65 Litre Community Tank

[Ninja Dave]

Hi,

I've been reading loads of info on the forum. Very helpful.

What I was wanting to find out was what would be suitable numbers for a 65 litre tank. I'm pretty sure that my ideas would result in overstocking so please let me know what you think.

This is what I was considering (with questions ):

2 German Blue Rams or 2 Bolivian Rams (1 male and 1 female). I prefer the German Blue's but I've read that they're not as hardy as the Bolivian's, is this the case (being a beginner probably the hardier the better)? Also are the German Blue's smaller than the Bolivian's?
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6 Pygmy Cory's
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6 Male Guppy's
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Endlers and/or Neon Tetra's (or another kind of small shoaling fish). How many could I add in with the above fish? Any other type of fish which may be suitable?

Cheers,

Dave

 

[Gvilleguy]

Hi Dave,

I would not recommend German Blue Rams in a new tank. Most threads I have seen regarding them say the Blues need pristine, established tank water. The Bolivian Rams, in contrast, are slightly large (2.5 - 3 inches), much more tolerant of water conditions, and only slightly less colorful. (see my avatar pic and the video in my signature)

Your overall stock plan looks kind of overstocked to me. I'm not sure you would have space for more than the rams, corys, and guppies.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with GVG about the rams. The business of getting yourself roughly in line with a total stocking level simply requires you to do various tedious things over and over. Your tank is 65L/17USG, so 17" of medium small "fish inches" is a good starting point (where, lster you'll just make some judgement calls about some fish being bigger or smaller than "medium small" and perhaps adjust somewhat for that.) For each species you think about you go to the descriptions here on TFF and then on other web sites you search out and you look for the maximum adult size that fish can get to. Sometimes a site will say "usually 4" but known to get to 6" in which case you could go with the 4" number (just as an example.) You can't look at just one site as it's better to get a feel from having seen a number of sites. Then of course you just take that max adult size and multiply it by the number of that species you will have and then add up all the inches and see if you're still under 17.

The reason you want to start off as a beginner by limiting your total stocking to about an inch per US gallon is not because you can't as an accomplished fishkeeper manage to keep more, but because as a beginner you want your first two years to be successful and to provide you with the "feel" of how a good fish load and biofilter work together and what good maintenance feels like. Then later, when you get more advanced and try something more risky, you'll understand better -why- it feels "off" from what it should be, if it gets that way.

So, obviously, one tricky thing is that fish of the same inch length (fins don't count) can have different mass (short stubby massive versus thin and little, that sort of thing).. well you just have to guess at that sort of difference and try to apply some common sense to it.

Everything I've described above has to do with only one parameter of the topic of "stocking plans," the parameter of total stocking level. There are any number of other important parameters that must be applied: Many fish must be kept in a shoal of a minimum number (6 fish minimum is quite a common number you'll see) and this is not just some random thing, it's quite a serious consideration as the fish can be quite stressed when kept in smaller numbers. Then there are between species aggression considerations (these can get even more complicated as some fish don't exhibit them until they get older and larger!) Then there can be specific spacial requirements such as fish needing long tanks to swim fast in or tall tanks because of their fins.

Anyway, hopefully this might help start you off thinking about some of the right things and you'll be able to research some of the things and perhaps get advice from other members on others.

~~waterdrop~~