Fish Wishlist Dilemma

[Sweetpickles]

The acrylic 36 gal is cycled. A little bare on the plants. That is the next step. Easy beginner plants. But first i have to figure out these fish swimming in my head! Anyone else make lists like this?? My end result plan is for apistogrammas. Dwarf cichlids. Not german rams however. I love all these schooling fish but i cant have them all! How many species of schooling fish? What combo would you like to see in a tank of 36 gal with the species on my list? Originally my son wanted the golden wonder  killifish, pencil fish and furcata (sp?) rainbow and emperor tetra with the dwarf cichlid. We have possibly eliminated the killifish. And is there a shrimp that would work with a combo of these. Of course it will be planted much more before I put in the fish. We like to start with babies so the kids can watch the fish grow out.

I have watched corys vid on the odessa. I know my tank may be a bit small for a nice school.

thank you for reading and looking

[Jungle Fan]

If you want shrimp Bolivian rams will work but the apistos would make them disappear in short order, The rainbows, depending on what type might work but I've seen Boesemanis pick on other fish, especially with longer fins  sometimes as well so I don't know how they are with shrimp. I keep cardinal and rummynose tetras, as well as otocinclus, and Bolivian rams in my tank together with Amano and blue dream neocaridina shrimp.

Hope this helps.

[Sweetpickles]

@Jungle Fanyes thank you! I have cherry shrimp in there now. I will return them to the 20 gal. most likely. Son was interested in bambo shrimp poss. I feel like most fish on our list may make a snack of shrimp. I would love the larger rainbows. May be a good reason (excuse) for a larger tank🤷‍♀️🤣

Thanks again!

[Jungle Fan]

I'm kind of unusual now with my 75 gallon tank since I've had much larger tanks before and scaled back for ease of management but the general consensus usually seems to be "We're  gonna need a larger tank!"😄

[ChemBob]

Pencilfish will work. I think the furcata are a pseudomugil, so much smaller and should be fine in your tank. If memory serves, a lot of cory breeders keep rainbow in their bedding track as dither fish. Not sure if that translates to apistos though. You can probably do 2 smaller schools or 1 big school of dither fish. Other options would include smaller tetras and hatchetfish. 

Edited July 17, 2021 by ChemBob

[Sweetpickles]

Thanks @ChemBob when you say smaller school, you think 6-8 is appropriate for a smaller school? If we decide to go with an angel i would want enough of a school so no one gets pestered. I will do more reading on the pencil fish. 

Thanks

Edited July 17, 2021 by Sweetpickles

[ChemBob]

On 7/17/2021 at 6:17 AM, Sweetpickles said:

Thanks @ChemBob when you say smaller school, you think 6-8 is appropriate for a smaller school? If we decide to go with an angel i would want enough of a school so no one gets pestered. I will do more reading on the pencil fish. 

Thanks

Yes, 6 to 8 would be good,  but it really depends on the size of the fish. For smaller fish, like say neon or cardinal tetras or pencilfish,  you may be able to push that to 10 or 12. For larger fish, you may only be able to only do 1 school of 6 to 8.

I don't have experience with angels, but I recall they get rather large, so I'd look into how many adults can fit in your tank. 

[Sweetpickles]

On 7/17/2021 at 8:28 AM, ChemBob said:

Yes, 6 to 8 would be good,  but it really depends on the size of the fish. For smaller fish, like say neon or cardinal tetras or pencilfish,  you may be able to push that to 10 or 12. For larger fish, you may only be able to only do 1 school of 6 to 8.

I don't have experience with angels, but I recall they get rather large, so I'd look into how many adults can fit in your tank. 

Thank you much! This is helpful! Its so hard to not just run out and fill the tank with everything I want. And NOW!!  Plant first, I keep telling myself! 

Thanks again!

[ChemBob]

@Sweetpickles I understand! As much as we want to fill the tank at first,, its much better for the fish to take it slow. Stocking level will really come down to how often do you want to change water? The more heavily stocked, the more frequent and larger changes will be necessary. 

[Sweetpickles]

@ChemBobI have figured that out with the 20 gal! But I dont mind. I have a teenager and an 11yo to help out!😁 🤣