Geos and Rainbows with guppies?

[Sanderguy777]

Hi, as the title implies, I have a 60g tank with guppies, platies, at least 4 types of cory cat, otos, and Siamese algae eaters.

I saw a tank in a store this week and fell in love. It has rainbowfish, angels, super red bristlenose plecos, and several types of tetras, and about 8 bamboo shrimp in a 100g tank. (4ft by 18in footprint).

My tank has a 4ft by 1ft footprint and is only 60g so I wouldn't be able to fit as many fish in there. But I would LIKE to have the same types of fish, but all less than 3" so they don't wipe out my guppies. I want some rainbows, some smaller tetras (maybe some red minors or glowlight) and baby angelfish (maybe), and a small geophagus or two. I also saw peacock gudgeons and hear that they are easy to breed, but I'm not sure if they are aggressive during that process.

Is there any chance of this idea working? If all the fish get put in when they are small (1 ½" or 2 1/2" at most) and grow up together, will they still kill each other?
None of the fish would get larger than 3" at the largest (and that would be a pleco and the geos or other similar type earth eater), and the tank would be super densely planted.

Is this a pipedream, or would it work if I modify it in some way?
Ill try to post photos in a minute.

 

[Sanderguy777]

Everything above this line is what I WANT my tank to look like. Everything below is what it looks like now.

 

[TwoHedWlf]

but all less than 3" so they don't wipe out my guppies. I want some rainbows, some smaller tetras (maybe some red minors or glowlight) and baby angelfish (maybe), and a small geophagus or two.

Should work fine.

For like...6 months.

You're forgetting one critical detail, fish grow. The Geophagus will grow up and eat your guppies. The angels will grow and eat your guppies. The rainbows will grow and eat your guppies.

It might be a little while before they're big enough to eat the adults, but they'll definitely start eating any fry pretty quick.

 

[duanes]

Agree withTwoHedWif,
as babys (the way most LFSs sell stock, your guppies could be safe a while, but as adults rainbows will eat male guppies, and fry, and angels and Geophagus will even eat adult female guppies. Maybe a species of dwarf blue rainbow would work maxing out @2-2.5", but most others hit the 4-6" range.
Although Geos aren'r really adept predators, in a 60 gal tnk, there is not a lot of escape room, so it wouldn't take much for an adult Geo to corner an unsuspecting live bearer.
Below is one of the smaller growing Geophagines (Gymnogeophagus quilero) so you can see the possibilities, and most other common geophagus will have a couple inches on it.
And in truth, I find a 60 gal tank a bit small in general, for most Geophagus types.
If it were me, and I do like both Geos and angels, I'd get another separate 6 ft, 100 + gallon tank just for them, and some tetras as dithers.
The reason I say tetras, is rainbows tend to be a high pH, hard water fish, while angels and Geos tend to prefer neutral to lower pH waters.

 

[Sanderguy777]

Twohewlf: I was expecting the babies to be dinner, but I was also planning to have lots of java moss for them to hide in. I wasnt looking to breed the guppies (I have about 60 and planned to put 20 in the new tank and sell the rest).

Duanes: I was looking at Imperial Tropicals (just as a quick reference of what is available on the market). They had geo rhabdotus (that only gets 4") which I thought might be fine since geos are really docile from what I heard before your post.
I expected to forget the angels since they fought each other the last time I kept them (but I was looking at quarter sized ones too, so they would be a while getting to adult guppy range).

The biggest thing I started to think about, before both of you pointed out the dinner problem, was that of the temperature difference between my guppies (72 degrees) and angels (which I've heard like low 80s (at least for breeding).

So that plan is out, is there a similar setup (sub 3" fish) that would work with guppies?

 

[duanes]

Rhabdotus is actually (at this point anyway) part of the, genus Gymnogeophagus from Uruguay and some other parts of southern South America that are not really tropical, but temperate, and do best with a winter cool downs, thatl certain tropical species like angels wouldn't be able to handle.
I kept Gymnos without heaters and allowed temps to drop in the low 60s part of the year.

 

[bbortko]

You might get lucky with biotodoma cupido. I had them 10-15 years ago and I believe I kept them with neons, I do remember them not being an issue with whatever small tetra I had at the time if the weren’t neons.

 

[Sanderguy777]

Bbortko: wow, that is REALLY pretty! Those are now on my bucket list, if not for this build!

 

[Sanderguy777]

Duanes: what IS the difference between geos and gymnogeos? Is it just size and temp?
How are they with hard water?

 

[Sanderguy777]

Duanes: i just saw the photo you posted (I was away from good internet).
That is a beautiful fish, is it one of yours?
But I see your point, even such a small fish would easily fit a guppy in its mouth.

I wish I could get a 100+g tank, but I just can't afford that.

Is there something colorful and interesting that COULD go with guppies? Even with the MANY guppies in there, they all bunch up around the top looking for food, so the rest of the tank looks empty.