Stocking ideas for a 36 gallon bowfront tank needed

[Gumbo99]

Hello all,I am in the process of setting up an aquarium for my father-in-law at his request. I wound up scoring a good deal on a barely used 36 gal bowfront and I am looking for some thoughts on stocking-this forum seems to be way more reasonable than anywhere else on the Internet (which seems to oscillate between extreme negligence and zealous 'fish police').

He's wanting to have some more medium size fish, as the tank will primarily be observed from a recliner across the room, and I wanted to gather some information from people with experience before I made any recommendations. I'm more of a nano tank guy so this is a little outside my wheelhouse, the biggest fish I have kept are bolivian rams and platies.

Would amy of the following fish be suitable for a tank that size?

Electric blue acara or  1-3 angelfish (too big maybe?)

Congo tetra (love these guys, but too big maybe as well?)

Tiger Barbs

Large Tetras like Columbians

Larger live-bearers like swordtails and mollies.

Thanks!

Edited September 22, 2022 by Gumbo99

[_Eric_]

I think any of those options would work to build a tank around - just not necessarily with each other.  3 angels might work but definitely could be pushing it.  May check out cherry or gold barbs as well.  School of cardinal tetras can look nice from across the room as well if you have decent lighting and could be a compliment to other stuff going on in the tank.  

[Guppysnail]

For sitting across the room enjoyment nothing beats panda or bandit corydora in my catfish loving opinion. Fun playful all over the place and they vacuum 🤣 a nice group of 8-10 would be so fun in that tank. Here are some of mine playing. I’m with you on mid ground. The fish police hate me and the extreme no maintenance ones think I do to much 🤷‍♀️  My fish are happy so I’m happy 😁 here are some of my pandas playing. My bandits spend even more time midwater but are all in the food dish right now 🤣

 

[Gumbo99]

On 9/22/2022 at 11:55 AM, _Eric_ said:

I think any of those options would work to build a tank around - just not necessarily with each other.  3 angels might work but definitely could be pushing it.  May check out cherry or gold barbs as well.  School of cardinal tetras can look nice from across the room as well if you have decent lighting and could be a compliment to other stuff going on in the tank.  

I guess one angel might be better as a centerpiece? Cherry barbs are pretty cool, I'll add that one to the list. I have never seen cardinals in my area, for whatever reason it's all neons all the time around here.

On 9/22/2022 at 11:58 AM, Guppysnail said:

For sitting across the room enjoyment nothing beats panda or bandit corydora in my catfish loving opinion. Fun playful all over the place and they vacuum 🤣 a nice group of 8-10 would be so fun in that tank. Here are some of mine playing. I’m with you on mid ground. The fish police hate me and the extreme no maintenance ones think I do to much 🤷‍♀️  My fish are happy so I’m happy 😁 here are some of my pandas playing. My bandits spend even more time midwater but are all in the food dish right now 🤣

 

I completely forgot about corydoras! I had some Aeneas species in my 29 gallon for a year or so, but they got huge so I wound up giving them away.

[_Eric_]

Im reading into it a bit and think your father-in-law may not want to deal with some angelfish aggression if it pops up down the line- I think a single would be better in that light.  A single electric blue acara would be a cool centerpiece though.  A trio of pearl gouramis could be nice as well.  

Shame about the cardinals.  Neons or green neon tetras can be cool as well from across the room.  I have a group of green neons in one of my tanka and they change color / flash as they swim around. Limits what else can go in there though.  

Like the corydora suggestion.  Pandas should be a good size for a 36.  Those bronze guys can get pretty big so I wouldn't worry about having the same experience with pandas.

I also have a Glofish tank which is great from across the room if you have a blue light.  Fish police definitely hate Glofish and "real" fish people are too cool for them, but I enjoy it and the kids like it.  🙂 
 

 

[Gumbo99]

On 9/22/2022 at 2:54 PM, _Eric_ said:

Im reading into it a bit and think your father-in-law may not want to deal with some angelfish aggression if it pops up down the line- I think a single would be better in that light.  A single electric blue acara would be a cool centerpiece though.  A trio of pearl gouramis could be nice as well.  

Shame about the cardinals.  Neons or green neon tetras can be cool as well from across the room.  I have a group of green neons in one of my tanka and they change color / flash as they swim around. Limits what else can go in there though.  

Like the corydora suggestion.  Pandas should be a good size for a 36.  Those bronze guys can get pretty big so I wouldn't worry about having the same experience with pandas.

I also have a Glofish tank which is great from across the room if you have a blue light.  Fish police definitely hate Glofish and "real" fish people are too cool for them, but I enjoy it and the kids like it.  🙂 
 

 

Yeah, I'm just trying to brainstorm some "safe" picks as this aquarium will be maintained by me but not at my house. I don't want an experiment to fail and make me look bad lol.

Are EBA'S pretty laid back? Angels have that reputation for being surly, but I haven't ever heard much about acara.

I had not considered glofish, that might be a cool idea, albeit unnatural looking. But then again most of the fauna in my list are altered from their wild form in one way or another, so I guess if we really cared about that we would all just do biotope style tanks lol.

[_Eric_]

EBAs pretty laid back for a chiclid but still a chiclid.

Glofish look pretty crazy so not for everyone.  There is a difference between not technically found in nature and a swimming highlighter.  I like them but not everyone will.

[drewzero1]

I second the pearl gourami suggestion. I've heard mixed reports of shoaling vs. single, but I'd personally go with one for a centerpiece. In my limited experience mine tended to chase mollies around. (Adding more real and fake plants helped a lot with both aggression and shyness in my pearl. Feeding two places at a time also helped food aggression.) Some have said they target cories, but mine didn't seem to notice them.

My favorite schooling fish for across-the-room viewing is the skirt tetra. The tall, narrow body makes it easily visible from a distance without it having to be a huge fish. I didn't have mine at the same time as my pearl so I can't speak to their compatibility.

[Gumbo99]

On 9/23/2022 at 4:35 PM, drewzero1 said:

I second the pearl gourami suggestion. I've heard mixed reports of shoaling vs. single, but I'd personally go with one for a centerpiece. In my limited experience mine tended to chase mollies around. (Adding more real and fake plants helped a lot with both aggression and shyness in my pearl. Feeding two places at a time also helped food aggression.) Some have said they target cories, but mine didn't seem to notice them.

My favorite schooling fish for across-the-room viewing is the skirt tetra. The tall, narrow body makes it easily visible from a distance without it having to be a huge fish. I didn't have mine at the same time as my pearl so I can't speak to their compatibility.

Hmm, Pearl gouramis are really pretty coloration wise. I think skirt tetras don't get enough love, the YouTube channel Green Aqua had a tank for a while that had angelfish and skirt tetras that was absolutely amazing.