|
| |
COMPATIBLE FISH RECOMMENDATIONS, FW
comm. 7/20/08
Hello crew,
<Hello,>
I am hoping you could advise on some compatible colourful companions for my
tropical 125 gallon community tank containing 1 female swordtail, 2 pearl
Gouramis (male and female), 1 queen arabesque Pleco (sex unknown) and 1 male
Betta. I also have 6 Dalmatian mollies (2 male 4 female) and 3 gold ring
butterfly loaches (sex unknown) waiting in quarantine.
<Butterfly loaches are Beaufortia and Sinogastromyzon spp.; subtropical
aufwuchs-grazers; tend to be short lived in tropical community tanks. Need
lots of water current, middling temperature around 22C. Likely to starve to
death in this system -- to much competition for algae (Mollies, plec).>
My water parameters are PH 7.2, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5-10, Water -
Hard (I live in London), Temp 25 Celsius. 1550 lph filtration. Good
circulation via vertical spraybar. Air curtain fitted for oxygenation.
<Sounds fine, except for the Beaufortia/Sinogastromyzon. Staggered your
nitrate level is so low... my experience of "London tap water" was the
nitrates were anything up to 50 mg/l.>
I know livebearers appreciate salt in the water but would this adversely
affect the other fish??
<Yes, salt is a bad idea in this system. Comes down to this: Mollies need
one set of conditions; tropical community fish another. Your options are to
have two tanks, or else place the Mollies in the community tank and hope for
the best. Because you have hard water, if your nitrates stay low, you may be
fine. Mollies do like warmth though, which will hammer the
Beaufortia/Sinogastromyzon.>
All the fish I currently have are pretty hardy but salt might cause more
problems than it fixes.
<The Beaufortia/Sinogastromyzon aren't even remotely hardy. Most specimens
die within months of import. Easy enough in a hillstream tank wit other
subtropicals, such as Danios and Minnows though. Just not suitable for
tropical aquaria. As always: read about a fish *prior* to purchase to avoid
these unpleasant realities.>
I would like to get rid of the Betta at the LFS but it has been in a fight
and lost a lot of its dorsal fin so would probably not be accepted even for
free.
<Will grow back. I'd leave it in the tank for now, and see how it does.
Obviously it cannot swim well being a fancy Betta (I assume) with those
great long fins. So keeping it in a hillstream system is out of the
question. There are hillstream Bettas, but Betta splendens isn't one of
them.>
I like Normans Lamp Eye (Aplocheilichthys normani) for shoaling fish.
<Nice fish. You'd need a BIG school to have much effect in 125 gallon system
though!>
Would Bleeding Heart Tetras (Hyphessobrycon erythrostigma) be a good
choice??
<Lovely fish, but prefer soft to moderately hard water, and I'd not
recommend them for anything else. Hardy in soft water; not so in hard water.
But by all means give it a whirl. Would tend to look at the Barbs and
Rainbowfish though for London; these fish are generally not bothered by hard
water, and provide good colour, size for these big tanks.>
I've read they can be a bit nippy so the Betta would have to go and the lamp
eyes may get freaked out.
<My specimens are not at all nippy, but then I keep them with fast-moving
tankmates in a pufferfish set-up. I wouldn't risk mixing Bettas with any
kind of tetra, even Neons.>
Any advice/recommendations you may have would be gratefully received!
Many thanks
Brian
<Hope this helps, Neale.>
RE: COMPATIBLE FISH RECOMMENDATIONS
7/20/08
Thanks for your advice Neale,
<You're welcome.>
Looks like I'll have to take back the Beaufortia. Gutted. They're the most
interesting fish I've seen in years! Shooting about everywhere and floating
on the current on my quarantine tank.
<Ah, that's the clue: they like current.>
They've been feeding OK for now as I crush the flake food into tiny pieces
so some of it falls past the mollies and the loaches get it.
<Sounds nice. Why not set up a tank just for them? Needn't be anything
fancy, provided you observe their environmental needs. A 60-cm aquarium
would be ample.>
Also when the mollies are ripping apart the algae wafers I've been putting
in, the loaches pick up the debris.
<Cool.>
In the main tank the QE plec feeds mainly on meaty stuff so they might be OK
if they're managing in the quarantine tank. The temp is the main problem.
Nothing I can do about that. I Googled them before purchase and it said that
they liked cooler water but I thought 24-25 degrees would be OK. Will get an
exact temperature requirement in future.
<Unfortunately small temperature differences make all the difference in the
world! Average sea temperature at Brighton on the South Coast of England is
about 16 degrees C; average sea temperature of the Red Sea is 22 degrees C.
A mere 6 degrees, and yet one is pretty nippy, and the other filled with
coral reefs. So when aquarium books say a fish needs slightly cooler or
warmer temperatures than standard tropicals, IT MATTERS! Common mistake in
the hobby, and the result is many fish that die soon after purchase.>
The Nitrate test is quite old. Maybe I should get a new one to be sure. The
tank is very new though with a handful of fish in so with water changes
nitrates should be OK till I can get a test kit.
<Fair enough.>
I'm hoping to get 30 Lamp Eyes. Hopefully that will make a nice school.
<Agreed. But this species is easily bullied, eaten by bigger fish so choose
tankmates with care. Angelfish for example will view them as food, as will
medium sized tetras and barbs.>
I love Barbs (especially tiger barbs) but with the Betta (and possibly the
Gouramis) in the tank most of them are out of the question as they'll nip.
<Correct.>
Which barbs would you recommend? They all seem to be nippers or like soft
water from what I can find!! Hard water tropical aquarists don't have a huge
choice when it comes to selection!! ;o)
<Hard water aquarists are actually very fortunate: many soft water fish will
acclimate to hard water fish, but few hard water fish tolerate soft water.
Among the barbs, I'd tend to go with small species like Puntius pentazona or
Puntius oligolepis as being species unlikely to nip and very pretty in large
groups. Puntius gelius is lovely, though it needs quite cool conditions to
thrive. Otherwise look at the livebearers and rainbowfish especially as
yielding many superb species for hard water tanks. You could even go with
Sardine Cichlids from Malawi (Cyprichromis spp.) as these offer lots of
colour and would thrive in "London Tap" -- though they might well eat the
very small Lampeyes. Glassfish are another good group for hard water tanks,
as are halfbeaks. Do see here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWsubwebindex/fwhardness.htm
Research species, choose carefully.>
Thanks again
Brian
<Cheers, Neale
|
Fish compatibility,
Freshwater 6/4/08
I'd love to hear your thoughts on setting up a large community tank. I
just got myself a 55 gallon tank. I'd like to ask your opinion on fish
compatibility. My minnows are doing great in the new tank, and I'm hoping to
start adding more fish. Do you think Siamese algae eaters, freshwater
angelfish, dwarf Gouramis, and a rope fish would get along?
<I would skip the Dwarf Gouramis, they have a terrible survival record due
to Dwarf Gouramis Disease.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/dwfgdis.htm . Be aware that the
Angels will eat any fish that can fit into it's mouth. SAEs can be tricky,
mainly due to mistaken identity,
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebindex/saes.htm .>
I have no clue where to find the rope fish, though. Live aquaria doesn't
have them. Do you know where to buy rope fish?
<May need to be special ordered through a local live fish shop, not terrible
common, at least in may little part of the world.>
Arlene T. Perricone
<Chris>
Nearing stocking limit,
somewhat urgent... 4/16/08
Hello everybody, my name is Jeremy. I want to first and foremost compliment
your site as one of the best fishkeeping websites I have found, even after
extensive searching. I have a bit of a problem. My tank, (29 gallon with
AquaClear 30 gal hang on box filter, separate sponge, carbon and biomedia with
old net attached to intake to protect fry.) currently has 4 Otos, 3 cories, 4
ghost shrimp, 6 espei Rasbora, 2 adult guppies, three 6-week-old guppies, and
about a dozen week-old babies. I currently am following a schedule of changing
50% of the water every Saturday. (They seem to enjoy it.) I know that I won't be
able to keep all the guppies , but I am unsure at exactly what point to start
giving them away. So the essence of my question is: How many adult guppies can
this system support with the current water change schedule?
A thousand thanks in advance!
<Hello Jeremy; thanks for the kind words. A good basic rule to start with is
that small fish (like Guppies) can be housed at about one inch of fish per
gallon of water. In practise though filtration and especially water changes can
substantially alter this. Another factor is the buffering capacity of the water:
in very hard, alkaline water the inevitable pH drop that happens in
heavily-stocked tanks is slowed down. So really your task is to check that
nitrite stays zero, pH stays steady, and nitrate stays relatively low (ideally
less than 50 mg/l). Provided you are seeing these results, your tank is safe,
even if it isn't "optimal" in terms of stocking. Now if you're asking for a
ballpark figure, you can probably keep about 30 up to 1-inch long Guppies
alongside your other fish without having major water quality problems *assuming*
the filtration is good (check nitrite!) and you are doing at least 50% water
changes weekly (ideally more!). Once the fish are above an inch in length, it's
time to move them out. Adult Guppies pose two problems: males are aggressive,
and females are quite big, up to two inches in length. So the females especially
will pull down water quality, while the males may start nipping the fins of one
another. Cheers, Neale.>
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>>
| |
|
