Celestial Pearl Danios and Congo Tetras - good idea or not?

[hazyvonne]

Hello everyone, newbie here I've never had fish before and I want to make sure I do things right. I have finished cycling both a 55g main tank and a 10g quarantine tank. The main tank is pretty well planted with all kinds of anubias, tiger lotus, various stem plants, baby dwarf tears etc (and also has a large number of bladder snails that hitchhiked their way into the tank even though I bleach dipped all plants as well as 3 assassin snails that are supposed to keep things in check now). In my quarantine tank I currently have my first ever fish - 6 Celestial Pearl Danios (who I already utterly adore). Barring any illnesses, they should be able to move into the main tank in another 2 weeks or so. So of course, I'm already thinking about what else to get once the quarantine tank is free again. I'm pretty sure I want some peacock gudgeons at some point (and my research says that should be fine) but when I got the CPDs at my LFS I saw some Congo Tetras in there and I really liked those. Now my internet research had some very ambivalent results, some people claim Congos and CPDs should be no problem at all since both are super peaceful others claim that without a doubt the Congos, once fully grown, would eat the CPDs. I'd probably get 6 Congos if that makes any difference. Does anybody have any experience with Congos and CPDs or even Congos with small 1 inch fish?

 

[FishHobby99]

Sorry, I can’t help, but some experienced people here. I can usually get great info on google or YouTube too

 

[Boundava]

I have had CPDs and you will not see them if you put congos in there as they are timid around larger fish. They will hide all the time and I suspect that the adult congos would snack on them as they would also eat their own fry. Congos get pretty big too, I feel they woould be too biig for a 55 gallon, I personaly feel they get too big for a 75 gallon and that is because I recently saw some adults in a 75 gallon for sale and they did not have a lot of room to swim around.
I would stick with some smaller fish so that they don't intimidate the CPDs.

 

[Colin_T]

Do not mix congo tetras with smaller fish like the celestial danios. The congos are too big and boisterous and will stress the danios.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Have to concur with previous posts and suggestions.

I have had CPDs before, really lovely little fish, you would probably get better colourations and behaviour if you up their numbers to at least 10+, a suggestion is all but 6 is absolute minimum imho.

CPDs are fairly skittish fish, meaning they can get spooked quite easily and being amongst larger fish will likely stress them out a bit too much.

I would suggest keeping CPDs with similar sized fish, something like Lambchop Rasboras as these are sociable, peaceful little fish and will get on perfectly fine with each other.

I tend to stay with as few species in one tank as possible, in my larger tanks I tend to have two species of larger shoals of smaller of fish to occupy middle and top of tank and on the bottom perhaps coryadoras.
3 species total for different levels of the tank is my comfort zone.

This of course does depends on your water parameters. Do remember that soft water fish won’t do so well in hard water and vice versa, so it’s best to find species that suits your water parameters and then find species that works well together if having more than one species in a tank.

Doing research on your choices of fish species is always worth doing.

 

[CPDtank96]

Not sure on the Congo’s but I’m new also! I added 6 CPDs to my tank and then increased gradually to 10 and they’re just amazing in a planted tank - really shy but the more heavily planted the better so I’m sure they will love your tank ! Have you considered species-only? You could perhaps increase the number of CPDs you have as I barely saw mine in a group of 6 they were super shy and hidden away . If you were thinking of tank mates you could always start simple and pop a small cleaning crew in with some snails and shrimp and see where it goes from there? Not sure if that’s something you would be into but mine live quite happily together :3

 

[hazyvonne]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I'll find myself some more small fish to stock that tank with - it's just so tempting when you walk through that LFS and see all those gorgeous fish And I agree, 6 CPDs is probably not enough - I was kinda hoping they would solve that problem naturally and maybe make me a fish grandma one of these days. From what I can tell (and I could be really wrong) the LFS seems to have given me 4 males and 2 females which is not ideal anyway.

One more question, when you guys say I should get similar sized fish, does that mean only fish up to 1" like the CPDs, or would fish up to 2" still be ok? Just trying to filter down my options.

 

[Byron]

You do not want CPD's in a tank with the other fish. There is no way around that. The CPD should be on their own and in a larger group, 20 is good. You can find reliable data here:

Celestichthys margaritatus – Celestial Pearl ‘Danio’ (Danio margaritatus) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

 

[CPDtank96]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I'll find myself some more small fish to stock that tank with - it's just so tempting when you walk through that LFS and see all those gorgeous fish And I agree, 6 CPDs is probably not enough - I was kinda hoping they would solve that problem naturally and maybe make me a fish grandma one of these days. From what I can tell (and I could be really wrong) the LFS seems to have given me 4 males and 2 females which is not ideal anyway.

One more question, when you guys say I should get similar sized fish, does that mean only fish up to 1" like the CPDs, or would fish up to 2" still be ok? Just trying to filter down my options.

So many cute fish in the LFS I totally feel your pain!! I think as the CPDs spawn and lay eggs and the fry are so small chances of naturally having therm survive may be slim unless you are breeding on purpose using a breeding tank and a mop etc but nothing is impossible! Nature may find a way if your tank is heavily planted and your inlet is covered - you never know! If you do have 4 males would definitely consider getting lots of plants and rocks or objects to block line of sight as males can be territorial and chase each other so you’ll want to reduce that as it can cause stress I personally would agree with the below

You do not want CPD's in a tank with the other fish. There is no way around that.

but if you MUST have other fish I have seen some fish can act as dither fish and encourage them to come out - I’ve seen CPDs with chilli rasbora or ember tetra but as I haven’t any experience myself aside from species only I would run that by someone more experienced before committing as the CPDs have tiny mouths they may be easily out competed for food if you put them with other fish especially speedy greedy tetras so I would consider your options very carefully as it would be a shame to lose your CPDs after your hard work!

Definitely take a nosey at some shrimp though (I am totally obsessed with shrimp if you haven’t already noticed )

 

[Boundava]

Dwarf corys work as well as kuhli loaches. Even Hara jerdoni, but you will be lucky to see those once you put them in the tank, unless you tempt them out at night.