Monster fish to small community fish

[FLA]

This is a great idea. A big nicely planted tank is tough to beat. If you aren't worried about keeping to a biotope your options are endless. Here is a rough list of fish I think are awesome in a community setting: spiny eels, rainbows (bosemani, turquoise, featherfin, celebese, dorityi), all of the cheap tetras (serpae, redeye, bloodfin, black skirt, hatchets, etc), harlequin rasboras, loaches (clown, burmese, yoyo, striata), Cories (orange laser, sterbai, peppered, metae, panda), ottos, Barbs (tiger, cherry, rosy, drapefin), cheetah catfish, banjo cafish, mollies, galaxy rasbora.

Most of that could go together. I would go with large schools of each. Some good show stopping specimens to go with that could be: kribensis, pearl leeri, angel, festivum, wood catfish, apistos, almost any pleco.

Another way to go could be a massive group of kilis. I love the gularis.

 

[FLA]

This is a great idea. A big nicely planted tank is tough to beat. If you aren't worried about keeping to a biotope your options are endless. Here is a rough list of fish I think are awesome in a community setting: spiny eels, rainbows (bosemani, turquoise, featherfin, celebese, dorityi), all of the cheap tetras (serpae, redeye, bloodfin, black skirt, hatchets, etc), harlequin rasboras, loaches (clown, burmese, yoyo, striata), Cories (orange laser, sterbai, peppered, metae, panda), ottos, Barbs (tiger, cherry, rosy, drapefin), cheetah catfish, banjo cafish, mollies, galaxy rasbora.

Most of that could go together. I would go with large schools of each. Some good show stopping specimens to go with that could be: kribensis, pearl leeri, angel, festivum, wood catfish, apistos, gudgeons, almost any pleco.

Another way to go could be a massive group of kilis. I love the gularis.

 

[Judyok]

That's a great idea FLA. Big planted tanks are gorgeous. You could have a school of about any tetra on the planet (well more or less). Angelfish, Severums, Festivum, Electric Blue Acaras would all be showy.

 

[TheMoneyTank(TMT)]

I’ve been keeping monster fish and have a huge tank for years now Arowana, Gars, Bass, stingrays etc but have now sold as I’m moving house. I’m thinking of using this tank now as a community tank with small fish what doesn’t come with some of the stress these big fish sometimes give.

My question is has anyone else ever felt like this and was it the right choice, what did you keep etc? Thanks!

I've always thought of an African peaceful/predator mix it would have
African butterfly fish
Congo tetra shoal
Blockhead cichlids
Thomasi dwarf cichlids
African knifefish
Reed fish
Upside down catfish
And planted with wood, round cobbles and anubias

 

[philipraposo1982]

Planted tanks can be very rewarding forsure and the plant list is almost endless. Very time consuming if you want it to be as well. Even more so with a large tank.

I can't give up the personality of my cichlid but I used to do the planted this and was addicted to collecting plants. I had sooooo many species it was craze.

 

[Giant Val]

I have a 8x3x2 tank. I intended to have only small fish and heavily planted and used to have it stocked with about 80 Cardinal tetras, 80 rummy noses, 30 praecox rainbows, 30 pacific blue eyes, 20 neon rice fish, 30 black neon tetras, 10 dwarf gouramis, 20 sterbai corydoras, 10 metae corydoras, 30 Kuhli loaches, 10 ottos, 2 spiny eels, hundreds of red cherry shrimp. The tank was thicly planted with 125 Amazon swords and several anubias on the wood. I really liked the tank like that, it was very peaceful and I low maintenance. The plants were thick enough in places so you could watch the tank for hours and not see all the fish.

My wife wanted some bigger fish to add a bit more character so we put in 16 silver dollars and 12 red rainbows. The rainbows ate all the shrimp over a few months and the silver dollars started eating the plants. A year later there is still a lot of Amazon swords but they are now mostly short, and the tank isn't near as attractive. I have since added 20 diamond tetras, 6 madagascar rainbows, 10 peppermint bristlenoses, and 20 scissor tail rasboras.

I have decided to rescape the whole tank and restock with bigger fish, with maybe a bit more personality and activity. I will get rid of the plants and smaller fish. I will put a lot more wood in and stock with about 6 thread fin acaras, 10 Geos Brachybranchus, 12 filament barbs, 5 uarus and maybe a couple of chocolate cichlids or flag tail prochilodus. I will keep the corydoras, kuhlis, spiny eels, peppermints, red rainbows and scissortails. I would still like some schooling fish so I'm thinking about 40 tiger barbs and 40 Colombian tetras. I'll put some plants on the wood like Java fern, Bolbitis and maybe moss. I would like to keep the silver dollars but I really want some plant life and I don't think I trust them.

What do you think?

 

[AquaAlex1993]

Yeah, I agree. Nothing beats the personality of the big guys. That's why I have multiple tanks lol. I can have the best of both worlds.

I'm thinking about turning my 29 gallon aquarium into a black skirt tetra and corydoras tank with maybe some sort of a small cichlid like an acara or something. That way I'll have the best of both.

 

[BugFreak72]

After I lost my pacu I switched my 200g to a community tank. I've got a bunch of rainbows, gouarmis, cats, tetras, and some other random fishes along with an army of crawfish. While I miss my big pacu this tank is fun to watch and gave me tons of room for decorations. He didn't allow for deco so it is nice being able to add color. I bought the biggest driftwood I could find and practically bought out the stone supply at my lfs and still have tons of room. Feeding time is crazy with all the fish swimming around. Give it a try, it's fun.

 

[AquaAlex1993]

I have a 8x3x2 tank. I intended to have only small fish and heavily planted and used to have it stocked with about 80 Cardinal tetras, 80 rummy noses, 30 praecox rainbows, 30 pacific blue eyes, 20 neon rice fish, 30 black neon tetras, 10 dwarf gouramis, 20 sterbai corydoras, 10 metae corydoras, 30 Kuhli loaches, 10 ottos, 2 spiny eels, hundreds of red cherry shrimp. The tank was thicly planted with 125 Amazon swords and several anubias on the wood. I really liked the tank like that, it was very peaceful and I low maintenance. The plants were thick enough in places so you could watch the tank for hours and not see all the fish.

My wife wanted some bigger fish to add a bit more character so we put in 16 silver dollars and 12 red rainbows. The rainbows ate all the shrimp over a few months and the silver dollars started eating the plants. A year later there is still a lot of Amazon swords but they are now mostly short, and the tank isn't near as attractive. I have since added 20 diamond tetras, 6 madagascar rainbows, 10 peppermint bristlenoses, and 20 scissor tail rasboras.

I have decided to rescape the whole tank and restock with bigger fish, with maybe a bit more personality and activity. I will get rid of the plants and smaller fish. I will put a lot more wood in and stock with about 6 thread fin acaras, 10 Geos Brachybranchus, 12 filament barbs, 5 uarus and maybe a couple of chocolate cichlids or flag tail prochilodus. I will keep the corydoras, kuhlis, spiny eels, peppermints, red rainbows and scissortails. I would still like some schooling fish so I'm thinking about 40 tiger barbs and 40 Colombian tetras. I'll put some plants on the wood like Java fern, Bolbitis and maybe moss. I would like to keep the silver dollars but I really want some plant life and I don't think I trust them.

What do you think?

You can do 1 chocolate cichlid and a flagtail proch.
Chocolates will most likely fight unless you did 4 or so.
However, with the space you can do 1 chocolate cichlid, 1 severum, and some festivums or angels.
Flagtails generally are only recommended to have 1 but I have succeeded in keeping trios and groups. They have to be added at the same time like saltwater fish.

 

[Giant Val]

Ok thanks for the advice AquaAlex. I like groups of fish rather than single individuals, so I'll probably go for a small group of either chocolates or prochs.