40 gallon plan +questions.

[dancethenparty]

it might be possible for me to get a 40 gallon breeder tank in the near future,
which will be:36x18x16inches. so i was wondering what i could possibly house in it along with all my fish in my signature. i was thinking of some fish that has a whole lot of personality and would be peacefull with my other fish. my natural ph is around 7.6-8.0. or if you have any ideas for stocking a 40 gallon, that would be great too.
also the current gravel vaccum that i'm using just broke and so i was wondering what other brands people were using, since this is the second gravel vaccum that i seemed to have broken. >.<

[jaysee]

Python is definitely the way to go as far as gravel vacs go.

I just noticed I can't see your signature here...

Okay, you can do a lot of things with a tank that size. Because of the large floor area, I would do a massive school of pygmy corys, like 20. Anyways, You could definitely move all the fish over and add some.

[dancethenparty]

okay python, i'll remember that next time i go to the store.
okay then my current fish are:4 swordtails, 3 platies, 5 rasbora, 5 african dwarf frogs and 1 BN pleco.
i was wondering if maybe i could add hatchet fish or a cichlid. any suggestions for the type of cichlid? and then does anybody have experience with hatchfish?

[jaysee]

Hatchets are more difficult to keep than other fish. They are not very tollerant to changes in water quality and make for bad beginner fish. They are cool though, and stay exclusively at the surface. They are also prone to jumping (the whole school) when startled so cover is a must. I left the lid open from feeding and had 6 or 7 fish all jump out of the tank at the same time whenI walked back into the room.

I would go with gouramis before cichlids. Dwarf cichlids are nice, but like hatchets are sensitive and need very high water quality. Regular cichlids get big and mean.

If I were you, I would add 15 dwarf corys, 2 pearl gouramis (m/f), and 5 more rasboras plus the livebearers.

[dancethenparty]

thank you for the advice jaysee, i really appriciate it. but i still want more ideas! and this thread has a bunch or views! c'mon people throw ideas at me.
i'm still curious about hatchet fish. does anybody have experience with them? like having issues of them jumping out when feeding? (like actually when putting the food in) i know i'm a beginner, but i want to move on from that.

[dancethenparty]

okay. people c'mon help me out. here's my idea.
current fish:
1 BN
5 platies
12 swordtails
5 ADF
5 rasbora
would like to add:
1 german blue ram
1 gold balloon ram
5 cardinal tetras (maybe)
6 marbled hatchet fish (maybe)
1 gourami (maybe)
okay give me thought please.

[Inspiire]

Cardinal Tetras need to be in groups of 10+. They may suffer from stress because they are not secure in their numbers...

I wouldn't waste you time on the Hatchet Fish until you are sure you can make them work. They require special requirements, and I wouldn't waste money on 6 of them to have them all die shortly after. I'm not saying you don't have the ability to keep them alive, its just my opionon. Its what I would do, wait until you are sure your investment will live.

Gourami's are nice peaceful fish that are hardy and provide good color. I would recommend 1 or 2.

This is what I would do:

1 BN
5 Platies
12 Swordtails
5 ADFs
5 Rasboras
1 German Blue Ram
2 Dwarf Gouramis
6-8 Cories

I'm not an expert, and these are just suggestions. YMMV.

[dancethenparty]

Cardinal Tetras need to be in groups of 10+. They may suffer from stress because they are not secure in their numbers...

I wouldn't waste you time on the Hatchet Fish until you are sure you can make them work. They require special requirements, and I wouldn't waste money on 6 of them to have them all die shortly after. I'm not saying you don't have the ability to keep them alive, its just my opionon. Its what I would do, wait until you are sure your investment will live.

Gourami's are nice peaceful fish that are hardy and provide good color. I would recommend 1 or 2.

This is what I would do:

1 BN
5 Platies
12 Swordtails
5 ADFs
5 Rasboras
1 German Blue Ram
2 Dwarf Gouramis
6-8 Cories

I'm not an expert, and these are just suggestions. YMMV.
could you define special requirements for hatchet fish?

[Inspiire]

I've never raised Hatchet Fish, so I don't have any physical experience with them.

From what I've read they are very sensitive to water conditions. Sensitive fish lead to death in the hands of beginners. I wouldn't even consider myself experienced enough to keep them.

Who knows, maybe you have a touch? If your heart is set on them, get a few and see where it goes. Sometimes the best knowledge is gained by experience.

YMMV.

[jaysee]

could you define special requirements for hatchet fish?

First and foremost, they do not handle stress well at all. If you don't keep at least 6 or 7, they'll get stressed and die. They can be prone to diseases because they don't handle stress well. They must be fed special foods or they will die of malnutrition. You can feed them special food but they can still die from malnutrition because they can't compete with the other fish. Aside from being shy timid fish, they can't compete as well because they only eat food that is ON the surface. Water changes can be stressfull to them. The filter can get them because of how thin they are. They also like a directional current, adding to the filter problem. And they'll jump out of the tank and fly across the room if given the opportunity. They like aidic water and are stressed by water outside their preffered range. The don't handle stress well.

If you keep them in large numbers, they do much better. That's the problem - keeping 12-15.

They are very timid fish. In the wild, they leap from the water and fly (flapping their pectoral fins) several meters away from any threat. The whole school will do this. That is the nature of this fish. So, it's also best to keep them in a queit place with very little traffic.

This is 30% experience, 70% research.