Stocking Question

[BettaBoysGirl]

I'm currently cycling a 15 gallon tank. And when I finish, ill be putting in 6 danios and 1 betta. Now in my mind, I'm on the edge of my capacity. However I've seen posts where they put a betta and 6 pygmy cories in a 4-5 gallon tank. To me this is overstocked. Is it? Or am I understocking my tank? If its not overstocked, please explain?

 

[james_fish]

In my honest opinion, if you add 6 Danio's and 1 Betta to a 15 Gallon that won't be overstocked at all. Similar it won't be understocked. I think there will be room for another shoal of small fish in there! Your definately not understocked.

James.

 

[BettaBoysGirl]

In my honest opinion, if you add 6 Danio's and 1 Betta to a 15 Gallon that won't be overstocked at all. Similar it won't be understocked. I think there will be room for another shoal of small fish in there! Your definately not understocked.

James.

What kind of shoaling fish? Like tetras? or something like cories? And How many?

 

[james_fish]

Definately Tetra's, huge variety to choose from & most will suit your tank. A shoal of at least 5 at most 10. (Add 5 at a time with good space between)

As for the Cories, they grow a bit bigger. Maybe you could get like 3 Peppered Cories? Although It would be good for another user to pass there opinion on that.

James.

 

[Ben M]

i wouldn't get any of the larger corys. and all corys prefer to live in a group of at least 5. i would get a shoal of maybe 10 dwarf corys. (C. pygmaeus, hastatus or habrosus).

cheers

 

[Curiosity101]

I personally would say you're no where near stocking capacity but there are a few things you have to consider.

1.Danios are extremely active fish...in my opinion they're not really suitable for anything less than 30" of tank. I would definitely recommend rasboras and tetras as a better alternative. Obviously this doesn't go for all species of rasbora/tetra. But there are still plenty to choose from.

2. Will your betta be happy with lots of fish sharing 'his' level of the tank? Particularly fast moving fish like danios. He might be fine, but he might be incredibly grumpy.

3. Do you have a suitable back up plan for incase whatever fish you put him with decide to nibble on his tail? It doesn't always happen, but when it does you need to be able to seperate them ASAP. Equally if he turns on them persistently then you'd have to do something about that.

Just some ideas

 

[Curiosity101]

As for corys, in a 15gal (prob around 2ft long?) I do agree you probably should steer away from the largest corys 'normal' sized corys. But there are still plenty to choose from without going as small as pygmys.

For example sterba, skunk and panda corys all stay around 5cm fully grown.
For bronze, albino (normally these are just ablino bronze corys) and peppereds though you would expect them to easily reach 7cm.

 

[Ben M]

i'm not sure about the skunk or sterbai, but the pandas should be ok.

cheers

 

[Curiosity101]

Why are you not sure about the skunk or sterba corys?

 

[Ben M]

because in my experience they grow bigger than the pandas.

cheers

 

[BettaBoysGirl]

because in my experience they grow bigger than the pandas.

cheers

Yes I have a back up plan for the betta. I have a betta condo, with and empty slot, plus ill have 4 bettas to choose from. And I'm sold on the zebra danios. I refuse to change my mind on those. I was considering pygmy cories, but that wouls be the only cory I'd buy. I also have in addition to the betta condon and 15 gallon, and couple of smaller tanks. 5 gal each. So I do have back ups and such. The tank is primarily zebra fish. Everything else is up for change. What if I did 4 betta sister females and the danios?