# Help me stock a 135 gallon tank



## CathyJ (Nov 28, 2008)

I would like to have some Veil Tail Angels, one male betta, a clown loach and a Pleco. I would like other colorful active fish that would live comfortably with these. 

I would like to have some fish that would occupy all the different levels of the tank. The tank will not not be a planted tank.

Please include the number of each that you would put in if it was your tank.

Thanks for your help!


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## onefish2fish (Jul 22, 2008)

i would skip the clown loach, they get huge and require a school/shoal.
what kind of pleco?
angels will pair up and become territorial so keep that in mind.

if this was my tank i would get 50 tetras and cherry red shrimp and live plants, with black substrate and a painted black background.


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## Tyyrlym (Jun 1, 2008)

Saw that one coming.

What OneFish said is correct, the clown loach will get big. 12" is pretty normal and they like to school. You'll need 4 to 6 of them in order to get the best behavior out of them. The thing is you have a tank that could hold them but not much else. There are other species of loaches that won't get nearly as large but will still be very entertaining.

Having a male betta in your tank will limit your stocking options pretty seriously. His long flowing fins will be and irresistable attraction to fin nippers and depending on his attitude he could cause problems with the other fish. If you really want a male betta I'd recommend a small 5 gallon tank for just him and maybe a few other roommates.

Hmm, if I had a 135 gallon tank.
30 To 40 either neon or cardinal tetras. Low bioload, peaceful, and gorgeous. They spend most of their time mid level.
20 To 30 rummy nose tetras. Same as neons.
15 Serpae Tetras. Mid level swimmers, when kept in large groups they are relatively docile.
12 Panda cory catfish. They're peaceful bottom dwellers. Delicate but that's only a concern with poor maintenance.
1 Red tailed black shark. A bottom dweller, they can be some what aggressive and territorial but with the proper tank design it won't be a problem.
2 German Blue Rams. Another bottom dweller, they only get real aggressive and territorial when spawning but with a 135 gallon tank you've got the room for the other fish to give them space.
Somesort of gourami for the upper levels. They'd bear watching to make sure the tetras don't hassle them.
A mating pair of cockatoo cichlids, maybe. Midlevel fish.
A large number of amano shrimp, probably 20+

What can I say, I like small fish.


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## CathyJ (Nov 28, 2008)

Thanks for the input! You have listed some fish I will have to look into. And on the clown loach, I would love to have some, but the idea of 4 or 5 1 foot fish in the same tank doesn't sound to appealing!


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## Tyyrlym (Jun 1, 2008)

Note, the only reason I even suggested both a RTBS and rams is that you have A LOT of real estate on the bottom of this tank and both species should be able to stake out their territories without getting in each other's faces.


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

How about:
-Six young angels. Let them pair off, and keep the prettiest pair and sell the others.
-A school of 20 or so rummynose tetras for the middle levels
-A school of 20 or so hatchets (silver or marbled, up to you) for the top levels
-A dozen yo-yo loaches or 20 corydoras (I like the loaches, but the corydoras are more in line with the South America theme)
-A trio of apistogramma of any species (one male, two females)
-A couple bristlenose plecos for algae control

If you aren't using real plants, be sure to have plenty of artificial ones. The angels will really appreciate tall grass-like plants. Plenty of lower, bushy plants would suit the loaches/cories and apistos. Round out your decor with some driftwood and rock piles for caves. A sand substrate would be ideal for any sort of loach or bottom-dwelling catfish.


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## Tyyrlym (Jun 1, 2008)

If you do get angels make sure your plants are silk if at all possible. First they aren't going to damage their fins, second they look WAY better than plastic.


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## easty83 (Dec 21, 2008)

forget the betta in a 135 gallon tank!!!! go extreme and get fish to suit the size of the tank. Go big with either schooling fish, african cichlids( these are my fav) or south americans like oscars, green terrorors, jack dempseys etc!


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## Twistersmom (Dec 9, 2008)

I like iamntbatman"s idea on adding yoyo loaches. I have both clown loaches and yoyos. The yoyos are my favorite. They are very entertaining to watch in a group setting. 5 or 6 of them would make a nice group.


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## CathyJ (Nov 28, 2008)

If I have two angelfish, will they get mean? And what happens if they both grow up to be male?

I will have to check into the yoyos.

Thanks for all the good ideas.


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## epsilonvaz (Jan 15, 2009)

I love small fish in a large tank! Be sure to post pics!


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## aunt kymmie (Jun 2, 2008)

Yoyos! I have them in my tank and just love them. They are incredibly social and it's a kick to watch their crazy antics. Great fish, IMO.


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## tophat665 (Sep 30, 2006)

OK, Get plants. Just get low light plants. Stick a pair of shoplights over the tank and you have 160 watts. Hygrophilia, pennywort, Wisteria, Java Fern, Java Moss, Dwarf Sags, Amazon Swords, Crypts, these will all do well. Seriously, if you want to keep angelfish, then live plants are nearly mandatory. 

Go with a half dozen angels and a half dozen festivums for the midwater. Get a half dozen Keyholes Cichlids, Rainbow Cichlids, or Flag Acaras (aka Curviceps). Add a school of 20 rummies and a school of 15 Lemon Tetras. Put in 5 Striped Loaches, 12 Cories (All the same kind from the follwing list: Bronze, Albino, Pepper, Panda, Sterbas, Gold Laser, Green Laser, Venezulan Black, Schwartzs, Multipunctatus, or Axelrodi. Do not get Bronchis), and 2 to 4 algae eaters (Bristlenosed Pleco, Farlowella, Royal Farlowella, Clown Pleco).

Make sure you put in lots of caves, lots of driftwood, and at least a couple of slates leaning, and smooth, flat stones on the substrate.

If you Don't want to plant, skip the angels and go for Central American cichlids.


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## aunt kymmie (Jun 2, 2008)

I like your stocking idea. It sounds like a tank I'll have to consider. It sounds great.


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## CathyJ (Nov 28, 2008)

tophat665 said:


> OK, Get plants. Just get low light plants. Stick a pair of shoplights over the tank and you have 160 watts. Hygrophilia, pennywort, Wisteria, Java Fern, Java Moss, Dwarf Sags, Amazon Swords, Crypts, these will all do well. Seriously, if you want to keep angelfish, then live plants are nearly mandatory.
> 
> Go with a half dozen angels and a half dozen festivums for the midwater. Get a half dozen Keyholes Cichlids, Rainbow Cichlids, or Flag Acaras (aka Curviceps). Add a school of 20 rummies and a school of 15 Lemon Tetras. Put in 5 Striped Loaches, 12 Cories (All the same kind from the follwing list: Bronze, Albino, Pepper, Panda, Sterbas, Gold Laser, Green Laser, Venezulan Black, Schwartzs, Multipunctatus, or Axelrodi. Do not get Bronchis), and 2 to 4 algae eaters (Bristlenosed Pleco, Farlowella, Royal Farlowella, Clown Pleco).
> 
> ...


I like this stocking idea too. Thank you so much for spelling out which plants will live under low light. And which areas of the tank the particular fish use, and the numbers I could have. I have added a couple plants, and they seem to be doing okay. I will try a few more soon.

I am an avid hobbiest in saltwater, but am fairly new to freshwater. Things are very different. Every ones responses have saved me a million hours of research time! Thanks all!


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## aspects (Feb 1, 2009)

the clown loaches will be fine in a 135. while they CAN grow to be 12-16", their growth rate is so extremely slow, that you will probably never see it. it will take them a year to reach the 6" mark, and thats the fast part of their growth. and as they are bottom dwellers, there is still tons of room on the mid and high side of the tank for more tankmates.


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## aspects (Feb 1, 2009)

or you could go, bare bottom, some driftwood and river rocks, and 200 exodon paradoxus

:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:


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## tophat665 (Sep 30, 2006)

Now, if I were to have a brand new 135 to stock, I think I would start with setting up an end to end current, burying the manifold in fine, smooth gravel, distribute around a bunch of river jacks and driftwood, liberally greened with Java Fern, and some Hygrophilia angustifolia at the downstream end with the stems protected from rooting fish by the aforementioned river jacks. Maybe some potted swords along the back of the tank. Into this I would put 8 to 10 clown Loaches, 3 Bristlenosed plecos, 3 SAEs and about a dozen Bengal Danios.

HOWEVER, if I were going to put any angelfish in there, particularly veil tails, I would avoid clown loaches. They get a little bit nippy. In fact, I would avoid any loaches but B. striata, B. kubotai, and P. kuhli (or maybe other Pangio species). It has been my experience that all but the most peaceful botiine loaches (Even sidthimunkis) nip, not out of aggression but curiosity and playfulness. They'd put a quick hurtin' on a veil tailed angel.

Come to think of it, if I had to have veil tailed angels in the tank, I would lose the Festivums too, and limit my color cichlids to Laetacara spp. That being the case, 8 Angels, 4 to 6 Laetacara curviceps, Bump it to 30 rummies and 20 lemons, add a tight lid and a school of a dozen silver hatchets (get the pure silver ones - the ones with the line are actually river hatchets, and they get a bit bigger.) Then the Loaches, Cories, and algae eaters as described.

Alternately, go with a really sparse planting schema - Sand substrate, sword plants in clay pots with the roots covered by river rocks. Lots of driftwood, though, particularly the branchy kind (manzanita if available). To that, add 8 Angels, 20 Hatchets, 3 Whiptail Catfish, and Eartheaters of one sort or another (Probably Geophagous steindecheri or Satanoperca daemon or S. jurupari, but there are a ton of them out there) 6 to 12 depending on the size of the available species. This is all about making the sides and ends full of really branchy, tangly driftwood for the angels to hide in, the swords for them to center their territories on, and a big expanse of rock studded sand for the Eartheaters to plow. Oh, and I'd probably put some Brazillian pennywort, just floating, to give the Hatchets some overhead security.


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## tophat665 (Sep 30, 2006)

aspects said:


> or you could go, bare bottom, some driftwood and river rocks, and 200 exodon paradoxus
> 
> :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:


Cut that back to about 30 and you have a heck of a tank there.


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## aspects (Feb 1, 2009)

tophat665 said:


> Cut that back to about 30 and you have a heck of a tank there.


 30? bahahahahhahahaha. umm. no. 
with such a small number in a large tank, it will just be boring. trust me, i have done both.


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## mattyphilly (Jun 23, 2007)

just get vallisneria and echinodorus bleheri if u wanna have angels. Easy, pretty and hardy plants from the amazone.

I dont understand why people keep saying that angels are aggressive and territorial. Only when a couple is abt to spawn or right after spawning they will shoo other fish away. The other fish usually dont insist to come near the eggs. I have no problem whatsover with aggression in my big angel tank.

Careful with small tetra's cos adult angels think they're yummy. A 135 gallon with 10 angels is beautiful just like that. U can add an L-number from the amazone as well.
good luck


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## mattyphilly (Jun 23, 2007)

Like TOPHAT said....careful with loaches. in my experience, the only kind that minds its own business is the kubotai or polka dot loach


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## CathyJ (Nov 28, 2008)

Whow, look at all the options! This gives me a lot to look at! Thank you all! I will post pictures later.


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## fishkid (Jul 29, 2008)

Hope the tank turns out good! Just remember to try some easier fish first before getting the more challenging fish like festivums. They go well with angelfish but need clean water. For the lights, you could always go to Home Depot and see what they have.:roll: You want around 250 watts of light if you want to keep a large variety of plants. In the background, I would put Echinodurus (swordplants) and Vallisneria. In the mid ground, I would put many pieces of driftwood and rocks. Just remember that some rocks harden the water, and angelfish like the water soft. As for plants in the mid ground, I would put Bolbitis and mosses on the wood and rocks. For the space that isn't occupied by rocks or wood, put in larger cryptocorynes and anubias. Special and unique plants also go in the mid-ground. What you keep in the for-ground depends on the light. To play it safe, I would put some lower growing cryptocorynes. If you want crypts to grow low, you'll have to plant them with enough space to themselves. As for slate, you could put some pieces on the sides of the tank. If you plant a lot of plants at first, cycling the tank is much easier. Just let the snails multiply and they cycle the tank for you. And when you put in the cichlids, they eat the snails.


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## impact4 (Feb 9, 2009)

my opinion on the matter is that with many of these large groups of small fish option is you don't get to see the fishes personalities. I would go with an oscar or Jack dempsey and a black ghost knife. These are al lovely fish who are a kick to watch. Additionally they will cost you much less than hundreds of small fish.


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