Another Newbie, Need Stocking Advice...

[geordieelvis]

Hi guys, newbie here. Quick run down of my situation...
Purhased my first fish tank set-up early December, Fluval 90 with correct filter,heater etc. It is planted with a variety of living plants. I fishless cycled it for about a month,water had Nutrafin Aquaplus and Water Cycle added to it as well. Levels were checked frequently by a friend who has a full liquid testing kit until Ammonia and Nitrites were 0. My Ph is 7-7.5. Temp is a steady 25 degrees.
First fish were added a couple weeks back and these were 4 Danios and 2 Panda Corys, these are all I have in my tank and they seem to be doing fine. I have done a partial water change and re-test since they went in and levels are still the same.
 
I have a couple questions that I hope you experienced fish folk can spare the time for!....
 
1. I know I havent got room for a RTBS but is there another similar fish I could put in my tank?
2. Should I put more Corys in? Just didnt want to put too many in for the first time
3. Would you recommend 6 Cherry barbs or 3 cherry and 3 Golden as my next guests?
 
I am open to all your advice, or criticism if I have already done something wrong! I know it is a tricky hobby to get started with but I think I have given myself and my fish a decent start.
 
Thanks again and I look forward to a long and happy future of fishkeeping!
 

 

[thereverendturtle]

Welcome to the hobby and the forum!
Seems you've been doing everything right. Unfortunatelly, I can't think of anything that would be similar to the rtbs that would work. As for the cories, yes you should up their numbers to at least 6, and I would go with six cherry barbs, as gold barbs can get a bit large for a smaller tank. Your danios should also be increased to 6-7 fish.
Good luck!

 

[geordieelvis]

Cool, thanks for the reply. So in reality when I am fully stocked , I will have 6 Danios, 6 Cherry Barbs and 6 Cories?? Does that seem a reasonable community for a 90 litre tank? Also, is it recommended to have all 6 Cories the same species? I.e I can't have my 2 Pandas then get 4 of another type of Cory ?

 

[Essjay]

The cories should be all the same species. They do much better in groups of their own kind.

Don't forget to check the ammonia and nitrite levels daily after you get each batch of new fish to make sure the bacteria are keeping up with the new fish. Ant sign of either of them, and you'd need to do daily large water changes till the bacteria do catch
up.

 

[Jenste]

If you would rather a centerpiece fish - - up the tetras to 10 (same as the cories, keep it to the same species) and maybe look at a dwarf gourami instead of a school of barbs?

 

[geordieelvis]

Just done another water test and everything is still looking spot on. Gonna leave it this way and monitor for another few days and then introduce another 4 Pandas as advised. Will continue to test and do 10-20% water changes.