Another Tank Cloning Question

[Lizzie71]

Tomorrow I intend to get my first fish for my new 2 foot tank. I have one cycled tank already, so the intention was to take 1/3 of the cycled filter media and put it into the new tank with a few fish.

The intention is to start off with tetras, probably rosy or glowlight or phantom tetras, which are likely to be the hardiest of the fish I'm planning to stock. But the question is, I have been advised I can start off with only 1/3 of the number of fish that I have in the existing tank, which currently has 1 guppy, 2 platys, 2 otos and 2 shrimp. But I know the tetras prefer to be in groups of 6+

So could I maybe start with 3-4 tetras, and if things are OK in a week or two, add 2-4 more? Would that stress out the first 4 too much? Or would it be OK?

 

[waterdrop]

Years ago in the 60's when we didn't have nice rules about schooling fish getting stressed, we used to stock in small numbers and they certainly lived and seemed ok. I remember community tanks I had with a pair of glowlights or other tetras that seemed fine. I'll bet the 6+ number is an "optimal" kind of thinking, so I would think you could start with a lower number and do ok. Then later when you add more, they would all benefit.

Don't get me wrong, I think its really nice that we know more and more about how to optimize the environment for any given fish and it makes sense to strive for these really good conditions. I just think, especially if you luck into some healthy hardy individuals that they will get through being "lost from their school" for a bit and be all the healthier once they've "found it!"

~~waterdrop~~