Fish suggestions please

[Steph_D]

I know this sounds cheesy, but could y'all give me some suggestions on fish to put in my new 36 gallon tank? I was thinking of going with angelfish, but I have very hard water and I've read that they need softer water to really thrive. I already have guppies, tiger barbs, and red-eyed tetras in other tanks, among other fish. I was thinking of going with a semi-aggressive tank, but I want something to get along with the blind cave fish and cories that I'm going to put in there. I'd also like to stay away from cichlids because they get too big for my taste. If it helps, the tank dimensions are 30" long, 12" wide, and 23" tall.

Any suggestions?

Oh, I know about cycling the tank and I actually have the bio sponges from my new filter inside the filter for my 29 gallon tank to seed the bacteria. I'll also be using a bowl full of gravel from an established tank to help out. I also won't be getting fish for a while, just wanting some suggestions so I can do my homework and see if they're the fish for me

 

[1-shot-kill]

you could get black phantoms or some loaches like a chain loach or kuhli how about some otos or shrimp

 

[itstrickytorock]

You could always get a school of Buenos Aires Tetras, they can be aggressive, but calmer if you have a group of around 5+ (or so I've read). Unfortunately I can't seem to find many fish that are compatible with the Blind Cave Fish, but I am only looking at one website.

I don't rely on this website too much for great compatibility (or always reliable info), but it does provide good fish community ideas to research. I clicked on the Blind Cave Fish in their information section & found these two links:

http://www.elmersaquarium.com/c106community5barbs.htm
http://www.elmersaquarium.com/c106community7silverdollar.htm

To check (quickly) for well-matched fish I use http://www.timstropicals.com/Compatibility/ - but they weren't giving me many options with the Blind Cave Fish. The best thing to do would be just to research the different fish from the communities supplied and go from there to see whether you feel the fish you have and the fish you want would get along.

Sorry all I'm giving you are a bunch of links, but I hope I did give you a few ideas to use.

 

[Steph_D]

So would this be an ok set-up for a 36 gallon tank? Or are there too many fish here?

1-2 blind cave fish (the one that I have now seems to do ok by himself)
1-3 angelfish (are they ok with hard water? If not, how do I soften it?)
1 peacock/spiney eel (I've seen these before and think they're so cool!)
3-5 cory catfish, gotta love the cories

Of course, I'd have a snail or a few oto's for algae. Would the eel tear up my live plants?

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I would add to your cave fish numbers (up to a school of 5-6 or more), and get only one angel. Not sure at all how the eel would do... if they don't eat small fish, then it would probably be fine. If you don't get the eel, you could do 3 angels with the rest of the fish, but not 2 since they will fight. (Yes, I realize I have 2... I used to have 3, now the 2 fight a little bit but the gourami seems to act like a third angel and reduce aggression). I'm also not sure about the eel and plants... or about the angels and hard water. I would suspect the angels would do fine if you aclimated them slowly.

 

[Steph_D]

Would I still be ok with about 5 cories? Or would my bioload be too high? I've bought a Whisper filter rated 30-60 gallons for this tank and could add a sponge filter or 2 if need be.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

You'd be okay stocking wise, but I don't know if they'd get eaten by a peacock eel or not.

Stocking wise, you'd be fine with:
5-6 blind cave fish
5 cories
1 angel
EITHER: 1 eel or 2 more angels
A snail or otos

 

[Fishckabibble]

the eels are great fish to own but be cautioned, do not put ornaments in the tank that the eel can get stuck under, mine died from it, also they are very very slow eaters so if you have other fish with them, make sure that you dont get ones that are agressive eaters, or else the eel will starve. they generaly eat tubifex, bloodworms, and brine shrimp. i have yet to see one that eats flake food, i would also be concered about it getting to big for a 36 gallon. they get about 12 inches in length. you might also want to do a sand bottom for the eel as they love to bury themselves.


edit, the eel might uprot plants but i dont think they would eat them, they do also love veggies like blanched zuchinni and romaine lettuce.