Stocking A 60 Litre Tank

[Barry P]

Hi, having recently lost my entire stock of fish to White Spot i am in the process of cleaning and cycling my 60Litre Tank. I am not an expert yet so high maintenance fish are not for me , but i do like colour and character. Can i get some ideas on what would be the best fish to put in the tank ( and quantities). I would prefer a mixture of types as long as they will all get on together. I dont want fish that are susceptible to white spot (Clown Loach). I will be heading to my LFS this weekend so if you could include the proper names of the fish that you advise i would greatly appreciate it.My tank by the way has a rock with hiding places with gravel and no live plants.I look forward to your advice.
Cheers
Baz

 

[CatLover]

Hello there If my calculations are right, your tank is right around the 15 gallon mark. This can be a fun tank size to work with. It's best to have small fish in this one, but I'm sorry to say that all fish are susceptible to ich, with the exception of scaleless fish (plecos, cories, etc). I say this from experience - I once had a terrible outbreak of ich, and all my fish were covered in it except the scaleless ones.

Anyway, let's start with the top of the tank. I would put in a couple of honey gouramis. I think this is a good number, someone please correct me if you should keep more or less together. Those will stay at the very surface of the water, and are gorgeous. For the middle area, I would get a school of 6 or 7 harlequin rasboras. I LOVE these fish, and find them very pretty and entertaining.

Now for the bottom, I think you should get cories. These are the most entertaining of any fish you would be able to keep in a 15G. Keep at least 5, they like groups. If you can find the pygmy species, you have the great option of including more in your group. These can be very colorful as well, especially the julii or panda cories. If you have good filtration on your tank, I would throw in a few khuli loaches as well. These are very noctural (I rarely see mine) but extremely colorful and full of character. They look just like tiny sea snakes or eels.

To top it off with a cleaning crew, get 3 or 4 otos, and if you're feeling spunky, a shrimp or two. And there ya go! All levels filled with colorful fish full of personality, and you're not over stocked.

Depending on what you come across at the store, here are the Latin names for all the fish I mentioned (someone correct these if I'm wrong):

Honey gourami - Trichogaster chuna
Harlequin rasboras - Rasbora heteromorpha
Khuli loach - Acanthophthalmus kuhlii
Julii cory - Corydoras julii
Panda cory - Corydoras panda
Pygmy cory - Corydoras pygmaeus
Oto - Otocinclus affinis
Ghost shrimp - Paleomonetes sp.

 

[Barry P]

Fantastic Catlover, great response, exactly what i was looking for. Cheers

 

[emma12321]

Of the fish given in that list, i would add the harlequins first. The otto's do best in mature tanks so wait a few months before adding them. The gourami do better in male / female pairs or a male with 2 females. Or you could get a male dwarf gourami on it's own.

Emma

edit: your tank holds 13.198 imperial gallons or 15.855 US gallons

 

[CluelessScot]

I heard that panda corys are for the more experienced fish keeper? tho go for corys 100% they are ace!!!

Kev

 

[CatLover]

Scot - I haven't heard that, but I think I would agree. I used to have a few, and they died within a couple of months. They seem to be quite fragile compared to other cory species.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Bandit corys (corydoras metae) look very similar to pandas and are supposed to be hardier. Also, apparently the pygmy corys are quite hardy, I've just read. Bronzes and peppereds are supposed to be the hardiest (I can believe that, my peppereds seem quite tough), but of coruse theyare that little bit bigger so will restrict you in what else you can have. Still you should be able to fit in a trio of peppereds and say a trio of honey gouramis.

Or the khuulie loaches would be a nice alternative bottom dweller.

 

[fatboybaby]

wow, i have a 60 litre too with 9 harlequin and 2 otto currently. i didn't realise i could add so much more! i shall do soon i think, although i'm going to change the substrate first from the scary white gravel i have now..

great advice, thanks!