# Ideas for a Semi Large Tank



## loachandbarbs (Aug 24, 2010)

Hello Fishforums I've got a bit of a conundrum

See I'll be moving into a new room soon and I wanted to set up a either a 20 or a 35 gallon depending on how much space i have at my disposal. My Problem is I'm not sure what I want to put in the tank. I want to go with something cool looking but also something that is inexpensive and easy to keep. Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

there are lots of options with community fish. will this be your first tank?


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## The Lowercase Q (Aug 21, 2010)

You could do a set up with mollies(I'm not entirely sure if you could do balloon mollies with these smaller fish), platies, danios(NOT the larger kind), and neon tetras(just a warning, black neon tertas are more aggressive than regular neon tetras). Any small(ish) non-aggressive fish. You could also try to do a nice tank with semi-aggressive fish like barbs(tiger barbs, tinfoil barbs), eels(peacock eels, tiretrack eels, fire eels), and loaches(clown loaches, weather/dojo loaches). I don't think you could do cichlids in a tank smaller than 50 gallons, though.

I'd go with option 2, because that setup would be more interesting to me, as I personally like long snaky fish, but option 1 has livebearers that will have babies about once a month, which is very interesting to watch and fish that will school together. Another option that is a bit hard is to mix aggression levels without overdoing it(i.e. neons and danios with loaches; black ghost knives with glass shrimp; barbs with platies, I don't mean like eels with guppies), but that is taking a bit of a risk, as I have lost one fish from each school I have so far.

For algae eaters, you could use a brushy nose pleco in either, because they get about half the size of normal plecos, and are very good at keeping the tank clean. Another option would be to use japonica shrimp, but you'd need a few of them and some plants for them to stay on. Snails would be good, too. Also, if you have mollies and platies, they will eat algae off glass if there is a lot.
A couple of things you could keep that would pretty much live with anything without a big enough mouth to eat it are african dwarf frogs, FW clams, and shrimps(not including viper shrimp, glass shrimp, and cherry shrimp)

Welcome to Fish Forums, by the way.


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## loachandbarbs (Aug 24, 2010)

In response to you revolution this is not my first tank but if I do it right it will be my second "Successful" tank. The first being a 3 gallon tank with a Betta, 6 White Clouds, 3 Khuli Loaches, and a Sumo Loach all of them get along just fine and the sumo loach has taken to eating some of the pesky snails in my tank.

Back to the topic at hand I was actually considering the possibility of Rosy Barbs and Lemon Tetras. Anything else that might be good with them in terms of Top dwellers and bottom feeders?


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## The Lowercase Q (Aug 21, 2010)

Rosy barbs get up to 5 inches, so unless you can provide a larger tank later on, I don't think it would be a good idea to keep them.

Lemon tetra can stay with anything the same size as them that isn't aggressive, so any fish like 1-2 inches would be fine.


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## loachandbarbs (Aug 24, 2010)

wait then why did you suggest tinfoil barbs earlier don't they get even larger than rosy barbs?


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## The Lowercase Q (Aug 21, 2010)

I thought they only get like 3 inches, and I've never seen big ones.
sorry
EDIT: Oh crap, I just looked them up and it says they get up to 14 inches. Don't listen to your LFS about sizes...


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## loachandbarbs (Aug 24, 2010)

That's alright. I've made the same mistakes to.

How about a Set up like this. 
2 Angelfish
1 school of Lemon Tetras
1 School of Another Tetra
1 Bristlenosed Pleco


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## The Lowercase Q (Aug 21, 2010)

I don't know, I think angelfish grow pretty fast to the size of their tank. How about instead of the angelfish, try something like hatchetfish instead, as they only get about 2-3 inches. Other than that, the set up seems pretty good.


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## loachandbarbs (Aug 24, 2010)

I suppose...the trouble is that I can never find anything that is colorful and easy to maintaining other than livebearers and for some reason i have enough trouble with them as it is for some reason. Anybody else out there got any ideas?


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## The Lowercase Q (Aug 21, 2010)

Try tetras. From my experience, they're hardy and most of them are pretty colorful and small.


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## loachandbarbs (Aug 24, 2010)

I suppose what about Tiger Barbs what else can you keep with them?


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## The Lowercase Q (Aug 21, 2010)

Tiger barbs nip fins, but in groups of 3 or less, will not be as aggressive.
EDIT: Forgot to answer your question.
Anything a bit larger than them, and they get like 3-4 inches.


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## loachandbarbs (Aug 24, 2010)

Perhaps some of the more Aggressive Gouramies?


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## The Lowercase Q (Aug 21, 2010)

Yeah, as long as it's not a dwarf gourami.
Also, since both tiger barbs and gouramis get 3-4", I think you're gonna need a tank bigger than 30 gallons.


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## loachandbarbs (Aug 24, 2010)

See I'm trying not to have to buy a whole new tank. I have enough as it is. the biggest I got is a 35 gallon and I'm not eve sure if that will fit on the stand I currently have


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

woah lowercaseQ your a little off about the tiger barbs they are aggresive in small groups and need atleast 6-8 in order to not nip fins. what you should look at is any of the smaller peacefull tetras. Dwarf gouramis are a much better choice the honey yellows and flame reds are awesome. Check out german blue rams, gold rams, apistogrammas, dwarf flag cichlids, red breasted dwarf flag cichlids, and key hole cichlids. If you have the money to spend you can find a local aquarium society or order online from places like aquabid and look into killifish which are amazing. There are some awesome loaches that stay small and hillstream plecos are sweet striatas dont get very big neither do the skunks or burmese borders. you could have a decent school of cory cats in their as well some awesome types are skunks, pandas, sterbaes, juliis, and albinos are all some of my favorites.there are also some awesome gobys you could get like clown gobys, bumble bees, or peacock gudgeons. There are also some awesome plecos you could look into like gold nuggets, vampires, stary nights, sultans emperors. not all these fish are completely compatable so you can do some research into them and see what you like the most.


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## loachandbarbs (Aug 24, 2010)

thanks for the info Revolution. in reguards to the rams what kinda requierments do they need in terms of decor and water quality and can they be kept with most small tetras?


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

loachandbarbs said:


> thanks for the info Revolution. in reguards to the rams what kinda requierments do they need in terms of decor and water quality and can they be kept with most small tetras?


as for decor they should have access to multiple hiding spots. as for water quality just like any fish you should try to maintane the best possible water quality you can. i have heard people say they are delicate but this has not been my experience i have had mine for a very long time now and i know other people who have had them for a long time. you just got to watch out for them fighting eachother. in a tank that size you should probably only keep 1 male female pair.


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## loachandbarbs (Aug 24, 2010)

Okay so Asuming I am going with my 35 gallon tank does this setup sound good?
1 school of 6 hatchetfish
1 school of 6 lemon tetras
1 school of 6 neon tetras
1 male and female pair Ram
and 1 Bristle nosed Pleco


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## The Lowercase Q (Aug 21, 2010)

Revolution1221 said:


> woah lowercaseQ your a little off about the tiger barbs they are aggresive in small groups and need atleast 6-8 in order to not nip fins. what you should look at is any of the smaller peacefull tetras. Dwarf gouramis are a much better choice the honey yellows and flame reds are awesome. Check out german blue rams, gold rams, apistogrammas, dwarf flag cichlids, red breasted dwarf flag cichlids, and key hole cichlids. If you have the money to spend you can find a local aquarium society or order online from places like aquabid and look into killifish which are amazing. There are some awesome loaches that stay small and hillstream plecos are sweet striatas dont get very big neither do the skunks or burmese borders. you could have a decent school of cory cats in their as well some awesome types are skunks, pandas, sterbaes, juliis, and albinos are all some of my favorites.there are also some awesome gobys you could get like clown gobys, bumble bees, or peacock gudgeons. There are also some awesome plecos you could look into like gold nuggets, vampires, stary nights, sultans emperors. not all these fish are completely compatable so you can do some research into them and see what you like the most.


I had tiger barbs in a community in a group of 7 that would terrorize everything, until i reduced the school size to 3, and then everything was fine until they got larger and i had to take them back because they terrorized everything again.
I'm just going by personal experience.


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

The Lowercase Q said:


> I had tiger barbs in a community in a group of 7 that would terrorize everything, until i reduced the school size to 3, and then everything was fine until they got larger and i had to take them back because they terrorized everything again.
> I'm just going by personal experience.


well there are a number of factors that can contribute to the way a fish acts the way it does you can never be 100% posoitive on how a fish will react with others. but typically they need to be kept in larger schools in order to not be aggresive


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## loachandbarbs (Aug 24, 2010)

Hey guys not to get between you and your discussion but about my earlier comment do you think that would be a good setup? XD


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## loachandbarbs (Aug 24, 2010)

Actually I might have a bit of good news. My Cousin's Husband might have a 50 Gallon tank that I can have fully loaded and everything. I'm not holding my breath though


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## The Lowercase Q (Aug 21, 2010)

That setup sounds pretty good, and if you could get the 50 gallon I wouldn't change anything but maybe have larger school sizes(8-10 fish).


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## loachandbarbs (Aug 24, 2010)

Sounds good but as an addition how about 5 cory cats or some other fishes. 

any recomendations for this setup?


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## The Lowercase Q (Aug 21, 2010)

Cories would be nice, how about you add a few kuhli loaches?


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## loachandbarbs (Aug 24, 2010)

Let's try and stay in the same geographical area Lowercase XP


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## The Lowercase Q (Aug 21, 2010)

Region mixes actually do well in my tanks.
I have a 5" BGK with a 7" weather loach, and those with schools of neons and danios, with african dwarf frogs.
EDIT: Yes, I know weather loaches are cold water fish, they just were more active in the tropical tank than in the cold water tank.


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

cory cats would be great also i dont think loaches would be a problem(depending on the kind)


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## loachandbarbs (Aug 24, 2010)

well this is definantly giving me alot to ponder that is for sure.
I'll sleep on it for now


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

loachandbarbs said:


> In response to you revolution this is not my first tank but if I do it right it will be my second "Successful" tank. The first being a 3 gallon tank with a Betta, 6 White Clouds, 3 Khuli Loaches, and a Sumo Loach all of them get along just fine and the sumo loach has taken to eating some of the pesky snails in my tank.


With the Tiger Barbs they are actually less nippy kept in larger groups, not smaller. They will chase and bother their own rather than harassing the rest of the tank. 

If your tanks have always been 3 gallons such as the one mentioned with the stock type mentioned then it makes perfect sense that you are not being successful. It is my hope that you simply forgot a 0 for that one.


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## loachandbarbs (Aug 24, 2010)

Obsidian said:


> With the Tiger Barbs they are actually less nippy kept in larger groups, not smaller. They will chase and bother their own rather than harassing the rest of the tank.
> 
> If your tanks have always been 3 gallons such as the one mentioned with the stock type mentioned then it makes perfect sense that you are not being successful. It is my hope that you simply forgot a 0 for that one.


Actually no. I did not forget a Zero the Tank is really only 3 Gallons and as I said before all the fish are happy and healthy
EDIT: and this tank is only one of many that I've set up before My last ones were a 7 Gallon, a 10 Gallon, and the old 35 Gallon All three were met without success


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