'dwarf' Fish Species Index For The 'micro' Tank

[Darkehorse]

Folks,

I've got a 20 gallon tank (maybe I can coin a term, the micro tank? LOL). I'm interested in fish that are appropriately sized for such a tank. Now I know the general rule of thumb is 1 inch of fish per gallon of tank. While this rule is good, I want to limit that rule even further and say that each fish's total length must not be greater than 1" for each 10 gallons. So in my case, I can have 20 inches of fish, but no fish may be more than 2" in length as an adult. Obviously this 'rule' really only applies to 'micro' tanks.

Regarding dwarf species, It appears there are a lot of dwarf (or just plain smaller fish, I don't mean to pigeonhole this thread to fish that only have the word 'dwarf' in their name) species that would be ideal for smaller tanks (Panda Corys, Dwarf Rainbows, Dwarf Puffers, Rams, etc). Perhaps we can compile a list of these species for future reference? I know there are a lot of minnow like small schooling fish (mostly cyprinids?), but I'm looking for fish a tad larger, probably within the 1->2" range.

Thanks in advance.
-Darke

P.S. When you post, if you can include the common name and genus/species name, water & food requirements, average adult size, behavioral info and any other interesting notes, I'd appreciate it greatly.

 

[2chains]

I like this idea. It will make a great future reference guide for beginners trying to keep the right amount of fish in the tanks. Since Im a newb myself the only 1-2" fish I can think of is the Dwarf Gourami.

 

[dwarfgourami]

There is a post somewhere by Sylvia with fish suitable for a small tank, but maybe we could have a specific one with small fish. And maybe divide into acid/soft and alkaline/hard? Or would that make things too complicated? And maybe do it in stages: the really small ones, the slightly bigger etc. Here's a list of really titchy ones- stay under 1.5 inches.

soft/acid:

ember tetra
green neon tetra (paracheirodon simulans)
dwarf pencilfish (nannostomus marginatus)
dwarf rasbora (boraras maculata)
mosquito rasbora (boraras brigittae)
kitty tetra


hard alkaline:

heterandria formosa
neoheterandria elegans

hard/alkaline, possibly brackish:

bumblebee goby
male endlers


adaptable/not really fussed:

corydoras habrosus
corydoras hastatus
dwarf puffer (needs species tank!)
dario dario (probably needs live food)
least rasbora (boraras urophtalmoides)
spotted blue-eye (pseudomugil gertrudae)
lampeyes (killifish)


also, a lot of the common tetras stay at around 1.5 inches

 

[dwarfgourami]

Around the 1.5 inch mark:

soft/acid:

neon tetras
flame tetras
glowlight tetras
january tetra
red phantom tetras
Hengel's rasbora


hard/alkaline:

male guppies


adaptable:
sparkling gourami
otocinclus catfish (but needs mature tank)

 

[dwarfgourami]

Between 1.5 and 2:

soft/acid:
cardinal tetra
garnet tetra
lemon tetra
rummy-nose tetra
marbled hatchetfish

hard/alkaline:

female guppies
platies
porthole livebearers
multie shelldweller (neolamprologus multifasciatus- species tank!)
Asian rummy-nose (sawbwa resplendens)

adaptable:

black neon tetra
black phantom tetra
rosy tetra
serpae tetra (renowned fin-nipper)
silvertip tetra
X-ray tetra
most corydoras, though the commonly sold bronze (including albino) and peppered corys get bigger
cherry barb
checkered barb
forktail blue-eye (pseudomugil furcata)
harlequin rasbora
honey gourami

Afraid I can't do a whole species description for all of this little list- I have to go to work soon, but a lot of them are found in the fish index on this forum, and the rest you can google.
As a general rule, you can assume that:

tetras are schooling fish- so you need to keep them in a group of 6+ of the same species

corydoras also need to be in groups, though you can get away with 3+

gouramis are territorial- so only one male per tank, you can keep a gourami on its own (they don't get lonely) or a male with a harem, or several females

livebearers (platies, guppies etc) need to be kept either in single-sexed groups (females can be 2+ but males you need to keep in 5+ groups to spread aggression) or with females outnumbering males by a ratio of at least 2:1.

corydoras need a soft substrate- either sand or smooth small gravel- and need to be fed, not just used as bottom cleaners

Ihave not listed any danios as they are very active fish and need a lot of swimming space for their length.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

any microrasbora or boraras

 

[Darkehorse]

Guys,

Great responses. Any thoughts on shell Cichlids or dwarf rainbows?

-Darke

 

[dwarfgourami]

Guys,

Great responses. Any thoughts on shell Cichlids or dwarf rainbows?

-Darke

I listed shell cichlids (multies)- they are lovely little fish; you'd need to set up a species tank with a sandy substrate, lots of shells (escargot shells from a delicatessen will do) and hard, alkaline water. If you are willing to go just over 2 inches, but to fit in a 20 gallon tank, there are a couple of other neolamprologus and lamprologus species that would also do, like n. brevis.

I did not list any other rainbows than the pseudomugils, as I had my eyes narrowly on the 2 inch specification, but if your tank is long rather than high I think you could also accommodate dwarf neon rainbows.

 

[Darkehorse]

I did not list any other rainbows than the pseudomugils, as I had my eyes narrowly on the 2 inch specification, but if your tank is long rather than high I think you could also accommodate dwarf neon rainbows.

Not sure. It's 24" long, 16" tall and 12" deep. It doesn't seem like a particularly long tank to me, but rather your average dimensions for a 20 gallon. But it is longer than it is tall. Does that work?

-Darke

 

[luque]

Common Name: Harlequin Rasbora

Scientific Name: Rasbora Heteromorpa (Duncker, 1904)

Family: Cyprinidae .

Distribution: Asia: Thailand (Narathiwat southwards) to Sumatra, Indonesia.

Size: 6cm

Diet: These fish are omnivores and will accept most dry and live foods. Try to give them a variety of different foods live brine shrimp, pellets, Spirulina, flakes etc.

Water Temperature: 22-25degrees Centigrade

Water Chemistry: A gh & kh of less than 10 is best.

pH: pH 5.0-7.5

Life Span: Approx 6 years.

Tank requirements: The tank should have a length of at least 60cm use a dark substrate and some covering provided with floating plants with dense planting along the back and sides of the tank.

Sexing: The males tend to be thinner than the females and males tend to have a straight black wedge whereas the females' wedge curves towards the front slightly

Breeding: Harlequins are one of the more difficult aquarium fish to breed, but if you have the right conditions they will spawn. When selecting fish to breed, females should be 10-20 months old, older than this and the females will often not spawn and two males should be kept for each female.

The depth of the water should be lowered to around 13-20cm, the ph around 5.3-5.7 and a GH of less than 3, the temperature should be 24.5-26.5 degrees celcius.

Once the tank has been set up and is running, the fish should be introduced to the tank in the late ofthe day as spawning occurs in the early morning and is caused by the rising of the sun. The spawning process takes anything from 2-3 hours and as many as 100-250 eggs can be deposited on the underside of broad leaved plants and the fry should be free swimming within 24 hours.
Description: There are more than 5 dozen different species of Rasboras but the Harlequin is one of the most popular. The colour is a reddish copper body with a black wedge from below the dorsal fin back as to have a triangular shape with red fins