two to three females. This will keep the stress the male places on the females spread out. Whatever types of fish you have your eye on, research before you buy. If you go to the store armed with knowledge about what type of fish you’d be interested in, you’re far less likely to get “misdirected” by an employee who doesn’t care about anything but a “sale”. Stick with fish whose adult sizes are around two-three inches in length and don’t add more than a few fish at a time (not sooner than every two weeks, or so). You don’t want to compromise your water quality by overloading the tank with more fish than your beneficial bacteria can deal with all at once.>>
Signed,
Confused
Mandy Leach
<<I don’t think you’re confused, Mandy, just a little overwhelmed at the number of choices you have available to you. Be patient and don’t purchase a fish that you know nothing about. One tip on researching fish is to seek out several, or more, sources of information on them. Once you’re comfortable that three or four different sources have provided similar information about a fish, you can be confident that you’re not going to make an ill-advised purchase. Best of luck to you. Tom>>