Ideas for stocking

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

Hello everyone, I'm pretty new to all this so I thought I would get some inputs before I went out and bought some fish I would regret getting. I have a 30 US Gallon tank, and I finally have it established with the correct chemistry levels. So far this is what I have in it...

2 Emerald Cories
3 Buenos Aires Tetras
2 Black Tetras
2 small live plants (not sure of type)

I would like to add some color and variety to my tank, and was thinking maybe an Angelfish, or a Betta, but I dont know if they will get along too well with my other fish. Will these combinations work, if not does anybody have any other suggestions of some cool fish to add to my tank?

Also if I got a different species of Cories, say 2 spotted Cories, would they get along with my Emeralds?

 

[freshcichlid]

hey, i would go with the angel, i love angels and you have a good amount of room for one or two
about the cories, i am not sure but good luck !

any pics with all that it has right now?

 

[blitztidus]

I would also go with angels as how they add alot to almost any tank. and for the cories, 2 spotted should be perfectly fine. 30 gs might be a little small for angels. How tall is your tank?

 

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

My tank is 15 inches tall. I thought that the Angels may grow too big, is there a type of Angel that does not get very big? If worst came to worst I guess I could give it to a friend of mine that has a 55 gal. tank, if it did grow too big. Should I get one, or do they do better in pairs? Or does it make a difference? I don't plan on breeding them. Thanks for the quick responses guys. BTW I do not have any pics yet, hope to get some soon though!

 

[MegTheFish]

First of all, you'll need to get more of the fish you already have. I would get atleast (you can fit more though) 3 more Buenos Aires Tetras and 4 more Black Tetras (what are these, black skirted tetras? black neon tetras? black phantom tetras?) because tetras are schooling fish and you need atleast 6 of them. Emerald Cories are shoaling fish, and like schooling fish they need to be kept in groups. Get atleast one more emerald cory, but more would be better.

I would add only 1 angel, because I heard that if you end up getting a female/male pair that they can become aggressive when breeding. Also, if you get more then two and two of them decide to pair up they will harrass the other angel(s). I'm no expert on them but this is what I have read.

Also if I got a different species of Cories, say 2 spotted Cories, would they get along with my Emeralds?

Yes, they will get along, but they probably won't shoal together. I would get atleast one more emerald cory and then get 3 spotted cories, then you should be ok.

 

[FishEnthusiast]

15" isn't deep enough for an angel IMO, they need at least 18". Also Meg is right. You need to beef up your shoals. Buenos aires tetras are really nippy and wouldn't go well with bettas or angels. They also get a bit bigger than some tetras. You may be able to do something like danios. How long is the tank?

 

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

Sorry, they're Black Skirted Tetras. That wouldn't be too much stock for my 30 gallon tank?

7 Buenos Aires Tetras
6 Black Skirt Tetras
6 Cories
and 1 Angel

I also want to get an algae eater or two, not sure about what kind yet though.

 

[MegTheFish]

Actually, like FishEnthusiast, I would skip out on the angel. I saw a full grown one in a lfs once, and it was huge! Probably too big for a 30 gallon.
The 7 Buenos Aires Tetras, 6 Black Skirted Tetras and the 6 Cories with maybe a centerpeice fish and a group of ottos would work great.

Oops, I just looked up the Buenos Aires Tetra profile and FishEnthusiast is right, it said they get to 3", so that would be 21" of fish with them alone. Maybe you could just get 5? But it wouldn't be a full school then...hmmm...could you return them and get a group of smaller tetras maybe? Or I think having just 6 of them along with the black skirted tetras, the 6 cories and the ottos would work, but then you wouldn't have a centerpeice fish.

 

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

Hmmm.. maybe the Buenos Aires Tetras wren't such a good idea. Since the Angel is basically out of the question, what would be another good "centerpiece fish"? The tank is 36 inches long. I planned on getting more of the Tetras and Cories, but just trying to take it slow since I just finished cycling the tank. Thanks for the responses, I'm about to head off to bed, but I'll get back with you guys tomorrow. Good Night.

 

[FishEnthusiast]

A nice centerpiece fish could be a gourami. The three spot blue gourami or variations of it, like the opaline gourami are very nice fish. They get to about 5-6" and don't need depth like angels do. I really like them. I have both an opaline gourami and a three spot blue gourami, and I love them both. They do have really long ventral fins that may encourage some nipping. I started with buenos aires tetras, they went back to the lfs after I saw how nippy they were.

If I were you I would return the buenos aires, get more black skirt tetras, more cories and an opaline gourami. That is just me though.

 

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

OK so I've decided to take back the Buenos Aires Tetras and add some more cories and black skirt tetras.

I remember seeing at the fish store some black skirt tetras that had longer, prettier fins, are those actually black skirt tetras? And if so could I get a few of them to school with my other two, which do not have those types of fins?

I also need an algae eater, what would be some good recommendations for my tank?

 

[MegTheFish]

OK so I've decided to take back the Buenos Aires Tetras and add some more cories and black skirt tetras.

I remember seeing at the fish store some black skirt tetras that had longer, prettier fins, are those actually black skirt tetras? And if so could I get a few of them to school with my other two, which do not have those types of fins?

I also need an algae eater, what would be some good recommendations for my tank?

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Those are long black skirted tetras, and I THINK they would school with the normal black skirted tetras, but I'm not too sure. I can't see why not.

For an algae eater, I would either go for a group of 3-6 ottos or a small pleco. I don't really know much on the small plecos but I'll go search now.