..... and yet another stocking question

Hi everyone
I'd like some help and ideas on my current stock in my 180 Juwel Rio.
First I guess a bit about the tank. As I said, its 180 litre, external filter Fluval 205, currently running at a temperature of 26 degree Celsius. It is running about 4 years altogether but I tore it down and gave it a complete makeover in the start of this year after an extremely long electricity outage killed a lot of my stock and a snail plaque took over.

Current set up :
AquaBasis Plus topped with Manado. Heavily planted at the back and sides, open swimming space in the front and middle. I got 4 pieces of Mopani wood in it, 1 doubling as a low cave.

Current stocking :
11 Glowlight Tetras
6 Rosy Tetras (or maybe White Tip Tetra ? Not sure really.)
6 Otocinclus
4 Corydoras (2 Bandit, 2 Pandas)

There are also 6 Harlequin Rasboras in there but they will move into my 80 litre tank when that is finished.

My water parameters are as following
Ammo 0
nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
PH 6.8
KH 4
GH 7
Changing every week between 40 to 50 litres of water during my weekly waterchange routine.

My plan is to add to the Cory group by adding up to 4 more Pandas so I am already calculating for those.
But I would really like to add something else too, a center piece fish maybe ?
I'd like something with a bit of colour. Maybe a small bit bigger but not big enough to bother my other fish.
Anyone got any ideas on that ? How do you feel about my stocking levels in general ? Can I afford to add something else ? My filter can cope obviously just fine, but I don't want to over do it either.
Any and all ideas more than welcome

I would you have plenty of room in there ,the params look good also ..


Maybe Some Rams , electric or german blue .. Or a couple of nice Gourami . Some nice specimens of both around at the mo if you do a bit of fish shop recon .. that is the key of course , the recon

German blue rams would be my suggestion they look fab

Thank you to both of you
I had a German Blue Ram pair (the female had eggs a couple times but my otos and corys cleared them up every chance they got. Kind of suited me as I really didn't want fry Sadly they both died in the energy outage
But yes, I might just try and get another pair. I will freely admit I am in love with them

Apisto are always a nice option also , but i must say blue rams are beautiful.

Thank you ceech
Hmmm, Apisto is something I never had.
Would they fit into my fishy gang and what types would be most suitable ?

As you could see in my last post, I am not really into the breeding side of things. My first taste of Guppy keeping has me COMPLETELY put off that.
So any advice with that in mind would be greatly appreciated too.

Hi Katie - I have a 180 wet up as well that is in need of some stocking, currently have a shoal of cardinals, ottos like yourself, 5 odessa barbs (if you can get good ones the red colour on these fish is AMAZING) but so hard to get decent ones! Keep an eye out for them as this would be my recommendation to you. Here is a few pics of my ones www.flickr.com/photos/spothat/sets/72157629345882380/

I have 4 boesmani rainbow fish as well, i intend adding to make the group 6, they look well in the 180L as well, but again so difficult to find good stock....that being said im living in Cork and have not had the pleasure of getting to the Dublin shops yet, never have time with work!... hope this helps

Thanks for the tip WOW, those Barbs do look AMAZING !
I am always worried about Barbs being nippy though so have been making circles around the barb tanks.

I am with you on being too far away from Dublin for the great fishy shops

Went to Cork yesterday and decided to look into a petshop on the way home for some possible additions to my tank, but the GBR's looked extremely skinny and very pale so I didn't buy.
Saw some Flame Gourami and they really caught my eye but once again, I didn't buy. Wanted to get some research on those Gourami's in first.
Anyone any ideas on them ?

apisto cacatuoides would be fine for your tank just make sure to have a few caves or cocunut shells they can make there own.1 male and 1 female would be fine even 2 females if you choose. apisto agassizi are also nice aswell.Just remember they are cichlids and can be aggressive when breeding but i would think as long as you stick to 2 or 3 you would be fine and they are beautiful fish to look at.

Gourami are nice also and you can get dwarf kinds.In my experience with them they were only agressive towards each other.But there is always a chance they could eat smaller tetra kinds.
For me though the dwarf cichlids are far more interesting

Yes the barbs have a nippy reputation. And for a long time I stayed away from them. After a bit of reading and opinion from this forum, I discovered really its the tight barbs that give all barbs a bad name in this respect!

My Odessas are as calm and placid, never nip, they are playful fish always chasing each other and having fun, keep themselves to them selves.
On the topic of gouramis I've only ever kept the pear males as individuals in community set ups. I thought them to be boisterous and slightly territorial, but still a community fish.

Thanks for the info on the barbs Hmmmm, might look into them a little more in that case.
If I was going with a Flame Gourami (it is a dwarf by the way) I would only get a single one. I like peace in my tank lol .