14crazychris's 230L planted tank

[Suelo]

I'm really sorry, but I think you might still have some conflicts here.

If you were using your tap water it would be too hard for most cory, although Corydoras Venezuelanus might be OK. It would probably also be too hard for the Otos. I've read that hatchet fish need a longer tank - something like 120 cm - although someone else may be able to confirm if your 60cm square might provide enough swimming space.  I'm not sure whether you would have enough room for more than one species of Apisto, but I think they would view at least the cherry shrimp as lunch. Apistogramma can be kept in a harem, and cockatoo cichlids are available in different colours, so perhaps you could get different looking fish into your tank that way?

I'm sorry if I sound negative - I've also been trying to find compatible fish, but working around some existing residents, so I know how tricky it seems to be to find an interesting selection that work together.

[TropicalFishForums]

[Si4geckos]

Personally I'd go with larger shoals of less species. My corydoras behaved totally different when I went from 3 to 9. Then again from 9 to, errrr 19ish? I've tried a few of a few fish, but ended up with only 3 species.

I've a large shoal or sterbai corydoras (with some albinos for variety), I'll soon have a large shoal (going from 8 to about 18) cardinal tetra and my 'feature' fish is a male honey gourami and 2 females. Just got the trio 3 days ago. Bottom of the tank is buzzing with sterbai, the cardinals will shoal accross the middle and gourami will hopefully cruise the surface. All about filling all layers of the tank. If I mixed a few other fish in there I think the tank would lose it's impact. Simplicity can reap huge rewards.

Best thing to do is check your tap water for certain and base your fish choices on what will flourish in those parameters. Best for the fish and for you!

That's my thoughts for the day...

[Siege]

Good advice from both sue and Si there.

How do you fancy using the ro water?

Your choice of fish will be complicated slightly by your tank, it's 180L and square. So hard for territorial fish to set up camp if there are competing ones.
Also fast fish won't be able to stretch their legs as it were. So not ideal for them.

Nothing wrong with that, every tank has its limitations in some respect or other.

Just bear it in mind when stocking.

Ps. Amano shrimp will be better if you have any small cichlids. They are much bigger and won't be seen as food.

[14crazychris]

Wicked thanks guys! Thats really helpful, im going to probably go down the ro water route  to be honest and maybe mix a bit of tap water to buffer the KH. Hatchet fish are off the list but have been looking at other suitable tank mates. Have been doing some reserch on the cherry shrimp and have concluded they should be off the list. Current list is now

Cory catfish (undecided species and number)
Oto catfish
Pencil fish
Celestial pearl danios
Bamboo shrimp
Gabon shrimp
Apistos maybe two varieties

Think this list is pretty compatible but just need to work out the apisto situation.
Cheers chris

[14crazychris]

Good advice from both sue and Si there.

How do you fancy using the ro water?

Your choice of fish will be complicated slightly by your tank, it's 180L and square. So hard for territorial fish to set up camp if there are competing ones.
Also fast fish won't be able to stretch their legs as it were. So not ideal for them.

Nothing wrong with that, every tank has its limitations in some respect or other.

Just bear it in mind when stocking.

Ps. Amano shrimp will be better if you have any small cichlids. They are much bigger and won't be seen as food.

Cool, am probably going to go for for R/O water and get some amano shrimp.
Cheers chris

[Gingerlove05]

CPDs are hard water
Again as the others say i dont think its big enough for two lots of apisto, they normally take up a territory around 30cm square minimum, and as stated you might have trouble separating the territories/ breaking the lines of sight between them if you have more than a pair, and also the other fish will wander into their territory (again the lines of sight)
Also with regards to RO water if you mixed 50:50 RO to tap water it would halve your hardness to 6dgh, which would be fine for most soft water fish and should keep your KH up and your ph stable.


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[plankton]

You will need RO if you want those fish (except the CPDs), so not probably.
I wouldn't mix apistos, just have one male and maybe three females.
Pencils are pretty fragile, and don't take kindly to any medication, they even tend to drop dead with Melafix which is pretty much no meds at all.......gorgeous fish though. Penguin tetras may be an alternative.
Look at ember tetras instead of the CPDs, similar size, or gold tetras perhaps who have a shiny surface and also aren't too big.

[KevB]

I'd leave the big gabon shrimp out and just have one or two bamboo with some amano's. Let the tank mature before adding shrimp, they do much better once some surface biofilm has built up.