# 2 questions...



## Awi (Jul 9, 2012)

Hi all , I had two questions I was hoping to get some help with...

For starters I am already addicted to this and buying a new tank! Right now I have a 26 gallon bowfront with this in it:

2 angelfish
1 albino rainbow shark
1 blue gourami
3 buenos aires tetras 

My question is with this stock, what tank size would you suggest to help avoid any issues. As of right now I had planned to move these guys to a 36 gallon bowfront tank but nothing set in stone yet.


The second thing I was curious about was...

My GF really loved green barbs and I planned to do a barb tank with my 26 gallon bowfront. What would be a good mix of barbs to do with the green barbs? I have read barbs do better in school, does this mean I can mix different kinds of barbs? Should I have at least 5 green barbs to avoid issues?



Any help or ideas would be great! Thank you!


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

To keep barbs you can mix all types of them and they will school together. They are nippy little fish so add 5 green barbs and 5 tigar barbs and maybe some coris 

As for the other fish don't get a bow front. Really the longer tanks are much better. Do like a 40 long and add a couple more angels the koi angels are awesome looking iv got a couple of them with guppies and plattys. They do pretty good together.


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## Redhead305 (May 30, 2012)

id look for either a 55g standard 45 bow or a 72bowfront.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Bow fronts are nice and fancy, but realistic for bigger fish like angels it's no good. The longer tanks are better. I recomend a 40g there cheap and since u wanted a 36 now front a 40 long would be 100x better because you can fit more in it or gives the fish much more room to swim then bow fronts offer. I love the bow tanks an I have a couple but there really only good for tiny fish.


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## Redhead305 (May 30, 2012)

thats why i reccomended the 72bow its a 4ft tank like a 55g


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Yes but a 72 bow costs your first born and not a lot of starters want to jump into that. That's why a 40 is a pretty good size to go with.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

a 55 is usually about the best $/gallon tank both new and used. IMO, 45L and 40L are just as good, but rare to see. Tiger barbs should have a 55, they swim fast. Cherry and gold barbs and smaller and, I'm told, milder.


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## Awi (Jul 9, 2012)

thanks for the info everyone!  After looking a little more around I think I am going to end up trying to get a 55 gallon tank. Still not 100% what I am going to do with the 26 gallon bowfront because after reading some and personal experiance I am starting to get feeling you need to go bigger when it comes to any semi aggressive fish


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## Maine_Fish (Apr 7, 2012)

As a general rule, my advice is to get the largest tank you can afford to purchase and maintain...and that you have space for. The crazy thing about fish is that you never seem to have enough. 

For any given fish, you'll find people that had different experiences. If I had those fish, I'd keep my eye on the Buenos Aires Tetras. In my experience, those guys can get very aggressive...especially in smaller groups. I had 10 of them in a 75 gallon tank, and they took out a few of my fish before I figured out what was going on. One of my local pet stores keeps them in tanks with their South American cichlids. I've heard some fish keepers refer to them as the "piranha" of the tetra family.

Good luck...and have fun!


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

piranha are already in the tetra family...
i agree with maine on the buenos aries tetras...they can be extra nippy and will kill almost anything..they love to tear up angels..
also....i agree that you should look for as big a tank as you can afford and have space for...look on craigslist...there are some amazing deals to be found there...i had just missed a 300 gallon acrylic tank for $300....
for your 26 bowfront , i would think that a well planted tank with natural gravel,a medium sized rock and a nice piece of driftwood with the following stock would be great..
5 or 6 dwarf cories such as pygmeus or even some aspidoras like the albaters...
and 20-25 cardinal tetras....


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## Maine_Fish (Apr 7, 2012)

lohachata said:


> piranha are already in the tetra family...


OK...you got me there.

I guess my comment was kind of like saying that the Escalade is the Cadillac of SUV's.


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## Awi (Jul 9, 2012)

I actually just started to attempt to put live plants in the 26 gallon. Right now I have a bunch of anacharis in there and hoping the lighting is good enough to keep it alive. Its only been 2 days and they are kinda brownish but that is how they where in the pet store even, so I hope they will be ok. 

Yea I been looking on craigslist for tanks and there seem to be some decent deals, the thing is I am getting gift certifactes for my b-day to petsmart so kinda stuck buying some stuff from there. I might look for the tank and such myself on craiglist and just use the petsmart stuff to get everything else I might need.


As for the tetras, they have been ok so far if anything been a little nippy with each other but I have been thinking of getting a couple more once I get my new tank. I had gotten my angelfish at seperate times and one is kinda chasing the other around right now but he has been little better ( only had new one for 2 days ) I was thinking of taking the 2 angelfish and moving them to the new tank for when I cycle it , then move the albino rainbow shark and gourami over after a couple weeks , then buy 2-3 more tetras and put them in the 26 with the other 3 and eventually move them all over together.


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## jlpropst00 (Jun 12, 2011)

Awi said:


> I was thinking of taking the 2 angelfish and moving them to the new tank for when I cycle it.


Please tell me that your not going to cycle your new tank with angel fish...


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## Awi (Jul 9, 2012)

Well I did read that angelfish as considered hardy fish, is this wrong? 

I planned to setup the tank/ with plants and then add the angelfish after about a week as long as all was good in the tank.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

NOOOOOOOoOOOOoOOOozozoOaoOiIIIoOOOOo I love angel fish lol. I use minnows to cycle new tanks. They are like .10 each. You can flush them when your done.


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## Awi (Jul 9, 2012)

ahhh k , good to know. To be on the safe side I think I am going to follow the fishless cycle in this section then, That way I can add the full stock at once


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