# If my tank was yours...



## Sincere (Aug 18, 2005)

Just kinda thought it would be a fun topic, to bring up, plus I've made a mistake on one of my fish selections, and need to find something to do with my Bala. :sad: 

Anyways, if you had my 30 gallon as your one and only tank, what would be the fish that you would choose for best entertainment?


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## Lydia (Feb 6, 2005)

A pair of kribs, 2-3 schools of small fish, a few kuhli loaches, and about 3 otos. I don't really know if they would get along and if they need the same params, but that is what I would do if it was ok, lol.


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## Sincere (Aug 18, 2005)

Lydia said:


> A pair of kribs, 2-3 schools of small fish, a few kuhli loaches, and about 3 otos. I don't really know if they would get along and if they need the same params, but that is what I would do if it was ok, lol.


Wow this really shows what a noob I am, but I don't know a single one of the fish you just named. lol


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

If it was me I would keep 50 cardinal tetras, but because it's you I would get about 10 neon tetras.


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## Lydia (Feb 6, 2005)

Lol. Here are pictures of those fish : http://www.fishforums.com/profilearticles/showthread.php?p=10#post10 , http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_krib.php , http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_oto.php .

Here are some of the schooling fish I would get if they get along :
http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_Megalamphodus_sweglesi.php , 
http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_cardinal.php , and one other one I can't remember the name of but they are irridescent yellow and soooo pretty.


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## garfieldnfish (Jan 18, 2005)

4 otos = 6"
2 schools of small fish (tetras, rasboras or danios) = 18"
3 apple snails = 1.5"
3 pygmy corys = 4.5"

Lots of live plants, sand and gravel substrate (mixed, more sand then gravel)
driftwood and a rock wall as backdrop.


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## amelia (Aug 11, 2005)

If it were my aquarium, I'd buy two-three black moor goldfish.. Put large round gravel in the bottom, and plant it out with bamboo..


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## cucci67 (Aug 3, 2005)

Well, Sincere, what types of fish do you like? Community or more aggressive? Small or large(can't go too big with a 30g)? Schooling or nonschooling? Will you be breeding? These are all questions you must ask yourself, answer them in the next post, and then people will be able to help you out.


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## Guest (Sep 17, 2005)

i think they just want other people's thoughts and opinions on what they'd want in a 30 gallon tank. i think that's how they want to decide.


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## Sincere (Aug 18, 2005)

Yeah right now I have about 6 or so guppies both male and female, 6 or so corys and albino corys, a few ghost shrimp, and my dad bought me that bala. :-( I also have a pleco in there too.


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## cucci67 (Aug 3, 2005)

Well, balas are schoolers, and will outgrow that tank. You have to find something to do about that, whether it be get a bigger tank of get rid of the fish. It looks like you are going with a community tank with your guppies and cories. A nice school of small tetras, danios, or rasboras would do well. Also, what type of pleco is it? Most plecos will easily outgrow a 30 gallon. For algae eating I would suggest a rubbernose pleco or 3 otos. Maybe you can get more livebearers, like platies or swordtails.


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## Sincere (Aug 18, 2005)

cucci67 said:


> Well, balas are schoolers, and will outgrow that tank. You have to find something to do about that, whether it be get a bigger tank of get rid of the fish. It looks like you are going with a community tank with your guppies and cories. A nice school of small tetras, danios, or rasboras would do well. Also, what type of pleco is it? Most plecos will easily outgrow a 30 gallon. For algae eating I would suggest a rubbernose pleco or 3 otos. Maybe you can get more livebearers, like platies or swordtails.



Yeah I realize the bala is going to get too big, but it was just kinda dumped on me. As for the Pleco, yeah it's one of the kinds that get's really huge, but I've already found a nice 55 gallon for it to go to once it starts getting alot bigger. 

Now what always confuses me is how much room I have for more fish. For instance, some tetras would be really cool, but I don't know how many I should get for schooling purposes, and tank space purposes. :help:


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## Guest (Sep 17, 2005)

6 would easily be okay. you could do more if you wanted, but 6 makes a nice school.


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## Thunderkiss (Mar 19, 2005)

The pair of kribs better be the same sex or they'll breed you out of house and home and destroy everything in there 

Even 2 same sex kribs can be mini wrecking crews.

Kribs are mean little buggers.


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## cucci67 (Aug 3, 2005)

Thunderkiss said:


> The pair of kribs better be the same sex or they'll breed you out of house and home and destroy everything in there
> 
> Even 2 same sex kribs can be mini wrecking crews.
> 
> Kribs are mean little buggers.


Who are you talking to? I don't think sincere mentioned having any kribs, are you talking to me? 

As for sincere, most small tetras can get away with the 1 inch per gallon rule. I would say a nice school of 6-8 small tetras would go great. Remember not to get neons or any other tetras that like an acidic pH, as you guppies prefer a higher pH like 7.5.


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## Lydia (Feb 6, 2005)

LOL. He's talking to me. I said if I had a tank like that I would put a pair of kribs in it and a few schools of small fish, if they would get along. Thunderkiss: Would kribs get along with, say, otos or loaches or cories? I'm just curious because I am considering getting a tank to breed kribs in.


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## cucci67 (Aug 3, 2005)

Lydia: A 30 gallon is perfect for a pair of kribs. You can even get away with a 20 long. Otos can go with them, kribs for some reason don't mind them. I would not do cories with them, they may get picked on.

Sincere: Pretty much 6 or any tetras that are <2" will go well in the tank. Also, any livebearer will go well. Maybe you can pick out a few fish that you like and we can plug in the numbers.


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## Thunderkiss (Mar 19, 2005)

Lydia: They scared me  i would be inclined to say no, but it would really depend on the set up.
My setup was as follows:

52g (picture a 55 with the short sides beveled in reducing the front viewing area) with a big pile of rocks over one end (covering a piece of driftwood that never got water logged  ), 2 medium upright wood pieces and a bunch of wisteria.
As the Kribs bred, they went from right to left - the pile of rock over the driftwood was where they started, and, predictably, slowly over took the tank.
My fish were a pidgeonblood, 12 or so cories, a 5 inch clown loach, and a few pencilfish (8 maybe?). 3 cories had thier eyes removed, and in one night the discus went from great to no tail to dead. The wisteria was systematically uprooted and or shredded (kribs like to eat leaves i guess  ) and they drove my clown loach to ich from the harassment. So, all in all, in breeding pairs, kribs are better off to thier own tank from my experience .... i couldn't cull them fast enough.
As it is i love em so much i kept my biggest male and plopped him in my 46 where despite being much smaller than the juripari, he is the disputed king of the tank.
The only fish in that tank now that can stand up to him are my 2 synodontis eupterus, altho i am beginning to think that there isn't a fish in the world that they can't stand up to, or a water type 
But yeah, the otto's would worry me, as my experience has led me to believe that cichlids just simply CANNOT tolerate anything stationary in thier tank .... frogs, eels, snails, catfish .... they all get thrashed. Whtever psychological abberation that manifests itself when they see stillness drives them to distraction  So they beat on it.

As for loaches .... the bigger the better i think. Certainly no kuhli loaches or dojo loaches, as i'd fear for thier safety. Maybe some tiger botias would cure what ails em ...

And the cories ... well if there were just one or 2 same sex kribs i'd prolly be all for it, in say a 48" tank. Anything less and i'd be checking on them daily for a month or two.

Keep in mind, my disaster was the breeding pair and thier fry care. my one krib now has been mostly good, with the worst thing being the HUGE chunk he took out of my big juriparis tail in a territorial dispute (you know the kind.... this tank is mine, GET OUT! no, not there, i mean THE WHOLE TANK! hehe) and the bamboo shrimp he ripped apart (again, i think it was the stillness thing ... all they do is sit there and filter feed)

Not TOO awful, but a learning experience to be sure 

Edit: BTW, that pic of the krib you posted is a female ... they get soooo much redder when theyre in breeding colors.


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## Chazwick (Aug 24, 2005)

I'd have a full on neon tetra tank!
6 common neon tetras, 
6 black neon tetras,
perhaps some green neons or Diamond tetras? 
I'm crazy about those little guys... sorry... lol - they're so fun to watch and the way they 'communicate' and play with eachother is excellent! Plus, they swim through the entire tank, don't just huddle in one tight corner (well.. that's of course unless your water levels are crap, lol). 
I'd also add a snail or two (great little things)... perhaps only one.. and have two dwarf frogs.. and maybe even a male Betta as well? beautiful. lol That'd be my perfect tank!


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## waynside (Aug 21, 2005)

i would get a big school of cardinal tetras...maybe 20 of them...a pair of otos...three panda cories...and a crowntail betta...kinda like what i got already...hehehhe


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

I'd switch to saltwater and turn it into my dwarf seahorse tank... sigh... just reminded myself that that isn't until this december... I've been waiting TOOOO LONG!


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## Imbrium (Feb 7, 2005)

I'd get a pair of ornate ctenopoma and set it up as a spawning tank.


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## Mr Aquarium (Jan 18, 2005)

If it was my oly tank, White clouds, corys, B-Pleco or something along the smaller breed line, allot of grassy type plants from short to tall.....severl pieces of driftwood...
You spose I could really fit all this out of my 75g into a 30?
Bet it would be Kewl..................


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