Just about everybody starts out with community tanks - Noah's Arks of fish, full or overfull of a list of creatures, two by two. With any luck they may even stock them in threes. I did this sort of tank early in my hobby years, and I enjoyed them. I even think I learned a lot from them. You are forced into learning a good bit about compatibility by keeping this sort of tank. But during my time in the military, I was educated and retrained by a master, the owner of the local fish store. Not a large store, a narrow storefront shop with two tiers of 15s and 20s (high or long, depending on whether upper or lower level) and facing them a few larger tanks on stands. A tiny store by today's standards, it was not even very deep from front to back. Behind the retail section of the shop she had a smaller area of staged tanks- her quarantine/conditioning section. Very strange ideas this lady had- she never put anything out front for sale until she had kept it in the back for some weeks to assure herself of the fish's health. She convinced me (something over 40 years ago) that it was stupid to put new fish directly into an old tank. First you had to get them accustomed to your care and your water, while at the same time you could learn what they liked to eat and how they behaved, and above all, that they were healthy, or at least appeared to be. All her retail tanks were fully landscaped (she was not very imaginative about this technique, but you couldn't ask her to be great at everything) and most had live plants (plastic and silk plants were still future products).

Some few valuable lessons do take and stick with us. She sold me several QT (quarantine) setups during the years that I dealt with her. These were needed because I kept getting attached to the fish that were in isolation as a group, so they would not be moved into what was then my "big" community tank (50 gallons), or if moved into the community they would shortly be moved back into their own tank. Tens, 15s, & 20s multiplied- I was hooked, big time, and have never recovered. She set me up with isolating newcomers, and I discovered that many fish are more interesting among their own kind than in mixed company. I also learned not to crowd tanks, and to consider live plants normal and the lack of them abnormal, but that is another story.

A "species tank" is not absolutely restricted to a single species for me. But for me it is restricted to a very small number of different species, each of those occupying different ecological niches. A twenty-nine, thirty or forty gallon long tank with a school of Corydorus cats on the bottom and another school of Rasbora heteromorpha swimming above them is to me still a species tank. It is certainly not a biotope tank, but it can be spectacular. I would probably have started the tank with Vallisneria and a small sword or two in the old days, today I might use short and tall crypts, but either format will work if you are willing to move the swords out when they grow. Or substitute kuhli loaches for the Corys and Anubias nana for the small crypts and you have another fascinating but soothing tank.

Tiger barbs swimming happily together.

The eternally popular and hardy Tiger Barbs are really at their best in a species tank. Well, a species tank with a trio of young Clown loaches, plus a Peckoltia catfish perhaps. Tough plants such as Val and Anubias are in order here also. Both the Tigers and the Clowns can damage soft-leaved plants. From 29 to 75 gallons this set up is spectacular, if sometimes a bit hyperkinetic. A VP for a firm where I worked for several years commented that surely I did not watch that 55 gallon tank for relaxation - but I did. Hypnosis more than serenity perhaps, but every decade it seems I have to reset another similar tank. Common fish perhaps, possibly even unimaginatively used, but like a really good mobile, this tank will never become wallpaper or be boring. And like many tanks, the bigger it is the better it works. The clowns soon outgrow the Barbs, so must be re-homed, but while they reasonably match in scale, they are spectacular together.

Part of my current catfish fancy are some tanks of schooling diurnal cats. These are not colorful fish, perhaps even a specialist's fish, but I find them great species tanks, and in my experience among the best fish for holding their schooling behavior in captivity. For midsize tanks (say 29, 30 or 40 gallon long, 50, or 55), Debauwi cats (Eutropiellus buffei, or perhaps E. vandeweyeri, or E. debauwi - all names used for the same fish.

Debauwi catfish

Though there are at least two species, only one is apparently in the trade) or Asian glass cats (Kryptoterus bicirrhis) are fairly easy to get, and both do much better in species tanks. Set with plant cover along the back and one or both sides, but with plenty of open swimming space for the school. Both fish prefer more current than is usual in hobby tanks, but are quite long lived when not in mixed settings. Both have been no problem mixed with either Amano or Ghost shrimp or any algae-eating shrimp as scavengers/algae cleaners. If the tank is at the larger end of the "midsize" range used above, then a group of Singapore wood shrimp or flower shrimp would be in order. At the extreme end of the tank size range given, or larger, there is another "glass cat" that I purchased as "glasscutter" cats (Schilbe mystus) that grows much larger than either of the other mentioned (48" tank minimum). Like the earlier ones they absolutely must be in schools for long-term health and are best as a species tank. The drawback is their size (8-12" at maturity, mine were at the lower end of that range) and the fact that for me they seem a bit delicate in comparison to the other two discussed. Only the familiar Asian glass cat is transparent, the other two are not really, or are so only with great hyperbole. At the smaller end of the tank scale, a 10 or 15 with a school of pygmy Corys is interesting, but for me these are a bit more delicate than the others mentioned, or perhaps they are unable to adapt to my less than ideal (for them) water parameters. I admit to being lazy, and I am usually unwilling to modify water for a display tank.

Tetras provide a large number of species that can be used as species tank principals. Neons and Cardinals are classics of course. So can be Rummynose, Lemons, Serpaes, Black Neons, Glowlights, Diamonds (with side lighting, please), Bleeding Hearts (a personal favorite when given 48" or larger tanks), and many, many others. Keep lots of open space- I mean lots, so the fish will feel some insecurity when swimming across it, and large numbers of the species of fish, so they will hold their school. Study any of Amano's "plains" or "mountaintop" tanks for inspiration. One species of Tetra, Otocinclus cats, and Amano shrimp- the complete stock list for a mind-blowing tank. One fringe benefit for me in this sort of tank is that the small Tetras that have the reputation for short lives (and which may be annual fish in the wild) will live 6 years or more in a species school without a Noah's Ark of other fish around them. Midsize tanks will work well for this setup, but it is another incidence of "bigger is better". At the 75 gallon and bigger range, either the Bleeding Hearts mentioned before, and in the same sort of setup discussed there, would be spectacular. In a more heavily planted tank, Emperor Tetras are unbeatable, but omit the shrimp, as the fish will reproduce in such a species setup and most shrimp eat fish eggs.

Bleeding Heart Tetras

The list of suitable fish is huge- you could do a book just on schooling fish. There are multiple Rasboras that are excellent for this treatment. For me, the Rsaboras are far better schoolers than the Tetras. Scissorstails may look like almost nothing in a mixed tank, but alone (whether the small or large species), they are superb. If you go with the smaller barbs you can set a moderately sized tank that is quite good also. I do not really approve of Tinfoils in hobby tanks- there just is not enough room, even at 6x2x2 feet. Ditto for Bala Sharks and such- leave them to the public displays along with the Pacus, Iridescent Sharks, and Channel Cats.

A school of Corys is usually fine in a 20-long with Val or medium to tall crypts along the back and at the ends. The only problem there is I have not come up with a technique for keeping them in schools. In large tanks with large open areas, they continue schooling; in smaller ones, they become secure and do not synchronize very often. But they have such charm it hardy matters. The same tank, or a size smaller, will serve nicely for White Cloud Mountain Minnows. Here you do not even need a heater, and after a cool spell (if not year round if you have AC), babies will appear and survive so long as there is a bit of cover- which also provides refuge for some natural first foods (rotifers, infusoria, and such) for them.

Don't forget about Rainbows. These fish are highly adaptable to most water, whether they are from the hard alkaline streams of Australia, or the softer ones of the mountains of Irian Jaya. If you include their near-relatives the Blue Eyes, there is a big range of fish sizes for any tank in the midsize range and extending through the larger hobby tanks. Their colors and grace rival the coral reef fish. Many folk keep these in mixed tanks, but this to me is just like mixed Tetra tanks- my attitude is not to dilute the beauty and behavior of a given species by mixing it with relatives. This way you can also breed them easily in display tanks without fearing hybrids. Techniques borrowed from the killifish breeders with yarn spawning mops work fine. Or if you don't like dangling mops of yarn under their cork floats bobbing in your fishtanks, you can use what my LFS disparagingly calls my "fence posts". Fence posts for tanks are those vertical or near vertical smaller chunks of driftwood (attached to slate bases) that do look very like a stalagmites or fenceless posts. Buy three or four, soak for a few weeks (they are small and easily saturated), then attach clumps of Java or other aquatic mosses to the posts and let them develop for a time, maybe with some small grazing shrimp or Amanos to help keep algae down if required. I keep my collection in a 15 with a few guppies. When the Rainbows have matured, they will breed regularly, daily, whether you notice or not. Move a nice shaggy fence post in with them for 24-48-72 hours, and then switch it out to a ten to 15 or larger tank, with tank water from the parent tank, for hatching. Rainbows seem to love to spawn in nice shaggy clumps of moss. Keep rotating the posts back to the "display" tank until you have run out of hatching tanks. You will have baby Rainbows coming out of your ears. Sort by size into larger grow-out homes as they grow. But check the filter intakes in the display regularly- the adults tear up the moss a bit in their activities, and you don't want any clogged filters from the moss.

Boseman's Rainbow

I will not try to convince anyone that their first tank should be a species setup, but after you have done two or three tanks, consider a display featuring one or two species of "community" fish on their own, or at least occupying separate niches in the tank. I promise the tank will be showier than any community, the fish are likely to be healthier (and easier to care for), and they will let you see just a little bit more clearly what they are like in nature. It is idealized a bit by captivity and isolation from disease and predators, but it allows behavior that is far more "natural" than that possible in the classic "community" tank.

And we haven't even talked about singletons or species breeding tanks for display. Well, some other article.

This article appeared first on another site. It has been edited for use here.

Robert T. Ricketts, a.k.a. RTR

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