another how many fish for a tank question

BraveLittleTailor

Hi All,

OK, I have a 40 gallon tank that has been up and running flawlessly now for a month. It is fully stocked ( I think ) it contains

6 Zebra Danio
6 rosy barbs
3 siamese algae eaters
2 blue Dwarf Gourami
1 angel fish (not adult, about 2.5 inches)

Am I fully stocked? Any suggestions on what to add if anything?

Fish I am considering.

Clown Loaches
Another gourami (differnt color I think)
maybe another small school of 1.5 inchers
some other type of ornamental fish like the angel

Not considering all of the above obviously.

other ideas? Thanks

Allen

mgamer20o0

well i sure wouldnt add a Clown Loach. maybe a another angel if you were to add something. could fill in the schools a little more.

Falina

I agree. Avoid clown loaches in a 40g as they will just get too big. There are other loack species that would work in a 40g, perhaps Lupin or another loach expert can better advise you as to what species would work well.

Another angel could work, as would another gourami, as would the tetras, but remember that when fully grown angels can eat small tetras like neons.

Lupin

Your other loach choices:
Botia almorhae, Botia striata, Botia kubotai, Botia rostrata, Botia histrionica.

It is always recommended to get 3 as the minimum number for each loach species.

Tetras that are slim-bodied and under 3 inches are not worth the consideration if you are keeping angels. Stick with deep-bodied species. You certainly want to avoid black skirts, serpaes and red-eye tetras to name a few notorious fin nippers.

mgamer20o0

guppies might be a good pick..... angels love to hunt fry.....

King Arthur

Never Clown Loaches. They just dug me all around the plants and threw them all out of the substrat. You can add some guppies, don't add more cause you can stock your tank.

BraveLittleTailor

Thanks for the replys!

Clown Loaches are out then!

Is my tank fully stocked??

Could I squeeze in, say 6 cardinal tetras???

How much more could I squeeze in?

I dont want to push the limits to the max though. Id rather be a little under than crowded so would be happy staying where I am at if the consensus is that is best.

Also another probably dumb newbie question. I know that Angels fish can eat tetras. (right now I have one small Angel and no tetras, zebra danios are the smallest fish). But the Angel fish is by far the slowest swimmer in the tank. Its hard to imagine him "catching" any of the other fish even if he were large enough to eat them. So, my question being, if you had fast swimming tetras could the angel fish still catch them? I am assuming the answer is yes, but hard to imagine with what I am observing in my tank.

Thanks

Lupin

Yes, you can squeeze in 6 cardinals but the angelfish will still prey on them as it matures. Angels may be slow but they actually can ambush their prey. There is a reason why they blend among tall reeds such as the Eleocharis found in their native habitat.