Centre piece stock Ideas

[D Robinson]

Hiya all, after sorting out a number of issues and stabilising algae / plant growth ect I think the tank looks empty despite having nearly 100 small community fish in there. Any ideas for larger centre piece fish, 5ft tank, 450L, 22'C, fluval FX6 & oase biomaster 450. Based in UK, north east. Thanks 🙂

[Solstice_Lacer]

What is your current stock? That can help determine a good center piece.

[D Robinson]

Hiya, fair few rosy barbs, torpedo, loads of corydoras, powder blue gourami (4), a few hills stream loaches, albino ansistrous. That's the vast majority that I can remember. Cheers

Dan

[Solstice_Lacer]

Cory did a video recently about Pearl Gourami, that could be cool. Possibly angel fish or festivum cichlid

[Tony s]

My first thought is an electric blue acara. But, apparently, that's always my first thought.

Honestly, 3-5 pearl gourami would look great. With 1 angelfish and possibly 1 threadfin acara. 

You could go 2 angels, I'd hesitate to do more. Mine can get aggressive when paired

[Tony s]

My electric blue gets along great with everybody. You could even do more. But they will breed and have fry. Which will make them more aggressive. If they're not breeding, they're pretty calm. The threadfin is nice, they won't bother plants much but may dig. Albinos are amazing looking but may come with some health problems as they get bigger. Sometimes all albino's do. Another cichlid you could try is the blood parrot. Not the polar blue one, I believe that's a hybrid with convict genes. So. more aggressive. But the standard blood parrot, also a hybrid but less aggressive. Very tiny mouths, anyway, can't do a lot. Depends on if you like the look of them. Some don't. Haven't tried the blood parrot, but I do like the color. If you didn't have a lot of plants, I'd say a severum. But they will eat plants. It's the only reason I don't have them

If you're after a wet puppy dog, definitely the electric blue acara

[D Robinson]

Alot of these i havnt kept before and some suggest potentially a little aggressive for some of the more peaceful stock in there. If a group of centre peace fish won't work what about shoaling fish do you think this could or would be better? Any ideas?

[Riiz]

I'm suggesting a group of Pearl Gourami's, they stay higher in the water column and the males really pop after maturing. Feed then some krill-flake once in a while to really develop that orange color. Angelfish are great too, but I'm sort of tired of their aggression and I've always had a group or several pairs for the last 25+ years.

 

Rainbowfish would be my second suggestion since you have a large enough aquarium for a really good shoal of them. They come in a bunch of colors and live a long time. But with that longer life they take longer to matue and color, but it is a great group of fish to keep to is active and puts on a show.

Edited November 7 by Riiz

[Steviesfish]

Congo tetras might be good. They like a lot of swimming length which you have.

Edited November 7 by Steviesfish

[D Robinson]

I have just had a look and groups of congo tetras looked amazing, I would consider gourami but I already have powder blues so not sure if getting pearls would be a problem, ie mixing them, honestly don't know.

[knee]

They're a bit uncommon but I have started looking into yellow acaras, similar to the EB acaras but I prefer their color more. I'm also planning to get these when I setup my 150g. I think 2-3 pairs will do well in that tank.

[Tony s]

2 hours ago, D Robinson said:

I already have powder blues so not sure if getting pearls would be a problem

Yeah, you can't really get away with that. And honestly, watch your powder blues. When they get older they get grumpy with each other. 

 

2 hours ago, knee said:

I have started looking into yellow acaras, similar to the EB acaras but I prefer their color more

Yeah, I have looked at them a bit too. But, like the regular blue acara, possibly a bit more aggressive. 

 

@D Robinson There is a huge difference between electric blue acara (a hybrid fish) and regular blue acaras, EBA's are much less aggressive than most cichlids. Usually not aggressive at all. But, like all fish, if it fits in my mouth, I eats it

[D Robinson]

Morning. I'm pleased you mentioned the powder blues as mine are getting fin nippy with each other and it's making me rethink the potential for a fish going rogue, the acara looks great but the potential for it do damage is making me nervous. I am leaning towards a group of 6 ish congos as looking at videos they look gorgeous.

[Cinnebuns]

17 hours ago, Solstice_Lacer said:

Cory did a video recently about Pearl Gourami, that could be cool. Possibly angel fish or festivum cichlid

I was thinking angels but I also love the idea of pearl gourami for this tank. I 2nd these suggestions. 

17 hours ago, Tony s said:

But, apparently, that's always my first thought.

Haha we all have our tendencies and things we love!

[Steviesfish]

5 hours ago, D Robinson said:

 I am leaning towards a group of 6 ish congos as looking at videos they look gorgeous.

One thing to bear in mind with the congos is the males are more brightly coloured and have longer fins. But males show best colours when they are with females. 

Edited November 8 by Steviesfish

[reefhugger]

17 hours ago, Riiz said:

Rainbowfish would be my second suggestion .

I second the shoal of Rainbow fish.  Some beautiful kinds available and they are fun to watch.

 

I hadn't seen Electric Blue Acara before @Tony s mentioned them..... oh my I see why he loves them  They are gorgeous.

[mrPickles]

I'm not usually a huge angelfish fan, but I saw Avatar Smokey Angelfish in person yesterday, and they were stunners. They would definitely be a centerpiece, and would stay toward the top of the water column. The pic doesn't do them justice.

 

Edited November 8 by mrPickles

[Tony s]

@mrPickles, Oh my goodness, they have some extremely nice angels. The green bsp and zebra avatar look amazing as well. Sold out of course. And I'm a sucker for Angels anyway. 

[mrPickles]

@Tony s yea, that is one of two LFS within 15 minutes of me that are fantastic. Really fortunate. They have some rainbow vampire crabs I want to get for a palludarium that is more of an aquarium. Just need to make sure I have enough land area for them.

[DallasCowboys16]

2 hours ago, Tony s said:

@mrPickles, Oh my goodness, they have some extremely nice angels. The green bsp and zebra avatar look amazing as well. Sold out of course. And I'm a sucker for Angels anyway. 

Angels would be a great species to fill out that tank. Almost everything you’ve got is more bottom oriented, so maybe a big school of 20-30 of a tetra or peaceful barb of your choice would be great too.

 

27 minutes ago, mrPickles said:

@Tony s yea, that is one of two LFS within 15 minutes of me that are fantastic. Really fortunate. They have some rainbow vampire crabs I want to get for a palludarium that is more of an aquarium. Just need to make sure I have enough land area for them.

I lived in Boulder for years and now I’m in South Denver. Other than AquaImports what’s the other store you’re referring to? I’m always looking for a new spot to check out. Our LFS along the front range are generally a little lacking compared to other major metro areas it seems.

[mrPickles]

@DallasCowboys16 oh cool. The other is About Fish on Federal near 36.

 

Sorry for detracting from your post OP.

Edited November 8 by mrPickles