30 Gallon FW possible combo??? need some advice though!

[chefdan711]

I am thinking of developing a tank with these fish:

1 Starry night or golden nugget pleco
1 Red Tail Shark (or columbian or rainbow or silver)
2 cory cats (sterba or agassizi)
4-6 rainbows (boesemani's or dwarf neon)

live plants and driftwood

I would also like a clown loach and black ghost knife but will wait until I can adequately house them!

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Also will rainbows of different varieties school together? Suggestions for the plants I should add? (I was thinking of this bulk pack of Dwarf Hairgrass, Anubias Nana or Barteri, Java Fern, Red or Green Cryptocoryne, Water Sprite, Anacharis, and Cabomba with some flourite)  Is that overkill?


p.s. I may possibly throw in 6-8 zebra danios to add some movement and cuz my daughters love them! or just start a 10 Gal for those little guys

p.p.s. You think the 'shark' would be too aggressive? I'm looking for a more peaceful community but would still like the redtail or rainbow...

[shadowcat330]

id sat away from the red tail cat fish they get to be around 4-5ft long, silvertiped sharks can get to be 2ft long, they would be fine for a few months I got a silver tip shark in my 55g thats about 4inches but he will need atleast a 75 maybe bigger since you would want other fish, i think monsterfish.com says for a red tail its a 300g minimum,

i dont know anything about corycats or the rainbows -.- never owned any so i never reserched them

[Jerry]

If your talking about a Red Tail Shark and not a Red Tail Catfish then i think it would work, but that is just me.

[wendyjo]

Corys prefer a larger group than just two.

[ShieldWolf]

Stick with either Red Tail sharks or Rainbow sharks as the others mentioned are tank busters.

The cories would be better off as mentioned with a few more of their own kind. The general consensus being 6 as a good minimum number.

I've had both rainbows mentioned & they are beautiful active fish. 4 Bosemani's should suffice in your setup. If you chose to go with the neon rainbows then 6 would be great as they are smaller.

[Nic W]

look into furcata rainbows, threadfins, or australian rainbows
I lo0ove threadfins, theyre so gourgeous when they spar with one another
I agree with everyone else with the redtail shark and cories
be careful with the RTS and the pleco, I had an RTS that bullied my poor pleco into commiting suicide.