what are some good fish combinations for a 30 gallon tank?

Question

would like a puffer, and some nice to look at fish. open to anything though!! Please help!!

Answer 1

If you'd like a puffer, make sure its properly identified. Some are brackish and need salt in their water. If you get a puffer, you can only have the one puffer in your tank. Puffers do not mix well with each other or other fish.

Or, you should go with some shellies. They are small cichlids from a lake in Africa and they live in shells.
http://gallery.mud.pl/albums/bzz/ado.jpg
http://www.c-u-w.net/jpg/martin_eberhardt/neolamprologus_brichardi_(martin_eberhardt).jpg
http://www2.biology.ualberta.ca/jackson.hp/IWR/Taxa/Perciformes/Cichlidae/Neolamprologus/N_tretocephalus/Mvc-896f.jpg

You could also go with angelfish. In a 30 gallon, you only have room for ONE pair, but if you start with a group of 6 youngersters, you can keep the two that pair off and sell the others.

Or, you can just go community tank:

When stocking a tank, you have to look at the levels of your tank. You have the bottom, the middle and the top. Let's start at the bottom, shall we? :)
Bottom is usually where your cleanup crew is. That's algae eaters, plecos, cories, etc.
A school of at least 6 corydoras julii or sterbai is great:
http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/People/h-Cory-julii.jpg
or you can get a school of oto cats: http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/oto_cat.jpg
Get a school of at least 5 of theseThey eat algae.
I would suggest that you DON'T get a plecostomous. Most of them grow to 18-24" and are poop machines. They will dirty your water very quickly. If you MUST get a pleco, get a bristle-nose, they only get 4-5".
If you get any of these fish, be sure to supplement their diet with zucchini slices, spirulina pellets, and shrimp pellets, as they will not get enough food otherwise.

Next, you want your mid-to-upper range. You could go with one large school of of 16 fish, or two small schools of 8. Note that different tetras will not school with each other.
Some nice fish are:
neon tetras http://img225.exs.cx/img225/3290/neontetra6mc.jpg
cardinal tetra http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/Fishpics/cardinals.jpg
lemon tetra http://www.aqua-fish.net/imgs/fish/034.jpg
harlequin rasbora http://tropicalresources.net/phpBB2/templates/BMan1Blue/images/profile_pics/fish_profiles_heteromorpha1.jpg
glowlight tetra http://www.solodvds.com/images/fish/Hemigrammus_erythrozonus_s.jpg
zebra danio http://www.winternet.com/~mchristi/fish/zebradanio.jpg
... the list goes on and on and on.

You'll want a centrepiece fish, I suggest either a pair of kribensis cichlids:
http://www.cichlids.dk/thumb/28887.jpg

Or a pair of bolivian rams:
http://www.azgardens.com/images/Ram-Bolivian.gif

Or a pair of apistogramma:
http://www.c-u-w.net/jpg/ad_konigs/apistogramma_agassizii_(ad_konigs).jpg

Or ONE dwarf gourami:
http://www.biol.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/users/naibunpi/Image/Gourami-photo-old.jpg

Be sure to keep up with weekly water changes of about 20-40% of the water.

And above all, before you buy anything, go to your local fish store, take a look around and write down the various fish you like. Then come home, research them, ask questions about them, before buying them.

Lastly, do you know to cycle your fish? It's very important. In the wild, and in established tanks, there are nitrifying bacteria that break down toxic ammonia from fish waste and excess food into less toxic nitrates. In a brand new tank, these bacteria don't exist, so any fish in the tank will produce ammonia, which, not being broken down by bacteria, will kill or weaken the fish. So, it is vital to cycle your tank.
There are a few methods. Do you have access to an established tank? These bacteria live in the gravel and in the filter cartridge, so if you can get some from another tank, you can put the bacteria right into your tank (don't let the gravel or filter cartridge dry out). If you do this, in a day or two, your tank will beready for fish.
Another way is to get Bio-Spira. It is the actual live bacteria in a little pouch, and your tank will instantly be ready for fish.http://fishstoretn.com/bio_spira.html

Other methods, which include putting a source of ammonia in the tank and letting the bacteria build up on its own, or putting a fish in and letting the fish produce ammonia (which borders on animal cruelty, because the fish will suffer from the ammonia in the tank), take 2 to 6 weeks before your tank is ready. If you rush that, any fish you buy may die, so try one of the instant methods I mentioned above (bio-spira or gravel from another tank)

Answer 2

Puffers don't have to be solitary, but they do have to be in a species tank.

The only freshwater puffers I know of are Dwarf Puffers, South American Puffers (good luck acquiring one) and Figure 8 Puffers (tho these do better if there's salt in the tank and can be in a very light brackisk tank).

Dwarfs are too small for such a large tank. Well, that's an opinion regarding aesthetics. There's nothing wrong with having a 30 gallon puffer tank, it's just not what I would do because DPs are so tiny.

You could house 2 or 3 SAPs, OR 2 or 3 F8s in a 30 gallon, but provide plenty of plants, decos and hidey holes to obstruct view and allow for establishment of territories.
I suggest 3 so that one isn't getting constantly chased.

If you go with F8s, make sure you have researched enough to be able to visually distinguish F8s from "spotted" or "leopard" puffers. (2 names for same fish) Leopard puffers are brackisk when young and need to be fully marine by the time they are adults. They also grow to 6 inches, so you'd only be able to have one.

Another very colorful idea is a betta sorority. You could house10-15 female bettas in a 30 gallon tank, and the more you have, the more stable the sorority is likely to be. These set-ups can be very interesting. If you really pay attention to the interactions and get to know each of the girls, it's kinda like watching a soap opera. I do suggest that you try to stay away from the white colors, because without color you can't see if the fish is banding or striping.

Answer 3

30 Gallon Tank

Answer 4

NO puffers they are very aggressive fin nippers and can't go with any other fish!! however put a pretty male betta in the aquarium!! people think they are mean but i have always kept them in my community!! he didn't even try to eat my new born guppy's!! try guppies, platys, Molly's, zebra dianos, and 3 Cory's for your tank!! these are all good hardy fish and great for beginners!!! hope i helped
P.S. no goldfish they make the water nasty and sky rocket the ammonia!!

Answer 5

Guppies.....they have live baby's and have lots of different colors. Male's have more color then females.

Neon's are cool....they are small schooling fish that come in different colors. They lay eggs.

Apple snails are cool for algae control.

Live plants are a nice addition also. They help maintain water quality. Its also a good place for baby fish to hide.

Answer 6

you could get the crown head gold fish and the clown fish