Best fish to add first.

[Paul_MTS]

As some species are sensitive i'm wondering what fish to add first to my 25gallon tank.

I'll definnately having a Ruby shark and a few clown loach in there. would like bristle nose plecs and peppermint ones. some cories and I'm really not sure on the rest.

so help needed on a hardy fish to start me off

 

[SilverDollar_03]

it sounds good, except for the clown loaches. they grow to be about one foot long (30 cm) so i wouldnt put them in. plus they like to be in large groups, in big tanks. everything else sounds cool. i would start with the bristlenose pleco because they are so hardy, they can handle cycling a new tank!

 

[Link]

I'd say that the Clowns will be ok as I'm guessing from the gallonage that the tank is about three foot long. You'll need to keep at least four though and they will need a fair bit of bloodowrm to keep them healthy. They can attain a length of 12" but this is in the wild. They only normally reach 6" in captivity so do be prepared to move them later on.
I would also go for the Bristlenose first. Or Danios and most livebearers such as Platies and Guppies should be fine. Just introduce them slowly. If you rush you will have problems. I wouldn't get more than ten fish in a two week period

 

[Spyderdf]

I would NOT add the cown loaches in. They will get too big for your tank and like to be in groups of ATLEAST 4 clowns The minimun i suggest is 60 gallon tank. You may also want to work on you top feeding fish as you seem a bit bottom heavy.

Good luck

 

[guppymonkey]

The clown loachs definately wouldn't work in a 25 gallon tank. Sorry but they get way too big. Some places lie and say that they only get to be 5 inches long but in truth they get to be about a foot long and can harass and harm the other fish that they are kept with. Also with so many bottom feeders there would be considerable harassment over space. I would suggest adding some middle and top feeders so that all of the activity is not on the gravel.

When adding fish its usually best to add the hardiest ones first. A lot of bottom feeders are not very hardy. If you get a large enough tank (55 g. or higher) to have clown loachs they should be added last because they are very sensitive to water conditions. Cory cats can be sensitive as well. If you add them first I would suggest doing water changes every few days for the first few weeks so that the fish can get acclimated.

 

[Link]

Well I've never in my life seen Clown Loach reach 12" long. They had some in the London Aquarium the last time I went and they were no where near 12". As youngsters of 2-3" long they will be fine. They will need to be moved to a larger tank though as they get older.

In my Baensch Aquarium Atlas (Volume 1, page 370) it says:

11 3/4" (seldom longer than 6 1/2" in home aquarium)

 

[wrs]

danios are hardy fish. And if you got the long finned kinds, they would look very nice in a 25 gallon.

 

[guppymonkey]

Well I've never in my life seen Clown Loach reach 12" long. They had some in the London Aquarium the last time I went and they were no where near 12". As youngsters of 2-3" long they will be fine. They will need to be moved to a larger tank though as they get older.

In my Baensch Aquarium Atlas (Volume 1, page 370) it says:

11 3/4" (seldom longer than 6 1/2" in home aquarium)

I disregard any books that say "seldom longer than _ inches/cm in home aquarium". All that means is that the fish's growth gets stunted when they are kept in a small aquarium. It all goes back to the old wives tale that says a fish will stay tiny in a tiny tank. Its just rubish.

 

[Link]

I thought it was a record of the longest fish of that species found in captivity. They do the same with wild fish

 

[Paul_MTS]

no need to go into depth about the clown loach i'm aware that they gorw to 12" in the wild and aorund 10" in a tank, but I will have a larger tank ready for them, as I know they grow there first 5-6" quickly then slow down a lot which will buy me time to buy a tank!! Otherwise I can always donate them to a local.

Right so we're agreed on a bristle nose plec for starters

Yep I kinda realised i'm lacking in the top department but I don't havea clue there's so many to choice from I'ved been flicking through my fish encyclopedia and there's a few that catch my eye with there colours......

I'll list them and you tell me yay or nay!!

tiger barb
zebra danio
oh i know it's a bottom dwller again but khuli loach are cool!!
neon tetras
maybe pencil fish
dwarf gourami

 

[wrs]

wouldnt that overcrod the top and bottem? I know that I have my fish all at the top and it looks so overcrowded and theres only 6 of them. So That minght be a bit overcrowded. But you tank is bigger though.

Would it be 6 tiger barbs and 6 danios, and 6 neons? I think theyre top dwelers, not sure though. But if they are thats 18 on the top.

And how many khulie loaches and corries and placos will you be getting? I dont think though that khulie loaches count in stocking because of them never being seen. And I personally dont count plecs as bottem dwelers, because they such on the glass alot.

But it seems okay.

 

[Paul_MTS]

Not planning on all those top dwellers but I really don't know what exactly I want and what my lfs can get, I know he would order fish in for me if he was making an order.

do gourami have to be in shoals?

can the different types of cories shoal togther or would i need a shoal of each kind I wanted....other wise i'll have to make sacrafices

 

[guppymonkey]

Not planning on all those top dwellers but I really don't know what exactly I want and what my lfs can get, I know he would order fish in for me if he was making an order.

do gourami have to be in shoals?

can the different types of cories shoal togther or would i need a shoal of each kind I wanted....other wise i'll have to make sacrafices

Different cories can shoal together, most of the time they seem to not care if they are with a member of their species or a similar species. Gouramis are not schooling fish, generally they don't tolerate other members of the same species. It sounds like you are going into fish overload. Everybody reachs it at some point, where they want every single cool looking fish that they see. Most of the time tanks look better with just a few species. Not just one of each species. It would be better looking to have a school of cories and a school of tetras with maybe one nice specimen species like a dwarf cichlid such as a ram or a krib than to have one or two of each species. Rams and kribs are two of the easiest cichlids to take care of and they not only are small enough not to need a 55 gallon or larger tank but they are also very brightly colored.

 

[Paul_MTS]

Yeh, i guess you could say that I'm really not sure what I wanted specifically though, it's so hard, why do there have to be so many fish

I didn't even look at cichlids in my book skipped that section as i thought the were off limits for community!! fiund the rams and kribs, they are marked up as ease of keeping 1! and do look pretty fab

so if i have-

peppermint plec
bristle nose plec
4 clown loach
3/4 different cories
a krib cichlid
a dwarf gourami
and a shoal of small fish eg tetra, danios

would this be over stocked

can't belive it I might of decided on summit

 

[a1wonder]

so if i have-

peppermint plec
bristle nose plec
4 clown loach
3/4 different cories
a krib cichlid
a dwarf gourami
and a shoal of small fish eg tetra, danios

would this be over stocked

can't belive it I might of decided on summit

I think it would be pretty overstocked. I'd pick one of the two plecos and go for it if you have the money the peppermint pleco is wonderful so that is 6 inches. Also the cories would be much happier a believe if they were all with the same kind I've got two different types in my tank and they never really school together at all, and they are a schooling fish. You might also want to look up the adult size of each fish.
Lets say we go with what was previously stated, conversely, on this topic that clown loaches grow to be 6 inches long (I've seen them longer in tanks but that's beside the point) 6*4 = 24 inches of fish and if your going for the usually one fish per gallon ratio you've only have room for a danio left.

I would leave the clown loaches out of list.
Pleco 6 inches
cories 4(good min. number)*2inchs (easily) 8 inches of cories
a dwarf gourami 2.5 inches
up to 16.5 inches of fish currently

And if you’re looking for a small school of fish you can get 4 zebra danios
Slightly going over the recommended inches to gals recommended.

It's kind of sad but 25 gals is pretty restricted you can't really start having a lot of fun till you reach the 45 marker. I’m struggling a bit with my 35gal.

If you do plan on overstocking your tank even a bit it's a large commitment, there is more frequent water changes and you have to make sure there is enough oxygen to go around.