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Species Tanks Anyone?

8K views 19 replies 14 participants last post by  Coralbandit 
#1 ·
I am interested in keeping fish in species tanks, beyond bettas and goldfish. Do you, or have you, kept a species tank, and if so, what species? Reasoning for doing a single species vs. a biotope or community tank?

I have a 30 gallon species tank, planted of course, for serpae tetras, and am really enjoying it. In the beginning, I decided to try a species tank as I have always thought serpaes are striking, but their reputation for being semi agressive fin nippers has led me to avoid them. I have certainly enjoyed watching their behaviors in this system.

I am curious what fellow hobbyists have tried along this line.
 
#2 ·
I have a 75g geophagus tapajos tank.

But due to them being shy without a dither fish I added a large group of lemon tetras. So I guess it's more of a biotope now.

But I love how with less species you see more natural behaviors

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#3 ·
That sounds like an awesome tank.

I completely agree that observing the presumably more natural behaviors is a huge benefit of a species aquarium. I had never found tetras very interesting before; beautiful, but rather dull. My opinion has completely changed after watching the serpae school just being serpaes. Alternating between hiding, chasing, breeding displays, picking at the gravel (egg eating maybe?), plus how aggressive they are feeding time, has led me to realize they are quite interesting.
 
#4 ·
I mainly keep species tanks , because I primarily keep Australian and New Guinea rainbow fish , they will very readily hybridize so I keep them in species tanks , also I have kept Congo tetras , Tiger barbs , Cherry barbs , checker barbs and various rasboras in species tanks ( some of these by necessity as they are fin nippers ).
My favourite was a tank with just 100 neon tetras and various Amazon sword plants .
I sometimes like the uniformity of a school of a single species of small fish in a large(ish) tank
 
#7 ·
My next tank will be a discus species tank. And, at one point, my 29G was cardinals only. I love it.
 
#8 ·
I have betta as well as goldfish only tanks, but also:
Dwarf puffer 3g bubble bowl-does not play well with other fish but oddly this specific puffer does not go after dwarf shrimp.

White cloud mountain minnow tank 20g long, just for the heck of it, easy to keep, no heater needed, and they breed in densely planted tank so never have to restock if old ones die.

There are a lot of cool species like sparkling or croaking gourami, banjo catfish, scarlet badis, ember tetra, and more (would love to do wild betta species(not the ones you see in cups at the store)) I'd love to do species only tanks but but I have waaaaaaay too many tanks to get another, really need to downsize.
 
#10 ·
How about cichlids? Admittedly all of my tanks started out as a species setup but over time others have been added. If you have a tank large enough a Synspilum is a fabulous species only fish; you would be hard pressed to find a more colorful FW Fish IMO. If you feel frisky add some larger growing tetras or barbs. I have mine with Buenos Aires and Giant Danios now. Mine also does fine in a planted setup....have about 3ft worth of Java Fern and Anubias to prove that.

Lots of great smaller Cryptoheros or Amatitlania species which do well in "colony" type situations...as well as Thoricthys.

How about an Astronotus? I have a 10" Crassipinnis peacefully living in a 75G chock full of Vals and Crypts. Also kept many common Oscars in planted tanks without issues....against popular idea they dont really maul plants if the entire tank is planted. If you put 1 or 2 plants in there then yeah its fair game.
 
#15 ·
I keep a pair of dollar sunfish in a 30 gallon. Originally had 4, but unfortunate circumstances led to the death of 2. I have some juvaniles in another tank that I'm growing out first before adding to the main display to avoid bullying.

These are really lovely fish:
- native
- hardy
- eager breeders

I keep them species only for the natural behavior. I used to keep them with fathead minnows. These two species would be likely to coexist in the wild, but not in such a small cramped space. The sunfish spent a lot of their time charging the fat heads, and during the time the tank was cross-species the sunfish never spawned and in general looked a lot more on edge. Since clearing out the fat heads this past spring my sunfish have spawned twice!

It's also nice in general to have an understocked tank. I pretty much never have to do water changes.
 
#20 ·
I keep my breeding fish in species only tanks ...
GBR
Angels
Apistogramma hongslio
Orange laser cories....
Shrimp also , no fish...
My 180 has on 4 species....
All of the fish above are kept in groups of at least 2-4 pairs per tank with tanks ranging from 33long [4 feet long] to 120g...
Most fish are in 40bs...
 
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