"Flash Wilson" wrote in message
...
Hiya,

I posted a similar sort of thing to the cichlids group recently
so sorry for any overlap...

I'm trying to think of some new inhabitants for my 4ft tank.
It's 200 litres in size and currently has the following fish:

2 x 7" catfish who only come out at night
3 x clown loaches (who started out small and stuck together but
now are very different sizes and all hide in different caves
rather than together, and they don't come out except when hungry!)
Sizes roughly 2" 3" and 4".
2 x ickle danios
3 x old and battle-worn tiger barbs
4 x kribs
1 x ram

snip

Well, how about this: more fish! I would ditch the catfish
for some bristlenose (2 of them would be the same length
as one of your current ones). Then add more danios and
more clown loaches. Once you get a critical mass, the
loaches will probably start schooling (usually 4-6 IME).
The Tiger Barbs are probably doomed to life as a cranky
trio, but if your feeling adventurous you could try to add
3-5 big ones. (Be prepared for carnage).

Other than that, fish are generally hardest to see when
there is more open space. So the paradoxical solution
is to give them more places to hide and you will see
them more. Maybe you could move some of your plants
from the back to the front? Maybe you could put
something in the middle of the tank to provide some
security (I use a HUGE Amazon sword in my 4' tank).

There are lots of cool cichlids, but most are somewhat
aggressive and will claim an area equal to 10x their
body length when spawning, so your 4 kribs may be
enough cichlids (assuming 2 breeding pairs).

-coelacanth