Fluval Edge Stocking Suggestions

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carter319

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Hello guys -

Hoping for some advice here about my new Fluval Edge set-up.

I understand there's a lot of controversy about this tank but I received it as a gift so I didn't have much choice.

Its 23 litres and has the Zen Garden add-on. I have the heater and the lights are timed for 9 hours a day. I know there's also been questions over the oxygenation of the Edge so on the advice of others I also have a small air pump delivering 1 litre per minute which is timed to run 15 out of every 90 minutes.

Its currently cycling with 2 white cloud mountain minnows and tomorrow they will have been in there for a week. Providing my water quality is OK I plan on adding some new fish.

This is the stocking I'm considering and would appreciate any comments & suggestions:

2 x White Cloud Mountain Minnow
3 x Male Guppy
2 x Bumblebee Gobies

Thanks for your help!

Den
 
I would go with 4-5 Male Guppies. The minnows like a good bit of swimming space and like to school. The bumble bee gobies prefer brackish water. If you were able to get some Endlers Livebearers, they would be great for that size tank and are colorful.
 
Okay where to start....

1) The minnows and guppies will snap any and all food up before the bumblebees can even look at it. Bumbles will need a species-only tank for this reason most of the time.
2) The white clouds need to be kept in a group of at least 6 in a tank of at least 20g. They are ridiculously energetic fish and will harass tankmates if they don't have a proper school. Not to mention they are a oldwater, not tropical fish.

Also, not all bumblebee species prefer brackish. There are some that are strictly fresh. They can be distinguished by whether their stripes completely enclose the body or not.

Now here is a tock list from the thread Stocking Fluval Edge, which I strongly suggest you read. I also recommed this thread in which a total noob with no prior fishkeeping experience pulls a properly stocked edge off.

I agree. No neons. Here are some potential tenants:

One of these
-5 male Endlers livebearer
-6 Microrasboras*
-6 Emerald eye / green neon tetras
-3-5 Male Guppies
-3 Bumblebee gobies**
-1 Dwarf puffer**
-3 African Dwarf Frogs (possibly?)

And / or one of these (except with ** fish)
-4-6 Dwarf shrimp eg. Cherry Shrimp, CRS, CBS, Pearl Blue Shrimp, Emerald Green Shrimp, Amano Shrimp
-3 Ghost Shrimp
-2 Zebra / Nerite Snails
-1 Ramshorn Snail


* This genera includes a zillion little rasboras that are all under about 1.5". Very cool fish and perfect for small setups. Just a few from this family are: Celestial Pearl Danios / Galaxy Rasboras, Boraras briggitae, B. merah, exclaimation point danios... the list goes on! DOn't forget: keep no less than 6 of the same species.
** For more experienced fish keepers. They are rather messy and will not accept dry food.


Hope that helped! Obviously you will have to fiddle around with the actual numbers if you want to get reasonable bioload but all species should be happy in an Edge.

Whatever you choose, good luck!
 
Thanks Fish Guy and kelly 528.

Have been reading up on the Gobies and agree they're not the best way to go. I wish Hagen would be a bit more specific with their recommendations for their Fluval Edge!

The 2 white clouds were also recommended by the guy from my LFS as good hardy fish for a new set-up so I hope I haven't been too misinformed with regards to them.

So, after a re-think, my plan is to keep the 2 white clouds in there, add 4 male guppies (2 at a time, a couple of weeks apart) and leave it at that. That will make 6 small fish in a 23 litre tank and I think that's plenty.

Any feedback on this is much appreciated.
 
Just a question, how long has the tank been set up? I have a feeling you might be in whats called a fish in cycle have a look in the beginners resources section.

As for fish, the white clouds need to be in a school of at least 6 they are a schooling fish and will be stressed without the correct numbers which can lead to all kinds of problems.

A stocking option I would consider would be something like

1 Badis Badis
6 Chilli Rasbora.

These are not run of the mill fish but specialist aquatics dealers will probably stock them or be able to get hold of them. They all stay around an inch or less and all of them are bright red! The rasboras are red and black have a google of them :)

Wills
 
Thanks Fish Guy and kelly 528.

Have been reading up on the Gobies and agree they're not the best way to go. I wish Hagen would be a bit more specific with their recommendations for their Fluval Edge!

The 2 white clouds were also recommended by the guy from my LFS as good hardy fish for a new set-up so I hope I haven't been too misinformed with regards to them.

So, after a re-think, my plan is to keep the 2 white clouds in there, add 4 male guppies (2 at a time, a couple of weeks apart) and leave it at that. That will make 6 small fish in a 23 litre tank and I think that's plenty.

Any feedback on this is much appreciated.

Kelly is right, the white clouds need a bigger tank.

The guy at the LFS has sort of misinformed you, yes. These guys get to about an inch and a half (if not a bit bigger), need quite large groups (at least 6) and need lots of zoooooom space. They often get recommended for smaller tanks beause people at LFS either don't know, don't care or feel bad constantly saying "no" to what the customer wants.

I know where I work I'd be in major trouble if I refused to sell white clouds for a small tank like yours.

Ideally, take the white clouds out. Are you using them to start the cycle? If so, you are in a fish-in cycle and NEED to read the info in this link. If you don't conduct a fish-in cycle correctly, the fish will get sick or die or be left with permanent gill and nerve damage.

The stocking ideas suggested have some very, very unusual and cool fish in them. Definitely worth a look. Fishkeeping should never be rushed and it's not as easy as most people think.
 
Kelly is right, the white clouds need a bigger tank.

The guy at the LFS has sort of misinformed you, yes. These guys get to about an inch and a half (if not a bit bigger), need quite large groups (at least 6) and need lots of zoooooom space. They often get recommended for smaller tanks beause people at LFS either don't know, don't care or feel bad constantly saying "no" to what the customer wants.

I know where I work I'd be in major trouble if I refused to sell white clouds for a small tank like yours.

Ideally, take the white clouds out. Are you using them to start the cycle? If so, you are in a fish-in cycle and NEED to read the info in this link. If you don't conduct a fish-in cycle correctly, the fish will get sick or die or be left with permanent gill and nerve damage.

The stocking ideas suggested have some very, very unusual and cool fish in them. Definitely worth a look. Fishkeeping should never be rushed and it's not as easy as most people think.

Assaye -

Thanks for your input. Interesting to hear from the perspective of someone who is 'in the business'.

Yes, I'm doing the fish-in cycle, again, as recommended by the LFS guys. They've been in for a week. I'm not performing anywhere near as many water tests as recommended in the article you linked as the LFS has been doing that for me (once 2 days ago and they'll do another tomorrow). Last test the ammonia was a little high but a 50% water change later I'm hoping things will be better tomorrow.

On advice from this and other websites I have just ordered a testing kit (eBay worked out a real bargain) so I'll be able to do the testing from home. Obviously I know its hardly scientific, but the two little dudes are looking pretty healthy. The stress of moving from the shop to my Edge appeared to take its toll and they lost a bit of their colour, but they're currently looking more vibrant than ever. I can only assume that's a good thing.

You mentioned taking the white clouds out. What exactly would I do with them? I'm taking on board the suggestion that they are not ideally suited to the Fluval Edge but would the shop take them back?

A stocking option I would consider would be something like

1 Badis Badis
6 Chilli Rasbora.

These are not run of the mill fish but specialist aquatics dealers will probably stock them or be able to get hold of them. They all stay around an inch or less and all of them are bright red! The rasboras are red and black have a google of them :)

Wills -

Thanks for the suggestion. They rasboras look great! The main appeal with the guppies was that they don't need to shoal and therefore the numbers would be less of an issue. Rasboras are shoaling fish, but would different types of rasbora shoal together, e.g. 2 Chili Rasboras, 2 Spotted Rasboras and 2 Exclamation-Points?

Cheers
Den
 
Kelly is right, the white clouds need a bigger tank.

The guy at the LFS has sort of misinformed you, yes. These guys get to about an inch and a half (if not a bit bigger), need quite large groups (at least 6) and need lots of zoooooom space. They often get recommended for smaller tanks beause people at LFS either don't know, don't care or feel bad constantly saying "no" to what the customer wants.

I know where I work I'd be in major trouble if I refused to sell white clouds for a small tank like yours.

Ideally, take the white clouds out. Are you using them to start the cycle? If so, you are in a fish-in cycle and NEED to read the info in this link. If you don't conduct a fish-in cycle correctly, the fish will get sick or die or be left with permanent gill and nerve damage.

The stocking ideas suggested have some very, very unusual and cool fish in them. Definitely worth a look. Fishkeeping should never be rushed and it's not as easy as most people think.

Assaye -

Thanks for your input. Interesting to hear from the perspective of someone who is 'in the business'.

Yes, I'm doing the fish-in cycle, again, as recommended by the LFS guys. They've been in for a week. I'm not performing anywhere near as many water tests as recommended in the article you linked as the LFS has been doing that for me (once 2 days ago and they'll do another tomorrow). Last test the ammonia was a little high but a 50% water change later I'm hoping things will be better tomorrow.

On advice from this and other websites I have just ordered a testing kit (eBay worked out a real bargain) so I'll be able to do the testing from home. Obviously I know its hardly scientific, but the two little dudes are looking pretty healthy. The stress of moving from the shop to my Edge appeared to take its toll and they lost a bit of their colour, but they're currently looking more vibrant than ever. I can only assume that's a good thing.

You mentioned taking the white clouds out. What exactly would I do with them? I'm taking on board the suggestion that they are not ideally suited to the Fluval Edge but would the shop take them back?

A stocking option I would consider would be something like

1 Badis Badis
6 Chilli Rasbora.

These are not run of the mill fish but specialist aquatics dealers will probably stock them or be able to get hold of them. They all stay around an inch or less and all of them are bright red! The rasboras are red and black have a google of them :)

Wills -

Thanks for the suggestion. They rasboras look great! The main appeal with the guppies was that they don't need to shoal and therefore the numbers would be less of an issue. Rasboras are shoaling fish, but would different types of rasbora shoal together, e.g. 2 Chili Rasboras, 2 Spotted Rasboras and 2 Exclamation-Points?

Cheers
Den

Ideally, you could find a loving home for them with someone who had a decent sized tank (50 litres plus) and would keep them in a big group.

I know these things are hard to do and I feel bad selling them to 20 litre tanks one minute and suggesting people rehome them the next, but what I can say here and what I can say at work are very different.

The shop might take them back - all you can do is ask.

With the water changes and testing, you need to be doing that at least daily, if not twice a day. Again, the LFS might say too many water changes are bad but the stress of being in bad water is far worse than the stress of water changes. They might also say that you'll slow down the cycle or lose too many good bacteria - these claims have been proven false and if I can find that article I will link you to it.

Really glad you're getting a test kit :good:

As for the rasboras - shoaling fish need to be kept in groups of the same species, so mixing different rasboras is not ideal. In your tank you would only have enough space for one shoal.
 
Yeah I'm sure if you posted in the classifieds you would find someone with a nice white cloud setup who would take them.

The danger is that when shoaling minnows, tetras or rasboras are not kept in a proper school, they attempt to 'blend in' with other species as a survival tactic. Which inherently leads to the white clouds relentlessly chasing an unwilling fish around the tank. Some schooling fish also nip as a form of communication and may nip a slower fish to death.

And FTR a good rule of thumb is to NEVER, EVER GO ON THE ADVICE OF A LFS EMPLOYEE. Always research their claims before you buy. Maybe 1 in 50 LFS employees will know what they are talking about, so you would literally have the same chance of getting good fishkeeping advice if you just asked a random person off the street. No exaggeration!
 
Yeah as said the chilli rasboras would need all the same type. Unfortunately thats just the limits that the edge puts on you they look fantastic but their practicality is very limited, you need to keep your stocking very very simple or get a bigger tank :/
 

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