Starting To Think About Fish...

[Tropical_Fish]

I'm starting to think about which fish I would like in my tank when it's all setup.

It's approx 20us gallons, so from what I have read I can have approx 20 inches of fish (using their adult size - not current)

I would like a fair few fish so lots of little ones would be good, but it would also be nice to have the odd larger fish. My wife liked Angel Fish but we can't have them due to the tank only being 12 inches tall, and I liked clown loaches but we can't have them due to the tank being about a quarter of the size needed!

I'll be starting a fishless cycle soon.

So my questions are...

What would be a good fish to put in first after the fishless cycle?
What would be a good type of fish to have a good few small ones (1/2 inch sort of size)

What would be a good bigger fish which could cope with the size of the tank, look interesting and not eat the 1/2 inch sized ones! Bearing in mind the larger type of fish we liked.

 

[Tropical_Fish]

If it helps some of my initial thoughts had been:

platy - 2 females and 1 male
dwarf gourami - 1
zebra danio - 4
cherry barb - 4

That would be 12 fish, if they all made it to full size it would be slightly over-crowded

 

[arobinson1984]

I think 20 gall is prob too small for the zebra danios because they are very active fish and require plenty of swimming space.

For your larger fish I'd recommend 2x honey gourami because the dwarf gouramis have a tendancy to die for no apparent reason.

Also you might be better with same sex platys otherwise you could find your tank overrun with fry

Andy

 

[cowboy507]

i agree with andy about the dwarfs, they do just randomly die. honey would be better.
you could go with a small shoal of cories, good bottom fish
male guppies
neons (after the tank is mature)
assortment of tetras
hatchetfish are interesting and they are good top waterfish. (the do tned to jump though)
i mean there are lots of possibilities...it really just depends on what you want

 

[Tropical_Fish]

Thanks for the advice, I've been looking in the shops and I've gone off the Gourami.

All three shops I've been to have said I can have 1cm of fish for every litre of water - which gives 70cm of fish. I was under the impression I could have 1 inch of fish per US gallon, which is 20 inches which is more like 50cm.

Anyway...

My thoughts now are,

Male Cobra Guppys (qty 4) (the shop listed them as 2.5cm adult size) - So that's 10cm used up

Neons (qty 5) (adult size 2cm) - another 10cm

Otocinclus Cocama (bottom feeders) (qty 3) (adult size 4cm) - 12cm used up

Another 10 or so small tetra type fish - 20cm of allowance



So that should do to start with - can you see any problems there? Any incompatabilities?

The next problem would be what order would be best. I will be strating with a fishless cycle. I've read that neons need a mature tank 6months old, and that the bottom feeders need a tank atleast 3 months old. I only want to add a few fish at a time - what would be the best order?

 

[yasinullah]

I decided against gouramis too after initally considering them. Guppies are a good starter fish I've read. I was thinking of keeping 3 males.

You're right about the neon tetras, you need to wait for the tank to mature. I'm going with Harlequin rasboras to begin with hopefully (they reach 4 - 5cm), as they are quite hardy and recommended, then adding tetras much later on.

 

[arobinson1984]

You'd be better sticking to the 1" per US gallon rule rather than the 1cm per litre rule otherwise you may find yourself overstocked especially on a new tank.

You mentioned 5 neons, these should wait until your tank is mature (6 months old+) as they dont tend to do well in new tanks because they are very sensitive to changing water conditions which are present in newly established setups.

Andy

 

[Tropical_Fish]

yeah I was sticking with around 50cm of fish (that lot added up to 52cm) - don't trust much that the fish shops say. All three told me that fishless cycling was a myth and putting ammonia in the tank kills fish ( I did try explaining that there aren't any fish in a fishless cycle!)

 

[mattlee]

i think your lfs have given you wrong adult sizes looking at those stats...... i have had the same issues/probs myself, when i bought a catfish that i was told would grow to 12cm and later found out it grows to 18 inches!!!!!!!!!!!!!! neon tetras grow bigger than 2cm i have had some at 4cm and guppies are about 5/6cm and 20cm of tetra will equate to about 4 or 5 fish not 10..... galaxy rasboras are small fish maybe give them a look. if i am wrong then im sure someone will let you know on here but pretty sure im right. it seems that every lfs or internet sites have similar max size stats which is annoying, i know that its hard to be exact as all things grow to different sizes in life but i think you have been told porkys.

 

[Tropical_Fish]

I wouldn't be surprised!

Sor first of all they try to get me to have 50% more stock than is recommended - then they underestimate it so I'd probably end up with double the stock I should have!

Will have a look at galaxy rosboras

Cheers

 

[arobinson1984]

I've never seen any guppies as long as 5/6cm. Remember when measuring fish, you only measure head to end of body. You dont include the tail

Andy

 

[Gazifizzle]

I had tiger barbs for my first fish but does limit you to what other fish u can have with it. it would be worth asking at the shop about compatability between the different species you like

 

[waterdrop]

I wouldn't ask or take advice about anything at the shop (other than when they expect to get in new stock etc.) and instead I would do my homework, looking up the fish here on TFF and at additional web sites and considering the adult max sizes found. The process of creating stocking lists is hard work, first limiting the overall tank amount and figuring out which species will inhabit which tank depths, second figuring out minimum shoaling/companion numbers, third figuring out compatibility with other species considered for the community tank and finally, perhaps a final comb through the results, thinking about odd things like behavior changes after they get older or mating problems. Its all hard work and takes coaxing and time to solicit recommendations from fellow TFF members at each of these stages for the different species and it doesn't always work out.

I respectfully disagree with Andy about the zebra danios. Yes, they would like a nice big lenth of straightaway for their high-speed runs but these fish also seem to relish making themselves at home in all sorts of tanks and delight in having a number of their own kind to weave around with. I think a nice little pack of them at the surface would be nice in a 20g. The guppie size thing I completely agree with. The neons/cards, yes the work better after 6 months. The honeys are better than the dwarves except that the dwarves are really colorful and its totally hit or miss whether your trio happens to get hit by the weird disease... but I agree that in some ways its nice for a beginner to perhaps go a year with easier fish and wait on gouramis and their sometime quirks. As always I'll mention that I think zebras, harlequins, some male platies, cherry barbs, some of the corys, are all good tank starters and first year inhabitants. There are lots and lots of smaller tetra schools that work nicely, but be careful about the bigger oval shaped ones. If you get otos, be sure to study up on the feeding and be ready.

Personally I think its extremely important for a beginner to set themselves up for a good experience by sticking with the 1 inch of adult-size fish body per US gallon guideline for the first year, just to get experience and hopefully feel a tank and the weekly cleanings running nicely. After that, if you have the money for over-filtration and the stomach for managing some risk, then you can head up towards 2 inches. But having a lot of fish is only one type of "look" for a tank and many of the peaceful/beautiful "looks" have less than that. One of the risks with extra fish is that of a power failure. Its hard enough manually changing out water to keep the bacteria alive when the tank has a normal stocking. Its very hard with overstocking.

~~waterdrop~~