40 Gallon ideas? It's a blank tank waiting to happen ;)

That's what I thought about the discus. As for the Africans, they are mostly little babies. Most of the tank is less than half an inch, and a few inch sized guys. The same with my centrals. They are a little bigger but still young. I figured that's why they hide? Also I have a ton of deco, rocks and drift wood in both tanks to keep aggression down. They have lots of hides, so I don't see them much but they don't hurt each other
As for the tank suggestions, I agree a lot of small active colorful guy would look nice. Tetra make me nervous bc I've heard they are nippers?

 

Tetras can be but IME its more of an issue with certain barbs like the tiger barb. If you have fish with long flowing fin it will be more of an issue but lemon tetras penguin blackskirt splashing etc are fine. With schooling fish it is important to have an adequate sized school, its when people keep 2 or 3 of them and call it a school they get bored and chase/nip at other species of fish.

 

So until I can afford my dream 400 Gal acrylic no discus, got it what would you do with a forty tall? I like hearing tank ideas, I'm so indecisive, I just want it all lol. I'm gonna wait till after I figure the fish to buy deco and substrate. I bought all my stuff before I decided on cichlids, and used like half of it.

 

I did mean barbs, sorry I've read about tons of fish today lol. I'd be fine with only one or two species of fish if I could have quite a lot of them together. I like flowing fins but would trade fancy out for colorful quantity any day.

 

Anyone have a forty tall now? What do you have in your tanks? What have you had the best experiences with?

 

You could try a FW angelfish tank. You get get different types of fish for different levels of the tank, like Hatchetfish for the top level (You're going to want a hood or cover ), Angelfish for the mid level, and Plecos and Cory Cats for the bottom. I've also heard that Cardinal Tetras should be okay in large schools and if you add them before the Angelfish. I think with this set up you'll have lots of different types of movement in the tank.

 

I like the multi level swimmers tank. Hatchetfish are sweet! I'm still unsure of angelfish. My friend had a community tank similar to this, she never had a single issue. Woke up one day and the angel fish had almost killed the whole tank. It took me a long time to get my cichlid tanks aggression in check, I just don't think I could go thru loosing too many more fish to aggression

 

In that case, I probably wouldn't get the Angelfish, unless you want to. Sometimes I forget that they're Cichlids lol. I think that a multi-leveled tank would still be cool, though.

 

Ok I've been looking up and researching all day. I am in love with a paludium. I also like a multilevel swimmer tank. Any good ideas for an inexpensive paludium? Also any fish lists for a multilevel swimmer tank? I so want to start a journal for progress!

 

These are some pretty cool paludariums:

Paludarium Construction Photo Journal - The Planted Tank

Paludariums.net | Information on Paludarium flora, fauna, equipment, maintenance, and more.

For a multi-leveled tank, you could do Cory's, Loaches, or Plecos for the bottom, Barbs, Tetras, or Danios for the mid level, and Hatchetfish (Get 6-8 or more, because they like groups) for the top level. I'd personally love to see a paludarium. I like the idea of having land dwelling things in an aquarium as well as fish. It might be difficult having a HOB filter, though.