# enterpiece tropical fish



## Silkworm Seller (Jul 9, 2010)

I'm trying to research everything I want to put in my tank before I even start to stock it - the LPS has been pretty good and said if I find something I want they will do their best to get it in, and my research has said it's actually one of the better shops in the country for selling good quality fish.

Anyway, so far I've managed to do the "general" stock of the tank, but I'd like a nice centerpiece fish to add to it, can anyone suggest anything to go with the following:

20 Zebra Danio - (top dweller)
20 Harlequin Rosabarbs
1 Male fighters 3x female fighters
15 Penguin Tetra
10 Panda cory (bottom dweller)
(if needed) 2 Pitbull Plecs - (algea eaters depending on the algea growth)

Originally I had thought the fighter would be the centerpiece, but now I think he might be a little small considering the size of the tank.

The size of my tank is 240L, so I have quite a large amount of space and - havng currently got the danios in the tank - I think I'm going to have a lot of spare room based on the size and numbers I intend to keep.

Any suggestion - or even ideas of the list I already have - would be very apprecaited.

I have been told that 3 angel fish might go well since everything else is in such large groups - but I wanted to get other peoples opinion on what would make some good centerpiece fish to go with what I have - any ideas other might have would be appreciated.

A big thanks in advance if I'm unable to get online for a few days (my internet is a little sporadic at the moment.)


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## goldie1212 (Mar 5, 2010)

can you let us know the exact dimensions of the tank, and what filtration you will be running on it?


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## Moogloo (Mar 15, 2010)

Thats quite a lot of stock, easily doable but make sure you take it really slowly! Start off with something like 6-10 danios.....give it a week before adding next few etc....

You Harlequins are Rasbora not rosabarbs  incase you try to google them 

Penguin Tetras are a funny one, i have had a LOT of customers coming back and telling me they are really nippy, id not keep them with fighters to be on the safe side.

In fact, i'd cut out the penguins altogether, i had about 60 fish in a 260L tank but it was solidly planted front to back and was a mature 6 year old tank, id not put that many in a tank like that normally.

If it is a Juwel tank with the corner box filter you can cut downstocking levels even more than if you had an external filter.


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## Silkworm Seller (Jul 9, 2010)

goldie1212 said:


> can you let us know the exact dimensions of the tank, and what filtration you will be running on it?


Yep, dimensons are 48"x18"x18" (WxDxH)


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## Silkworm Seller (Jul 9, 2010)

Moogloo said:


> Thats quite a lot of stock, easily doable but make sure you take it really slowly! Start off with something like 6-10 danios.....give it a week before adding next few etc....
> 
> You Harlequins are Rasbora not rosabarbs  incase you try to google them
> 
> ...


Yep I intend to stock it slowly, I have 13 Danos in there at the moment (I paid for 10, but after multiple attempts to count them I have 13)

I've also read bad review of penguin tetras, but I've heard they are ok if you keep them in large groups, is that not the case? Can you recommend something else that look similar but would be suitable (a mid tank fish)

It's a good setup I have (or atleast I think it is), got 2 top range heaters at 200W to maintain the temperature (both that auto turn off if they detect the water is too hot so no over heating) a Fluval U4 filter - using the "spray beam" setting for the filter and an ariation(sp?) volcano that takes up the bottom half of 1/4 of the tank to give it pleant of oxygen - also plenty of live plants too, infact he bottom of the tank might be a little full at the moment, when I come to getting bottom dweller I might need to make room.

If you want more info please ask, I've tried to come up with everything but I'm quite new to a community tank (only done solo tank before, they appear much easier) but I'm desperate for a nice tank to display in the main room.


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## Moogloo (Mar 15, 2010)

It is a good tank, i assume it is a Roma 240, the internal filter is one of the best internals on the market but not up to heavy stocking. Aim for 50 fish stocking and then add one or two more fish now and then if it copes with the 50 fish at that stocking level for a good few months.


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## Esfa (Apr 15, 2007)

It's advisable not to keep male and female bettas together. I'd get rid of the male and add antoher female so you have 3 females. : victory:

Edit: A larger gourami would make a nice centrepiece. Pearl Gourami are expecially nice.


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

Silkworm Seller said:


> Yep, dimensons are 48"x18"x18" (WxDxH)


75 gallon...


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## Cleopatra the Royal (Nov 29, 2008)

Esfa said:


> It's advisable not to keep male and female bettas together. I'd get rid of the male and add antoher female so you have 3 females. : victory:
> 
> Edit: A larger gourami would make a nice centrepiece. Pearl Gourami are expecially nice.
> image


Hi,

Can I ask why it is not advisable - anyone I've spoken too who has says they're fine. So long as you have multiple females to the male there should be no issue - and if anything will be good as it should bring out the best colours in the male.

As with the angelfish, I would avoid keeping them with the Harlequins, as that is an expensive way of feeding the Angels...

I would also advise keeping the Danios in as large a shoal as possible (the 20 should be sufficient, but i wouldnt go for many less) if you intend to keep them with a Male Siamese Fighter - the larger the shoal, the less likely they are to fin nip.

Whilst Pitbull Plecos are great at cleaning the glass and substrate, they may not clean any plant leaves of algae. You could perhaps add some Otocinclus or Flying Fox for that job. The Pitbulls are good if you are looking to breed them though, as they require quite similar triggers to Corydoras.

Hope it all goes well

Harry


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## Moogloo (Mar 15, 2010)

I have to agree with the fighters thing, in community tanks, especially larger ones (i had a 260L 4ft tank) and have always found the females to be a lot faster moving and nippy and aggressive towards the males. 

They wont really breed easy in that size tank and nothing would survive because of the other fish so really, there is no reason to keep both males and females. No need to anthropomorphise (sp) the situation, the male wont 'feel sad' about not having 'girl friends'.


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## Cleopatra the Royal (Nov 29, 2008)

Moogloo said:


> No need to anthropomorphise (sp) the situation, the male wont 'feel sad' about not having 'girl friends'.


Nope, but he is more likely to show off his colours when there are females to impress, as with most other fish.

Harry


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## Esfa (Apr 15, 2007)

Cleopatra the Royal said:


> Nope, but he is more likely to show off his colours when there are females to impress, as with most other fish.
> 
> Harry


And then kill the females after he's done his "showing off" 

also, I wouldnt keep male bettas with any sort of small shoaling fish, really.


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## Cleopatra the Royal (Nov 29, 2008)

Male fighters fight with other males, and tend to be fine with other females - especially in a tank of such size.

Harry


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## Esfa (Apr 15, 2007)

Completely disagree.
Google it - there's plenty of reasons not to keep them together.


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## Christie_ZXR (May 14, 2011)

I'm afraid I have to agree about not keeping male and female fighters together. 
I bought two crowntail "females" for my community tank of female betta quite a while a ago. After they had been in there for all of about a day it was clear one was actually a boy from the jip he was giving the other females. As soon as he was remotely settled he took to flaring and chasing them. A few of my HM females ended up with torn tails, one of my common girls just hid the whole time he was in the tank, and the boy himself ended up with a nip out of his tail. From personal experience, I wouldn't recommend keepinbg males and females together, it wasn't pretty  Some people manage it though, but it's such a gamble as to whether you get a fairly tolerent boy or a stroppy boy, and you usually get a stroppy one.


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## Silkworm Seller (Jul 9, 2010)

Wow, thanks everyone for the advise so far.

In answer to some of the things raised (and apologies if I miss anything)

Angelfish - as has been mentioned I've heard a lot of bad things with keeping these with small shoaling fish so I'm afraid they are out.

Pearl Gourami - That looks very nice, and would fit very nicely into the look of my tank. I'll do some more research.

Pitbull Plecos - Didn't know that they miss plants, thanks for the advise. I might have to look for some other small plecs, plecs are my favourite algea eater.

Fighters - I wasn't aware of the problems with keeping these together, I guess I'll have to decide if I want multiple females or 1 male.

Flying Fox - I really like these, but I've only ever seen 1 in my local shop (and I don't like ordering fish online) but if they come strongly recommended then I guess I could drive further to pick one up - problem then though is not knowing if it is a good shop or not.

The tank itself is just a generic glass fish tank, not a branded one.

After doing some more asking around and after some advise on here I'm thinking of dropping the penguin tetras and not replaceing them - but that makes getting a centerpiece fish even more important so any other ideas will be appreciated.


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## Cleopatra the Royal (Nov 29, 2008)

Esfa - whilst Google has told me that the males do not kill the female to back up my opinion, I still respect your opinion - you are entitled to it and we have both therefore witnessed a number of opposing situations. It is just of my view that having not known anyone personally to have had this probalem except during breeding where the male defends the nest form the female that they are OK to keep together. In this case, destroy the bubble nest or remove it to a different tank and the male should calm down.

I do not want this thread to turn into an argument when we have both witnessed differing points of view - you keep your opinion and I'll keep mine, and we'll leave it as that.

Back to the thread - Silkworm Seller, your LFS will (probably) order in fish off of a list received from the wholesaler. I'm sure if you ask for them to look out for them they may be able to order some in, though you may need to put a deposit down. They are fairly common on the lists in my area, though your LFS may have different connections to mine. At any rate, if you are unable to get hold of them, Bristlenose Plecs are also very good at clearing the algae and should eat it off of broad leaved plants too.

Harry


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## spinnin_tom (Apr 20, 2011)

+1 on harry
you'll pay more for a special order i imagine. 
ancistrus (bristlenose) are very good at cleaning algae.. they don't look as nice as bulldogs and others L number plecos, but they do their job far better. get a M+F pair and you'll get babies too


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## goldie1212 (Mar 5, 2010)

i wouldnt bother with a male bristlenose, they might be far more interesting to look at with that lovely crown of whiskers, but they are naff at cleaning, they sit around and watch the females do it all :lol2:


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## spinnin_tom (Apr 20, 2011)

goldie1212 said:


> i wouldnt bother with a male bristlenose, they might be far more interesting to look at with that lovely crown of whiskers, but they are naff at cleaning, they sit around and watch the females do it all :lol2:


really? mine must be weird then lol


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## Christie_ZXR (May 14, 2011)

I've found nerite snails to actually be pretty good at algae chomping, but they leave their eggs everywhere!! (Although the eggs will only hatch in brackish, so there won't be babies) That said, they do have a habit of giving one patch a good thorough clean, then leaving a snail-shaped "line" along another patch so the algae is super-noticeable!!

As for bristlenose, I've got a LDA 0 8 girly, and she's a little stunner, very good at cleaning and would reccomend them to anyone!


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