Fish Candidates

[BobbyBray]

So while my 29 gallon (110 liter) tank is running in a fishless cycle, I've been doing a little research on what fish I'd like to get. And after some of the mixed opinions and advice I've gotten from the only LFS in my town, I thought I'd double check my list of possible fish before buying them. First things first, before I found out about this forum, and the concept of fishless cycling I had already had 2 Australian Rainbowfish (Melanotaenia Fluviatillis), and a Cherry Barb that weren't exactly flourishing. They've been relocated to another tank in the meantime, but I plan on bringing them back when the larger one is finished cycling.

My general idea at this point is to get a larger number of smaller fish (2-4in / 5-10cm) rather than a few larger fish. And then of course some different fish that will populate the top, middle and bottom areas. If anyone sees any immediate incompatibilities, problems or knows of any special notes (ie like to be alone or in schools) about the listed fish please let me know. I'll be doing some more research as I narrow it down some more, but I thought I'd run it by the forum members here since everyone's been so helpful thus far. That being said here's some others that looked interesting at the fish store:

Silver Hatchetfish
Gasteropeleas - Not too keen on these anymore after some research.

Panda Cory's Top candidate for a bottom dweller

Long Finned Danio
Brachydanio - Currently the top (last remaining) candidate for a top dweller.

Lemon Tetra
Hyphessobrycon Pulchripinnis - Top candidate for middle dweller, I'm thinking of a small school of these along with another small school of either the bleeding hearts of serpaes.

Bleeding Heart Tetra
Hyphessobrycon Erythrostigma

Serpae Tetra
Hyphessobrycon Serpae

Rasbora
Rasbora Heteromorpha - I may substitute a school of these instead of a second tetra school with the lemons.

Rummy Nose Tetra
Hermigrammus Blecheri - Too sensitive to add at the beginning, I'll keep these guys in mind after my tank matures

White Skirt Tetra
Gymnocorymbus Ternetzi - Possibly too nippy

Red Tailed Black Shark
Epalzeorhynchos Bicolor - Possibly too aggressive, still thinking

Upside-down Catfish
Synodontis Nigriventris - Tanks not big enough to adequately support a group of these

Various Mollys - These just seem too plain atm, though they're not out of the running yet.

Octocinclus - I like these little guys, but research shows they're sensitive to new tanks. I'll reconsider after my tank stabilizes in the future.

Tiger Barbs
Albino Tiger Barbs
Green Barbs - Currently leaning towards tetras over barbs

I just thought of one other question while typing out my list. From what little I know and understand, the tetra fish seem to be schooling type fish and enjoy being in a group, do the different species school together or not so much? ie Would a few Bleeding Heart Tetra school together with some Lemon Tetra, or Serpae Tetra?

Thanks!

 

[BobbyBray]

Also, I forgot to mention it in the last post. Someone at the LFS said that the 1 inch of fish per gallon rule of thumb doesn't apply to bottom feeders and algae eater fish since they stay out of the central swimming area where all the other fish tend to be. Is this true?

 

[Colin_T]

Silver Hatchetfish surface dwellers that like to be kept in groups and jump so a good cover is needed.

Panda Cory's fine in groups of 4 or more. Will mix with other types of corydoras.

Long Finned Danio fine peaceful schooling fish that hangs around the surface. Would be too boisterous for hatchetfish so not a good idea mixing them together.

Rasbora fine peaceful schooling fish that hangs out in the middle of the tank

Lemon Tetra same as the rasboras

Bleeding Heart Tetra same as rasboras

Rummy Nose Tetra peaceful schooling fish but is sensitive to new tanks so best to wait a few months before adding any. Also if you get some and they have just come into the shop, leave them at the shop for a week or preferable 2 weeks before you get them. Rummynose suffer from stress and if you get some that have just arrived at the shop, and take them home straight away, they could up and die on you. Fish that have settled into a tank are fine.

White Skirt Tetra (Gymnocorymbus Ternetzi) schooling fish but can be a fin nipper so shouldn’t be kept with slow moving fish or fish with long fins.

Red Tailed Black Shark generally peaceful bottom dweller but will become territorial when mature and chase other bottom dwellers that resemble it. Corydoras should be fine with sharks.

Upside-down Catfish peaceful schooling fish that spends most of the time upsidedown under driftwood and rocks.

Various Mollys generally peaceful but males will harass females and can cause problems. It’s preferable to have all females or all males in the tank to prevent unwanted stress to the females. Will often breed in the aquarium and produce lots of young.

Octocinclus fine and peaceful but need algae and wood in the tank. Often starve to death. All catfish including Otocinclus are sensitive to chemicals and you should follow the directions on any pack before treating a tank containing these fishes.

The 1 inch per gallon rule is old and out dated, and was used for surface area so the fish had enough oxygen in an unfiltered tank. Bottom dwellers need as much room (if not more) as mid or surface dwelling fishes. This is because most bottom dwellers are territorial and most mid level fish live in groups.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

there's a whole lot of furore over the 1" per gallon thing, i do think it serves a purpose as long as you understand it's limitations.

if you stock your first tank with small community fish to 1" per gallon it'll be a nice easy level of stocking that's forgiving of beginner mistakes as we all make some! In a well filtered and maintained tank you can move up to 1.5" or 2" per gallon quite comfortably.

What I usually recommend is people stock their first tank witht he hardy fish that they want to 1" and this gives them a bit of leeway while the tank matures and they get the hang of fishkeeping abit. Then somewhere between 3 and 6 months after the cycle the tank will be getting towards mature, you can now start to add the delicate fish that couldn't go in after the cycle building up to 1.5/2" per gallon.

It's by no means a hard and fast rule, there are plenty of exceptions and it really only applies to small community type fish, anything larger or territorial brings complications with it. But beginners often find it difficult to understand how many fish can go in the tank and this does give them a good general indication of numbers.

I would ditch the RTBS and the Syno's from the list, RTBS can be really quite agressive and territorial and while your tasnks not tiny it's not massive either, the larger the tank the less problems people report with them. And the syno really wants to be in a group and the tank's not big enough for a shoal of medium sized bottom dwellers.

are you set on the hatchets or not? they are fairly limiting as they will onyl tolerate calm peaceful companions so that would take the danio's and barbs out of the equation for sure. personally i hate tiger barbs so wouldn't have them either but that is just personal preference!

some species of fish will school together as you've mentioned, but a slight word of warning here, a lot of beginners will see loads of different species that they want and decide to get just a couple of everything, it can end up looking a bit 'noah's ark'! For an attractive cohesive community tank it's best to have a few less species but larger number in each group. Just personal taste but that's the biggest stocking mistake i see quite often!

remember this will be your first tank, but not your last, you've the whole rest of your life to keep all the species you want so don't try to cram them all in here now!

 

[BobbyBray]

Thanks for the advice guys! I completely agree with you on the 1" rule Miss Wiggle, its a nice basis to start with for a beginner like me, but its also good to know that I'm not restricted by that in the future.

I wouldn't say I'm set on anything right now, but the fish I already bought will have to come back eventually. After doing a little research on a few of the fish I listed, I've decided against hatchetfish, due to their 'jumpy' nature, and from what I understand the prefer being in schools of 6 of more. Barbs aren't too high on the list, they just seemed like a nice active fish to watch.

I'm leaning more so towards two or three small~ish groups of tetras I'd say. Perhaps 4-6 lemon tetras, and another 4-6 bleeding hearts or serpaes for the middle, 4~ish pandas for the bottom, and a few danios for the top.

Something else I forgot to mention, the pH of my tank seems to hang out around 7.4-7.6, which may cause me to toss out a species or two. I'll do some more personal research and narrow the list down. As far as the current tank setup, I've got two pieces of bogwood, one large one small, and a few plastic plants. I haven't looked too heavily into live plants, but it sounds like they make a much better looking and healthier tank than fake ones. Here's a snapshot of my setup. It was taken before I started the fishless cycle, so disregard the rainbow in the tank, I'm not so cruel as to poor ammonia in the water while he's there!

 

[Colin_T]

unless you are keeping wild caught fishes the PH will be fine. ANd the fish you want will all be captive bred and live happily in water with a PH of 7.6

bleeding heart tetras are more peaceful than serpaes, which are a renowned fin nipper.

you should put a picture or some coloured card across the back of the tank. it will look nicer and help calm the fish down. Black or blue look best but get whatever you like.

If you want a small peaceful barb then get cherry barbs or ruby barbs. Again tho they are schooling fishes and need to be kept in groups of 6 or more, the same as the tetras.

 

[BobbyBray]

Cherry barbs seem like a nice option. I'm still leaning heavily towards the lemon tetras, so perhaps a school of them along with a school of rasbora's or cherry's. Since I took that photo I've put a background on the tank, but its one of those standard mixed plant design backgrounds. As far as the schools go, how many 5 or 6 tetra or cherry barb sized schools could I eventually introduce into a 29 gallon (110 liter) tank? Could I do 3 schools, or would I be pushing that?

Thanks again for all the advice so far, you guys are awesome!

 

[Colin_T]

You could have 3 groups of small fish, ie: 6 x lemon tetras, 6 x harlequin rasboras & 6 x cherry barbs, and you could have 4 x corydoras. You could probably even have 6 x zebra or leopard danios in the tank too.
Just make sure the filter is established before you add them and monitor the nitrate levels when they are all in there. If the nitrates go up rapidly between water changes, then either do more water changes, or reduce the amount of food going into the tank, or reduce the number of fish in the tank.
But realistically you could have the fish I just listed without any real problems.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yup i agree with Colin's suggestions.

 

[BobbyBray]

Sweet, thats for the advice guys. That would definitely be one active tank! I think I'll try to work my way up to that once the tank is done cycling.