Non-cichlid aquarium

[LiluDallas]

I was wondering about multiple breeds or species (just learning lingo) in the same aquarium. What is your success with it? What fish have you found to be the most compatible? Any tips or advice with this?

I will be attending the BFD. Does anyone know what fish will be sold there?

 

[mchambers]

You're asking a pretty broad question and it's not easy to answer in detail. Lots of us have multiple species in a single tank. They are commonly known as community tanks. Generally, you want fish from the same general geographic area, so don't mix African lake fish with South American fish, for example. Also, don't put big fish with small fish, or the small fish will be eaten.

You might search online for articles on community tank stocking. Here's an example:

http://theaquariumwiki.com/wiki/Stocking_a_Peaceful_Community_Tank

There will be hundreds of different species of fish at the Sunday BFD marketplace.

 

[zendog]

As Matt says, lots of choices to mix in a tank. Of course it is always good to have space in another tank in case you need to pull a fish that is getting harassed.

I mostly worry about matching water type and paying attention to what niche the fish takes in a tank. I don't worry as much about geography. So for instance, I don't try to mix fish that use the same parts of the tank and if more than one will use that part of the tank, make sure they aren't competitive or combative.

As an example, in a 40 Breeder that I keep as mostly 50% rainwater and 50% Arlington tap I have:

Topish
Coral Red Pencil Fish (Peru)
Pseudomugil Furcatas (blue-eyed rainbow from Papua New Guinea)

Mid-level
Pareutropius buffei (a cool mid-water catfish from West Africa)
Hyalogabrus flavus (another mid-water catfish but from Indonesia)
Zoogoneticus tequila (From Mexico, although now extinct in the wild)

Bottom
Aspidoras sp "Senger" (small, active cory type cats)
A pair of Nanochromis Splendens (a West African dwarf cichlid that stays mostly near the bottom, but will roam everywhere during feeding)

Oddball
A 9-inch long Elephant Nose Knifefish (a wacky looking thing from South America, possibly Peru but there are several types and locations and I don't know which this is) . This fish needs a safe space to hang out in, so I gave him a nice piece of PVC, but he likes to hang out below the heater instead which I have horizontally on the back glass.

Shrimp
Amano Shrimp (Japan and Taiwan) - I'm amazed every time I see these show up that they are still alive with everything else in the tank.

Everything co-exists amazingly well, even though they're from all over the world. The only problem is when the Nanochromis spawn, they'll terrorize everything when protecting their fry as they lead them around the tank. So I've had to pull their fry and put them in a breeder box, which solved the problem.

So research the habits and aggression of the fish you're interested in and have fun... just have that space available in another tank when you're adding something new to make sure you can pull them if necessary.

 

[mchambers]

I agree with Walter that water chemistry is more important than geography, but the two tend to go hand in hand, and I was trying to keep it simple.