Queries on stocking 60l tank

[Kyt]

Hi guys,

Still waiting on my 15 litre cycling for my Betta but I'm tempting to buy another tank!

With all your advice I'm looking at 60litres but my question is:

How many fish/shoals could I stock in a tropical 60 litres?

And

How many fish/shoals could I stock in a cold water 60 litres?

Many thanks in advance

X

 

[Essjay]

It depends on the fish, the tank and your water parameters (pH, hardness).

Rectangular tanks are easier to stock than cubes because they have more swimming length.


There are very few true cold water fish suitable for 60 litres. I can't actually think of any. Which country do you live in? I ask because UK legislation makes it difficult for us to buy any true cold water fish (they could wreak havoc to the native fish if they got into a lake or river).
Goldfish are cold water fish that we can buy but they need tanks bigger than 60 litres.

However, there are temperate fish. Their temperature can't go as low as cold water fish but as long as the room where the tank is located doesn't drop below about 18 deg C in the middle of a cold winter night, this shouldn't be a problem. There are a few temperate species suitable, eg the white clouds you asked about in another post. These come in two colours - the usual grey bodies with red fins, and a yellow bodied colour (called gold white cloud mountain minnows). These could be mixed to make it look like two shoals of different fish. White clouds can live in a wide range of hardness.
But avoid danios. They may be small fish but they are very active and need more swimming length than a 60 litre tank can provide.


Tropical gives you the widest choice. There are many species that would be suitable for 60 litres, depending on the hardness and pH of your tap water. Too many to give a list.

 

[Kyt]

Hi,

It's fish like white cloud minnows I was referring to for cold water.

For tropical I didn't mean types I mean how many shoals I could have.

Thanks for replying

 

[Essjay]

It depends on the fish. You could have quite a few individual fish if they are very tiny, but these fish usually need to be in larger shoals than usual, at least 10 of each species which will limit the number of shoals you could have to maybe three shoals. Larger fish would be OK in smaller shoals (although bigger numbers would be better) but because they are larger fish, you couldn't have as many of them as with smaller fish, so probably 2 shoals max.


As an example, if you have soft water - 10 pygmy cories, and 10 ember tetras. And perhaps a pair of honey gouramis. Or more cories and tetras instead of honey gouramis.
Or for larger fish in soft water - 8 cardinal tetras and 8 glowlight tetras.

Personally, I would not have more than 2 shoals because they make the tank look too 'bitty'. Fewer shoals with more in each shoal looks better to my mind.



For a temperate tank, if it was mine I would have just white clouds but a mix of grey and gold to look like two shoals.





To check on which species would be OK in a 60 litre tank, the best place to look them up is Seriously Fish http://www.seriouslyfish.com/knowledge-base/

 

[Kyt]

This is some excellent advice thank you so much!!

Just to find the tank now... I don't think I want to get one at pets at home going to look at local suppliers!

 

[Byron]

Excellent advice from essjay. I would add that if you have space for a standard 60 liter (15 gallon) it will be 60 cm (24 inches) in length [this longer is better than a cube as essjay noted] but for the same footprint (surface area/space) you could get a 20 gallon high. If you have the space for a 30-inch (75 cm) length tank, a 20g long would be even better. Or a 29g high which has the same footprint. The slightly larger tanks do give you more options, and make water stability easier too.

Byron.