Hello from the UK

[AquaAaron]

Hello all from The Lake District UK!

Loving the YouTube content and always learning more and more listening in on Cory's podcasts/Live streams. It's fantastic what the Aquarium Coop team are doing to promote the hobby as well as keeping a business going.

As a relatively new fish keeper (around 8 months or so now). Am finding that one way or another I'm accumulating more tanks 1 at a time and always wanting to try something different. My largest setup at the moment  is my 180L (47 US Gallon Bowfront) community tank that I rarely need to change water in, if at all. Plants like the guppy grass and hornwort grow for fun as well as the Broadleaf stem plants (of which I can't remember the name of 😬). I've always got plenty of platy and molly fry on the go in there, and have to take around 30 into the LFS at a time to keep numbers down, and considering I don't really have hard water, they still seem to thrive.

My question is, what would make a nice centre piece fish with the rest of the community, or even a few larger fish that would stand out again the usual smaller community fish??

I know Cory has answered this a few times in past videos, but I wondered what the community thought and could suggest, as well as a bit of an intro to the rest of the NERMS out there 👌

Thanks!

Aaron

[Fish Folk]

Cheers from ‘cross the pond! Appalachain hillbilly fishkeepers here. 
 

Sounds like a lively tank. Two points to consider: (1) temperature (2) size / aggression 

Angelfish might make good centerpiece candidates if the aquarium is warm enough. (25-C or warmer). 
 

Some aquarists get away with a single long-finned male betta in that context. 
 

A couple honey Gourami, though not too large, can be a nice touch. 

[AquaAaron]

5 minutes ago, Fish Folk said:

Cheers from ‘cross the pond! Appalachain hillbilly fishkeepers here. 
 

Sounds like a lively tank. Two points to consider: (1) temperature (2) size / aggression 

Angelfish might make good centerpiece candidates if the aquarium is warm enough. (25-C or warmer). 
 

Some aquarists get away with a single long-finned male betta in that context. 
 

A couple honey Gourami, though not too large, can be a nice touch. 

Thanks for the reply Bud, 

yeah it sure is a lively community in there with plenty of movement, especially at feeding time. 

I keep the temperature at a steady 26°c or 78°f ish.

I have been considering a single Angel Fish, which would be a lovely addition. 

Speaking of honey gourami, I have one in my 40L/10 gallon and it's very pieceful, however I wonder if a larger Pearl gourami would work in my larger community tank?

 

[Fish Folk]

Beautiful tank! Never kept Pearl Gourami, so will let others advise. If you can find a striking Apistogramma Cacatuoides Super Red, that’s another candidate. 

[Fish Folk]

Looking more closely, is there a betta in your tank already? 
 

And pray tell what’s going on up top with the container? Fry?

[AquaAaron]

1 minute ago, Fish Folk said:

Beautiful tank! Never kept Pearl Gourami, so will let others advise. If you can find a striking Apistogramma Cacatuoides Super Red, that’s another candidate. 

Much appreciated, it's much more over grown now which I don't mind as gives the fry plenty of cover.

That is another good shout, those apistos look amazing for sure, I'll do some research into the pearl gourami too 

Thanks

[AquaAaron]

1 minute ago, Fish Folk said:

Looking more closely, is there a betta in your tank already? 
 

And pray tell what’s going on up top with the container? Fry?

I did have a single long fin male betta in there a while back and he was doing well apart from the occasional livebearer that might nip at his fin so I decided he would be happier in a smaller tank.

And yeah the floating tub had small holes in and it was when I first had fry. 

Now that the tank is much more over grown, I just let the fry grow out in the community and seem to do great 

[HardeepTheLondoner]

Hey bud, Londoner over here!

I’d look into the Electric Blue Acara. It’s a lovely fish, gets a little large but shows amazing colour.

They can be known for uprooting plants but I find this to be more common when they want to spawn. For that reason, I’d stick to 1 in your tank. 

[AquaAaron]

12 minutes ago, HardeepTheLondoner said:

Hey bud, Londoner over here!

I’d look into the Electric Blue Acara. It’s a lovely fish, gets a little large but shows amazing colour.

They can be known for uprooting plants but I find this to be more common when they want to spawn. For that reason, I’d stick to 1 in your tank. 

Cheers for the suggestion bud much appreciated 

I'll look up and do some research on the blue acara.

 

[Fish Folk]

E Blues could maybe work - agreed, they’re stunning! They might snack down  all smaller fry. 

[AquaAaron]

3 minutes ago, Fish Folk said:

E Blues could maybe work - agreed, they’re stunning! They might snack down  all smaller fry. 

This is true, however there are normally a lot of fry in there so maybe that would keep the population under control 

But I'll have a good think at which fish will get on well with the rest of the community.

Thanks for the suggestions so far, a fish that grows a little larger would be stunning sight in the tank 

 

 

[Fish Folk]

Here’s our E Blues and their fry growing out...

 

[AquaAaron]

3 minutes ago, Fish Folk said:

Here’s our E Blues and their fry growing out...

 

They sure look to be thriving, Fantastic!

[Colu]

Welcome come to the forum    Great looking tank

[AquaAaron]

8 hours ago, Colu said:

Welcome come to the forum    Great looking tank

Cheers bud much appreciated 👍

[CorydorasEthan]

16 hours ago, AquaAaron said:

Speaking of honey gourami, I have one in my 40L/10 gallon and it's very pieceful, however I wonder if a larger Pearl gourami would work in my larger community tank?

Yes, I would do a pearl gourami in your tank because they work fantastic with livebearers in my experience. I keep a male pearl gourami in my 29 gallon community. He is very peaceful (he doesn't even eat guppy fry). In my experience, he will only attack peaceful bottom dwellers, and only during feeding. During this time, he bites and chases my Corydoras catfish away from their wafers. But that is the only time he is aggressive. So if you have cories I would advise against getting a pearl gourami. But then again, I haven't kept female pearls, and all gourami have different personalities, so I would check with other people for their experiences.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

[AquaAaron]

2 hours ago, CorydorasEthan said:

Yes, I would do a pearl gourami in your tank because they work fantastic with livebearers in my experience. I keep a male pearl gourami in my 29 gallon community. He is very peaceful (he doesn't even eat guppy fry). In my experience, he will only attack peaceful bottom dwellers, and only during feeding. During this time, he bites and chases my Corydoras catfish away from their wafers. But that is the only time he is aggressive. So if you have cories I would advise against getting a pearl gourami. But then again, I haven't kept female pearls, and all gourami have different personalities, so I would check with other people for their experiences.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Spot on! 

Thanks for the suggestion bud, 

I decided to go for Angelfish as the centrepiece fish in my 3ft community tank.

Cheers

Aaron