36 Gallon Bow Front Stocking

[Artemis_Psyche]

Hello All! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I'm back needing some advice about my tanks as over the hoildays my tanks have multiplied lol. I bought a new 36g bow front tank and am not sure what to put in it. To rectify the 5 gallon situation some of you might remember (with the mass of uncompatible fish lol), I have designated this new tank as a home for the two zebra danios left in the 5g and the one neon tetra. What I am hoping to do (eventually *laughingc)is in the 36g is....

8--> zebra danios
10--> neon tetras

But I am not sure what else I should put in it to fill the tank! I have looked at aquadvisor, but I don't really know enough of the fish for it to be helpful, so I thought I'd go to the experts! I would like something more colorful to compliment the zebra danios, something with personality is a bonus too, although I know it's never a guarantee with any fish. I was looking at having 6 guppies (2 male and 4 female) in the tank but I'm not sure if I was to deal with all the fry that will result, and I've read that they're happiest in groups. I've also looked at green tiger barbs, but with the potential agression I'm not willing to have another batch of fin nippers after the serpae incident... Help?? I have a 200W adjustable heater for the tank (planning on keeping the tank at 78 degrees F) and a Aqueon Quiet Flow 30 power filter (200GPH), there is also an air stone in the pirate ship I've put in the tank, a large skull, one cave and large tiki hut (so there are lots of caves ect for fish to hide in) and 12 various sized plastic plants ranging from 20" to 6"... Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

 

[achase]

You could add another type of tetra...there are tons of variations in color. You could also add a single centerpiece fish, for example a ram or gourami. You could also do some bottom feeders, for example otos.

That is basically what I'm doing in my new 35 gallon tank. Mixture of tetras, danios and a ram and possibly some otos.

 

[aakaakaak]

How about...

Add a rubberlip/bulldog/bristlenose pleco (as a bottom feeder) and a pearl gourami? Just remember to get some driftwood for the pleco.

 

[riseabovethesun]

I wouldn't add female and male guppies, in the beginning for my 36 gallon bowfront I had that situation and the reproduction was ridiculous. Maybe some males, but I've also come to find that they are the nippiest of fish even compared to some of my tetras.

My favorite was my stocking in the tank of Cardinal Tetras and Rummy Nose tetras, they are beautiful. But my original school of Cardinals died and was replaced with much more shy ones so it wasn't as nice. Which the Neon tetras will do just as well in place, just a bit less color. My other favorite are the Silver Tip Tetras but they need to be in about a school of 10, probably get away with 6, but their gold/yellow color would bring out the blues of the other fish.

And a bottom feeder may be nice as well as achase and aak mentioned

 

[Artemis_Psyche]

A bottom feeder would be awesome to have aak, thanks for the suggestion! I didn't realize that there were varieties of the pleco that stayed so small! All I've ever seen for plecos are always 12-24" and there was no way that I wanted to get in that boat, even if I would like a 100+ gallon tank once we build a larger house!
As for the pearl gourami, they are beautiful fish! But after reading about them some posts say that they are a shy fish? Just wondering if they might get frightened by the race track that will undoubtingly ensue with the danios in the tank? I also read that they don't like loud noises, not sure how accurate this is? If so not sure how good a choice it would be since the tank is located in my living room where the tv is located and where I am regularly practicing step/aerobic routines? Or if this is even a concern with a 36g tank? I have never seen any water movement in the 2.5g tank so I'm assuming the vibration effects would be lessened even more with a 36g tank due to the volume and weight?
I'm definitely looking into another type of tetra for the tank, just not sure what is a nice social variety. Trying not to get in the same tetra mess since I somehow have the ability to buy the most agressive tetras, as we have seen with the serpae and penguin tetra mess which has now resulted in their own 20g tank. I'm not sure how much more room I have for another fish mistake lol, I think I'm getting a little maxed out on fish tank patience since there is the 2.5g, 5g, 20g, and now the 36g, all to fix my silly mistakes that started in the 5g lol! Is there a tetra that you can think of that might fit the bill? I do love the look of the cardinals but I know my lfs doesn't stock them and I have to check today about if they would order me in things. Same problem with the pearl gourami, I would love to be able to pick from a bunch to make sure I get a fish less passive than the rest but since I would have to order one in... Well you see where this is going. We do have access to a Petland and Petsmart but they are about 2 hours away in a neighbouring city, I've never transported anything more than 5 minutes because I worry about all the stress on the fish so not sure how a 2 hour journey would fair?
Thanks for the advice about the guppies Riseabove, you have confirmed my fears lol. I do love all the colors of the guppies but I'm sure the reproduction would be the end of me. Even if I had a fish that could eat the fry I'm not sure if I'd have the heart to do it so I'm sure I would end up with fish tanks all over my frigging house for guppy fry, not something I need to be doing, so I will stay away from guppies altogether!

 

[riseabovethesun]

In general about the loud noises, I have always heard that many fish would shy away or panic due to noises. I've found with my fish that more than anything walking by the tank would startle them over noises, I too, exercise and have my tank in the living room which causes no issues BUT if I accidentally lose grip on the cabinet door and it slams shut, they do freak. So I think it's noise that can directly cause some vibrations on the tank, if that even does it for some.

Also besides the Silver Tips, the Von Rio tetras/Flame tetras are fabulous and very friendly, so they might be a nice addition.

And like you said about worrying you'd have tons of tanks for guppy fry, I had the exact issue! Awful! I had fry in tupperware dishes and glass vases (large ones) and extra tanks until finally I posted on here asking what people did with them. Got mixed reviews on selling or euthanizing (yikes!) So kept them longer which meant more containers until finally I found someone to take most of them, phew. It's crazy and it came to the sad point that now I'm so disinterested in guppies LOL, very pretty but ahhh!

 

[Artemis_Psyche]

Hahahaha oh Riseabove thank you, you have given me my laugh for the day!! I know I would be the exact same way with the guppies in every tupperware, kitchen pot ect in my house! I made a joke to my boyfriend that if we got guppies we would have to get rid of our new refridgerator to make room for a 100g fish tank... He didn't laugh lol!! So thank you for going through the guppy experience so that I don't have to lol, I will stay clear of them!!

 

[riseabovethesun]

Lol! That's fantastic My boy was definitely not thrilled at constantly moving around containers on the kitchen counters to make room to prepare meals and stuff. Even when family visited they were like "...." You're too funny with the refrigerator!

But beautiful fish AND if you're only doing males that would be fine, but just know they might be nippy like some tetras. Just don't add females or vice versa. :]

 

[Artemis_Psyche]

Hahaha I can only imagine! I'm to tell you thank you from my boyfriend as well lol, he is very happy that we are dodging that bullet! I can only imagine what my family would say to buckets of guppy fry all over my counters... As is they are stunned that I have gone from one .5g fish tank to four new fish tanks since September lol! I have read that with the males they do get quite aggressive without the 1:2 male to female ratio, it's a pity that they have to reproduce so much and get so nippy, I would like a couple... Oh well just not in the cards I suppose until I have a basement full of fishtanks, I'll put it on the dream shelf with the green spotted puffer lol!
Reading on the silver tips and the flames, I did have a little bit of concern with the aggression mentioned in the articles, mostly with the silver tips though. Do you find them to have any aggressive tendancies in your tank? Or are most of those mentions of aggression due to their numbers being under 10? I only worry because I have had awful luck trying to introduce neons into my 5g with all of them dying a day or two after being indroduce due to nipped fins (excluding the one survivor neon that has made it through all of his comrades being ate twice and the initial tank cycling to boot!!). He's a tough little brute so that's why I'd like him to finally after being the only one for four months to finally have a school of his own lol!
I've also been reading a bit on the harlequin rasbora to add as a third mate to the 36g. But am still a little worried about how they might do with the neons?

 

[riseabovethesun]

The aggression I hear is from being under 10, I actually have 17... I asked my LFS for 10 got home and she had given me 17 and I decided to keep them all. So I have not seen any aggression with them, EXCEPT when I temporarily housed my halfmoon betta in there and either them or the other tetras nipped his long long fins, which now thinking back on it -- duh what was I thinking. But they are with bottom feeders, microrasbora, other tetras, killifish and I have no issues.

I hear more about aggression in the silver tips than the flame tetras, but haven't seen it from either (minus betta incident) and I have about 10 flames.

And I may not have seen much aggression because my silver tips and flames were added with rummy nosed who are about 2 or so inches big and they weren't anything compared to that size. And out of all of my fish I've only ever seen nipping done by the guppies and whichever tetras it was that did it to the betta who lives pretty much by himself in my 36 gallon..

P.S. You are welcome about the guppies! Lol

 

[aakaakaak]

Fry solution for $20-30:

1xClear Plastic tub (5-20 gallons)
1xSponge Filter rated for 25 gallons
1xCheap flourescent light
random hiding spots, like medium sized rocks or java moss or fake plants.

There you go. There's a quick, cheap and easy breeding tank. When the mother is getting ready to pop you move her to the nusery tank. When she pops you move her back.

What do you do with the fry? Feeder fish for your 100+ gallon.

 

[Artemis_Psyche]

And I may not have seen much aggression because my silver tips and flames were added with rummy nosed who are about 2 or so inches big and they weren't anything compared to that size.

I don't have anything nearly that big to keep them in line lol. I have two zebra danios that are probably about two inches long but I probably won't be adding them until I'm sure the tank is done cycling since I'd hate to lose them, they've started to get quite the personalities on them! I think that was the problem with my serpaes is that they had no one to keep them in line, even now in their own 20g tank the picking on each other is relentless, I am fairly worried as I am to be adding penguins into the tank next week when they get in...

 

[Artemis_Psyche]

Fry solution for $20-30:

1xClear Plastic tub (5-20 gallons)
1xSponge Filter rated for 25 gallons
1xCheap flourescent light
random hiding spots, like medium sized rocks or java moss or fake plants.

There you go. There's a quick, cheap and easy breeding tank. When the mother is getting ready to pop you move her to the nusery tank. When she pops you move her back.

What do you do with the fry? Feeder fish for your 100+ gallon.

Aak are you nuts lol? Could you imagine the state I would be in feeding little baby fish off to some monster waiting to eat it lol? As is the last betta I had that died had me in a crying fit, could you imagine that every day haha? I can handle feeding crabs or snails or bugs to a fish but I don't think I could handle the guppy fry. I'm sure once they looked at me I'd be fit to be tied and there would end up like Riseabove with tupperware all around my house for guppies lol!!

I did look into the pleco you mentioned though. The owner said she could bring them in for me but warned me that they run at $40 each for the bullnose. Sooo maybe not such a good idea right now. If I was more experienced I think I'd be totally fine with spending that much but I'd feel pretty silly if I bought it and the thing died on me right away. She tried to convince me to get the chinese algae eater instead? But I told her I thought that they can be pretty aggressive from what I had read, especially when they get to be older and lose their taste for algae and start (I think this was how it went) "sucking the slime coat off of other fish"??

 

[riseabovethesun]

Although I hear about it a lot with more territorial fish and larger fish, I think it's pretty common that when you add three fish here and then four fish here then two fish here, the others have already established their territory and although they may not be life-threatening aggressive there still may be issues. Which definitely may not be true in all cases, I just notice with all the moving around of my same fish to different tanks they don't stick with the same groups they had been in depending on when they were added, so the order of being added to the tank I feel really impacts the tank, but not as severely since they are community fish after all.

There are always black tetras or glowlight tetras I haven't heard about them being aggressive and use to own about 7 black tetras, totally great fish just they didn't stand out so well. Norman's Lampeye Killifish are always a nice addition -- kind of hard to find, but I have a couple and they're fabulous, they'd be beautiful in a large group.

 

[Artemis_Psyche]

Although I hear about it a lot with more territorial fish and larger fish, I think it's pretty common that when you add three fish here and then four fish here then two fish here, the others have already established their territory and although they may not be life-threatening aggressive there still may be issues. Which definitely may not be true in all cases, I just notice with all the moving around of my same fish to different tanks they don't stick with the same groups they had been in depending on when they were added, so the order of being added to the tank I feel really impacts the tank, but not as severely since they are community fish after all.

I totally agree and I'm sure that's going to be the case with the serpae/penguin standoff. Since there is now eight serpaes in the 20g tank and have been sitting pretty there for a month by themselves. Far long enough for them to get territorial over the whole tank I'm sure. So I guess the question is how do you introduce new fish to a tank then? I've only been keeping fish since August and am not really sure of what to do to not have one fish feeling territorial. Especially in the 20g tank with two semi aggressive species, but it would be good information to know since I will be introducing lots of fish to the 36g as well... Everything I've ever read has always said to introduce only a small amount of fish into a tank at a time to not "shock" the fishtank, and then wait a week and add more (like another 3-5)... I've only at the most added 5 fish to my 20g, so I guess with that how do they not end up territorial? Or is there another way? I've read that once the tank has all the fish in it that they want that they will catch all the fish, rearrange the tank and reintroduce the fish so that no one is territorial? But I have to be honest, I don't think there's a hope in hell of me catching all those serpaes. With the 36g tank I had been wanting to let the neons into the tank first since they are the smallest and always seem to be the ones that get picked one, but I have doubts on them surviving the cycling process which is why the danios are starting in the tank first... So won't I have the same problem possibly in the 36g as well?

 

[riseabovethesun]

Someone else might have a better answer but to prevent unwanted behavior I would turn the tank lights out and add a bit of food as a distraction so the new fish could hide out for the time being once they are added and then gradually find their place. I don't think you will have a severe issue with yours, I think it will be pretty good

 

[Artemis_Psyche]

Thanks Riseabove! I will give that a go when D day occurs ie next Friday! Hopefully that will work, the original two serpaes were pretty nuts when I would introduce new fish (like nipping at the bag nuts), but I think they have slightly calmed down since they are in a school of 8 now, so hopefully they let the penguins share with them if I try that trick!

 

[riseabovethesun]

Ahh, maybe they thought it was food, just something new entering the water. My fish do that with my turkey baster that I spot feed some critters with. I think the feeding will distract them. You will have to let us know how it goes!

 

[Artemis_Psyche]

Lol my two danios are the same for the turkey baster, mostly because I'll frequently suck some bloodworms into it and feed it to the tank that way! I will definitely let you know how the introduction goes though! I was pleasently surprised when I found extra filter media in my 5 gallon's power filter that I had forgotten about at the suggestion of Mike (Dylandrewsdad)! So that should make cycling in the 36g much easier!

 

[lauraf]

If you decide you want to order fish through your lfs, pearl gouramis are a great choice - usually fairly hardy, widely compatible, and not overly shy in my experience. Even with danios or whatnot zipping around the gouramis are quite a bit larger and shouldn't be intimidated.
And if you decide that you want to drive to another town's store, you will be okay transporting the fish for a 2hr drive. Many of them will have been in transport from Singapore to get to your lfs! Just put the bags in a basket or something that will keep them fairly still, cover them so they are in the dark, and the internal temp of your vehicle should keep the fish at a fairly steady temp too.