Starting 100gallon! what fish? other advice??

SinCrisis

Gold barbs are just as active as the danios in my experience. They do get more docile when their numbers increase but they still move around a lot.

At 20 golden barbs, your stocking pretty heavy for the middle region. esp since the rams are territorial and are mid-lower region fish, the large amount of barbs may illicit aggression. The angels are also mid fish. Thats a lot of fish for one region.

Jwest, what are the dimensions of your tank? If its a tall tank, then you can stock ur middle with more fish, but if its standard, i would increase the # of dwarf corys, as they do better with larger numbers and reduce middle region fish like the barbs and danios. However, barbs will get more aggressive the less of them there are, so make sure you keep at least 6 barbs if u get them.

Do you plan to spawn you gouramis? If not, then i dont think u need to worry about them getting disturbed. Also i find it quite difficult to find male pearls since they sell quickly due to their bright red breasts, people tend to pick them first. My lfs always ends up with only females only within a day or so of restocking.

Female pearl gouramis are not as territorial, i kept 2 together and even though there was adaquate space for them to pick their own territories, they swam together a lot. Im sure you can get 3 or 4 more pearls at the top and cut back on middle region fish.

Jwest

the dimensions are about 4ft long, 18 deep, and 3 ft high. i don't really like the barbs that much to be honest.. i just want a couple different schooling fish. I was gonna do some neons but apparently they'll mess with angels. I would like to eventually do some breeding with a few of my fish..

thefishboy

What about Cardinal Tetras there are bigger and just as nice??

Jwest

that's a good suggestion. i guess they would interrupt spawning too though. i guess if i want my fish to breed i'll just put them in a separate tank. galaxy rasbora are really nice fish too.

Byron

Just came across this thread. You have some issues with your intended fish stocking, some of which have already been mentioned by others.

First, angels and gourami are not a good match in any aquarium. The dominance/aggression/territoriality of both fish may likely cause trouble. Either angels or gourami, but not both.

Cardinal Tetra are like Neon Tetra when it comes to angels--don't. If the angels are mature the small tetra will be viewed as food. And before anyone jumps in to say that they have them together--yes, almost anything is always possible; but the risk is there due to the inherent nature of these fish. You should aim for peace and harmony to ensure less stressed fish and thus healthier fish. Avoid putting temptation in their way.

No barbs are good companions for angels. Angelfish are slow, sedate fish that do not appreciate the faster activeness of the barbs.

Check out the profiles of the angelfish and the other fish on here--second tab from the left in the blue bar at the top,or click on fish names when they are shaded in posts to see that fish's profile. Angels are under Pterophyllum scalare.

Byron.

Jwest

i guess i will need to remove angles from my list.. galaxy rasbora are way too expensive, I saw some red nigerian kribensis that look interesting at the store.

Jwest

what about
2 blue gourami
2 bolivan rams
2 red kribs
10 leopard danios

Byron

You are not going to like me for picking apart all your suggested lists. But my comments are intended to help you have a successful tank, nothing more.

Angelfish are cichlids, and all cichlids have certain traits in the realm of territory, aggression and dominance. Gourami therefore do not fit in with any cichlid. Either or, but not both.

You have the space for both cichlids (ram and krib), they should stay out of each other's way in a 100 gallon tank. When spawning occurs, as it will if you have male/female, the kribs can be nasty.

I have Bolivian Rams in my 115g, a pair, and they spawn regularly; they are very adept at keeping other fish away during daylight. Make sure the tank is well broken up with wood and plants; if they can't see far, they tend to limit their aggression to close at hand.

If you do stay with cichlids as the "main" fish, danios are fine, as would be any of the small/medium sized barbs. Quite the opposite from gourami which generally do not appreciate such active fish around them.

Byron.

Jwest

haha. aw man. i really appreciate the advice. i just don't know what to stock it with now.. I found out my ph is 8 so i need to lower it a bit and the water is very soft at 2.5 grains.

Byron

If 2.5 grains is grains per gallon, that equates to 43 ppm, which is 2 or 3 dGH, very soft as you say. Assuming the KH is similar, the pH should lower naturally as the aquarium becomes established bioloogically, provided there are no calcareous items (rock or gravel composed of calcium-based material like limestone, marble, dolomite...). Using wood (real) and well planted will assist in this lowering. If the fish load is kept moderate in balance with the plants, smaller water changes will be OK, further maintaining a lower pH.

Diluting the initial water with distilled, Reverse Osmosis or rainwater is another option to get this started sooner.
A pH in the low 7's would accomodate many soft water fish, and it might well lower further over time.

Byron.