Still Trying To Figure Out What To Put In The 150L Some Day...

[FishBlast]

Tank size: 150L / 39 gal,
86 cm long / about 3 ft,
50 cm tall / 1.64 ft.
Planning to have sand substrate and lots of rocks with lots of plants (while leaving some sandy space in front for cories).

I thought about:
5 female bettas
8 galaxy rasboras
6 bronze cories (and breed them to 10).

Or
trio of pearl gourami (1m 2f)
pair of sparkling gourami
8 galaxy rasboras
6 bronze cories (no idea if there'd be room to breed them to 10).

Or
trio of dwarf gourami (1m 2f)
8 galaxy rasboras
6 bronze cories (again no idea if I could breed those to 10 in this case).

Would that work?
Also, water hardness out the tap would be 9 - 12 dgh. No idea what the PH would end up as, but out the tap it's usually between 7 and 7.50.

 

[SamLovesCorys]

You can comfortably fit quite a few more fish in that size tank imo. I'm not sure combining sparkling gouramis and pearls is a good idea, as sparkling gouramis are very small and shy.

Sam

 

[FishBlast]

You can comfortably fit quite a few more fish in that size tank imo. I'm not sure combining sparkling gouramis and pearls is a good idea, as sparkling gouramis are very small and shy.

Sam

Would they work with dwarf gouramis then?
(I might have difficulty in finding the dwarfs and not sure about the pearls either)
I am pretty sure I saw a few galaxy rasboras but the shop kept them individually even though they're shoalers. I saw a tiny rasbora placed with a ball of moss. It was such a tiny little cutie. So the galaxy shoal I'd definitely get.

But not so sure about what gouramis to have, I like sparklings a lot and want to have them some day, but what to add that will not bother them? (not another shoaling species though, something that likes to be either individual or in pairs and is an egg-layer).

Also, I'd rather have few fish that are happy with the tank, than have the tank fully stocked.
Even in my current swordie tank, I'm trying to make sure I have enough space so I pick fry that I like and whatever survives in main tank, good for them).

 

[MBOU]

Stop trying to plan, you'll drive yourself mad and probably only change your mind in the end anyway!

That aside!

I would aim more for:

6 x cories (maybe 8 if pandas or 10-12 if pygmeus or habrosus)
15-20 x galaxy rasbora (or if you dont feel rich, crossband rasbora are gorgeous!)
6-8 x sparkling gouramis
4 x Honey Gouramis (I would have a pair of reds and a pair of yellows for colour!)

And if it was me personally... I would have an AquaManta 300 external filter running on the tank, heavily planted and spot on water and would push numbers of dwarf rasbora to 20-25 and sparkling gouramis to 10-12! Maybe even honeys up to 6 and have two groups of 1:3.

Though I am very used to big filtration on smaller tanks and heavily planted, using the extra fish and their waste to feed the plants. Plants thrive with extra waste = removing more nitrates = better water. The trick is to constantly keep cutting back plants so they keep growing and stock fish that dont invade each others privacy when fairly heavily stocked. Works for me

 

[FishBlast]

And another problem might be the rasboras: what temp do they like?
Do these species fit in a temp range comfortably together?

 

[FishBlast]

Stop trying to plan, you'll drive yourself mad and probably only change your mind in the end anyway!

That aside!

I would aim more for:

6 x cories (maybe 8 if pandas or 10-12 if pygmeus or habrosus)
15-20 x galaxy rasbora (or if you dont feel rich, crossband rasbora are gorgeous!)
6-8 x sparkling gouramis
4 x Honey Gouramis (I would have a pair of reds and a pair of yellows for colour!)

And if it was me personally... I would have an AquaManta 300 external filter running on the tank, heavily planted and spot on water and would push numbers of dwarf rasbora to 20-25 and sparkling gouramis to 10-12! Maybe even honeys up to 6 and have two groups of 1:3.

Though I am very used to big filtration on smaller tanks and heavily planted, using the extra fish and their waste to feed the plants. Plants thrive with extra waste = removing more nitrates = better water. The trick is to constantly keep cutting back plants so they keep growing and stock fish that dont invade each others privacy when fairly heavily stocked. Works for me

I want bronze cories for the cory part and could breed them if it would work, not sure.

Crossband rasboras? What do they look like? I cannot find anything but longband (which don't interest me due to their transparency). And I like the galaxy ones a lot ever since I saw them in the shop, though never asked for the price and no idea how many they have, as I only saw a few individuals placed with moss balls.

I doubt I can afford an external filter so that is my reason for being restrictive on population aside from trying to make the fish have more room.

My goal's not having as many fish as possible, it's just having an organized tank that has space and some cool-looking fish that will get along instead of nip each other all day.

 

[MBOU]

I used a slight overstocking to help run the tank as its own cool little system, fish fed the plants (i didnt have to dose anything at all) and plants grew like mad meaning i had perfect water plus looking great and lots of hiding places for the fish. Though was more an example.

Crossband Rasbora aka Microrasbora erythromicron
http/www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=crossbanded+rasbora&num=10&hl=en&biw=1077&bih=635&tbm=isch&tbnid=UhSfy484ycWKIM:&imgrefurl=http/bubblesaquarium.com/fish_Rasboras.htm&docid=9GaFhqNmEAXDgM&imgurl=http/bubblesaquarium.com/images/Fish/Rasboras/Rasbora_CrossbandedDwarf_Rasbora_Thumb.jpg&w=220&h=160&ei=JsX6T9z4NMPs0gXjyYT4Bg&zoom=1

They look really dull and grey in shops but colour up great with a nice shoal and a few plants same as the Celestial Pearl Danios (Galaxy Rasbora is not their name any more as they arent actually rasbora lol mind you, this fact changes every year).

The CPDs in this country tend to go at £4 - £5 **each** (currency converter says 22.83 RON - 28.55 RON if this makes any sense to you?!) LOL

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

You are a serial understocker! I see your point about wanting to have plenty of room for the fish but remember that with schooling species they are happier with higer numbers. So If you've got room you should have as large a school as is comfortable for them to make sure they are as happy as possible. That's my opinion anyway

Galaxy rasboras are very pretty but also very shy and maybe even quite small for your tank. So you may find that you don't see them much through hiding and also that you don't see them much because they are so little!

Regarding the corys, again, they are going to be a while before they spawn because they are sold as babies in the LFS so they will be stuck in low numbers for quite a while. Bronzes are usually quite easy to spawn once they are mature (trust me I know ) and they are going to be producing hundreds of eggs for you before you know it which you won't be able to keep all of them so I personally would just buy the number that I want in the end instead of waiting to raise young for the tank. Just my opinion, though I see why you may want to raise some yourself, it's not for me

 

[FishBlast]

I used a slight overstocking to help run the tank as its own cool little system, fish fed the plants (i didnt have to dose anything at all) and plants grew like mad meaning i had perfect water plus looking great and lots of hiding places for the fish. Though was more an example.

Crossband Rasbora aka Microrasbora erythromicron
http/www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=crossbanded+rasbora&num=10&hl=en&biw=1077&bih=635&tbm=isch&tbnid=UhSfy484ycWKIM:&imgrefurl=http/bubblesaquarium.com/fish_Rasboras.htm&docid=9GaFhqNmEAXDgM&imgurl=http/bubblesaquarium.com/images/Fish/Rasboras/Rasbora_CrossbandedDwarf_Rasbora_Thumb.jpg&w=220&h=160&ei=JsX6T9z4NMPs0gXjyYT4Bg&zoom=1

They look really dull and grey in shops but colour up great with a nice shoal and a few plants same as the Celestial Pearl Danios (Galaxy Rasbora is not their name any more as they arent actually rasbora lol mind you, this fact changes every year).

The CPDs in this country tend to go at £4 - £5 **each** (currency converter says 22.83 RON - 28.55 RON if this makes any sense to you?!) LOL

Hmm, think that if my population in current tank grows, I could add some more plants? (I'm planning on adding 1 or 2 more anubias in the background between the rocks). I don't dose anything either, but my fern is growing like nuts and my mosses have finally started to look green and healthy.
But my ceratopteris is just a bunch of floating tiny weeds now. It has stagnated. Seemed to grow faster while submerged.

Ah, so that is the common name of the erythromicron. I just saw those today while I was researching the CPDs. Saw some purple ones in some pics. But I've read that those are already rare and haven't seen any in the shop. 22 RON is about as much as some of the expensive plants around here and is less than a hoplo in value. A hoplo would be 35 RON (as a juvenile). Or £6.11. (for the Thoracata)

 

[FishBlast]

You are a serial understocker! I see your point about wanting to have plenty of room for the fish but remember that with schooling species they are happier with higer numbers. So If you've got room you should have as large a school as is comfortable for them to make sure they are as happy as possible. That's my opinion anyway

Galaxy rasboras are very pretty but also very shy and maybe even quite small for your tank. So you may find that you don't see them much through hiding and also that you don't see them much because they are so little!

Regarding the corys, again, they are going to be a while before they spawn because they are sold as babies in the LFS so they will be stuck in low numbers for quite a while. Bronzes are usually quite easy to spawn once they are mature (trust me I know ) and they are going to be producing hundreds of eggs for you before you know it which you won't be able to keep all of them so I personally would just buy the number that I want in the end instead of waiting to raise young for the tank. Just my opinion, though I see why you may want to raise some yourself, it's not for me

I could start with 8 galaxy or crossband ones and along the way add more though.

Yeah but the gouramis would probably eat the eggs off the glass so I'd separate a few eggs in a hatchery so that would still limit them while having new members to add to the pack.
Wouldn't want to breed them right away but would definitely want to breed at least one species of egg layers and I think the cories would be easiest out of the species listed here.

It's just like raising swordies as fry. I get to watch them grow up, which is amazing (even though some livebearer breeders probably had enough of it lol).
Fry are so adorable!