Small Fish In Large Tanks

[Majjie]

I think it's a great idea - although I do stretch my small fish to angelfish and pearl gouramis (and will be getting a bigger tank for them - shortly I hope!).

In a 20 gal I don't think you need to have both top and mid-water fish. My danios (zebra, pearl and kyathit) and my tetras (glowlight, neon, cardinal and blue emperor) use both areas of the tank in two separate 20 gal tanks (well, 19 gal to be strictly accurate). Guppies and platies too, use both the top and mid-water areas.

I don't stick to 1 inch per gallon either. I don't think you need to with small fish and heavily planted tanks - and if you're prepared to keep up the water changes.

And I can recommend sparkling gouramis in a 20 gal - they do tend to lurk amongst the plants but you can hear them "croaking" at each other and they all come out at feeding time. Don't get too many though - they're gouramis and are territorial (I have 4).

 

[noodles]

some excellent tanks there, just what I am looking to create, might have to give away the current platies though, they are just too damn big!!! seeing some of the photo's of your tanks really makes me want to stick with the little guys. Right time to get christmas out of the way and start on the new tank project!

The fish on the list are ember tetra's, pygmy cories and oto's, sparkling gourami's, platies (if I can't get rid!) and thats about it. should end up with a nice shoal of tetra's, a nice shoal of pygmies and oto's, and a few sparklers hanging around. should be good. I think that all of the classic inhabitants of a normal community tank are still too big, like bronze cories, platies, even neons all grow pretty big. much better to build a bigger shoal of a smaller fish I think. ie 12 ember tetra's would be better than 6 neons.

Outside bets for inhabitants also include chain loaches, green neons, some pygmy rasbora's who knows, I have noticed my local fish shops seem to be stocking more and more small fish these days, probably to go with the small tank set ups they sell that look pretty good.

Certainly when I used to have fish 6 years plus ago, the smallest common fish around were dwarf gourami's and guppies.

 

[fenwoman]

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.

I think it will work well. I am setting up a 48" tank and plan to have only a few species. I would like a shoal of at least 10 tetras if not 15.This wil provide the main feature with a couple of other fish for contrast. I think that by puuting lots of different species it looks 'bitty' .

 

[geo7x]

sounds like a good idea

Personally if I were to get a big tank now then I wouldn't put small community fish in it though because I already have that in my 2 footer and having my first "big" tank would be my first chance to get some of the bigger fish that I want.

 

[Majjie]

The fish on the list are ember tetra's, pygmy cories and oto's, sparkling gourami's, platies (if I can't get rid!) and thats about it. should end up with a nice shoal of tetra's, a nice shoal of pygmies and oto's, and a few sparklers hanging around. should be good. I think that all of the classic inhabitants of a normal community tank are still too big, like bronze cories, platies, even neons all grow pretty big. much better to build a bigger shoal of a smaller fish I think. ie 12 ember tetra's would be better than 6 neons.

Outside bets for inhabitants also include chain loaches, green neons, some pygmy rasbora's who knows, I have noticed my local fish shops seem to be stocking more and more small fish these days, probably to go with the small tank set ups they sell that look pretty good.

Chain loaches get bigger than most of the other fish on your list - about 2 inches long - although they are great fish. I love to see them sitting on a leaf.

I never got my pygmy cories to thrive in the 20 gal - they are much happier in the 10 gal with the boy guppies who don't snatch all the food first (too busy displaying to each other ). The panda corys, on the other hand, are quite happy in the 20 gal - and they're still quite small.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

If the fish species/types are you are attracted to most are small fish, then there's nothing wrong in having small fish in a large tank. And also, its true that any fish will appreciate having a lot of space- in my main 125gal tank, i mostly have platys and guppys and i am sure they love all the space as they are so active and healthy all the time;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...;hl=125gal+tank

The only thing i would say that is a negative point about having lots of small fish in a large tank is that it can be harder to keep an eye on every individual fishes health if you have whole large shoals of small fish swimming around the tank, you need to keep a very close eye on them all.

 

[lljdma06]

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.

Why is it almost impossible? On the contrary, I have found it most easy. I had a successful 15g high community tank. It had 4 honey gouramis (surface), 9 harlequins (middle), and 7 pygmy cories (bottom, everywhere). It was densely planted and the fish were in fantastic shape. I had another 10g community with espei rasboras and sparkling gouramis. I currently have a 20g with three kinds of tetras (each species with at least 6), 6 corydoras, 3 otos, and one young angelfish. If you plant densely, stick to minimal waste-producers, and do the maintenance regimen required by such a tank (weekly water changes, gravel-vac), then you can "bend" stocking rules by quite a margin.

There are quite a few fish species readily available in LFS that have an adult length of less than 2 inches. Unless there is something in your area's water that is not present in mine. You just have to know what fish you want before you buy.

I think you're limiting yourself quite a bit, Eschaton, but perhaps you're LFS don't have the stocking options that mine do.

Regarding the original topic of this thread, I have always enjoyed keeping smaller fish. I have a 36g that is mostly stocked with cherry barbs, and it looks very lovely. I'd love a larger, 75g+ tank with larger schools of tetras and such. Personally, I'd be super-impressed with a 25+ group of corydoras roaming along the bottom of the tank. It would look absolutely splendid.

Glad you're getting an upgrade, Noodles!

 

[pica_nuttalli]

i'm so in love with my Badis ruber that i'm very seriously considering a 20g stocked only with fish 1" long or smaller--except for one of my L200s. i love the idea of all these itty-bitty fishies swimming around the 8" green monster

 

[Brette]

I really love the look of tiny fish in a large aquarium, especially if you get enough of one species to really "make a statement". I have 9 tiny lampeye kilifish that swim around in a group and they look fantastic. I have a group of cardinal tetras in the same tank that do the same.

This might sound weird but I think it probably works the same way interior decorating or graphic design works. When you have repetition of color, texture or shape (in this case several of the same fish species) it makes your space look harmonious and it creates impact. I think it's much better design-wise to have 6 or more of each species than just one or 2, which can look lost in an aquarium, or just out of place. And to be honest, sometimes when some of the bigger species of fish grow to be large adults, they look "coarse". Like something that lives at the botom of my lake.

Just my two cents from someone who's probably taken one too many design classes.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

I really love the look of tiny fish in a large aquarium, especially if you get enough of one species to really "make a statement". I have 9 tiny lampeye kilifish that swim around in a group and they look fantastic. I have a group of cardinal tetras in the same tank that do the same.

This might sound weird but I think it probably works the same way interior decorating or graphic design works. When you have repetition of color, texture or shape (in this case several of the same fish species) it makes your space look harmonious and it creates impact. I think it's much better design-wise to have 6 or more of each species than just one or 2, which can look lost in an aquarium, or just out of place. And to be honest, sometimes when some of the bigger species of fish grow to be large adults, they look "coarse". Like something that lives at the botom of my lake.

Just my two cents from someone who's probably taken one too many design classes.

nah it's known as noah's ark syndrome, a lot of new fishkeppers have a tendancy to get get a couple of loads of different types of fish as they want everything, in fact community tanks do tend to look more harmonious and calm with say 3/4 species but nice big groups of them.

 

[dwarfgourami]

You know, I am seriously thinking of specialising in tiny fish, nano fish, and building my tanks up around them. I've already got merry widows, ticos, tiger teddies, heterandrias and my portholes aren't large either. On the wishlist- sparkling gouramis, pygmy corys, forktail blue-eyes (pseudomugils), lampeyes and a tank of shelldwellers.

 

[Brette]

I've already got merry widows, ticos, tiger teddies, heterandrias and my portholes aren't large either. On the wishlist- sparkling gouramis, pygmy corys, forktail blue-eyes (pseudomugils), lampeyes and a tank of shelldwellers.

I've never even heard of most of those. Why are tiny fish not as popular as big ones? Some of them, many of them are fabulous looking things. Like tiny, little moving jewels.

 

[dirtydog]

i prefer tiny fish myself. even if i had a 100g i dont think i would have anything huge in it. my new tanks biggest fish will probably be a krib.

 

[dwarfgourami]

I've never even heard of most of those. Why are tiny fish not as popular as big ones?

I know what you mean, it' seems odd that shops sell so many tiny tanks and not the tiny fish to go with them.