Need Advice On Fish Numbers

[gazzzak]

Hello, I have been reading and cycling for some time now, and am nearly ready for fish. I want to run through how many of these fish I can put into my tank when fully cycled, (currently at day 7 of 12 hour zeros).

I'd love to have neon tetras and harlequin rasboras, but what would be a good number of each for my 125 litre tank? Is there another species that I could add that you'd recommend?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Tizer]

neons make me yawns, such a boring fish. gogo lots of Harlequins!! 30+!!!!!!!!

 

[fluttermoth]

I know some people think it's an old wives tale that neons don't do well in new tanks, but I've always fund it to be true, so I'd leave them for the moment.

In a 125l I'd prefer to keep only one species of shoaler anyway; it looks far more natural (and impressive!)

If you just had herlequins you could easily fit 30 in; I'd start with a dozen and see how you feel once they've settled in.

 

[Randomitity]

To each their own when it comes to fish. I normally do 1 fish per every 5 liter but that is me some here use 4 liter as their ruling but this is to keep from overstocking which can become a big problem. If you get either of these you need them in a group of 6 or more so that they don't get to stressed

 

[gazzzak]

neons make me yawns, such a boring fish. gogo lots of Harlequins!! 30+!!!!!!!!

OK, I see your point. What about mixing harlequins with smaller corys, (pandas?)? What about numbers then?

 

[fluttermoth]

If you work on one inch of small fish to one gallon of water, you won't go far wrong.
Always calculate using the eventual, adult size of the fish, not the aize you buy them at and remember it's only a rule of thumb for small, tropical fish; if you try and use it for oscars or goldfish, you'll be in a whole heap of trouble!

Both the harlequins and panda cories need to be in shoals of 6+, but after that it's up to you how you want to assign the numbers!

I wouldn't suggest you keep cories if you have a gravel substrate though; I used to keep mine on gravel but after having put them on sand, I won't ever keep them on gravel again. It really does make such a difference to them.

 

[Tizer]

You can still get away with 30 Harlequins and some corys for the bottom. The bottom of the tank in this case has no residents at the moment so you could probably get away with about 12 corys, but i think that would be your limit. no more adding "more fish that might be nice" later on etc. As long as your filtration is good i dont see a problem. Oh, +1 for the sand substrate for corys, they love it.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum gazzzak.
You should be able to stock at least 6 or 8 rasboras with a dozen neons in a tank that size. I personally love fish that school/shoal well. If there is no threat in a tank, the shoaling will be much less evident than in a "dangerous" tank. Danger is what the fish themselves perceive and may not be real danger to those fish. I like the concept of having cories in numbers of at least 6 of a species with the rasboras or neons but that is personal preference.