Stocking suggestions for a planted 450L?

[SolarPear]

I've been looking into stock but I can't settle on a particular set up. So far I'm ruling out Angels because in the past they devoured plants despite the fact that they were being fed twice a day.

I'm leaning towards a large school of tetras, an apistogramma pair/trio and a centerpiece that wont eat plants. But that's today and I fear that I'll still be stuck trying to decide when I am finally read to have fauna.

I also plan on a few species of nerite snails and Ammano shrimp. Possibly crystal/bee when plants are grown in and they have adequate space and places to hide.

 

[mort]

It's hard to offer advise because stocking is a very personal thing and it depends on what you like and what you want to achieve. In 450L you have a huge selection of fish available and going with your apistogramma and tetra idea I'd consider a male apistogramma with a trio of ladies, with a huge group of green neon tetra plus maybe some pencilfish or hatchets.

But are you looking for a large centrepiece species like eartheaters (or angel size)? Or just an interesting species? Also if you let us know what kind of plants you plan to keep it will help with being able to suggest some things.

 

[SolarPear]

Hello Mort. And thanks for taking the time to respond.

I haven't decided on an exact plant list. Probably a mix of stems, swords, a carpet (if my light permits,) anubias, etc. Mostly coming from aquaessentials or aquariumgardens. I kept hatchets previously but they'd wake us up at night with jumping. One male apisto and 3 lades sounds like a decent ratio. I think I'll rule out the earth eaters for the sake of the plants but I do want fish with personality. I found angels gorged on plants no matter what I feed them or how often so I might avoid angels.

I think I might start looking for a private apisto breeder to get the ball rolling in case I do decide on them.

 

[alto]

As mort says, it’s a fantastic size tank for stocking fun


Apisto bitaeniata Shishita
You can find this fish in a few ukaps journals
For any apisto, I’d start with a group of at least 6 juveniles, likely 8-10 in this size tank so (more likely) good selection of both males & females


Dicrossus filamentosus - you can likely keep a larger group with both males & females in this size tank

Depending upon tank design, you might manage both a smaller group of Apisto & Dicrossus though any Dicrossus I’ve kept tended to patrol the whole tank ... if you search on Apistogramma.com you may find some feedback on this

Obviously if you choose more Dwarf Cichlids, expect to keep fewer other bottom dwellers such as Corydoras

I really like these rocket pencil fish they do better in larger tanks in larger groups (not usually a budget fish though as they seem to be mostly wild caught ... though perhaps they are more common in the UK)

I’ve mostly kept angels that left plants alone, but did have one group that started plant destruction - not eating really as they just spit out the broken bits - once started nothing changed their habit so they immigrated

An awesome shoal of green neon tetras

2 shoals of corydoras - again this tank has space for a dozen “regular” corydoras and 20 “pygmy” corydoras

A nice group of Otos - they’re so much “happier” in groups of 10 & more

Some of the bigger tetras such as the penguin tetras seen in the first tank in this
video from Aquaflora & Ruinemans at Interzoo 2018

I must admit than I tend to prefer themed stocking, eg, South American or Asian etc
I tried keeping green neon tetras with S vaillanti & it was a complete FAIL as the neons raced about frantically devouring all traces of food before the vaillanti had eaten more than a single blood worm, in contrast Sundadanio & Microdevario species are much slower eaters (in general SA tetras tend to be rapid, voracious consumers )

 

[alto]

For plant ideas
Filipe Oliveira 90cm low demanding planted aquarium
- non CO2 injected

 

[SolarPear]

For plant ideas
Filipe Oliveira 90cm low demanding planted aquarium
- non CO2 injected

You're talking about the first aquarium featured in that vid right? If so, I'd copy the plant list and layout. I haven't decided on a scape or nailed down a plant list. I really appreciate the info, thanks.

As mort says, it’s a fantastic size tank for stocking fun


Apisto bitaeniata Shishita
You can find this fish in a few ukaps journals
For any apisto, I’d start with a group of at least 6 juveniles, likely 8-10 in this size tank so (more likely) good selection of both males & females


Dicrossus filamentosus - you can likely keep a larger group with both males & females in this size tank

Depending upon tank design, you might manage both a smaller group of Apisto & Dicrossus though any Dicrossus I’ve kept tended to patrol the whole tank ... if you search on Apistogramma.com you may find some feedback on this

Obviously if you choose more Dwarf Cichlids, expect to keep fewer other bottom dwellers such as Corydoras

I really like these rocket pencil fish they do better in larger tanks in larger groups (not usually a budget fish though as they seem to be mostly wild caught ... though perhaps they are more common in the UK)

I’ve mostly kept angels that left plants alone, but did have one group that started plant destruction - not eating really as they just spit out the broken bits - once started nothing changed their habit so they immigrated

An awesome shoal of green neon tetras

2 shoals of corydoras - again this tank has space for a dozen “regular” corydoras and 20 “pygmy” corydoras

A nice group of Otos - they’re so much “happier” in groups of 10 & more

Some of the bigger tetras such as the penguin tetras seen in the first tank in this
video from Aquaflora & Ruinemans at Interzoo 2018

I must admit than I tend to prefer themed stocking, eg, South American or Asian etc
I tried keeping green neon tetras with S vaillanti & it was a complete FAIL as the neons raced about frantically devouring all traces of food before the vaillanti had eaten more than a single blood worm, in contrast Sundadanio & Microdevario species are much slower eaters (in general SA tetras tend to be rapid, voracious consumers )

I had Koi angels and when they weren't breeding they'd graze on every plant and the few they couldn't eat, they'd eventually dislodge. I went from feeding them once a day to twice a day a mixture of flakes, live, and freeze dried but noting detered them and so I gave them back to my LFS.

The Vaillanti is a stunning species! I immediately wanted to see one in motion after a google image search and found them on youtube. Impressive. I should say that I'm not too strict on a particular theme but (after reading the above) if I do get tetras they will be South American because they tend to be more active. I was thinking a large school of silvertip tetras. I saw some in in my LFS and they were going bananas over a single stem that had somehow made it into their tank from the adjacent planted aquarium.

I'm not sure If I should wait to add Otos. I figured that if I do get them it'd be in a few months so that I can balance and address any potential algae issues.


Thanks for the suggestions guys. I really appreciate it.

 

[mort]

I mentioned eartheaters more to see if you were wanting a large centrepiece species in the tank to go with the others on your potential list but personally I tend to regret adding bigger species as they make the tank look smaller in time.

Silver tips are a much underrated species imo. They are one of the best groupers if you get enough and will learn to follow your finger and interact with you in time.
The longer I keep fish the more restrictive Ive become. I used to have a few of these, few of those, couple of those etc but since I've limited myself to only having a couple of species in my tanks I've become far happier. I'm setting up a blackwater biotope at the moment and have a group of adolfoi cories I've been breeding for years and only plan on adding one open water species, possibly black phantom tetras, but in a very large group. I find limiting the species brings out the best in their behaviour rather than loosing some of it by going for too few of each species.

So I guess my advice would be to list your must have apistogramma species, look for a tetra or open water species that would suit them and bring out the most in them before seeing what would then fit with that group. You might find it rules species out that you wanted and others in that you hadn't thought about.

 

[mort]

Oh and angels eating plants has been common for me with amazon swords being a favourite of theirs. Mine used to strip leaves before they started breeding.

 

[SolarPear]

I mentioned eartheaters more to see if you were wanting a large centrepiece species in the tank to go with the others on your potential list but personally I tend to regret adding bigger species as they make the tank look smaller in time.

Silver tips are a much underrated species imo. They are one of the best groupers if you get enough and will learn to follow your finger and interact with you in time.
The longer I keep fish the more restrictive Ive become. I used to have a few of these, few of those, couple of those etc but since I've limited myself to only having a couple of species in my tanks I've become far happier. I'm setting up a blackwater biotope at the moment and have a group of adolfoi cories I've been breeding for years and only plan on adding one open water species, possibly black phantom tetras, but in a very large group. I find limiting the species brings out the best in their behaviour rather than loosing some of it by going for too few of each species.

So I guess my advice would be to list your must have apistogramma species, look for a tetra or open water species that would suit them and bring out the most in them before seeing what would then fit with that group. You might find it rules species out that you wanted and others in that you hadn't thought about.

Indeed. I put silvertips high on the priority list because they're active and will breed in my water parameters. I figure that Tetras or any species that can breed in your parameters contribute to a more "harmonious" tank. I figured a school of 40-50 in full breeding frenzy would leave any other species alone.

It rules out rummy nose and most neon tetras.

Oh and angels eating plants has been common for me with amazon swords being a favourite of theirs. Mine used to strip leaves before they started breeding.

Mine would stop only when they were breeding. Other than that destruction mode day in day out.

 

[SolarPear]

For plant ideas
Filipe Oliveira 90cm low demanding planted aquarium
- non CO2 injected

For some strange reason with the link you posted I ended up watching an entirely different vid? Perhaps it's an error on my end. This is what I watched initially.

 

[alto]

Bizarre

I usually check my links after posting, that one goes directly to the long term non-CO2 injected 90S tank in Aquaflora showroom
I just clicked again now, & still get the 90Scape tank, which over time is called the 90cm rather than the 90Scape

This time I’ve not embedded the links (there are a couple others too as I recall)
Likely if you contact Aquaflora office (FB would be my best guess for reaching the right person) they will be able to provide filter details ... like several other Aquaflora tanks, this has glass pipes connected to an external filter (drilled tank bottom)
There’s obviously some surface movement from the Eheim Skim, otherwise flow seems very quiet (I’d be surprised if it’s 10x tank volume/hour)

(You can see details for similar filter setup in some other videos from FO)

Setup Jan 2016



May 2016


May 2016 Details


June 2017


July 2017 after trimming



Dec 2017

 

[alto]

For some strange reason with the link you posted I ended up watching an entirely different vid? Perhaps it's an error on my end. This is what I watched initially.

Sorted
I also linked that video in my previous post - re larger tetras such as Penguin tetra looking awesome in a suitable tank
These are not fish for even 90cm tanks IMO, they seldom show the same level of activity & color as when they get into 120-150cm tanks

 

[SolarPear]

Hey Alto. It's most likely I clicked another linked another vid in the series.

That said, these tanks are incredible. Absoluetly stunning. I've already stolen an idea from one of them. If I get my lighting up I'll have more possibilities but this does give me some inspiration if I'm stuck with my Juwel Led system.