Help Stocking A 63l Tank Please

[yasinullah]

Hi everyone, still doing a fishless cycle but wanted some advice on what I can stock in my Juwel Rekord 600, 63litre tank.

After cycling is complete, I was thinking of:

Harlequin rasboras, platys (sunset platys look really nice!) and some guppies, but am not sure on numbers, I'm aware the platys and guppies are livebearers and will not be able to look after fry, so can I stick with just one sex? And will going for different colour variations affect the numbers I should keep.

In the near future, I want to be able to add a shoal of neon tetras and/or glowlight tetras.


also off the topic but, the lfs had 2 sharks, about the size of my hand to elbow! certainly not for me though! but can you actually keep them in a large aquarium tank?


Thanks!!

 

[arobinson1984]

Hi

First off congrats for choosing to do a fishless cycle, alot better in my opinion and certainly a lot easier!

If you go for platys and guppies, as you said you should keep same sex so you are not overrun with fry. Get male guppies, they are alot brighter in colour.

Regarding the shark you mentioned, I'm guessing it was a bala shark (also known as silver shark) which are silver in colour with black lining around the fins and tail and yes these can be kept in aquariums but need a 120 US gallon tank at least which is around 450L. They are actually peaceful fish but should be kept in groups of 4+ as they are shoaling fish and in right conditions can grow over 12" in length

Andy

 

[yasinullah]

Thanks for the advice Andy. They really caught my eye, as well as the F8 puffers, very nice! and the rams of course!

Anyway I'm thinking of getting:

6 Harlequin rasbora
2 Male guppies
2 Male platys

to try and stay close to the 1" per gallon rule,
then later on add maybe 1 more guppy and platy, and eventually 6 tetras.

Of the initial 10, would I be better off adding the 6 rasboras 1 week, and the guppies and platys the following? or quicker than a week?
With reagrds to the rasboras, one source says keep a minimum of 4, somewhere else said 6, what would you recommend as a minimum number? As I'd probably lower their number if need be.

Thanks

 

[waterdrop]

Rasboras, guppies and platies are all fine for introduction immediately after a fishless cycle. Personally I'd add 6 rasboras (I'd go with 6 rather than 4 if I could) and 2 platies immediately after the big water change (remember, you want to keep supplying your bacteria with ammonia and now the fish will need to do it within a day or so of stopping the household ammonia, right?) Then I'd add the guppies a few weeks later or whenever I found two males with really nice tails and fins! Of course you could change that depending on circumstances.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[yasinullah]

Rasboras, guppies and platies are all fine for introduction immediately after a fishless cycle. Personally I'd add 6 rasboras (I'd go with 6 rather than 4 if I could) and 2 platies immediately after the big water change (remember, you want to keep supplying your bacteria with ammonia and now the fish will need to do it within a day or so of stopping the household ammonia, right?) Then I'd add the guppies a few weeks later or whenever I found two males with really nice tails and fins! Of course you could change that depending on circumstances.

~~waterdrop~~

brilliant! will go with 6 rasboras and 2 platys first! thanks as always waterdrop you are a fountain of knowledge

 

[waterdrop]

Many here have more knowlege than me but thank you. I'd only go with male platies, just like with the guppies, unless you're going to have lots of livebearer tanks like OM, lol.

~~waterdrop~~