Fish For New Tank

[bravehart]

We have a 60L rectangular tropical tank which is now cycled and we have looked in to what fish we want and would like the advice of the forum as to compatability and quantity of fish or other things we have over looked.

My daughter would like:

2 Sunset Platys
2 Neon Tetras
2 Black Phantom Tetras
1 Ottocinclis
2 Amano Plant Shrimps
after 3/4 weeks
1 Corydoras Julli
after 6/8 weeks
2/3 Guppys

Would be pleased to hear people's thoughts.

Tim

 

[walkers101]

the tetras would do better with 5 plus of each mate and with the platys you should be looking at 2 female and 1 male

 

[bravehart]

the tetras would do better with 5 plus of each mate and with the platys you should be looking at 2 female and 1 male

Thanks bearing that in mind we are now thinking:

3 Sunset Platys (2 female, 1 male)
5 Neon Tetras
either 2 Ottocinclis or 2 Amano Plant Shrimp
after 3/4 weeks
1 Corydoras Julli
after 6/8 weeks
2/3 Guppys

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Corys are also supposed to be in groups of at least four or five. I would also wait to add the neons or ottos, as they are more sensitive to new tanks. Not sure about the shrimp.

 

[bravehart]

Corys are also supposed to be in groups of at least four or five. I would also wait to add the neons or ottos, as they are more sensitive to new tanks. Not sure about the shrimp.

OK that's a shame haven't got room for that many corys. Does anybody know any bottom feeders that don't mind being solitary.
The Tetras: I presume having 4/5 means of one kind not 5 tetras of different varieties?

Thoughts now:

3 Sunset Platys (2 female, 1 male)

after 3/4 weeks
5 Neon Tetras
either 2 Ottocinclis or 2 Amano Plant Shrimp

after 6/8 weeks
3 Guppys (2 female, 1 male)

 

[Curiosity101]

Braveheart you don't need 2female platies and 1 male. It's just that if you're keeping mixed sexes you need 2 females per male.
In your case I would suggest keeping it as just 2 female platys.

How have you cycled your tank? If you have fishless cycled it to take 5ppm of ammonia then you can add at least half of your final stock straight away.

Some notes...
Neon tetras don't always do well in new tanks, not sure why but they have a higher death rate in new tanks. If you can avoid adding them first then do.

Ottos will need some specific feeding, don't expect them to simply survive on algae.

You will have 4 female live bearing fish in that tank. Expect to buy them all pregnant, and even if you don't have a male platy it wouldn't be unusual for you to get 3 batches of fry from each female before they stop producing.
This could be a problem as you could quickly become over-run and have water quality issues.

My stocking advice would be:
2 Female Platys
3 Guppies (though I personally would get 3 males, they will bicker but with 60l they should be fine)
3/4 Amano shrimp (or cherry shrimp)
And then after a month or so add the neons, just to give them the best start possible.

Your tank wont be fully stocked by then and actually I personally think you would have room for 5 corys, I would stick to something small like panda corys or sterbai or possibly even a slightly larger group of pygmys.

 

[bravehart]

Thanks...I have just run that stock in http/www.aqadvisor.com/
and, although I can't find our exact filter, it looks as though we can manage to have the Corys too! Yipee!
The tank is cycled, but I think we will build it up slowly just in case.
So will go with 2 Female Platys first.

Sunset Platys (2 female)

after 2weeks
3 Amano Plant Shrimp or Cherry Shrimp (whichever is in LFS)
4 (smaller variety) Corys

after 4 weeks
5 Neon Tetras
3 Guppys (2 female, 1 male)

 

[Curiosity101]

That defeats the whole point of cycling bravehart. If you fill it with only 2 platys then a very large proportion of the bacteria you've spent so long building up will die.
They will starve as there will be nothing for them to eat. This could cause future issues with large ammonia spikes when you add more fish.

At the very least I would add

2 Platys
3 Guppies
and whatever shrimp

Then a few days later add
4 corys

and another few days add
5 neons

That tank should be fully stocked within a week.
Once you have built up such a robust colony it's silly to let it die. And also if their is sufficient ammonia present the bacteria can double in a matter of hours. Meaning small ammonia spikes are less likely to happen.

Eg.
2 Sunset platies require 100 bacteria to process their waste
5ppm of ammonia requires 10000 bacteria to process it's waste.
9900 bacteria would die when you added just 2 sunset platys.

Then when you added 4 shrimp and 4 corys imagine they took around 500 bacteria to process their waste. Well that 100 would have to double 5 times before the ammonia would be kept stable, and then it would take additional times for them to actually remove ammonia+nitrite from the water.

However if you add a large group alltogether then you keep most of your bacteria colony hopefully.
And so when you then add new fish, it should hopefully only need to double once to produce sufficient numbers to process waste.
That way you will never risk seeing an ammonia spike.
Eitherways there is certainly no point in waiting 2weeks, you could add fish every couple of days as it will have definitely caught up by then.

 

[bravehart]

That defeats the whole point of cycling bravehart. If you fill it with only 2 platys then a very large proportion of the bacteria you've spent so long building up will die.
They will starve as there will be nothing for them to eat. This could cause future issues with large ammonia spikes when you add more fish.

At the very least I would add

2 Platys
3 Guppies
and whatever shrimp

Then a few days later add
4 corys

and another few days add
5 neons

That tank should be fully stocked within a week.
Once you have built up such a robust colony it's silly to let it die. And also if their is sufficient ammonia present the bacteria can double in a matter of hours. Meaning small ammonia spikes are less likely to happen.

Eg.
2 Sunset platies require 100 bacteria to process their waste
5ppm of ammonia requires 10000 bacteria to process it's waste.
9900 bacteria would die when you added just 2 sunset platys.

Then when you added 4 shrimp and 4 corys imagine they took around 500 bacteria to process their waste. Well that 100 would have to double 5 times before the ammonia would be kept stable, and then it would take additional times for them to actually remove ammonia+nitrite from the water.

However if you add a large group alltogether then you keep most of your bacteria colony hopefully.
And so when you then add new fish, it should hopefully only need to double once to produce sufficient numbers to process waste.
That way you will never risk seeing an ammonia spike.
Eitherways there is certainly no point in waiting 2weeks, you could add fish every couple of days as it will have definitely caught up by then.

Luckily I have reread the article on cycling. I had inconveniently forgotten that the nitrite had to be getting to zero within 12 hours also. I couldn't understand why the nitrite level wasn't going down when the ammonia was disappearing after 12 hours. I now realise we are only half way through cycling!

I wasn't aware that the bacteria would be dying if they weren't being fed by ammonia so I will take your advice and once we are fully cycled we will virtually fully stock. Thanks again.

 

[Assaye]

We have a 60L rectangular tropical tank which is now cycled and we have looked in to what fish we want and would like the advice of the forum as to compatability and quantity of fish or other things we have over looked.

My daughter would like:

2 Sunset Platys
2 Neon Tetras
2 Black Phantom Tetras
1 Ottocinclis
2 Amano Plant Shrimps
after 3/4 weeks
1 Corydoras Julli
after 6/8 weeks
2/3 Guppys

Would be pleased to hear people's thoughts.

Tim

None of the fish will get too big, which is a great start, but you'd be much, much better off with fewer species in the tank.

The reason I say that is because tetras should be kept in larger groups of the same species - they are shoaling fish and just won't feel safe and happy without others of the same kind.

So, neon tetras should be kept in groups of 6 or more, and so should black phantom tetras. Also corydoras should be kept in groups of 6 or more, with 4 as a minimum if needed. Same with otocinclus and ideally amano shrimp.

In order to keep your tank safely stocked, how about something like this:


2 female sunset platys
6 neon tetra OR 6 black phantom tetra
4-6 otos or 4-6 corys
6 shrimp

With livebearers, such as guppys and platys, you need to get the right mix of males and females or go for all one sex. So you'd want all males (both platys and guppies), which could lead to squabbles, or all females. If you want a mix, you need 2-3 females per male. The male guppies could well try to mate with female platys as well. If you get the mix wrong, the females could be bullied and pestered constantly which will make them stressed and eventually ill.

Finally, as others have said, neons and otos should be added after the tank has been fully cycled for a couple of months and I'd wait to add the shrimp too.

 

[Curiosity101]

Assaye...seriously. Do you even read the replies before your post? You didn't used to be like this but recently you just read the first post and then respond...

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Bravehart.
I think that a small tank like that should only have maybe two species in it. That is just my point of view so feel free to ignore it. I find that I can get a much better, more dramatic, stocking by having a nice focus of one or two fish species than the large assortment of a typical Noah's arc tank. If you really want the large variety of species, that is up to you and your own tastes. A nice big group of a single species like platies, along with a single cleanup crew like a group of 5 or 6 of the same cory always looks better to my eye than the large variety.

 

[bravehart]

We have a 60L rectangular tropical tank which is now cycled and we have looked in to what fish we want and would like the advice of the forum as to compatability and quantity of fish or other things we have over looked.

My daughter would like:

2 Sunset Platys
2 Neon Tetras
2 Black Phantom Tetras
1 Ottocinclis
2 Amano Plant Shrimps
after 3/4 weeks
1 Corydoras Julli
after 6/8 weeks
2/3 Guppys

Would be pleased to hear people's thoughts.

Tim

Finally, as others have said, neons and otos should be added after the tank has been fully cycled for a couple of months and I'd wait to add the shrimp too.

OK now I'm confused....If I wait a couple of months after the tank has been cycled with just a few fish in and then add all of those will that not cause a problem, as Curiosity101 said, or do you keep putting a small amount of ammonia in even with fish in to keep the bacteria going?

Tim

 

[Curiosity101]

No you don't add ammonia once fish are added.
And you want to add as much of your stock as possible after the cycle is finished to keep up the bacteria levels and avoid a future spike when adding more fish (as I tried to explain...possibly not very clearly lol).

But it is true that some of the fish you picked aren't what we would recommend for an un mature tank. No one really knows what happens during the 'maturing' process. But basically we sorta figure that there are lots of other little micro-organisms that come into the tank and make it super stable/alter it in some way that we don't test for.
In the early days pH can vary, things like mould can grow etc etc. And even if nothing odd happens sometimes fish like neons and ottos still keel over.
It's weird, and only really happens in a new tank.

So yes you want to add as much stock as possible at first. But if it can be avoided you want to aim to add the most sensitive inhabitants last. Shrimp are quite unaffected by an un-mature tank, but are extremely prone to ammonia poisoning. So if for some reason your tank decided to do a mini cycle (no real reason it would other than that new tanks sometimes do weird things). Then your shrimp could be affected.
I personally would risk it, cause like I said there is no real reason once you've done the cycle that there should be any problems like it spiking. However shrimp produce a tiny bio-load comparitive to their size so adding them early wouldn't keep a significantly large amount of bacteria alive. Not like say...3 male guppies would.

Maybe to make it easier if you come back with a definitive list of what you want to add. Then people could make suggestions on the order they would add them?

 

[Twinklecaz]

Can I butt in and ask..I'm planning to get 4 male Plattys and no females. Is that ok?