Potential tankmates for my rasbora espei?? What would you put with them?

cmc29

The tank is 45 gallons and heavilly planted. I have 9 rasbora espei, probably going to get a few more. I have always kept "plenty" of fish in my tank. I'm a freak about water changes and water quality. I want to have 3 schools of fish, so i'd like to add 2 more schools to the setup.

P.h. 6.8-7
temp 82 F
filtration fluval 305 canister
lighting 2x24 watt T5

I would love any thoughts on what you think.

spike0544

Congo Tetra and cory cats(your choice on species)

Byron

Almost anything peaceful and quiet would work. As you are looking for shoaling fish, have a browse through the characins; any of the tetra, pencilfish or hatchetfish would work. For the bottom, corys or one of the smaller loaches; these also need to be in a group, 5-6 of a species, minimum 3 of each for corys if more than one species. Corys are under catfish in the profiles, loaches under cyprinids, but just make sure they are the smaller species in a 45g. All of the afore-mentioned prefer similar water parameters and conditions, plants, wood, etc.

Byron.

cmc29

Thanks for the ideas! I have a lot to think about.

In addition to the the shoaling fish; i've been thinking about dwarf blue rams in a pair for the bottom of the tank. Do you think that it can be done? I've been told by my LFS that they don't uproot plants and are quite peaceful.

Byron

Probably OK. All cichlids are "pushy" to some extent, especially when spawning which they will regularly do if you have a pair. You mentioned shoaling fish previously, so my last response stuck with that. But other fish would be some of the smaller gourami like the Sparkling Gourami and similar; the common larger species I would not. But don't mix gourami with cichlids, too much alike and can be trouble. I have the espei rasbora in my 33g SE Asian pond tank so you might want to look at that under "Aquariums" below my name on the left.

Byron.

cmc29

I was looking at your setups earlier. Really beautiful.
What do you think of cherry barbs in this setup?

I'm planning on making a large hill coming out of the back left corner of my tank. Given your knowledge of aquascaping. What is the highest you can safely have your gravel. I was thinking like 8-10 inches at its highest. The tank is 24 inches tall. What do you think of this idea?

Mikaila31

I would avoid tiger barbs since they are very nippy things. I honestly see no reason you can't have german blue rams. Mine never bothered they other fish and even when spawning a 45 gallon gives plenty of room for tankmates to avoid a spawning pair. The chances there eggs survive until hatching are very slim in a community tank anyway, even with parents guarding the eggs.

cmc29

Cool i really like the rams, thanks. I would never dream of putting tiger barbs in this setup, but am considering cherry barbs.

1077

A pair of the German blue rams could work with the pH and temp you posted but the Cherry barbs,Sparkling Gourami,tetra's( with the exception of cardinals and rummy nose),,and cory's with exception of (Sterbai,, )would find the temp that the rams thrive in much too warm .IMHO

Byron

Yes, you must consider all aspects of water parameters when considering fish for a community, including temperature. Our profiles have parameter ranges for the fish, so use that as a guide. As 1077 pointed out, fish that prefer "normal" temps have difficulty at higher temps long-term, it literally burns them out.

To your comment on gravel piled 8-10 inches in the corner. This would work, but require some very careful aquascaping. Gravel and sand tends to level out in an aquarium. Unlike in air, in water the grains have far less weight so they shift much easier, and the water movement through the substrate (if it is healthy) plus currents and fish activity all tend to shift the gravel. In my 115g I had a 2-3 inch variation from front to back but after a few months it was basically level; I noticed the gravel at the front becoming deeper. I have no fish that move the substrate, so this is simply the effect of shifting.

With that in mind, you would need a very solid "wall" of some sort. I had this years ago in a 55g tank for a couple of turtles. In a 4-foot tank I had room to build a rock wall with gravel at one end. But this would take up a fair bit of space in the aquarium though. A better solution might be a rock or wood structure. A large rock--real or imitation--in the rear corner with plants around it would work. Imitation has the advantage of less weight; if using real rock ensure it is on the tank floor before the gravel is placed around it so the rock doesn't shift and cause other problems if it should crack the glass tipping or something. Plants like Anubias or Java Fern could be attached to the rock or wood for a natural effect.

Byron.