alexyay Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 After the disaster that was my 120L - lots of illness that all appeared to be unrelated, including parasites which killed 4/5 American flagfish, a couple of external "isolated" bacterial infections a few weeks/months apart and killed 3 gourami (1 banded, 2 honeys, honeys got this from the store), a viral infection which killed one gourami (she had it all her life, though), another random gourami death (unknown reasons), internal bacterial infection (assumed) that killed another gourami - I had what I thought were nitrate issues, but was doing large regular WCs and heavy planting including a peace lily - test kit turned out to be inaccurate. Decided I had enough of it, and wanted to switch to sand from gravel anyway (have now done with with all of my tanks, no regrets at all) - so went to re-do the tank and sterilize everything in it (media taken from another healthy tank, though it came with a good dose of MTS lol). It's finally done and still clearing up (red tiger lotus and crypts aren't happy though, unfortunately!) and I decided to go onto a Southeast Asian biotope (was really enjoying my South American tank). Old stocking list (after all the fish that were lost) 1x Indian banded gourami female 1x Red honey gourami female 3x Red whiptail females, 1x Red whiptail male (one female died in the spare tank, though, for some reason) 1x American flagfish female Current stocking list 1x Indian banded gourami 1x Red honey gourami female 1x American flagfish female (unsure of what to do with her, need to find someone with a group) 7x Pangio anguillaris (yay!) To be added are 3x Thicklip gourami (1 male, 2 female) - unsure of whether I'm going to keep my red honey and get another female and male, or to give her away. Depends on whether I feel the male thicklip will be OK with the honey. I'm looking for ideas on top dwellers and bottom dwellers. I want a group of small shoalers and perhaps a single bottom dweller or group of bottom dwellers. My problem with shoalers is the ones I like seem to prefer cooler conditions. I'm wondering whether anyone's had any of these in about 26-27 degrees. KH sits at about 0-2 and GH sits at about 1-3. Tap pH is 7.6, but quickly drops to ~6.6 - my water is very soft. Sawbwa resplendens Celestichthys erythromicron Celestichthys margaritatus If not, does anyone have any suggestions? My only other thoughts are Brachydanio nigrofasciatus and Brachydanio tinwini - I'm not overly keen on either of them, though. I'm not a fan of harlequins or the larger danio species and am looking for a kind of "minifish" type. I'm also interested in a bottom dweller. The Pangio anguillaris are obviously staying, so they have to be compatible with them. I'm keen on the Asian bumblebee catfish but I doubt they are going to be compatible with my desired shoalers. I'm not big on the dwarf chain loaches (plus the tank grows my snails for my puffer, lol, but I'll consider other Botia loaches) so will only really consider them if there's nothing left. The tank footprint is 80x40 so a fair size for a 120L. Algae eaters aren't too important to me but I mean that's a bonus if they happen to eat algae too. I'm also looking for a good carpet plant - I may go Dwarf hairgrass but would be interested in a crypt species or any other carpet plant if anyone has any suggestions? Tank will be running CO2/ferts/T5HOs/etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Li@m Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 Ive kept Asian rummynoses, great fish but they all died on me. There are some smaller Danio species around. Also look at emerald eye rasbora a highly under rated fish imo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghaz Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 Microrasbora erythromicron/Celestichthys erythromicron(Emerald Dwarf Rasbora), one of my favourite mini fish, but not sure if they will go with the gourami, might turn out to be food for them, mine were fine with smaller licorice gourami's CPD's are nice but find it hard to get around welly area, i know HFF usually has them for a good price and they do shipping too. bumblebee goby's(the fresh water ones) would be good for bottom dwellers, but you might find it hard to get food to them, and they may get aggressive, but if you give them room they're fine. and although its not quite Southeast Asian, think its right on the border of southeast/central, but Badis Badis or scarlet Badis are quite cool especially during breeding times, i had a small tank with Scarlet Badis, Emerald Dwarf rasboras and bumblebees, all are minifish, and got along well even during breeding in a 60L. I also had Botia striata, licorice gourami's and fighters in my central/SE Asian tank. I also used indian almond leaves and oak leaves to release tanins and i find it gives it a nicer look to the tank as well as helping the fish survive. i would also get some spiderwood and/or Mopani wood, and some Crypts, Java fern, and Rotala wallichii to keep it SEA Biotype. unsure of SEA groundcover, maybe a moss (Java moss? its SEA but personally i hate the stuff.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexyay Posted November 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2014 Yeah I'm worried about putting the Asian rummynoses in the higher temps as it appears they're quite sensitive little fish The Emerald eye rasbora were a consideration too, they just don't have the colour I'm after but I've also not seen them IRL (which may make a difference) BB gobies are an idea but prefer harder waters (even if not brackish) so aren't suitable for my very soft water. I would loooooove some Badis badis or Dario dario but thought they were quite sensitive so not necessarily a good fit with the gourami? Also love zebra loaches but the tank I believe is too small Got the leaves and wood :thup: Most plants in the tank are SE-A (except for a few grow-outs) with H polysperma variegated, twisted val, H difformis, R rotundifolia, C wendtii, C undulata, C balansae, Nymphaea lotus and Java ferns Has anyone seen Rasboroides vaterifloris or Sundadanio axelrodi for sale here? Any experiences with them? I may consider Boraras maculatus or Boraras brigittae otherwise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Li@m Posted November 2, 2014 Report Share Posted November 2, 2014 I used to have Sundadanio axelrodi, but they all died on me. Very cool fish though, haven't seen them in the shops for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverdollarboy2 Posted November 2, 2014 Report Share Posted November 2, 2014 What about the dwarf chain loach (Ambastaia sidthimunki)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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