Advice On 2nd Set Of Fish

[thomasia]

Hi, my son has recently started a freshwater tropical tank. he has just completed the amonia/nitrite/nitrate cycle with 2x tiger Barbs and 2 Albino Tiger Barbs (I think !!) - all four fish seem are young (about 1cm long max) and appear very happy together. What fish would you recommend for the next addition to the tank. He likes the idea of Neon Tetra's, Angel Fish and algae eaters. Also, he loves anything a bit strange like shrimps, clams etc - would any of these be problem in the future? The tank is approx. 40cm x 40cm x 43cm and is at about 25 degC. The water is pH neutral and is planted with real plants. He also has some real wood and a rock on a gravel base.

 

[jonnyf84]

welcome to the forum thomasia. Unfortunately you really can't fit much more in a tank that size, neons are a no no - they need space to swin and are shoaling fish therefore you would need at least 6, they also need a well estsablished aquarium so as yours is newly cycled they would probably get sick. Angel fish also need much more space than that and even juveniles will soon out grow your tank, shrimps are great algae eaters and can be kept in that size tank so that would kill two birds with one stone - try a couple of cherry shrimps. If you removed the barbs (fin nippers) you could have a lovely male Betta. Unfortuately your options are pretty limited with a tank that size.

Jonny.

 

[thomasia]

Hi Jonny,

thanks for the welcome and advice. Just a qucxi question though - I thought the going rule was roughly 1" of fish per gallon - the tank we have is about 48 litres which is roughly 11 gallons - I would have assumed we could fit a few more fish in providing they were were small ones (that don't grow too big)
Thanks
Ian

welcome to the forum thomasia. Unfortunately you really can't fit much more in a tank that size, neons are a no no - they need space to swin and are shoaling fish therefore you would need at least 6, they also need a well estsablished aquarium so as yours is newly cycled they would probably get sick. Angel fish also need much more space than that and even juveniles will soon out grow your tank, shrimps are great algae eaters and can be kept in that size tank so that would kill two birds with one stone - try a couple of cherry shrimps. If you removed the barbs (fin nippers) you could have a lovely male Betta. Unfortuately your options are pretty limited with a tank that size.

Jonny.

 

[OldMan47]

You could easily fit in some small fish like neons. The problem is that they are a bit sensitive about their water conditions and not good for a brand new tank. Once established, your tank shout be able to hold several. I count a neon as about 1 inch so I'm sure you can add that up. The tiger barbs will destroy a neon so they are probably best kept in separate tanks from neons. Actually tiger barbs are pretty rough on everyone in a tank and I count them as 2 inches each because they do get that big. A single angel will never fit in that tank. It might have enough room for a month or two until it starts to get too big but you don't want to end up with a fish that you know needs to go soon. It would also have a problem with the barbs' aggression. The barbs are actually better behaved in larger groups but I don't think you could fit many in that tank. A good choice of cleanup crew for a small tank like that is 4 or 5 of the pygmy sized corydoras such as habrosus or pygmaeus. They do best in groups of at least 4, and I prefer to keep them in groups of 8 or more, but my tanks are big enough for that many. I count them as about an inch each.