# Need advice on my 55 gallon



## yippee (Jun 26, 2007)

Tell me how this sounds so far:
10 tiger barbs
6 cories (not sure what kind yet)
2-3 Ctenopoma Acutirostre
1 Red tail black shark

Is that okay so far?

Tank will be heavily planted in parts but open in others. Sand substrate. More than enough filtration


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## 1077 (Apr 16, 2008)

Climbing perch are largely predators and can grow quite large if you are capable of keeping the water near pristine.You may wish to consider raising some small feeder fish for them. Purchasing feeder fish is the quickest way I know of introducing disease to ones tank. Perch will also feel more comfortable with some type of floating cover ,either live plants, or artificial. 
If you have your heart set on Red tail shark, I would add it last.
With the exception of the corys, and tiger barbs, I might wait were it me,,(and it ain't) wait until the tank was a little more mature and I had a readily available food source for the climbing perch. JMO.


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## yippee (Jun 26, 2007)

i will treat the tank with live/frozen food. I do plan on turning my existing 10 gallon into a wild guppy breeding ground, we all know how quickly they reproduce. I definitely have already thought this through, and i appreciate the advice.

I really would like a red tailed shark. I've heard lots of people say they go well with barbs. Obviously every fish is different, but i'm hoping it will work out in my case. If nothing else it can always be re homed.

OTher than that are there any issues? the climbing perches won't eat the barbs right? I'm thinking full grown the barbs will be too big, but i'm not sure.

Edit: do the stocking levels sound okay?


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## 1077 (Apr 16, 2008)

As long as perch gets guppies on occasion ,they may not bother with barbs which as you have noted get large in their own right. Shark will prolly claim the bottom or a good potion of it while barbs and perch will inhabit the mid to upper levels.
I don't see anything wrong with stocking you have planned.IMHO


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## Sj45 (Jan 5, 2009)

Sounds like my tank(s).


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## yippee (Jun 26, 2007)

Food to know my plan works. Would you assume there would be any room for anything else?

Would two penguin 350s be too much filtration?


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## 1077 (Apr 16, 2008)

IMHO nope,and yes. Maybe a 350 and a 200.


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## yippee (Jun 26, 2007)

will that cause one side to filter better than the other or will they still filter evenly?


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## 1077 (Apr 16, 2008)

Will be plenty of filtration.;-)


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## JohnnyD44 (Dec 5, 2008)

thats what I plan to put on my 55G next week....if the stupid carpet people ever decide to show up!


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## catfishtabbi (Nov 10, 2008)

OMG, i like the climbing perch barb thing. I'm jealous. My petsmart has TB in 3 sizes so it's possible to see them as large as they get, which kept me from getting them, but not you. I know it's more expensive but do try to get your barbs larger than your CP. Where will you be getting your CP from?


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## catfishtabbi (Nov 10, 2008)

I found conflicting information on these fish the spotted climbing perch, one website claims they're brackish wtaer fish and the other (liveaquaria) says nothing of the sort. Maybe someone could clear this up.


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## yippee (Jun 26, 2007)

I REALLY like the climbing perch as well. The pet stores here have the tiger barbs in different sizes too. I went for the smallest size and plan to watch them grow up (they've already gotten big just since i've had them). The barbs are the first thing i bought, they'll have plenty of time to grow large before i introduce the rest of my fish. I haven't quite decided on the perches yet. THere are a few local stores that care for the fish better than the larger chains, so i'll see if they have any. If not i will probably special order them from them that way they will hopefully be healthier. THey also (from what i've been told) buy from breeders that are a little more careful and concerned of the wellbeing of their fish.

THe perch is strictly freshwater, no salt at all. Petsmart has them labeled to require salt too.


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## catfishtabbi (Nov 10, 2008)

Hi, do try to buy them locally if possible.Since they're a delicate fish you want them to be more 3" or more a shipper will send them so small, it will jeapordize thier survival.If a LFS has them now and thier an unusual one to carry, i would pre-pay and have them held until my tank was ready. I would also provide the store with the food i wanted them to be eating. I prepared a special tank for a hard to find breed and had to wait over 6 months or so to get my fish.


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## yippee (Jun 26, 2007)

catfishtabbi said:


> Hi, do try to buy them locally if possible.Since they're a delicate fish you want them to be more 3" or more a shipper will send them so small, it will jeapordize thier survival.If a LFS has them now and thier an unusual one to carry, i would pre-pay and have them held until my tank was ready. I would also provide the store with the food i wanted them to be eating. I prepared a special tank for a hard to find breed and had to wait over 6 months or so to get my fish.


Unfortunately I'm not sure any of the stores around here would do that. And the one's ive been seeing are like 1.5 to 2 inches, maybe a tad over that, not sure. WHat type of fish did you get that they held onto?

question for everybody: in a pack of 10 how active are barbs? I know they'll shoal together. In my opinion one of the best part of barbs is their activeness. the way they whip through plants and decorations, play tag or follow the leader, the way they always chase each other. If they shoal and lose a lot of this behavior i think they would lose their appeal (in my opinion, obviously). Just curious, in more detail how they act with around 10 fish.


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## 1077 (Apr 16, 2008)

In my opinion, Tiger Barbs are second in activity levels only to Danios.


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## Tyyrlym (Jun 1, 2008)

Petsmart recommends salt for a lot of fish. They also just so happen to sell aquarium salt. Aquarium salt isn't brackish though, you need sea salt mix for that.


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## yippee (Jun 26, 2007)

So barbs are just as active in large packs as well?


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## yippee (Jun 26, 2007)

Tyy, haha. Do you think a BTRS will do good in this set up?


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## Tyyrlym (Jun 1, 2008)

A RTBS should be ok. My only point of concern would be the cories. They're tough little fish but if they decided to prowl around the RTBS' territory the shark might get mean. If you do add them I'd recommend placing a good sized cave towards one end or the other of the tank to try to encourage the RTBS to stay at one end and hope the cories take the hint and stay in the other.


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## yippee (Jun 26, 2007)

I was kind of wondering about that myself. It will be a very experimental tank at first. If something doesn't work like planned i am more than willing to move the affected fish to new homes.


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## yippee (Jun 26, 2007)

Since the Ctenopoma acutirostre gets up to six inches, will the barbs and cories be too big to eat or will they end up as snacks? I've never seen a full grown Ctenopoma acutirostre so i'm not sure as to how large their mouth gets. The barbs unless they are just completely caught off guard should be quick enough to get away. The cories on the other hand, if they are small enough to fit in the Ctenopoma acutirostre's mouth i'm afraid they would be too slow and get picked off. At the same time i'm hoping two or 2-1/2 inch fish are too big for the Ctenopoma acutirostre


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## yippee (Jun 26, 2007)

bringing this back: I may be upgrading to atleast a 75 if not a 125 or 150 soon. Will regular tiger barbs and albinos shoal together? I've heard conflicting stories. Some say they will, others say they refuse. Anyone have personal experience?

Any other fish you can think of that would do well in the tank? everything i can think of is either small enough to be lunch, big enough they'll eat others, or so peaceful the barbs would stress them out.


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## yippee (Jun 26, 2007)

anyone?


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

Sorry I didn't see this thread earlier!

Unfortunately, I can't see this mix of fish working out. Even though your leaf fish will only grow to about 6", they are highly predatory and have extremely large mouths. I would bet on them eating both the barbs and the cories. You might be able to keep them together if you keep the leaf fish fed without the use of any sort of feeder fish, which will discourage them from trying to eat their tankmates. Also, leaf fish tend not to like really active tankmates (like tiger barbs) so even if the barbs don't get eaten, they may really annoy your leaf fish.

I'm not trying to discourage you too much, but since I've heard of ctenopoma acutirostre eating full-grown swordtails, I definitely wouldn't put corydoras and tiger barb predation past them.


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## yippee (Jun 26, 2007)

Thank you very much for your post and concern. I am going to try it out and see how it goes. I will start out growing out the barbs and cories to full size. I will then add the ctenopoma acutirostre and let them settle in. Lastly will be the RTBS to encourage him to find his own place and settle in. If it does not work i will seperate them accordingly. I just think the tank would be awesome and want to at least try it. If all else fails i will move the problem fish and report back so others know better. IIRC, there was another member housing a ctenopoma acutirostre with cories with no problem.

If i were to upgrade to a 6ft long tank i wouldnt happen to get away with adding two RTBS if i were to have two caves on opposite ends of the tank? I'm pretty sure i know the answer but i had to ask.


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

Six feet is pretty big. I'd say if you had a nice wall in the middle of the tank (a stack of rocks, a good chunk of driftwood or even a bunch of sturdy plants placed as a wall) and plenty of hiding spaces on either side you could definitely keep two sharks.

An additional worry with mixing bigger, predatory fish with cories is that cories are hard little suckers to swallow. I've read reports of things like larger cichlids trying to eat them, getting the cories stuck in their throats, and subsequently having both fish die as a result. I'm not trying to discourage you from building a community around the leaf fish, but instead encouraging you to try tankmates that are too large to be eaten. Larger barbs such as arulius or even large rosy barbs would be a good choice. You could also replace the cories with something like upside-down catfish.


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## yippee (Jun 26, 2007)

http://www.fishforum.com/freshwater-fish-pictures-videos/my-ctenopoma-hunting-shrimp-23072/

I have been following that thread and talking to a few other members. The original poster has a 5 inch (last i talked to them) ctenopoma acutirostre housed with two different types of cories and hasn't had any problems and suggests that they are fine to be housed together. Another member says that they will live peacefully with tiger barbs. I cannot comment on how big their ctenopoma acutirostre is, I am still trying to find that out as it could make a huge difference. I would really like to make this work as i think it would make a beautiful tank. I appreciate your concern and really like hearing everyones personal opinion. I like to be able to compare ideas and find the best possible outcome. I want to at least try it out. I will wait to hear the answer about the ctenopoma acutirostre and barb combination in the thread above. If the ctenopoma acutirostre is grown or almost fully grown and is housed with barbs and no problems i will give it a try. I am planning on adding the ctenopoma acutirostre second to last, only before the RTBS. He will be small enough compaired to the full grown barbs and cories that they should be safe for a while. I will keep a close eye on them and if i see the slightest problems start to arise as they grow i will seperate them immediately. I have enough tanks i can keep them away from each other if/when the time arises. Do you have any other concerns that would be benificial? Any heads up on what to watch for in advance is a bonus.

On the RTBS, the way i have it planned out i can easily have a divider area in the tank. If this is the case (anyone else agree you could keep two RTBS in one 6ft tank?) i will start out with two small RTBS added last and see if they can be housed peacefully. Again, if problems arise i will move them.

Thanks.


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

The only other concern I'd have, if you managed to introduce them so that the leaf fish never sees his tankmates as food items, is that the ever-annoying tiger barbs could bother the leaf fish. Just be sure you have a large enough group of the barbs so that they keep their aggression among themselves. Not a major concern since your leaf fish doesn't exactly have the type of long, flowing fins that are irresistible nipping targets for tiger barbs, but just a basic "rule" when keeping tiger barbs with...well, anything else.


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