Fast schooling community fish

[White Lightning]

A male convict with those fish would be a big no-no.

Cardinals are a beautiful schooling fish. I kept a school of them for a while.  I haven't kept too many smaller schooling fish in my years of fishkeeping so I am not 100% on compatibility with these types of fish but some species of barbs could be really cool in your tank. 

[Fishnut]

Absolutely not a good idea to put a convict in there.  Most cichlids are nasty compared to their community cousins.

Convicts really should be with other south american agressive cichlids, or some synodontis catfish, or some of the larger barbs, or the giant danio...which it won't be able to catch.

[tim_s]

Ok no convict as I don't want disturbance in my tank.

Big Als (which is where I get my fish) told me Barbs wouldn't be a good idea with the neons.

[Fishnut]

I would hope they did because in general, that would be true.  There are, however some barbs that can be kept with neons. 

As helpful as this website is and the advice of the LFS employees, I hope you're also doing your own research in published books and reputable articles on-line.  From my experience, just because a fish shop employee says something doesn't mean it's 100% true.

[tim_s]

Yes well that is obvious and I am a keen reader.

It is nice to discuss things sometimes.

As for my next question ...

I wouldn't mind a second pleco.

Would they be friendly to each other?

How long until I would have to transplant the second pleco into his own tank?

[Dorrie]

If you get a second pleco, I suggest you get a second bushy nose.

Bushy nosed plecos don't fight each other, and they stay small, so you won't have to move them out because of size.

And hey, you might end up with a pair

That's just my experience, I know they are many other plecos that fit that bill too, but I'm sadly not as much of an expert on plecos as I'd want to be

[dan2x38]

Rummynose & Cardinals are a special favorate of mine but as I mentioned can be sensitive in a new setup. Rummynose are the canary of the aquarium if water is off their nose colour fades. The colours should always be nice and bright with silver sides. To me a setup is new between 3 - 6 months! Bacteria die offs can often happen until everything is established and stable.

Mixing species from different continents can be an issue even if they survie - for awhile. Rainbows can be boisterous especially at feeding time. Danios are great but they do best at cooler temps.

As mentioned test the water for period of weeks and get some baselines. One day's readings can be different from another in the beginning. I've logged the results of tests on new tanks over months to see the trends. Of course I can never test bio bacteria levels but fluctuations in NH3/NO2/NO3 and even pH can point to changes in bacteria populations.

Stick to a small shoal and get things stable then start adding your speciality shoal/s... IMHO - Good Luck!

[tim_s]

Rummynose & Cardinals are a special favorate of mine but as I mentioned can be sensitive in a new setup. Rummynose are the canary of the aquarium if water is off their nose colour fades. The colours should always be nice and bright with silver sides. To me a setup is new between 3 - 6 months! Bacteria die offs can often happen until everything is established and stable.

They have beautiful colours nice shiney red noses and beautifully coloured tails.