More Fish For My Tank?

[CezzaXV]

Hello everyone,

What the title says really - have I got space for more fish for my tank?

A bit of background on my tank: I've got a 60L tank running a Fluval 205 (which is a little overkill but I dream of having a bigger tank perhaps some time this year and I deliberately went bigger in case this would happen). I've currently got 6 assorted guppies, 6 cardinal tetra and 5 three-lined cories (I plan on getting another one soon as I lost one some months ago now).

The cories tend to only come out at night time and I don't see them often, and the cardinals are very timid, though after a recent rescape I often see one or two out by themselves so I'm hoping this means they feel safer than they did before. I don't see them an awful lot though.

I always do at least one water change a week, although most weeks I will do two if I have the time. My water has hardly any hardness to it at all and the pH can drop quite a bit over the space of a few days, so two smaller changes is generally preferred. I've been monitoring my water perameters recently and my tap water has nitrate of 10-20ppm, and by the time I get to water change time it might have risen to 40-50ppm so I think I'm doing well.

So yeah, what I'm asking is whether it would be advisable to add new fish to my tank? The cories stay at the bottom and the cardinals tend to hide in the plants a lot (I had 8 before and lost 2, and I didn't notice any difference in their behaviour when there were more so not sure I really want to up the shoal numbers). It's only the guppies who swim in the open water and it's usually only them you really see so the tank can look quite empty at times.

I'm not a newbie who is going to do what they want no matter what you guys say, so please be honest. Considering some additional tetras of some kind or maybe 1-3 bigger fish, but I'm open to ideas, as well as being told no!

 

[soybean]

Trio of honey gouramis?

 

[Rummynose]

Your tank is kind of on the small side and instead of getting another kind of tetra I would suggest to get more of the Cardinals. I think if you had more of them you'd see them out and about and schooling back and forth. They feel braver in larger numbers.

 

[snazy]

Hi Cezza, do you have a picture of the tank?

Maybe the fish are hiding because of not enough hiding places, decoration or there is something that makes them feel uncomfortable?

 

[CezzaXV]

Hi Cezza, do you have a picture of the tank?

Maybe the fish are hiding because of not enough hiding places, decoration or there is something that makes them feel uncomfortable?

I've not got a photo since I rescaped, but once this water change in progress is done I'll take a photo as I've been meaning to anyway.

My tank is pretty heavily planted though, with loads of hiding places for the fish and shady areas away from the light.

 

[snazy]

My tank is pretty heavily planted though, with loads of hiding places for the fish and shady areas away from the light.

May be that's why you don't get to see them then
A photo would be nice anyway

 

[CezzaXV]

Haha, perhaps! But I can't be doing with all these minimalist scapes. Plants all the way for me!

Anyway, here's my tank. I'm planning to add a few more plants to this as there's a few gaps, but you get the general idea. As you can see though, only the guppies are visible in this picture, and I'm looking for fish which would be "out there" like the guppies always are. I hardly ever see them swimming amongst the plants.

 

[CezzaXV]

Anyone else?

 

[Tizer]

Soybean offered a very good option, a trio of Honey Gourami would be ace. I've got a trio in a 35 litre and they don't look out of place in the slightest and they always come up to the water surface to see what i'm feeding them. You could also squeeze in a small school (10) of dwarf rasbora (very fragile, but very inquisitive), ember tetra (colour up nicely and school together well), celestial pearl danios (a little shy and might hide a little) and even some cherry shrimp. They are all very small fish and the bioload is next to nothing and with the filtration you have, you've got no worries. When and if you upgrade your tank, you could double the number of them and have a few nice big schools of small fish which makes for interesting viewing. Big fish in small tanks just don't do it for me, so i would stay clear of anything chunky, platies for example, chunky things and poop a lot!

Do you have a problem with your filter pushing your sand around? Looks very thin at the back.

 

[sadguppy]

Your set up is lovely, I really like the big root and the style of planting.

I know my opinion is just that, an opinion, and others may disagree - however as I see it, there really is no black and white answer to this one, it has to be trial and error. The traditional 1" per gallon rule is enormously outdated and doesn't take into account the level of filtration we have these days (something I read said that this rule pre-dates filtration entirely!).

I am not saying buy a bala shark or an oscar but I personally would say yes, you have room for more, if your water stats are normal and you're a good dedictaed fishkeeper as you have a good filter.

As above, what about a trio of dwarf or honey gouramis or maybe you could get some platies (maybe 4 or 5?) as they are colourful and playful. Or pop into your LFS and see what takes your fancy, come and do a bit of research and if they are peaceful and only grow to 2-3inches, and won't nip the guppy's fins, I say go for it.

 

[CezzaXV]

Some interesting options have been raised, and I'm glad you guys think it's a doable thing. Gouramis have never really interested me that much but I'll pop into my LFS some time and get some ideas. Often I look at fish differently when I'm in the market to buy some.

I suspect there will be cherry shrimp at this tank at some point. I plan on getting a shrimp tank soon (once my room is redecorated) and I'm going to start off with cherry shrimp to check everything works well and the tank is habitable (since the ultimate goal in the shrimp tank is no heater and no filtration other than live plants). When I see the cherry shrimp are living and thriving, I plan to move them into my main tank and go for something a little more exotic and expensive in my shrimp tank.

Btw, I don't have trouble with my filter pushing my sand around, but I do have a problem with my cories doing it lol! I don't know what it is, but they seem to love digging in the corners of the tank and around any object in the substrate. You can't see from the photo, but a lot of my foreground plants and the roots of the wood have trenches dug around them! I have to weigh down all of my plants with weights, even the ones that are planted in the substrate. Bless 'em!

 

[Tizer]

I was of the exact same opinion of Gouramis about a month ago, now i find them very interesting fish, its nice having fish that don't wet their pants when you walk up to the tank.

 

[ZoddyZod]

no stocking advice from me, just popping in to say I love the set-up!

 

[snazy]

I was of the exact same opinion of Gouramis about a month ago, now i find them very interesting fish, its nice having fish that don't wet their pants when you walk up to the tank.

He, he, wet their pants
Mine are wearing skirts mostly.

@CezzaXV
The tank is lovely. Is there enough sand to hold the plants down so the corys can't dig them out maybe?
Get yourself a few female guppies and soon the tank will be looking very lively

 

[CezzaXV]

I was of the exact same opinion of Gouramis about a month ago, now i find them very interesting fish, its nice having fish that don't wet their pants when you walk up to the tank.

He, he, wet their pants
Mine are wearing skirts mostly.

@CezzaXV
The tank is lovely. Is there enough sand to hold the plants down so the corys can't dig them out maybe?
Get yourself a few female guppies and soon the tank will be looking very lively

As you can see from the photo, my cories will dig all the way down to the glass if I let them, so don't think thicker sand is going to help. I prefer to weigh my plants down anyway. I've had a few more delicate plants which my cories have dug up in the past. I've come back to my tank to find what's not been garbled up by the filter floating around the tank. I'd be mad at them but they're just so adorable.

The more I think about gouramis, the more I'm warming to the idea, but gonna take a look around my LFS first and see what they've got going. I do need some fish which, as Tizer said, aren't gonna wet their pants when I get too close!