New stock for my 33 gallon long ? (wife wants a change... in fish!)

[TheMoneyTank(TMT)]

So my wife informed me that shes tired of watching my N. brichardi tank. Shes tired of N brichardi because all they did was pair up, kill/wound every other tankmate, breed like crazy, and now the older fry (about 3/4" length) are beating eachother up. I only have the one tank, and I know that "Happy Wife , Happy life" is very true, so I am inclined to change my livestock....

Potato pic https://imgur.com/gallery/hEYP4

Anyways, What i have is a 33 gallon long tank (12x12x48") with two aquaclear 70's... I was planning on getting a HOB overflow box and making some kind of sump, but thats not going to happen for a bit.

Anyways, I was hoping i could outline things I would like to have in new livestock

Plant friendly: Ive loved having anubias, vals, amazon swords, crypts and java fern with these fish, the green really pops and I enjoy having the real planted tank look. Substrate: Currently i have black blasting sand and I was thinking i would either keep that in there, or do something like safe-t-sorb once it was "charged" with osmocote.

I personally like cichlids for their color, my wife loved the Neolamprologus multi shelldwellers because of their digging behavior, but they had to go once the brichardi started pairing off....

I also like how robust the Brichardi are, so i guess what i want to ask you for recommendations in fish that are:

Nice looking, interesting behaviors, peaceful, would be at home in a small tank like this, plant friendly, relatively hardy etc. I have no problems changing the hardscape of the tank, i can go grab some driftwood etc, but i do want to keep it as a low tech, low light no co2 tank.

please, advise me !!!!



PS. I should add that my wife was totally against me getting an aquarium but eventually gave in. She loved watching the multi's but now hates the mean brichardi that i ended up keeping...anyways, the fact that shes showing interest in fish is huge to me, i plan on making a list of potential livestock, and letting her pick

You have the potential for a nice amazon biotope it could include
Fish:
X2 ram cichlids (or other dwarfs e.g cockatoo dwarfs,agazizzi, panda, Bolivian rams etc)
X10 cardinal tetras
X10 black phantom tetras
X1 flash pleco/tiger pleco/Queen arabesque
X5 corydoras (sterbai,adolfi, black etc)
Plant with Amazon swords, Amazon frogbit and rooty bogwood and natural sand

 

[simko]

Well everyone, ive done some thinking and i will present my wife with a few choices, but have to be sure of a few things:

she really liked the behavior of the shelldwellers, digging, spitting sand, moving snail shells around etc.... would i be able to house tang shelldwellers with some other cichlid as a tankmate? I love the look of sumbu dwarfs, but ive never been able to find any locally.

for a south american biotope, i could show her bolivian rams, different apisto species and see what she likes of those, i could then let her pick some corys, a pleco and a school of smaller fish (likely cardinal tetras).

I can then show her some low tech aquascapes and see what she likes, probably some driftwood in one corner, river rock in the other!

Once she figures out what she likes most, I'll ask about when to add certain fish etc.

 

[simko]

Well everyone, ive done some thinking and i will present my wife with a few choices, but have to be sure of a few things:

she really liked the behavior of the shelldwellers, digging, spitting sand, moving snail shells around etc.... would i be able to house tang shelldwellers with some other cichlid as a tankmate? I love the look of sumbu dwarfs, but ive never been able to find any locally.

for a south american biotope, i could show her bolivian rams, different apisto species and see what she likes of those, i could then let her pick some corys, a pleco and a school of smaller fish (likely cardinal tetras).

I can then show her some low tech aquascapes and see what she likes, probably some driftwood in one corner, river rock in the other!

Once she figures out what she likes most, I'll ask about when to add certain fish etc.

 

[simko]

Hear ye hear ye! Let it be known that the boss has decided that variety is the spice of life!!!!!

Although she liked the activity of the shelldwellers, we are going to try somewhat of a community tank!

First, i need to find a new home for my brichardi. Then I need to figure out how to neatly replace my sand substrate with the safe-t-sorb (although i will leave a small corner or two of sand at the back).

Then i will try to get ahold of some shrimp and moss and try and let them get established. They may get decimated quickly, and that will be OK if it happens. I dont want to completely shape my stocking around shrimp compatibility

I will present my wife with different choices and she will pick stocking

Dwarf cichlid: either bolivian rams or one of the more common apistogrammas
Catfish: a small group of corydoras
a pleco... need something that is plant safe, and diurnal, not sure i think the flash pleco may be best here
small schooling fish: perhaps cardinal tetra or something else...rummynose?

im not sure if there will be room for anything else, but this sounds like a good stocking, basically what moneytank posted, I will let my wife pick what she likes.

Aside from adding the shrimp in first, are there any fish that should go in the tank before others to set up territories or anything like that?

 

[Hendre]

Plecs aren't too plant safe...

I'd recommend glowlight tetras personally, small and lively fish

Apistos and rams aren't terribly territorial, maybe just get them and the cories eating before hungry tetras get in

 

[simko]

So i could do without the pleco... wouldn't be the end of the world

 

[Grinch]

There are plenty of plant safe plecos. clown and bristlenose are commonly available examples

 

[Hendre]

There are plenty of plant safe plecos. clown and bristlenose are commonly available examples

BN aren't plant safe, someone I know has plecos that love rasping leafy plants...

 

[Grinch]

BN aren't plant safe, someone I know has plecos that love rasping leafy plants...

You are likely referring to algae and associate epiphytes being eaten off of the surface of the leaves. Yes, this can cause damage to the leaves, but the damage is minor and worth it for the algae reduction effects in my mind. Nevertheless, if you consider this function to be "not plant safe", plenty of other options exist. Hypancistrus sp. for instance.

 

[Aqua Nut]

BN aren't plant safe, someone I know has plecos that love rasping leafy plants...

If fed well you will not see any issues. Mine don't eat the plants at all and i know many others who have not had an issue.