Tropical Fish Forum

Think Fish Tropical Fish Forum => Fish Community Creator => Topic started by: DawnF on April 27, 2018, 08:20:12 PM

Title: Advice on what to put with my existing odments of fish
Post by: DawnF on April 27, 2018, 08:20:12 PM
 :wave:
Hi

My tank currently contains remnants of shoals and odd fish rather than groups. having left it for ages without adding any additional fish I added a shoal of neons (Wasn't sure ... but shop said they'd be ok in a big enough group) sadly they brought some illness or got stressed by something in my tank and only 4 out of 12 survived!)

Existing Fish - 1 Angel fish moderate size approx body size estimated 6-7cm  2 clown loaches - fairly large now, possibly 9cm long. 1 clown pleco, 1 scissortail (similar length to clown loaches), 1 bronze cory and 1 albino cory and of course the 4 neon tetras.

So my question is what would you add? I'd rather like a largish shoal or two of not too expensive fish, with some colour in them, possibly red as we have just redecorated with red and brown and cream colours. :fishy1: :fishy1: :fishy1:
Title: Re: Advice on what to put with my existing odments of fish
Post by: fcmf on April 27, 2018, 09:06:36 PM
Can you let us know / remind us (i) what size this tank is (dimensions, how many litres it holds) and what your water hardness is (eg in degrees French/German/Clark or calcium/magnesium/calcium carbonate in mg/l)? Details of the water hardness should be on your water/utility company's website if you input your postcode. This should help us advise more appropriately. 
:fishy1:
Title: Re: Advice on what to put with my existing odments of fish
Post by: Cod_only_knows on April 27, 2018, 10:16:59 PM
Get a school of Odessa Barbs. Stunning males and very active fish. They will happily contend with your current crowd and, provided they're kept in a large enough shoal, won't bother your Angelfish. A mature and settled male Odessa really is a sight to behold!
Title: Re: Advice on what to put with my existing odments of fish
Post by: DawnF on April 28, 2018, 10:16:28 AM
Can you let us know / remind us (i) what size this tank is (dimensions, how many litres it holds) and what your water hardness is (eg in degrees French/German/Clark or calcium/magnesium/calcium carbonate in mg/l)? Details of the water hardness should be on your water/utility company's website if you input your postcode. This should help us advise more appropriately. 
:fishy1:

Tank is a Juwel vision 180l. 90 wide bow front, aporox 35 w x 45 h (from memory) Water is hard in this area. I did write down the figure but have forgotten it now. Ok website says ca is 103.6 mg/ml and Mg is 5.6 mg/ml
Title: Re: Advice on what to put with my existing odments of fish
Post by: DawnF on April 28, 2018, 10:18:11 AM
Get a school of Odessa Barbs. Stunning males and very active fish. They will happily contend with your current crowd and, provided they're kept in a large enough shoal, won't bother your Angelfish. A mature and settled male Odessa really is a sight to behold!

Thanks for this I have had some of these before. They are great!

Are Harlequin Rasboras too small?
Title: Re: Advice on what to put with my existing odments of fish
Post by: fcmf on April 28, 2018, 10:30:50 AM
I'd be concerned about the angelfish, as it grows, considering harlequin rasboras as a potential meal due to their size. You might find this article helpful http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/pterophyllum-scalare/

With hard water, you'd be best to look at this list for some inspiration https://forums.thinkfish.co.uk/new-fishkeepers/list-of-fish-suitable-for-high-ph-and-hard-water/ - cross-check it against fish of a similar size (eg 5-10cm) in http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish-profiles

Hope that helps as a "starter for ten".

Title: Re: Advice on what to put with my existing odments of fish
Post by: Sue on April 28, 2018, 11:11:30 AM
First of all you do need to rehome the clown loaches. A 180 litre tank is far too small for them. They need a tank with a footprint of at least 180 x 60 cm. http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/chromobotia-macracanthus/
The scissortail also needs a bigger tank http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/rasbora-trilineata/
I would also rehome the angelfish. Few people realise that angels are shoaling fish and should not be kept alone - though of course a shoal needs rather a large tank.

The plec, cories and neons are fine, and I would build a new community around these.


As for hardness, I'm afraid the calcium and magnesium levels are not the hardness. Hardness is all the divalent metal ions added together and a number assigned as though it was all calcium, or all calcium carbonate. Using the actual amount of calcium can be misleading.
Title: Re: Advice on what to put with my existing odments of fish
Post by: Matt on April 28, 2018, 12:07:30 PM
Due to the body shape of harlequins I would think they would be ok with angels... they are less torpedo shaped than eg. Neons which are the same length.