What looks better.

I am trying to decide what looks or works better.I am working on getting a 600 to 800lt tank and want to have a planted setup but would like to know when it comes to tetras how many schools of different fish can you use and still keep them shooling and not looking mixed up.

Well its hard to say, alot of the charcin family doesnt actually shoal together. A true shoaling tetra is the rummy nose tetras, in a tank that size you could get a fab shoaling behaviour from them, go with about 20+ min in a tank that size, Id be inclined to go with 30 upwards even. Neons and cardinal's will mingle closely together but this is for safety rather than anything else,they do stay close together but dont exhibit true shoaling behaviour.Black neons can be nice. Harlequin Rasboras are lovely fish that school well together in the upper levels of the tank, again you could aim for 20+ on these fish also, they school nicely. Glowlight tetras also school. Black skirt tetra and serpae tetra. The possibilites are endless. How many different types is entirely up to you. While its an option of just getting 2 or 3 types of schooling fish so that the effect wont be lost with too many differnt type fish, much of the time fish will school if they are smaller and perhaps the presence of a larger (but non threatening) fish is also in the tank with them. I think you have so options open to you now with a tank that size that you can plan it now and see how it develops. Another schooling fish are the corys, too many to meniton but sterbai and panda corys always look lovely. There are many many more corys available too that could tickle you fancy.
Other alternative fish that school are glass catfish and hatchet fish.

Gavin

Thanks for the info Gavin.It is always very hard to decide what fish to for.I was in aquatic village today and there is so much on my list.What i would like to have in the tank would be

20+ Cardinal tetra
20+ Harliquin rasboras
20+ Rummy nose tetra
5 to 10 sterbai cory
5 to 10 pepper cory
5 common plecs

It is looking like the new tank will be a rena aqualife 600 201x50x74.What do you think of my list.Might less be better or would it work ok.

Sounds good to me! All those fish will looks lovely. All of them are small fish,are you planning on adding any centre piece fish? Small fish are lovely to look at but I think if you get a larger fish also then it will set the tank off nicely. Perhaps some Rams, a few darf gourami's would be lovely. Angel's are probably not an option as the tetras may prove to be too tempting. Rainbow fish are also nice. Have you some centre piece fish on your list?

Gavin

Still working on the list.Any thoughts.

Too many to mention to be honest, but maybe a gourami. I think they are lovely fish.

Id love to be starting from scratch on a 800L! i find my gourami is quite agressive to my smaller fish! maybe its just mine!! u should deff get 5-6 clown laoches! they'd look nice with all the little tetra's and would grow quite large! love the list of tetras!! there my 3 fav types along with congo tetras! but i wouldnt put 5 common pleco's together.. they will get very agressive to one another as they get bigger.. just stick with the 1!

I agree with Alex about the pleco, 6 is too many,they get quite large and do get territorial. I would suggest you get some ancistrius or bristlenose plecos instead, much more tolerant of one another. Also add some driftwood to the tank if you are getting pleco's, they will thank you for it, esp the common pleco.

5 common plecs???? Noooo, way!!!

I wouldn't put one in a planted tank, too clumsy. Would end up wrecking the tank.

Clown loaches do look great and the pic in the photo comp was just great.I have heard of people having heart failure because sometimes these fish can play dead.With all the help and advice my list is coming together.Keep it coming and thanks.

How about 10 of these instead of the plecs?





LB

Is that a royal whiptail LB ?

Ya i have 3 took the pic today

Sweet, lovely fish arent they, but they get rather big though ?

hi there

in my opinion i would go for a single species schooler
preferably a higher up in the water type, ie rasboras
and then some bottom feeders

i think that a larger school is preferable in a larger tank
rather than larger fish

the sense of scale with small fish is great,
rocks look like mountains, plants look like trees...

rgds

4

Hi Orca. I can visualise what you are trying to achieve but i dont think you will get what you want by mixing different Tetras or small fish of similar size and shape.
There is a good chance it will be a mix match of different fish all over the tank and not independent schools going up and down the tank.
The likes of neons or cardinals dont school together in the wild untill the sun starts to go down. Even then they form groups of 40-50 out of thousands. You may notice a lot of tetras, rasboras, danios etc only seem to group together when the lights go out in the tank.
Since the tank is going to be planted you have probably been looking at planted tanks with fish perfectly schooling in the tanks. What you dont see is the fish were probably only introduced in to the tank minutes before the photo was taken. I have even seen Galaxy rasbora school for a couple of lengths of the tank before dispersing around the tank never to school again in a full group. I think this is because they are nervous in there new environment.

If it was me i would aquascape and plant the tank. Then after 4-6 weeks add a algae crew. Shrimps, ottos etc.
If the tank has little or no algae after another 2 weeks i would add the first school. Maybe ember tetras.
After another couple of weeks i would probably go for some dwarf or pygmy cory's. 20 at first, then another 20 shortly after. These would look amazing in a large group in a large tank.
I would consider a larger fish next. Maybe a pair of pearl gourami. A beautiful fish especially when they mature.
Then i would probably try some thing like the Orange Chela (Chela Dadiburjori). 30 would be a nice number.
I would leave it at this for a while while deciding weather to change some of the fish or plants.

Thats great advice platty gave, explained very well. I tried to do what you are trying to achieve and it wasn't successfull at all in terms of viual apperance of fish. I had 60 cardinals 4 clown loaches 20 otto's 20 odd black neons 3 ancistrus loads of cory's about 18 add 7 discus and loads of shrimp the discus polished off when they got a chance , possibly a few others also that i cant remember. Point i'm trying to make is. In a tank that size small fish with heavy planting and nocturnal spiecies , You will rarely see also with a larger fish in the tank they are only too happy to hide , Also an algae crew that could even cope with algae in that size tank would have to huge , e.g 600+ shrimp etc. So just dont let algae get a hold plenty of fast growers to start off its actually easier to keep algae under control in bigger tank just keep on top of your maintenance , remove dead leaves etc regurarly. My advice would be larger plant friendly species, I use discus , going to try get it right this time myself.

Maybe u should get some barbs (smaller species). 20 tiger barbs r something,,? black ruby barbs also look nice.! i have 8 tiger barbs and they shoal together..! they arnt agressive to other fish in large group.
id go with platty advice! 40 cory's would look amazing!!!!


Sorry this isnt really related to the topic! i have 3 cory's in my 800L tank, i think brochis splendens...(browny gray colour) was thinking of getting another 10-15! but i worried my Bichir might have a go at em... he is 5.5". he gets on fine with my current 3..

I think the points made are all v good, particularly where Platty says alot of the video's you see are of fish that are just added and will stay together initially. I guess its a decision you make as you go along, having all different types of fish will look good but will not create the effect I think you are looking for. Instead try to perhaps go down a particular route in terms of maybe keeping South American fish, or perhaps Asian fish. What Im trying to say is create the tank for the inhabitants. Rummy nose tetra will shoal so thats a definite,they look impressive in large numbers however it can look distracting if you have a neon intermingled with them and swimming the wrong way!! With a tank the size you are adding you have unlimited options, now is a great time to take stock and plan ahead which in fairness you are doing well. Corys are a great addition. Perhaps look at the tank in different areas, a lower ground level eg corys, mid to lower level,mid to upper level and finally surface level. Research the various fish types that go into these area's and write down a wish list. Make sure they all get along and work off that. I agree that its best to get the plants in first and let the tank settle, have it well settled and cycled before adding any large numbers however 20 + cory in a tank that size wont have any major issues I can assure you. Finally keep the questions and suggestions coming, I love hearing what people's ideas are for tanks. I think it stirs up the child in us all again, you know that feeling you get when you are starting a tank or buying a new fish.(or at least I feel like that anyhow,its what makes us fishkeepers!).

Gavin

It looks like i will need to do some more research on what fish i will put in the tank.I find the advice from all on the forum great.I feel with all the different fish out there sometimes you want it all.If i could achieve a clean looking planted tank where the fish work well together is much better than a tank with loads of fish that looks mixed up.

Thats true,there are aquascapes that you can aim for. It does take time for the tank to bed in and get settled but its fun and challenging trying to get the look you want. It can change as you go along,consider small things like places for fish to hide,open spaces for fish to swim,potential spawning sites,terrotorial spaces for certain fish and plants that can break the tank into varies areas without taking the full effect away. Its sounds like you will be busy but yes its great fun planning it ahead and then getting to the stage that you can say the tank is almost perfect.(Will never be perfect as you will always find something to do!!).

Gavin

It will be great to see it all down on paper to see the layout of plants,bogwood and caves.Another thing i have a problem with is the background.I dont realy want to go for a poster background and am in need of some advice on this.The tank size is 201x51x71 so a 3d bacground could not be too deep.I have seen great bacgrounds on the web but not in Ireland.Is there anyone out there that makes them to order.

Check this link.Explains about the background and how you can do it yourself.

www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/content/view/52/82/

TBH I would consider larger fish all round for a tank that size, I don't think the bio filter would be very stable without a decent bioload, and you would want to add a lot more small fish to your list in order to maintain a decent bio filter in 600l. I would seriously consider a larger schooling fish like dollars or congo tetra, just one shoal mixed with some larger feature fish like some SA/CA cichlids, even the medium sized fish like severums or geo's would work, But then thats my own personal preferences and each to there own. I just think it's a waste to have a tank that size and not break out of the bread and butter fish box and try something special. Why not get a nice Snakehead...lol just kidding best of luck with the tank!

Im dont think its a waste though of a tank when you want to fill it with smaller fish, I personally am a fan of smaller fish so would say that though!!
Go with whatever you want to look at each day, dont be pressurised into getting bigger/smaller fish if thats not what you want. (and Trimax I dont mean you are trying to convince him to go bigger at all!).

Gavin

It will take time to sort out my list of fish and it will change from day to day as it is hard to decide.What plants would work well in an amazon biotope.I was thinking of amazon sword,Dwarf sword,vallisneria,bacopa.What else would work for small,medium,tall plants for this biotope using low to medium lighting.

Gotta get some clown loachs and id go with more corys, they are next on my list:laugh:

Also i agree with trimax on the bio filter point, a bunch of congo tetras would look good oh and a few blue rams got i 4 an hr ago and i love them great lookin fish.

Must say i jealous i only re-did my tank last night and wish i had a tank like ur setting up:laugh:

Good luck with the tank and post pics.

Alan

Alan what fish have you now ?

Ive started a new thread dont wanna hi-jack this one.

Alan