# Fish suggestions for 3ft tank?



## Mew_chan (Jan 28, 2009)

*EDIT: *We still need some advice on where we can add more fish to the tank when already in it is:
4 corys 
2 bristlenoses
10 fire tetras
7 Rasbhoras

I would like 1 or 2 Dwarf Gouramis.. if possible... or maybe to add a betta insted?... would this be to much?

This is a pic of the tank when were were first sinking the root and planting the tank... lots more plants there now...









This is a pic of the current set up(minus 2 gouramis):









ORIGINAL:
My boyfriend and I have just aquired a 3ft tank (20cmW x 35cmH x 90cmL) roughly 68Litres and we are looking at planting it and stocking it with some of the fish we currently have plus a few larger fish as well. This isnt our first tank but all our previous tanks were all 5Gal tanks, and betta tanks.

We already have in the tank a nice piece of malaysian gold root for the main feature. We are thinking of planting the tank with pretty hardy plants.
Anubius, java ferns, some sort of grasses and a few planted background plants (not quite sure what to choose though) etc

also we have no hood(we do have a lid though of course) with a long floresant 3ft double bar light(only 1 in use at a time to save power)
resting on top

Anyway the fish we already have that we would "like" to move into the tank are:
2 peppered corys (plus get a few more maybe?)
6 fire embers (plus a few more to make a bigger school) 
2 bristlenoses
And possibly 7 hengali rasboras(but if having them would prevent us having some larger fish in the tank we can leave them out)

I would also like some medium sized/larger fish top tank dwellers but dont really know what sort would work for beginners like us, we like colourful or strange fish such as(these are mainly examples, I realise some of these are unrealistic):

kuhli loach (to share the bottom with the BNs and corys, would really like some of these if possible)
Angel fish
Ghost knives
small sharks?
ghost catfish

(See post #8 for new considerations)

Any other suggestions? obviously we dont want fish that will get too big.


----------



## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

If you're talking about a 3' wide tank that's gotta be somewhere around 40 gallons or so I would think. 40 gallons is too small for Ghost Knives or sharks. Ghost Knives and most sharks need at least a 75 gallon tank. You have any other ideas?


----------



## Mew_chan (Jan 28, 2009)

I actually knew ghost knives were out(saw one yesterday about20-30cm), it was just an example of strange fish. what about loaches? or fish with funny fins or pretty colours, I'm open to all suggestions


----------



## NatBarry (Feb 19, 2008)

Kuhli Loaches would work, they are fun fish!


----------



## Plecostomus (Jul 31, 2006)

Yeah, Kuhli loaches and Cories are great, but you would definitely want more than 2 cories. Hatchetfish make good top feeders, and they are very easy to take care of. Ghost Catfish are awesome, but if you want to keep them, you will have to make sure you don't put any aggressive fish with them, because they are very prone to being nipped by other fish.


----------



## rninne (Mar 23, 2009)

*The tank*

This is the afore mentioned tank, with plants and our awesome centre piece. The drift-wood looks great! I'm so pleased with it. Our first fish will be going in at the end of this week, and we will be gradually adding more as the tank starts to cycle. 





Things still left to add are: the air-stone, a bit more greenery, a few more decorations and of course the fish.

Any suggestions on fish are appreciated, but the outline in the OP is pretty much what we are leaning towards.

~Robert


----------



## betta0fish (Feb 16, 2009)

hatchets like to jump so if you don't have a hood, i wouldnt get them angel fish might work


----------



## Mew_chan (Jan 28, 2009)

Looking around I was thinking that maybe rainbow fish might be a good addition to the tank (I want to try get Australian natives if possible) and will need at max 6 of these apparently, growing to a max size of 8-10cm depending on the species. 

Other fish I am considering instead of the rainbow fish (1-4 at most)
*Blue Rams* - really like the look of these but am having difficulty finding out how many need to be kept together, it says pairs but is there a minimum?
*sparkling gourami * - this will probably be my choice if am only able to have 1 or 2 larger fish
*Dwarf Gourami* - like the look of these 

Will the tank be over stocked if I add all the fish I already have (4 corys, 2 BNs, 8 Fire tetras, 8 rasboras) plus the loaches(2-4), plus the extra 1-3 larger top fish as well?

EDIT: please note previous estimates are off.. .the tank is not a 40Gal tank but is closer to 20Gal as it is aroughly a 68L tank.


----------



## Mew_chan (Jan 28, 2009)

*This is a quick update:*
We still want to know if the tank is overstocked becasue honestly to mee with all the little fish swimming around it in it doesnt look soo full... ----HELLO OUT THERE!!-----

Here is a pic of when we were first starting to sink the root (and I think the filter had been left off overnight (thus cloudy water) and had added the first lot of plants... there are a heap more plants in there now... almost the entire area near the filter is covered in tall plants and the other end is pretty think with medium plants...









The tank is up and running well - started off doing a silent cycle with just plants and slowly added the fish 1 group at a time... Also Used stresszyme to help cycle and all levels are looking good.. .no spikes of anything yet

This is what is in the tank:
2 Panda corys
2 peppered corys
2 bristle noses
10 fiire ember tetras
7 herliquin Rashboras

Is this tank overstocked? Or would we be able to add 1 or 2 Gourami's?


----------



## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

68 liters is nearly 18 gallons. That tank looks bigger than that. From your measurements its 8 in wide x 36 long x 14 high, 63 liters. Most tanks in America are 12" wide. So its kind of strange to me.

Personally, I don't like gouramis much and dwarf gouramis are coming in carrying a nasty disease lately. 

I would say 1 or 2 cichlids of the same kind is max for that tank. You could get blue rams, Bolivian rams, a crenicara sp., maybe rainbow cichlids. Pick a true dwarf cichlid from S. america to go with your other fish and decor (plants, driftwood). You can keep them singly or in a compatible pair. You could start with 4 fry and rehome the odd ones out after they pair up. 

You could conceivably keep 1 angel (non-veil) but I wouldn't. Odds are it would snack on your little fish eventually.


----------



## Bymer (Aug 22, 2008)

complements on the tank, so far looks good!


----------



## Mew_chan (Jan 28, 2009)

Thanks alot for all the suggestions... but in the end we went with 2 dwarf gold Gouramis, we though that blue rams might be a bit much hastle and when we found the gouramis they were roughly 50% cheaper than we had seen them anywhere else and healther looking than alot of other places we had looked at (not in picture though).

I don't know what kind of plant that pale green fern like plant is in the near corner at the front of the tank is but it is brilliant! when we bought our other plants there was a tiny piece of it floating in the bag and we thought what the hey! lets plant it and see what happens. Now it is 10times bigger or more than we first planted it... and of all the plants is one of the ones doing the best... anyone know what it is?


----------



## adrianng1996 (Nov 23, 2009)

a couple of discus would look amazing in that tank!


----------

