Fish Ideas for a 33 Gallon Long?

[divemaster99]

Working on setting up my new fish room within the next 2-3 weeks and instead of a bunch of small breeding tanks I decided to go with just a few "larger" tanks (two 33s, a 55, a 75, a 125, and probably a 15 or 20 high). The 55, 75, and 125 are all for my natives (cyprinids, darters, sunfish, catfish, etc). One of the 33s is going to be a sort of "dump tank" for all the tropical fish I currently have that will fit in a 33 for life together, which is all but one or two tropicals I have left (currently at 18 small-medium tanks and only 4 are tropicals, the rest are all natives). So after I put all my current fish in their new larger tanks, I'll still have a spare 33 gallon long to work with. The dimensions of the tank are 48"L x 13"W x 12"H and after tearing down a ton of smaller tanks I'll have plenty of spare filters, heaters, substrate, decor, etc that I'd need to set up this tank. At first I thought about doing a native stream tank of some sort with species I haven't done yet such as southeastern or western native species. But I've also been considering another tropical tank in the last few days. As much as natives are my true passion, all I had were the tropical tanks for the first almost two years I was in the hobby. I'm considering getting more back in to catfish again as they're my favorite tropicals and I slowly stopped collecting cat species as I got more in to natives. I also thought about trying cichlids again because I remember how much I loved watching my old Cutteri pair spawn (when they weren't bothering my catfish... ). Oddballs would be cool as well like Pike Livebearers, Exodons, or small Hoplias. But I'm still considering a native stream tank as well. These are all the ideas I currently have, let me know what sounds the best to you guys for a tank this size or if you have any ideas of your own, I'm pretty much open to any fish at all that would live in tank this size for life, just nothing too bland (ex Neon Tetras, Convict Cichlids, etc).

-Southeastern U.S. Stream Tank (fish Exs. Rainbow Shiners, Yellowfin Shiners, Greenhead Shiners, Duskystripe Shiners, Bluehead Chubs, Snubnose Darters, Redline Darters, Candy Darters, etc)

-Western U.S. Stream Tank (fish Exs. Tui Chubs, Flathead Chubs, Leopard Dace, Speckled Dace, Red Shiners, Plains Killifish, Bluehead Suckers, Mountain Suckers, etc)

-Small Pleco Collection (fish Exs. Blue Phantoms, Green Phantoms, Sunshines, Snowballs, Zebras, etc)

-Ancistrus Collection/Breeding Colony (Ancistrus Exs. Browns, Lemon Drops, Blueyes, Super Reds, Green Dragons, Longfins, Albinos, etc)

-Central American Cichlid Pair (fish Exs. Cutteri, Panamensis, Nanoluteus, smaller Herichthys, etc and maybe a small group of wild type livebearers for dither)

-African Cichlids (probably either Mbunas or a Tanganyikan tank)

-Oddballs (fish Exs. Pike Livebearers, Exodons, smaller Hoplias, smaller Mormyrids, smaller Knifefish, etc)

-If anyone has any other suggestions please feel free to post them!

So what do you guys think, what would you do with a 33 long?

 

[Aquanero]

A pair of wild cought rams and a school of cardinal tetras.

 

[jaws7777]

Lol you kind of listed most of the fish already

Gulper cat or exodons or a pair of cryptoheros panamensis, nanolutes, or honduran red points.

Check out red ceibals too real nice fish and no heater needed. Duanes has some really nice ones

 

[Belly up]

Since you are into stream tanks and fish with your natives anyway why not give hillstream fish a go? There are a ton of loaches to choose from, garra species, which look like suckers. Hillstream trout, Hillstream Tornent catfish, and a huge amount of danios too. This would give you a community of active and interesting fish that are the Asian counterpart to the great natives you already have.

 

[divemaster99]

Well, I just found out today when I looked at the tanks that they're acrylic so the Pleco ideas are out. So as of right now I'm conflicted between a Western U.S. stream tank, a Central American Stream tank (centerpiece fish would be a breeding pair of cichlids, probably a Cryptoheros sp. and possibly some wild livebearers in the mix as well, but I'm still debating whether that's a good idea lol), or a southern South American stream tank (temperate water species, again with a breeding pair of cichlids as the focus).

 

[Thekid]

It seems to me that you like the idea of biotopes. Why not try to recreate different stream settings from across the world?

 

[Bottomfeeder]

What about hillstream and/or river loaches?