And Now..................to Stocking!

[Gary D]

As reported in another thread, we have just completed a fishless cycle and are plannig to go shopping tomorrow for fish

The tank is a 130 litre Aqua One 620T. It is quite a tall tank with not a massive base area (62cm x 39cm).
It has a gravel substrate (a mixture of fine and coarse plus some larger smooth pebbles) and plastic plants, a large piece of mopani wood and a piece of sandstone type rock with holes in it.

Water PH is typically 7.6-7.8 and it is fairly hard.

We already have 2 Mollies and 1 Platy, which are still quite small, to transfer from an existing smaller tank in to this one.

We are thinking of also adding the following:

2 x Pearl Gouramis
8 x Hengels Rasbora
5 x Three Line Corydoras
3 x Nerite Snails

Accordiing to my estimates, that will take us pretty close to maximum.

What do you all think?

Thanks,
Gary.

 

[mattlee]

if you have coarse gravel then i wouldnt add any corys or bottom feeders that have barbels as it can damage them. they will dig into the substrate to get to food and sharp/rough gravel can cut and cause infections to the barbels. ideally sand is prefered as this doesnt harm the fish and very smooth gravel can be used but bacteria can build up on gravel as the fish poo and uneaten food gets trapped between it...

 

[Gary D]

if you have coarse gravel then i wouldnt add any corys or bottom feeders that have barbels as it can damage them. they will dig into the substrate to get to food and sharp/rough gravel can cut and cause infections to the barbels. ideally sand is prefered as this doesnt harm the fish and very smooth gravel can be used but bacteria can build up on gravel as the fish poo and uneaten food gets trapped between it...

Thanks for that. I did wonder about it. With 20/20 hindsight, I should have gone for sand in the first place.

I probably didn't express it very well though.
When I said coarse, I meant that it is bigger lumps, not that is is sharp. It is actually very smooth particles.
Interstingly, one of the LFS I am considering has pictures on their website of their stock - and all the Cory's are in tanks with gravel on the bottom. Is that just convenience for the LFS?

Thanks,
Gary.

 

[mattlee]

if the gravel is smooth and has no sharp edges then corys may be ok with it. it does however get food and poo trapped inbetween it which if not cleaned thoroughly can cause bacteria to grow which can lead to other problems. corys also like to dig into the top layer of sand for food using their barbels and with gravel they cant do this.
im not saying you cant keep corys on smooth pebbles but sand is much more suitable for them, many people keep corys on gravel without any issues but i would only use sand.....

 

[waterdrop]

Sounds good to me! WD