Mom! When can I get more fish?

[purple_drazi]

I know, I know, typical beginner question but I'm asking anyway!

The tank is a planted 12g eclipse and it was cycled fish-less-ly all through September. The test readings were all 0ppm for days so I put 3 platys (a boy and two girls) in 3 weeks ago.
On Friday I added 2 Panda cats to keep each other company & help keep the bottom clean and 2 guppies (impulse buy: they looked cute).
Sometime in the night last night the dumphus boy platy wedged himself between a rock and the tank wall and is now an ex-platy I've removed the rock. I'm not keen on fish babies, no space to deal with fry so I'd just as soon not get another male platy.

The test readings have held steady at 0ppm since the tank finished cycling. What I'd really like are some neons. Is the tank stable enough for them? Is there room for more fishies in this tank? If so, how many can I get and when can I get them?

 

[modernhamlet]

Well, I'm afraid your impulse buy is starting to push you towards fully stocked. At this point, you should probably add 1 or 2 more panda corys, as they like to school and 3 is an absolute minimum. That would leave your tank at maximum capacity, IMO.

If you're willing to return the guppies and pandas to the LFS, you could then get 4 of a smaller cory species (pandas get big for corys) and 5-6 neons.

 

[sylvia]

Neons can be difficult to keep if your water is hard or alkaline so only attempt to keep them if you have softer water with a lower pH (or just add some driftwood to your tank ). Modern neons are mass-produced and can be fragile if kept in the wrong conditions. However, I would say its best to just get some more cories and leave it at that. Your platies could still give birth as the male may have managed to mate with them before dying and female platies (as well as other livebearers) have the ability to store sperm and fertilise their own eggs later with it... An alternative to neons may be some other kind of tetra (black phantom love them) which are not as fragile, or some harlequin rasboras (pretty little fish) or golden dwarf barbs (nice little barbs but often hard to find). Again, don't add these unless you get rid of the guppies (and/or your platies) and have replaced your cories with a smaller species, as mentioned, a good choice may be several of the tiny dwarf corydoras.

 

[clutterydrawer]

just for the record..pandas are NOT big for cories. they are bigger than the pygmy species but smaller than pretty much everything else.

 

[purple_drazi]

ok, I need to get another panda cory. I thought that getting a pair would be enough company but I see that it's not. I understand that they'd rather have 5 other mates to hang with but (as nice as they are) I don't want a tank full of cories!

 

[thapsus]

Clutterydrawer is right, pandas are very small corys. My oldest cory (5years) is about 4cm and other panda corys I have are even smaller.

thapsus

 

[purple_drazi]

cute pandas! thanks for the pics!

I have another question though: How can you tell if they're getting enough to eat?

 

[clutterydrawer]

I'm never entirely sure of that but i figure if they look healthy and are growing (some of mine have put on about 1cm since ive got them) , they're getting enough...I wish they could talk tho, so they could tell me.

 

[Slyspy]

Don't be overly concerned about the fragility of neons either. If I can keep them then I'm sure that you can!

 

[purple_drazi]

Done! (almost!)
I took the two girls (platys) back to the shop today and got neons. yay!
I put the bag in the water at 2pm, turned the lights off, let the water temps equalise for an hour, then have started adding 1oz of tank water every 1/2 hr or more.
I know that they're really sensitive to water quality changes so I'm in no hurry.
<really excited!>

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

how many neons did you get?