[Rusty_Faders]

Tank is cycled and ready to be stocked.

I'm planning to put Espei Rasboras, Furcata Rainbowfish and a pair of Bolivian Rams.

Cleanup Crew will be some amanos and otos.

My question is in relation to the sequence that these should be introduced to the tank. I've read some posts where people put their cleanup crew in first before adding the rest, and others suggesting to put the display fish in first before adding the CUC.

I believe my tank has enough food for the CUC to eat at this point (some hair algae and detruitus), but I'll probably have to supplement.

What's the general consensus as to the sequence the livestock should be introduced?

 

[WaterLife]

Well general stocking sequence usually only matters when dealing with potentially aggressive, territorial or incompatible livestock.

With peaceful fish, it doesn't really matter.

Rams are a bit on the iffy side, so out of everything, I would add the rams last. The rest it doesn't matter much on the sequence. But just for the heck of it, you could add the shrimp first just to potentially add a bit of safety cushion to keep them from getting harassed at first by the other fish.

Do make sure to feed the "clean up crew" and not just have them rely on food scraps just to survive. Some people have their otos not really eat any other food besides natural occuring diatoms or soft green algae. Fresh veggies can work though. Would at the very least, add intended bottom feeder food at least 2-3 times a week.

But since your beneficial bacteria are conditioned/grown to support a decent amount of bioload, I would say add espei and/or (depending exactly how many of them) forktails first. Shrimp don't add much bioload at all, so you could throw them in at the same time as well. Otos aren't much of a biofactor either.

But yeah, add the rams last, that way they don't establish territories before the other fish get introduced (so the rams don't think they own the tank).