# fish advice and ideas wanted for tank upgrade



## adam miller (Feb 18, 2013)

Hi I was wondering if anyone has any advice on fish for my tank upgrade, I am going from a 150L tank to a 300L. I originaly want to start fresh and get Malawi's but I don't have the money to stock tank all at once which I have been led to believe you have to do, so I am just going to expand on my community and would like some advice and ideas. What I already have are Molly's, harlequin, neons, common plec, golden loach, few different Cory's, banjo catfish and a male siamese fighter. Any advice would be much appreciated

Thanks adam


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

You could fit a school(5-6)roseline barbs(denosoni barb{most peacefull barb going}), and tetras.Cardnials, rummy nose,serpaes won't be alwful in a tank that large(aprox.75G).If you are willing to be hardcore on maintenance(waterchanges 2-3 times weekly) look into discus.


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## jamnigh (Apr 24, 2013)

You can look into bloodfin tetras as well. My personal fav!


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

If your planning on keeping the common plec best get the biggest tank you can get. I have one at 18 inches and still growing.


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## dalfed (Apr 8, 2012)

adam miller said:


> Hi I was wondering if anyone has any advice on fish for my tank upgrade, I am going from a 150L tank to a 300L. I originaly want to start fresh and get Malawi's but I don't have the money to stock tank all at once which I have been led to believe you have to do, so I am just going to expand on my community and would like some advice and ideas. What I already have are Molly's, harlequin, neons, common plec, golden loach, few different Cory's, banjo catfish and a male siamese fighter. Any advice would be much appreciated
> 
> Thanks adam


I have had great success with adding small Mbuna to already stocked tanks. I even introduced into my tank with Bumblebees and auratus , if you introduce them when small they are not threatning. Of course I rearrange rocks and do it at lights out to make sure.
If you get your list of what fish you would like I or others could help with the order of introduction.


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## adam miller (Feb 18, 2013)

Thanks everyonr for you replies, coral bandit I very much like the idea of discus they are why I got into aquariums in the first place but only had a a tank for about a year and half and not sure if I'm ready for something as technical from what I have read they need very specific enviroment, but I deff will get some rummy nose and some bloodfins thanks jamnigh. And I meant to ask the Rosaline barbs are they not fin nippers its just my Siamese fighter is my partners fav and it has had fins stumped twice by my bad call one was 2 blackwidow tetra and the other was knife ghost fish. And thanks dalfed think I might give cichilds a miss for a while maybe get a bit more experience but will deff keep that in mind. What do you think to some sort of rainbow fish I have seen some dwarf ones somewhere I'm sure I have ? Also my plec isn't far off that anyway thanks for the advice Susan.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

The roselines are very peaceful.I have cardinals ,rummy nose,discus and angels who never have I seen any bothered by the roselines.They do best in schools(4 at least) and get better looking with age.
If you're willing to change water weekly(around 50%) then you could probly handle the discus.My water is 7.6 pH.I just drip acclimate them slowly(couple hours),and they have done fine.There largest requirement is space and clean water.Most tank raised discus can adjust to the water we have.


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## adam miller (Feb 18, 2013)

Ok thanks I will look into getting some discus a bit more closely then, and some Roseline barbs I was maybe looking at some boesemani rainbows aswell


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## mambee (Jul 19, 2013)

You should make sure that you match your fish with your tank's water parameters. Discus like very warm water (86). I don't think that many fish, including Boesmanis will do well in water that warm and their lifespan will be shortened. I don't know anything about Roseline Barbs, but I saw one at my LFS chasing and nipping the fins of an Angelfish.


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## J4C8_GreenGo (May 19, 2013)

coralbandit said:


> You could fit a school(5-6)roseline barbs(denosoni barb{most peacefull barb going}), and tetras.Cardnials, rummy nose,serpaes won't be alwful in a tank that large(aprox.75G).If you are willing to be hardcore on maintenance(waterchanges 2-3 times weekly) look into discus.


The roselines are what I was going to suggest. Lol.



mambee said:


> I don't know anything about Roseline Barbs, but I saw one at my LFS chasing and nipping the fins of an Angelfish.


How many roselines were in the aquarium with it? If there were only one or two, there you go. All barbs, including roselines, should have at least five in a group, though you could probably get away with four. However, the more the merrier. As I am sure all of you have heard the story of someone who asked an experienced fishkeeper what to do because his tiger barbs were nipping everyone's fins. The experienced one said add more. The other was at total disbelief, though he did as he was told and the aggression stopped. This goes for ALL barbs. If you see fin nipping, add MORE. This is because they establish a pecking order among themselves, and if there isn't enough, they will expand their pecking order to include other fish, usually first the ones with long fins.

Now, I don't have any hands on experience with roselines, but I have researched them extensively to try and figure out how they might breed, as it has never bred in captivity, and I know an aweful lot about them. But for the hands on things, go to Coralbandit. He has I believe twelve (12). And yes, they are beautiful.


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## mambee (Jul 19, 2013)

I agree with the statement that barbs need to be kept in large groups so that they spend their time messing with each other instead of other fish. The Roseline Barbs that I saw were in a beautiful 220 gallon display tank, but I don't recall seeing more than a few in the tank. Also, I don't think that they would be happy with Discus since Discus require warmer temperatures.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

although they do have different recommended temps,I do keep discus and roselines together.My tank averages 80-82.I have had my roselines for the last 5 years,and the discus for 2-3.That might not be perfect for either(I know the roselines would like alittle cooler and the discus would like a little warmer) but it is possible to meet in the middle.Few of us peferctly match ph as fish can adjust and I know tempature extremes(in either direction) can shorten the life span of fish,but if not taken to extremes often fish can adjust and do pretty well.


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## adam miller (Feb 18, 2013)

hi again sorry it bin a while since i have got back to anyone have had some family problems but all sorted now, thankyou evryone for your comments when i had last been on coral bandit had convinced me to give discus ago and i will at some point down the line but as my circumstances have changed i have less time so it would maybe a stuggle to maintain a strict water change routine that discus need, and have found that malawi's mbuna aren't as expensive as i was led to believe so i think that is the root i am going to go. i was wondering if anyone know anything about how ph levels or knows of a thread about this as im led to believe that using buffers is a nono


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

The municipal water and the spring water here where I live are both high for Ph. On the regular test kit, not the high one
it has 7.6 for the top/highest reading. The blue that I get when testing either of the available waters here is the same
and fairly darker than the 7.6 blue on the card. So it has been guesstimated at anywhere from 7.8 to 8.2 in Ph.
You can do the math but my ten G tank gets a 2 G water change 3 out of 4 weeks. I add 32ozs more of distilled water to that.
It gives me a blue that is guesstimated to be from 7.2-7.4 Ph.
As you only change a percent each time, the Ph will only be completely changed when you have changed water in like
4 times for a 25% change and 5 times for a 20% change and so on. Slightly less actually but just to be sure.
It should be noted that some people check/w the water supply co. in there aria to see if at any time during the year the
co. regularly changes water sources like from river to well or lake to well which can greatly effect the Ph in the water you
are getting.
BTW the last time I checked the Kh in these tanks it was at 180...
Side note: The lfs likely uses local tap water for their tanks(though you may check) and as such the fish from there are likely used to the same
water you are using at home. This of course would apply to fish other than hard to please types.


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## dalfed (Apr 8, 2012)

The Mbuna Community Tank


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