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80 gallon centerpiece fish

pseudodiego

pseudodiego

Member
Joined
15 Dec 2021
Messages
51
Location
Spain
Hi everyone.

I have an 80 gallon going with around 50 cardinal tetras and 12 corydoras panda.

I wanted some suggestion about what might looks good with those. Maybe a pair of angelfish or some honey gouramis? Or a single male betta?

Thanks.
 
PARAGUAY said:
Congo Tetras will look good with Cardinal Tetras
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The aquarium won't have an intense light, I had multiple species of tetras in this tank in the past and the only one that really shined in that low light condition was the Cardinal tetra. I think the congo tetra would look washed out.
 
Honey gourami would add a lot of colour and interest without ruining the tanks scale. Angels are nice fish but when they get big they can make the tank look small (not to mention they can eat cardinals). I do love pearl gourami and they are stunning when in good health.
 
Pearl gourami are really beautiful and seem quite perky when I see them at the shops, but I would go for something South American to match your current fish.

Personally I would keep a trio of apistogramma, with different species appropriate depending on how soft your water is, or maybe a group of bolivian rams. German rams would work well too if your water is quite warm. If your water is quite soft, I would keep a good-sized group of dicrossus.

Whichever cichlid or gourami you went with I would also add a group of 15+ pencilfish - I keep marginatus pencils with my cardinals and they have made the cardinals much more bold and playful, and the pencils themselves are very entertaining too. The pictures don't do them justice, the pale parts of their stripes are quite irridescent with bright red fins that match the red of cardinals.

You should take a look at the beautiful aquarium <Tom's Poco Pozo> which has a range of SA species living together in a large tank and it looks fabulous.
 
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I have 3 honey gourami in a 50 gallon community tank, i figure, for an 80 gallon, pearl gourami's would be just perfect, unless you really love the honey's. They're captivating fish aswell!
 
shangman said:
Pearl gourami are really beautiful and seem quite perky when I see them at the shops, but I would go for something South American to match your current fish.

Personally I would keep a trio of apistogramma, with different species appropriate depending on how soft your water is, or maybe a group of bolivian rams. German rams would work well too if your water is quite warm. If your water is quite soft, I would keep a good-sized group of dicrossus.

Whichever cichlid or gourami you went with I would also add a group of 15+ pencilfish - I keep marginatus pencils with my cardinals and they have made the cardinals much more bold and playful, and the pencils themselves are very entertaining too. The pictures don't do them justice, the pale parts of their stripes are quite irridescent with bright red fins that match the red of cardinals.

You should take a look at the beautiful aquarium <Tom's Poco Pozo> which has a range of SA species living together in a large tank and it looks fabulous.
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I think the Pandas and the German rams are not compatible, in my experience the pandas suffer over 26 and the Germans need 27+. I was planning to keep the aquarium at 24.

The apistogrammas looks cool, are they really as colorful as the google photos show? As I commented I have a not strong lightning and I would like to have fish that have a lot of color.
 
pseudodiego said:
I think the Pandas and the German rams are not compatible, in my experience the pandas suffer over 26 and the Germans need 27+. I was planning to keep the aquarium at 24.

The apistogrammas looks cool, are they really as colorful as the google photos show? As I commented I have a not strong lightning and I would like to have fish that have a lot of color.
Click to expand...
Yes, my apistogrammas are very colourful irl and very striking in general. Usually you buy juvenlines which are not as colourful, and the males become very colourful when they're older, with females bright yellow when breeding. Below is my male Apistogramma Macmasteri in lower light in the evening, he is still colourful even though he isn't a irridescent variety, not as bright as the cardinals but still very nice. For irridescent colour like the cardinals you should look at Apistogramma Agassizii, and maybe some other users can suggest some other good varieties? I think for the temperature Apistogramma Borellii would work well too, they also have an irridescence to them.

IMG_8165.jpg​
 
Mmm, I think I'll go with the honey gouramis, as the blue, yellow, red combination looks incredible beautiful judging by this video:



I know those are rams, but as they're not temperature compatible with the pandas, I think the honey gourami will be a good replacement. And they seems to do well with tetras and coris.

About the pencilfish suggestions, I hear that they are quite jumpy, and my tank doesn't have a lid. I can't lower the water level either as the tank have a sump.

So I'll go with:
5 Honey gourami
50 cardinal tetras
12 corydora panda
5 vampire shrimp
Some Ramshorn.
and some discarded neocaridinas from my others tanks, if they're able to survive between the plants and hardscape.

90% stocking and 218% filtration capacity in AqAdvisor, seems good.
 
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