Advice on stocking plan

[Oliver]

i am currently setting up a 4foot tank and plan on planting it quite heavily.
i already have a aquaone canister filter. i plan on putting:
about 20 neons maybe 30
5 bronze catfish
5 some other catfish maybe pandas
6 ottos
maybe 5-10 ghost shrimp

i would appreciate your ideas on some larger fish i could keep with these guys i have thought about hatchet fish but they are hard to find around here. dont want any thing to big just medium sized.
any ideas would be appreciated

[fishguy2727]

What are all the dimensions of the tank? 4' could be anything from 33 to 150 gallons.

Since this is in the discus tankmates section, are you planning on discus?

[Oliver]

tank is 250 liters i am not planning on having any discus at this time didnt realise sorry

[DiscusEden]

That's OK Oliver, nothing to apologise for. Although obviously we love discus, so if you ask what larger fish to put in, we're biased, so will suggest discus first!

What temperature are you thinking of running the tank at? If it's 24 - 28, neons will be fine. You could also put in angels, congo tetras or gouramis at that temperature I think.

If you run it at 28 - 32, you'd be better off with cardinals than neons (and I've found they seem to live longer and get bigger), then you could have discus! Yay! General rule of one discus to 40 liters - allow some for your tankmates and substrate, etc - so 4-5 would be safe.

Anyone else want to correct me or jump in here?

[Oliver]

thanks im am going to run it at 25 -26 degrees becuase i already have the neons in a 30L tank but am planning on not using it when big tank arrives. and dont want to part with my neon friends.

im not a fan of congos or gouramis but am considering angels
maybe some type of rainbow

how do you guys think archer fish would go in there havent done much resarch yet but think they are best kept in brackish conditions but have heard opposite also

i will keep discus one day i really like them

[fishguy2727]

Archers are bracksih, and unfortunately for many brackish fish they can tolerate freshwater (at least long enough to be sold) but freshwater is by no means the best conditions for them and therefore they should not be kept in it.

[Oliver]

thas what i thought just reading about them now

[fishguy2727]

Good. And be skeptical of 'feshwater...', most of the time if they have to convince you it's a freshwater fish in the name, it's not. There are some exceptions though.