Looking for stocking ideas for many different tanks!

[redmare]

I've got a bad case of collectoritis and I'm getting the craving to buy more fish! Here's what I've got, and what I'm thinking.... Please leave input or other ideas!

Tank 1: 80 gallons, currently home to 1 young oscar about 6-7 inches long. Her 6'x2'x2' 180 is in the works for next year. Her tank is heavily planted (amazing, right??) and well filtered. I'm strongly considering getting her a tank mate, but I know it's risky business. I honestly really want a common pleco, I think they are just the coolest things ever. I'm not sure though! 

Tank 2: 10 gallons, currently home to 1 male betta already tested to be friendly with small fish. Really thinking about a little group of kuhli loaches in there! I know some say 10 gallons is fine and some say too small... But it's a heavily planted tank that I think would be super enriching for them. Also considering pygmy cories, or otos! 

Tank 3: 30 gallons, currently home to 4 honey gouramis, 10 pristella tetras, 8 panda cories, and 1 longfin BN pleco. Also heavily planted. It's missing some colour, so I've been considering a school of 8 or so neon tetras. I keep the water at 75 in there, so I think neons over cardinals. (not worried about stocking level in here, it's very easily managed currently and can definitely take a higher load)

Tank 4: 35 gallons, currently home to a whole bunch of guppies! I'm loving the free-for-all breeding tank. I'm thinking of adding something to eat some algae, maybe otos, a bristlenose, or hililstream loaches, and/or something to eat some fry, possibly a single molly or swordtail, or a small school of larger tetras, or maybe a few danios?  Also heavily planted

Tank 5: 20 gallons, currently home to just one male betta. This used to be my quarantine tank and now it's just a random holding tank, but I want to bring it back to life, plant it up, make it nice, and put more critters in it. The betta who lives there has lived with several different kinds of fish and is totally fine with things that don't crowd his personal space (he lived with female guppies for a while, and he was good at first, then got sick of them bumping into him during feeding). I really don't know what direction I want to take this, Joey the betta gets to stay, but I'd love to try some things I haven't done yet! I want to plant it with crypts since somehow I haven't grown any yet!

Tank 6: I've recently built my first tank from scratch, a 1ft cube (about 7.5 gallons). I'm thinking of doing a new kind of shrimp in here, I have a booming cherry shrimp colony in another 5 gallon that's spread to most of my other tanks. I'm also interested in tiny nano fish like CPDs or chili rasboras. So free-for-all with tiny ideas here too! 

[anewbie]

Hello. I remember you. So i'm not sure if you are asking for alternative stocking or comments on your current stocking. I will say that one thing you are missing is a dwarf cichlid tank. There are some amazing apistogramma to choose from depending on your expert level and your interest. One that I like a lot are nijenssi another are Elizabeth but these are more difficult fishes esp if you intend to breed them. There are easier ones such are Borelli and Hongsoli is somewhere inbetween. For dithers pencil fishes are common with them. If you wish to breed them cory can be a dice roll - the issue is they have to be aggressive enough to protect the eggs but not so aggressive there is an issue. Of course i just mentioned apistogramma - there are tons of other non-apistogramma dwarf cichlid such as rams, acara, and as many words as i can type in a day (ok maybe not that many but at least as many as i would spell correctly). 

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I've become very fond of pygmy cory and otto and a tank with 20 of each would be amusing but that might not be your style 😉

A 20 long would work for most aspito (just that some are harem and some are strickly m:f so you need to do a bit of understanding before picking). 

--

As for your current stockings - well it is a personal thing but i've never been in love with large tanks with a single fish - i always want a whole fleet of fishes - but that is a personal thing - this is my 120 to give you an idea:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even when i get a tiny tank (this is a 5 gallon) it ends up a mess:

 

 

 

Anyway there are so many species of freshwater fishes and so many species of plants we can mix and match that each tank can be a planted forest with fishes weaving in and out and not share anything in common with the tank next to it.

 

 

 

Edited May 4, 2021 by anewbie

[Biotope Biologist]

Tank 1: plecostamus do really well in cichlid tanks and I would say you have the tank for it. Just make sure to provide lots of caves. When you move to the 180g I would provide lots of digging substrate and anchor your plants well. As oscars get older they really enjoy making tanks their own. Also as you may be aware oscars are sometimes referred to as underwater dogs. I like to give them neutral buoyancy fishing beads to play with. (https://www.amazon.com/Soft-Beads-Clown-Neutral-Buoyancy/dp/B0775YJF7T). You can get them at most big name outdoors stores. Just make sure they are to big to fit in their mouth. The other thing I like to do is set up a betta hammock at surface level or slightly higher and put insect treats on the leaf. Oscars really enjoy using their natural hunting techniques in the aquarium. Other tankmates to consider: blue acara, silver dollar, banded cichlid, uara cichlid, convict cichlid, hoplo catfish

 

Tank 2: pygmy cories have my vote

Tank 3: Definitely neons, always overlooked

Tank 4: Banjo catfish will eat fry and are quite unique looking, not to mention absolutely charming. They are naturally found in rivers and estuaries inhabited by livebearers so win-win.

Tank 5: I can't think of a calmer fish off hand. If your betta is pretty calm himself glass catfish could be added. They are fragile and usually have to be baster fed frozen worms. Sometimes they take to fish flakes, but I rarely had good luck with them taking to it at the petstore I worked at. Otherwise bottom dwellers might be good

Tank 6: Chilli rasboras have my vote. They are so pretty amongst the greens of the plants and always lively.

[redmare]

23 minutes ago, anewbie said:

Hello. I remember you. So i'm not sure if you are asking for alternative stocking or comments on your current stocking. I will say that one thing you are missing is a dwarf cichlid tank. There are some amazing apistogramma to choose from depending on your expert level and your interest. One that I like a lot are nijenssi another are Elizabeth but these are more difficult fishes esp if you intend to breed them. There are easier ones such are Borelli and Hongsoli is somewhere inbetween. For dithers pencil fishes are common with them. If you wish to breed them cory can be a dice roll - the issue is they have to be aggressive enough to protect the eggs but not so aggressive there is an issue. Of course i just mentioned apistogramma - there are tons of other non-apistogramma dwarf cichlid such as rams, acara, and as many words as i can type in a day (ok maybe not that many but at least as many as i would spell correctly). 

-

I've become very fond of pygmy cory and otto and a tank with 20 of each would be amusing but that might not be your style 😉

A 20 long would work for most aspito (just that some are harem and some are strickly m:f so you need to do a bit of understanding before picking). 

--

As for your current stockings - well it is a personal thing but i've never been in love with large tanks with a single fish - i always want a whole fleet of fishes - but that is a personal thing - this is my 120 to give you an idea:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even when i get a tiny tank (this is a 5 gallon) it ends up a mess:

 

 

 

Anyway there are so many species of freshwater fishes and so many species of plants we can mix and match that each tank can be a planted forest with fishes weaving in and out and not share anything in common with the tank next to it.

 

 

 

Thanks so much! I never planned on having a single fish to a tank... I've had this 80 for nearly a year thinking and planning on what to put in it, and then an oscar happened! It was never my style but I love her so much and she's a part of the family! When she upgrades I think I'm going to do angels and community fish in the 80. 

Also... I do have a dwarf cichlid tank!! I have a 15gal with a male GBR and he has a girlfriend in the mail lol

[redmare]

14 minutes ago, Biotope Biologist said:

Tank 1: plecostamus do really well in cichlid tanks and I would say you have the tank for it. Just make sure to provide lots of caves. When you move to the 180g I would provide lots of digging substrate and anchor your plants well. As oscars get older they really enjoy making tanks their own. Also as you may be aware oscars are sometimes referred to as underwater dogs. I like to give them neutral buoyancy fishing beads to play with. (https://www.amazon.com/Soft-Beads-Clown-Neutral-Buoyancy/dp/B0775YJF7T). You can get them at most big name outdoors stores. Just make sure they are to big to fit in their mouth. The other thing I like to do is set up a betta hammock at surface level or slightly higher and put insect treats on the leaf. Oscars really enjoy using their natural hunting techniques in the aquarium. Other tankmates to consider: blue acara, silver dollar, banded cichlid, uara cichlid, convict cichlid, hoplo catfish

 

Tank 2: pygmy cories have my vote

Tank 3: Definitely neons, always overlooked

Tank 4: Banjo catfish will eat fry and are quite unique looking, not to mention absolutely charming. They are naturally found in rivers and estuaries inhabited by livebearers so win-win.

Tank 5: I can't think of a calmer fish off hand. If your betta is pretty calm himself glass catfish could be added. They are fragile and usually have to be baster fed frozen worms. Sometimes they take to fish flakes, but I rarely had good luck with them taking to it at the petstore I worked at. Otherwise bottom dwellers might be good

Tank 6: Chilli rasboras have my vote. They are so pretty amongst the greens of the plants and always lively.

Thanks for the input! I've been ready for my oscar to destroy her plants since day 1, and I'm sure it could still happen, but for now she lives in a forest and loves it haha! She has a favourite shell that she loves to play with as well, and I've taught her how to play tic tac toe! She's so smart and personable and my whole family adores her.

Thanks for all the other suggestions! I will definitely look into banjo cats, I love weird and special fish

[anewbie]

One thing i did want to suggest - is many of the fishes you are mentioning are more common - and there is nothing wrong with that - but if you want to a bit more bold there are 100's of pleco and probably as many tetra that are worth exploring. This doesn't even begin to touch rasbora or rainbow fishes and then there are loaches. For example instead of getting larger cory for a tank - you could get 10 zebra loaches (these are extremely gentle fishes that are not too large - around 3.5 inches long but narrow) - just don't put them with your snails 😉

-

Then for tetra i wouldn't know where to begin with alternative suggestions - the only thing to be aware of is the temp they require and there are a few that you don't want near plants as they are big plants eaters but beyond that they come in all shapes and sizes. There are lemon tetra, black neon tetra, congo tetra, redtail hemiodus tetra (which are quite pretty), phantom tetra (black, red, white), blood fin tetra, rummy nose tetra (actually 3 different species are frequently called rummy nose), emperor, flame tetra, blue tetra (another lovely fish if you can find it), rainbow tetra, bucktooth tetra (think mini pirana - definitely not friendly), ....

-

Well i'm not going to start on rasbora or rainbows though i will mention that my army of kubotai are amusing. 

-

Anyways just some ideas - if you want to experiment. One more picture and then i will go away - i figure pictures might give you some different ideas but maybe they are just annoying:

 

[redmare]

3 hours ago, anewbie said:

One thing i did want to suggest - is many of the fishes you are mentioning are more common - and there is nothing wrong with that - but if you want to a bit more bold there are 100's of pleco and probably as many tetra that are worth exploring. This doesn't even begin to touch rasbora or rainbow fishes and then there are loaches. For example instead of getting larger cory for a tank - you could get 10 zebra loaches (these are extremely gentle fishes that are not too large - around 3.5 inches long but narrow) - just don't put them with your snails 😉

-

Then for tetra i wouldn't know where to begin with alternative suggestions - the only thing to be aware of is the temp they require and there are a few that you don't want near plants as they are big plants eaters but beyond that they come in all shapes and sizes. There are lemon tetra, black neon tetra, congo tetra, redtail hemiodus tetra (which are quite pretty), phantom tetra (black, red, white), blood fin tetra, rummy nose tetra (actually 3 different species are frequently called rummy nose), emperor, flame tetra, blue tetra (another lovely fish if you can find it), rainbow tetra, bucktooth tetra (think mini pirana - definitely not friendly), ....

-

Well i'm not going to start on rasbora or rainbows though i will mention that my army of kubotai are amusing. 

-

Anyways just some ideas - if you want to experiment. One more picture and then i will go away - i figure pictures might give you some different ideas but maybe they are just annoying:

 

That looks awesome!! I'm very intrigued in venturing into some unusual stuff, but to be honest... I'm a little scared! I've gotten pretty good at the basics, I've only just begun exploring cichlids. Thanks for the ideas!!