[solchitlins]

My current 5 foot long 100gal stock is:
1 large Angelfish
A breeding pair of electric blue acaras
8 Sterbai cory cats
.....
4m/ 2F congo tetras
and 8 juvinile tri line rainbowfish

Lately I have been thinking about changing it up and trading in the congo tetras and the rainbowfish for a large school or schools of smaller tetras?

I don't know.... What do you think?

 

[irishspy]

I love tetras, but my favorites have to be cardinals. I'd love to have a big tank with a large school of them. I don't know if the acaras would try to make a snack of them, though.

 

[Nlewis]

I love tetras, but my favorites have to be cardinals. I'd love to have a big tank with a large school of them. I don't know if the acaras would try to make a snack of them, though.

They definitely will eat them, I speak from experience.

 

[WaterLife]

Yeah, the angel and acaras would likely eat most 2" and under torpedo shaped tetras/fish.

You could go for the coin/disc shaped tetras though (taller bodied to not fit in mouthes like, candy cane tetras, black phantoms, etc).

My personal opinion, I stocked my 5 foot 100 gallon with schools of little fish (30 cardinals, 20 rummys, 20 espei rasbora, etc), while they are nice little fish, from afar, they don't really stand out like med-large size fish such as your congos and rainbows. They are better for making the tank look bigger (size ratio). I personally think I should have gone with med-large fish. Maybe larger schools of little fish would look better, I am not sure. However in my experience, the more heavily planted the tank, the less active the fish became, which pretty much negated the schooling behavior that was a attraction. Before the tank became really planted, the little fish were very active and was a sight to watch, even from afar, but with more plants reducing activity and the plants rather hiding the fish, it just became a nice plant tank, but not so enjoyable as far as actually seeing the fish and them being active. I am planning on selling all my little fish and changing the stocking to med-large fish or just Pinoy Angelfish with a few other additions to fill the tank in. I would have gone back to non/sparsely planted tank again with active fish which I did enjoy, but since I spent a bunch on plants and equipment, I will go for the change of scenery for now and just do plants with larger fish.

Hey, even if you decided against small fish, but still wanted to change things up, I guess oddballs are another consideration. Still do your research on their sizes, temperament and whether they are plant friendly or not. That is another stocking plan I was considering over the angels. Haven't quite made up my mind, I just like the colors of the Philippine blue angels. But odd balls are the fish that drew me to this hobby, just the ones I really want get a bit too large for the tanks I have to keep them their entire lifespan.

 

[solchitlins]

I have a 40 breeder tank with 6 juvinile philipine blue angels that I hope will breed someday. They're pretty sweet. Maybe I could move my acaras and lg angel over to the 40 breeder and put the Philippine blue angels in the 100 gal with smaller tetras? Like emperor tetras or something?

Or maybe I'm better off just getting more congo tetras and swapping out the rainbowfish

 

[WaterLife]

It's more personal preference.

Angels would work with emperor tetras. Rummys and caridnals are safe-ish (most people have no issues, but some still report diminishing numbers over time) with angels. Neon tetras are a bit smaller than cardinals and are known to be eaten by adult angels. So anything smaller than adult cardinals/rummys are not safe. Taller bodied fish like harlequin rasboras (not the slimmer espei) might work.

Got any pics of them Philippine blues?!?!
Which patterns did you get?

I like variety so I was thinking of getting a mix of different patterned Pinoy angels.
But might stick with one pattern in case they/I breed them.
Cool tank by the way. Somehow it makes my 5ft 100 gallon look smaller

 

[solchitlins]

Sure.
These pics are from the day I first introduced them to the tank, so they look a bit better now. I also bought a silver angelfish that has half altum genes. So 6 juvi angels total.

 

[WaterLife]

Nice. Thanks for the pics. Have they colored up more now that they are older and settled in?

I've seen some in person and they don't always look as colorful/shiny blue as you normally see in pictures. Not sure if that is just the flash and/or photography tricks that make them look better than they actually do in person. Still nice fish though. I am Filipino so them being Philippine/Pinoy angelfish is cool a bonus

May I ask where you acquired these Philippine blues from?

 

[solchitlins]

I got them at a local auction but they are from preuss pets in lansing michigan. They breed their own angels, rams and guppies.

Maybe I should go:

Lrg Angel
Pair of acaras
5 congo tetras
8 Sterbai corry cats

And add like 13 columbia tetras
Or Emperor tetras
???

That might look good

 

[Bobbybills]

Or Emperor tetras
???

My Favorite. Active and hardy. Have six.

 

[Ssyd]

Maybe I should go:

Lrg Angel
Pair of acaras
5 congo tetras
8 Sterbai corry cats

And add like 13 columbia tetras
Or Emperor tetras
???

That might look good

You have plenty of room to play around with, id switch the acaras for electric blue ram, very similar colour but the rams are smaller. That small change would enable you a whole set of new options, you have 100gal 5ft tank, you have plenty of room.

I have always like the depth a tank has when it has different species of fish that range in size from small to medium to large. In my tank for the large fish i have a group of angels, and 9 congo tetras. For medium sized fish ive got black phantom and ornate tetras which all shoal together which is a plus. And for small fish effect i have 12 rummy nose and 15 neons which are getting older and ill eventually swap out for cardinals. When the lights are on and the fish are all in their groups either shoaling or schooling around the tank it looks quite good.


If you changed out the acaras, you could bring in the rams, a school of emperor tetras. But also a good schooler like rummys or bloodfin tetras. Depends on what you like, you could go groups of 15 or so and depends on your stocking could probably even get another school of something else for colour and different behaviours or just up the numbers of what you have.

Bump:

 

[The Big Buddha]

Myself I like cardinals and embers.

.

 

[solchitlins]

How does a group of angels do in a community tank? Don't they eventually pair off and fight or could 6 juveniles stay in there permanently?

As far as the tetras go I would like to wait for a killer sale like petsmarts 88 cent sale and buy a large group.
Congo tetras are expensive around here. $10-$15 each, so unless I see them at auction that's not going to happen.

But I have seen bleeding heart tetras and others for 88 cents

 

[WaterLife]

If you like emperor tetras (Nematobrycon palmeri),
Nematobrycon palmeri (Emperor Tetra) ? Seriously Fish

also take a look at rainbow (emperor) tetra (Nematobrycon lacortei) - Similar to "regular" emperors, but have a nice rainbow color (like congos) I think of them as having "more to offer" in terms of color than the "regular" emporers
Nematobrycon lacortei ? Rainbow Tetra ? Seriously Fish

and blue kerri (purple emperor) tetras (Inpaichthys kerri) - Don't have as nice finnage, but they have more blue sheen when the light hits them right
Inpaichthys kerri (Purple Emperor Tetra) ? Seriously Fish

Make sure to research any fish you consider, even look at personal experiences. Some fish may nip long fins like angels and congos have.
I like to watch videos on youtube as well, or see them in person to see how the fish behave and their swimming behavior/activity.
Do note that any fin nipping, aggression, inactive fish, or any other negative experiences or behavior witnessed, may be due to fish being kept improperly or from being stressed out (some fish do fin nip regardless though).

 

[Ssyd]

How does a group of angels do in a community tank? Don't they eventually pair off and fight or could 6 juveniles stay in there permanently?

As far as the tetras go I would like to wait for a killer sale like petsmarts 88 cent sale and buy a large group.
Congo tetras are expensive around here. $10-$15 each, so unless I see them at auction that's not going to happen.

But I have seen bleeding heart tetras and others for 88 cents

I had six Angels without issues, two pairs formed one pair picked one end and the other the other. Ive got a 5ft tank and the none paired none breeding angelfish just stayed in the middle. Their was some aggression, but angels will always squabble a bit. As long as its not bad its nothing to really worry about.

I recently traded in 3 of my adults, kept 3 and bought 8 small young ones. Once they get about half grown ish and i start to get a feel for what their going to do, im going to keep 4 or 5 and see how that goes. Any that turn out super aggressive you can trade in/sell and replace with a more placid angel

Ive noticed that congos mediate my angelfish, none of my angels seem to be aggressive when not breeding. But when they are the school of congos being bigger and a school of multiple fish tends, to take the angelfish attention the most. The size of the congos seems to also make the congos not care even when i had two pairs of grumpy angels for a day or two. The congos still displayed and swam around in the area the angels guarded to be chased back out. But then the congos ive got seem to stand their ground if the angelfish chase to much. My largest female and two largest male congos will actively chase my angels if they harrase them to much. Being 3 inches or over, at this size they can stand up to the angels fairly well.

If you can get tetras that you like cheap, id certainly wait until you can get them on sale. Id check them out in real life and online both through youtube and on forums for example. to research the tetras you like. Then you can formulate stocking plan, and start moving towards putting it into action.

you have a hundred gal, you could keep the congo's and rainbow fish as they are. Bring in a couple more angels, then pick another species or two of tetras and bring in a decent school of each. Not all tetras do that tight school, some just shoal. One that schools well and one that shoals would be a good choice.

 

[solchitlins]

I recently removed 6 rosy barbs and 6 odessa barbs to start moving in the direction of getting some more terta schools.
After I got the Anglefish I bumped the temp from 76 to 79 and started thinking that was a bit high for barbs... So I removed them.

Honestly now I'm not sure if I should let them go now. The odessas are pretty spectacular in there own right.

 

[solchitlins]

I went to a pet store today, just to look around..
no emperor tetras but they had "candy cane tetras" that were kind of neat looking.

They also had cardinal tetras, out of curiously I asked if they would give me a discount if I bought 12 and they said they would let me have them for $23.

Seems like a good deal. I'm thinking them for my 40 breeder with the 6 juvenile angelfish. I heard if they are raised with them they are less likely to eat them.

They also had asian rummynose. I didn't think they were that interesting to be honest.

 

[Blackheart]

I like Rummies and Neons. I have them together in my 55 and I love the color contrasts of them. Though Neons don't really school very much, I just love the colors on them. The Rummies are much better schoolers and love their bright colors as well.

 

[WaterLife]

Just to note Asian Rummynoses (rasboras - Sawbwa resplendens) are a different fish from Rummy nose tetras. Rummy tetras do school tightly very well. Asian rummy rasboras, I haven't kept personally, but don't appear to school really, and don't seem to be as active (exploring, but not constantly cruising around) as the schooling rasboras. Can't speak on their temperament (look very peaceful from I've seen though).

I keep Candy cane tetras aka HY511 'white fin' tetra (Hyphessobrycon bentosi). Colors and finnage are great. They are very peaceful with other fish, but do occasionally take swoops at each other, but never any damage or real stress. They don't really school around, but their size and color is a nice attraction. Their little scuffle do bring in some movement rather than them just hovering still though. They are not shy, so no need to worry about them hiding a bunch and they are some of the first to go after the food. I'd recommend them, they just have a rather moderate activity level. There are quite a few species that look very identical to candy cane tetras, all of which are similar in behavior, so it's not much of a problem, just recommend not getting Serpae tetras as they are commonly said to be bullies/fin nippers.

 

[solchitlins]

You guys think it was the right move "temperature wise especially" to remove the rosy and odessa barbs? I feel sort of guilty putting in a 29g after being in the 100 for the last few months. I'm thinking I'll trade them back to the pet store for credit this week. They were pretty, especially the odessas but they don't really fit the look I'm going for too