300 Gallon Stocking Help

[Bloodmoon]

Hey all,

First time post here.
I'm planning to set up a 300 Gallon (96"x30"x24")
Tank is Acrylic and drilled. I'll be running a pretty sizable wet/dry sump underneath.
Been in the hoby over the past decade now.

I'm wondering if I could get some thoughts and opinions on a stocking list.
The list below is kind of what I had going so far but I'm super open to all sorts of fish.
I'd like to keep some number of Roseline Sharks in the mix for sure though.

3 Rope fish
1 Black Ghost knife
1 Fire Eel
12 Roseline sharks (Dension barbs)
1 Synodontis Catfish (Not sure which species yet)
3 Clown loaches

I'm thinking this will be a bit overcrowded when things grow in.

Any thoughts? Opinions? Suggestions?

I always have trouble picking what to go with.

 

[tlindsey]

Hey all,

First time post here.
I'm planning to set up a 300 Gallon (96"x30"x24")
Tank is Acrylic and drilled. I'll be running a pretty sizable wet/dry sump underneath.
Been in the hoby over the past decade now.

I'm wondering if I could get some thoughts and opinions on a stocking list.
The list below is kind of what I had going so far but I'm super open to all sorts of fish.
I'd like to keep some number of Roseline Sharks in the mix for sure though.

3 Rope fish
1 Black Ghost knife
1 Fire Eel
12 Roseline sharks (Dension barbs)
1 Synodontis Catfish (Not sure which species yet)
3 Clown loaches

I'm thinking this will be a bit overcrowded when things grow in.

Any thoughts? Opinions? Suggestions?

I always have trouble picking what to go with.

Welcome aboard
The biggest concern for your stock would be feeding. You have species that require different foods. Also the Roseline Sharks will probably pick off food before any hit the bottom for the ropefish. I suggest reading up on the diet of each species prior to purchasing.

 

[Bloodmoon]

Welcome aboard
The biggest concern for your stock would be feeding. You have species that require different foods. Also the Roseline Sharks will probably pick off food before any hit the bottom for the ropefish. I suggest reading up on the diet of each species prior to purchasing.

I was planning to do quite a bit of target feeding with the ropefish and fire eel. I keep live worms for my Axolotls and a variety of other meaty items for my reef aquarium to offer.

The only two items I haven't kept before in the list above is the Fire Eel and the Ropefish. So those will be new to me if I end up going that route. From what I've read I should be okay on the feeding side of it.

 

[tlindsey]

I was planning to do quite a bit of target feeding with the ropefish and fire eel. I keep live worms for my Axolotls and a variety of other meaty items for my reef aquarium to offer.

The only two items I haven't kept before in the list above is the Fire Eel and the Ropefish. So those will be new to me if I end up going that route. From what I've read I should be okay on the feeding side of it.

Yes your on top of things.

 

[Kayden]

my synodontus are pretty social little creatures, same thing with the clown loaches I have had in the past. Wouldn’t recommend them in shoals under 6. Personally I would drop the loaches and do 6 synos. I’m currently housing decorus. But any sm/md species should work. I’m partial to angelicus and petricola as well as the ones I currently have

 

[Bloodmoon]

my synodontus are pretty social little creatures, same thing with the clown loaches I have had in the past. Wouldn’t recommend them in shoals under 6. Personally I would drop the loaches and do 6 synos. I’m currently housing decorus. But any sm/md species should work. I’m partial to angelicus and petricola as well as the ones I currently have

I like the idea of a group of synos and I think I'm convinced to go that route instead of the loaches. Would probably save me a little space. I know the clown loaches get huge eventually lol

 

[puffers4puffers]

That’s quite a mishmash of fish
i would try to stay more regionally specific
but with all that room, I would do like 25 roselines

 

[SilverArowanaBoi]

Hey all,

First time post here.
I'm planning to set up a 300 Gallon (96"x30"x24")
Tank is Acrylic and drilled. I'll be running a pretty sizable wet/dry sump underneath.
Been in the hoby over the past decade now.

I'm wondering if I could get some thoughts and opinions on a stocking list.
The list below is kind of what I had going so far but I'm super open to all sorts of fish.
I'd like to keep some number of Roseline Sharks in the mix for sure though.

3 Rope fish
1 Black Ghost knife
1 Fire Eel
12 Roseline sharks (Dension barbs)
1 Synodontis Catfish (Not sure which species yet)
3 Clown loaches

I'm thinking this will be a bit overcrowded when things grow in.

Any thoughts? Opinions? Suggestions?

I always have trouble picking what to go with.

What you have could potentially work, but personally, I think you should have more geographically related species together. Based off of your list perhaps something like this:

Option 1: 2 Rope fish, 6 Synos (or 1 Featherfin squeaker, love those things), 1 African Brown Knife, 1 Elephant Nose Fish and 6+ African Butterfly Fish or 6+ Congo Tetras.

Option 2: 1 Fire Eel, 12+ Roseline Sharks or 3-4 Bala Sharks and 6 Clown Loaches.

Option 3: 1 Black Ghost Knife, 6+ Striped Raphael Catfish, 6+ geophagus tapajos or 6+ Silver Dollars

While some of these are not even from the same region of the area they come from, they aren't from completely different geographical areas. Also, all schooling fish must have at least 6 members in their school, 2-3 won't cut it.

I hope this helps.

 

[Kayden]

That’s quite a mishmash of fish
i would try to stay more regionally specific
but with all that room, I would do like 25 roselines

I would normally agree, but the fish he has selected favor similar parameters and have good size and aggression compatibility.

I like the idea of a group of synos and I think I'm convinced to go that route instead of the loaches. Would probably save me a little space. I know the clown loaches get huge eventually lol

for sure, I just find in a good majority of community tanks a large black and orange whale cruising on the bottom kinda throws off the whole mojo. You get a lot of personality with synos as well. Their big eyeballs are easy to anthropomorphize lol

 

[Kayden]

What you have could potentially work, but personally, I think you should have more geographically related species together. Based off of your list perhaps something like this:

Option 1: 2 Rope fish, 6 Synos (or 1 Featherfin squeaker, love those things), 1 African Brown Knife, 1 Elephant Nose Fish and 6+ African Butterfly Fish or 6+ Congo Tetras.

Option 2: 1 Fire Eel, 12+ Roseline Sharks and 6 Clown Loaches.

Option 3: 1 Black Ghost Knife, 6+ Striped Raphael Catfish, 6+ geophagus tapajos.

While some of these are not even from the same region of the area they come from, they aren't from completely different geological areas. Also, all schooling fish must have at least 6 members in their school, 2-3 won't cut it.

I hope this helps.

I really love that dwarf gouramis(cont. asia) discus(northern SA), halfbeaks (mostly SAE islands), and a few other fish from south American are from the same GEOGRAPHICAL (not geological lol) areas.

practice what you preach.

Sidenote, your stocking recommendations are very sparse for a 300 gallon. I feel like with proper water change schedule and filtration even the stocking level OP stated was low enough to not be of concern.