What other tropical fish?

Question

I want to konw what other fish i can have in my tropical aqurian, at the moment i have all livberers and nothing else apart from to algae eaters, what othere fish can i have in the tank ? It does not matter the size as long as they are peacful and colourful and are between the prices range of £0 - £7.

Also can i have a red tailed balck shark in the tank with platys, mollies and guppies>?

The tank is moderately planted!

Please give me good advice!

Thanks Danny !

Answer 1

Guppy males sport fancy tails in a variety of colors. They’ve come a long way from the non-descript wild ones we used to see years ago. Take a look at the feeder guppies to appreciate the contrast.

Swords Like to Jump. Keep swords in covered tanks. They’re the worst jumpers. Keep your swords and other livebearers in trios – one male to two females. Both sexes will be happier.

Moons Add Color. You can’t go wrong with “moons.” They get their name from the crescent shape on the tails of many color varieties. They’re also called platies – a contraction of their former Latin name -- platypoecilius. Add lots of moons for a rainbow of colors.

Schoolers Stick Together. Tetras, barbs, and danios travel in schools. They eat, reproduce, and swim in groups. In the wild their schooling behavior gives them protection and security. The more you keep of each kind, the better they feel. Add zebras for action and neon tetras for color.

Barbs Surprise You. Since barbs range from about two to twelve inches, you usually need advice on which ones to add. Leave tinfoils out of your 10-gallon tanks. You can usually find a half-dozen or so barbs with good colors that top out under three inches.

Cichlids Need Room. Bigger egglayers, such as Central and South American cichlids, keep best as pairs or single specimens. Most cichlids – especially African cichlids – should not be mixed with regular community fishes. They like to beat up and/or eat other fishes. Most cichlids are territorial and claim lots of elbow room. African cichlids keep best when crowded.

Angels, kribensis, and rams are a few “cichlid exceptions” that work well in regular tanks. Always add angels for dignity and variety. Provide breeding/hiding caves for the other guys.

Catfish Belong. Every tank needs a collection of cats on the cleanup crew. Small and medium tanks need corydoras cats. They come in a variety of color patterns and rarely exceed 2 ½ inches.

For the tiniest tanks, the tiny Corydoras hastatus grows only a little over an inch long. All corys eat particles of food that fall to the bottom of their tanks. They root through the gravel with their whiskers in search of miniature missed morsels.

Larger tanks also need catfishes. There are dozens and dozens of intriguing catfishes available.

Plecostomus Eat Algae. Plecos and other sucker-mouthed armored catfish eat the algae that grows on the sides of your tank. Most tanks need at least one algae-eating fish -- AFTER the green algae starts growing. This may take an extra month or more to grow. Plecos housed in new bare tanks quite frequently starve to death.

Plecos eat at night – long after the other fishes have totally devoured their rations. Put in a tiny pinch of food right before you turn off the lights, or feed sinking pellets to the plecos. Plecos come in several species, sizes, and prices. In the same category, we also include farlowella cats, whiptail cats, Borneo suckers, and otocinclus cats.

We do not recommend the so-called Chinese algae eater because it doesn’t like to eat algae after it gets a few mouthfuls of tastier fish food. Many prefer to suck hickies on their tank mates. Big ones get surprisingly mean. We do recommend the Siamese algae eating sharks and the algae eating shrimps

Some Loaches Look Like Worms. Loaches include a large group of wiggly, worm-like fishes. Their sensitive whiskers and ability to burrow through the gravel on the bottom make them great additions to the clean up crew. Then there's the humpy-back loaches -- some get meaner than fish five times their size. We strongly recommend clown loaches once your tank stabilizes.

Snails are Useful. Snails are eating machines – 24-hour-a-day eating machines. You can grossly overfeed a tank containing snails and never even know it. They work great in tanks with small fishes and no copper or clown loaches.

Mystery snails are one of the big guys of the snail crowd. They are hard to breed. The little pesky snails that multiply like crazy usually come in as hitch hikers on plants. Snails other than mystery snails reproduce amazingly fast. A clown loach will take care of them. Big cichlids even eat the shells.

Bettas Are Beautiful. They love to fight each other so one per tank please. Put a mirror in front of them to entice them to “flare” their fins. They love to show off to the mirror. Make sure you feed them betta pellets, brine shrimp, or other foods for picky eaters often. Most don’t like flake foods very much.

Most Gouramis Mix. Gouramis are a colorful but larger peace-loving cousin of the bettas. They come in a variety of colors and sizes – from an inch long to two-feet long. Most grow to about three to five inches.

Goldfish Are Tough. Goldfishes fill a very special niche. More people start with goldfish bowls than any other fish. Most inexpensive comets get fed to larger fishes. In outdoor pools they grow into foot-long specimens.

Little fantails carry beautiful fins -- especially viewed from the top. They come in several colors. Fancy show specimens from Japan sell for larger sums of cash. Even small ones cost much more than U.S. goldfishes.

We would classify all goldfishes as good eaters. Resist the temptation to feed them too much. Keep them away from nippy fishes like tiger barbs. Lots of fishes like picking at goldfishes fins. One female guppy in a goldfish tank keeps them all jumping as she nips away at them. Goldfish do best when kept with other goldfishes.

Answer 2

The Shark is very aggressive towards fish that aren't territorial. All livebearers have no sense of territorial boundaries, so the Shark will tear them to shreds (so no Shark). Also, they didn't tell you this at the pet store, the Algae Eaters get about 8 inches long, and as adults, they become aggressive and will attempt to eat the slime coats off other fish. This leads to infections and death. Get rid of the Algae Eaters (they don't do a very good job cleaning anyway, they poop way to much). A good fish for your tank would be ONE Dwarf Gourami. It will float around, patrol your tank, check out the other fish, and do it again. Gouramis breath air, they don't extract oxygen from the water, so make sure it can get to the surface (don't cover the surface of the water with floating plants). Another good fish would be a single Ram Cichlid. It is possibly the least aggressive Cichlid and is extremely colorful. Make sure you give is spots to hide (you should be okay because of all the plants). Good luck!

Dwarf Gouramis-http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/anabantids2/p/dwarfgourami.htm
Rams-http://cichlid.infocrux.com/Ram-Cichlid.html

By the way, one post said something about getting Angelfish, Plecostomus, Goldfish, and Clown Loaches. I am not sure where she coppied it from, but a lot of that information is incorrect and all the above said fish will grow far too large for a 10 gallon tank, and only the Angels would be okay in a 20 gallon tank. Clown Loaches get more than a foot long, Plecos get almost 2 feet long, Goldfish get 1-2 feet long and Angelfish get 6+ inches long and even taller (18 inch tall tank is the minimum height).

Nosoop4u

Answer 3

For starters you should use fish that school. This gives a nice look and makes the tank more active. I have always been partial to Harlequin rasboras. They are very active in schools. Although they are not the most colorful, they do have a nice subtle hue.
I would stay away from the red tail shark and instead get a couple of clown loaches. They are more colorful and are very active.
For algae control I have used oto cats. They stay small in size and are great at algae control

Answer 4

red tailed shark (or any other type) would not keep you a happy tank, best kept with larger fish.
some of the best fish for a peaceful, community aquarium are the tetra's, neon, black, glowlight, lemon etc, plenty of colour and normally a shoaling fish so a group of 6 or more is recommended.
also a smaller fish (usually, although some can grow to a decent size check first)
i would steer clear of the 'barbs' also, they are a nice active fish but can be terrible fin nippers so not to be kept with the likes of guppies.
'algae eaters' covers a huge range, plecs are safe with anything but they grow big....i think the best ones for a community tank are the corydoras, known to also spawn in a community tank, they are great at bottom cleaning (not an excuse to skip the water changes though)

Answer 5

It would help to know the size of the tank and number of fish you already have. Some of the species mentioned above (first post) would not work in a small tank, or tank with guppies.

A red tailed shark may harass your guppies and algae eaters as it matures. These fish can be pretty territorial. You also don't mention what type of algae eaters you have. These can range from a 4 cm otocinclus to a 45 cm plecostomous. If it's a Chinese algae eater, be aware that these only eat algae as juveniles, as adults they tend to eat the slime coats of other fish in their tank, leaving them more vunerable to infections and parasites, and possibly killing them.

Some that you might consider (based on tank size and number of fish you already have) are some tetras, such as neons, emperors, rummynose, glolight, and Colombians (should be kept in groups of 5+ by species), cherry barbs (again groups of 5+), rainbowfish, dwarf gourami, or even female bettas.

If you're looking for some bottom fish, look at come corydoras catfish, kuhlii loaches, or yoyo loaches.

Answer 6

I currently have a planted tank with a red tailed black shark and he does not even bother my guppies so you can definetly buy one. You should also try clownloaches they are beutiful fish that get along well with everyone and they are very playful. If you are interested in non-agressive cichlids try the german blue ram, dwarf flag, cockatoo, and platinum angelfish. the brushmouth pleco is a 4in pleco that is very peaceful and good at cleaning algae. also you should buy some tetras because there is such a big variety and they are all colorful and peaceful

Answer 7

thats about 5-6 dollars USA.

try looking into SAE or siamese algae eaters. They are much better CAEs and SAE arent really that aggressive. They will reach about 6-7 inches and eat algae.

I currently have 3 in one of my tanks now and they do a good job.


Also consider getting a dwarf oto... catfish. They are small, schooling, and will eat most types of algae. They tend to be alittle sensitie to water quality so keep the water clear.

Answer 8

hi when you have guppy's you are really limeted i would say get a ram but you cant have them with guppy's you cant have kribs either or any other ciclids. i also think that the sharks can be very aggressive. i would have a danio one fish that would be great would be a Keeley fish some come in pairs but i had a few and there called clown keeleyfish there cheap small but really nice and colorful but they are very rare you can only really get them around November to January time. also the lamp eye light fish are really nice im getting some more on Thursday.

Answer 9

Yes you can add a red tailed black shark but remember if it's 4-5" big..you might have to pay £7 for it. The more bigger and colourful...it will cost more. As an alternative you could have one or two flying foxes.

Answer 10

Yeah you can have a red tailed shark....but make sure it is just a red tailed one and not one with a red tail and red fins coz it will eat your other fish!I've got guppys,mollys, 1 angel fish, red tailed shark, neon tetra's, japanese fighting fish (you can only have one of these but they're really pretty!) umm....swordtail, they're all quite calm fish!!I have them all in the same tank and haven't had any problems....My dad has a red tail and red fin shark and it's eaten basically all his other fish so just warning ya bout that 1!!!Hope that helps you!! Do i get best answer!? :D lol jus messin!!

Answer 11

I'm not sure about what else, but I'd watch out for the shark. I have one and they can become very aggressive towards your other fish. I had to move him to his own tank to save my other fish because he was killing and eating them. They get pretty big. So if you see your population going down move him. They are an awesome fish to raise and to watch.