Small Fish In Large Tanks

[noodles]

hoping to upgrade from my small uno 500 (which has been very successful and great fun) into a larger 30 inch tank. I have enjoyed keeping small fish in the obviously small aquarium, such as ember tetra's, oto's, honey gourami's and the like, even with the difficulties a small tank can bring. And I am thinking, why not just keep more of these small fish all together in a larger aquarium?

The temptation always seems to be to upgrade a tank to take larger fish species, but I like the idea of a proper miniature fish community tank with a lot of inhabitants. I guess one argument might be that large fish do tend to hold the attention and are perhaps more interesting, like discus or a large plec, than a single tiny fish, but I think a tank with lots of very small fish might also create a good scene.

has anyone gone down this route before and what do you all think?

Current ideas include a large shoal of ember tetra's and green neons, several oto's and pygmy cories together, some honey and sparkling gourami's maybe, I dunno! yet to work out capacities and stocking ratio's, but you get the idea! No fish should be over 1-2 inches.

 

[Glod]

I think that could look really nice as long as your schools are big enough so the fish don't fade into the background Naturally you'll have loads of space for loads of small fish, relatively speaking, so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[demonmagus]

I don't want to sound harsh, but a 30 inch tank isn't HUGE, but I believe that many people have gone down that route before, I have got smallish tetras e.t.c. in my 30 gallon and I think it looks good.

 

[CFC]

Obviously the larger the tank you can give your fish the better and the more natural behaviour you will see. Tank size has nothing to do with fish preference, some fish just need larger tanks but if your passion lies with small fish then it doesnt mean you should only have small tanks.

 

[dwarfgourami]

I like this idea!

 

[chibi]

I love tiny fish with big personalities! I'd love to keep an oscar or something, but my heart lies with tiny small fish. My 30 gallon has nothing but little 'uns. I want a 50 gallon filled with small fish.

 

[noodles]

I don't want to sound harsh, but a 30 inch tank isn't HUGE, but I believe that many people have gone down that route before, I have got smallish tetras e.t.c. in my 30 gallon and I think it looks good.

yes I know its not huge by any stretch of the imagination, but its as big as I have space for! but even so it will be pretty big for tiny fish. anyways, we will see, if I do get it up and running will post some pictures.

 

[methodmza_uk]

I prefer having loads of small fish to one massive one.
Sounds like a good idea, would like to see some pics when it is set up.

I have quite a few small fish in my tank.

 

[QuotheRaven]

I think a Huge tank with tiny fish would be so interesting Like a 100 Gallon with just cories tetra's etc you wouldn't see a certain fish for days and suddenly it appears

I myself prefer to see larger fish just due to how impressive they are and there is more a emotional attatchment to them due to their size...

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah i like to see a really well done big community tank, although i love my big fishies i am looking forward to having the room to do a decent community tank again

 

[Fwapp]

I have a 100l, 36" tank which has only 1 fish that is larger than 2", that being the Krib. The rest are ember/neon tetras, otos, shrimp and one small algea eater (who will get bigger!). I love the effect of constant movement, with different types of interplay around the tank.

 

[Gandalf-LoJ]

That is exactly how I've gone with my rio 180. The largest fish I have in there are my Guppies. I've never really done a planted community tank before so wanted to give it a go and it's great. I can loose hours just sitting in front and watching them play!

I've just posted some images here to give you an idea of my take on small fish, big tank

 

[LisaLQ]

We have a 6ft x 2ft x 18" community tank. And a 6ft x 2ft x 2ft big fish tank. Must say, even though mine is the big fish tank, I prefer my hubby's!

 

[LisaLQ]

Crap pic, and ignore the chrimble garland on it...

 

[eschaton]

I have a 40 gallon planted where the largest animal by weight is an Apple Snail. After that, the largest probably will be the SAE, but he's still wee at the moment. Everything else are little tetras, barbs, corys, etc.

My feeling is you can't get a good community tank in a 20-gallon anyway.

At minimum, to fill out a community, you need:

1 species of Surface fish (guppies, danios, etc.)
1 species of Mid-water fish (tetras, barbs, etc)
1 species of Bottom dwellers/scavengers/algae eaters (loaches, corys, plecos, ottos, shrimp, etc).

Most of the absolute smallest fish available at most LFS are 2 inches or so, meaning you're left with 10 fish max. If you're experienced and do weekly water changes, 20 fish maximum maybe.

Now go through the options.

Guppies: Need 2 to 3 females for each male for long-term health
Danios: Need at least 5
Tetras: Need at least 6 for proper schooling
Barbs: While three is doable with most species, 5 or more is better
Loaches: Most are boring when left without a friend in the tank
Corys: Should be kept in groups of at least 6
Plecos: Solo, but even the minis grow to five inches
Ottos: Should have at least three per tank.

Basically, it's almost impossible to build a 'community tank' of any sort in a 20 gallon if you want fish that actually socialize and school normally *and* strictly follow 1 inch per gallon rules. Even if you're experienced, a tank with only five zebra danios, six neon tetras, and six albino bronze corys comes out to 40 inches of fish...no room for anything fun and different.