Stocking suggestions

[BDC]

Hey, first post here. Yay!

Been into the hobby for a long time, especially planted tanks. Used to have three tanks going (4' planted tank with native australian fish coz I'm an aussie, 3' planted tank with barbs/rasboras/danios, and 2' planted tank with guppies) but some disputes with a former house mate (he used to turn the lights off to watch tv ) led to the demise of the tanks and tankmates, some of them over 8 years old. In frustration i packed everything away, and a year later gave away the 4' and 3' tanks to needy homes.

Anyway, I decided to set my 2' tank up again, and I'm wondering if people here can offer some suggestions for stocking it. The tank is pretty small, 2'x1'x1', and I obviously don't want to keep anything that will need a larger home or outgrow the tank, or anything that will uproot, eat, or in any other way harm the plants...

 

[George Farmer]

Welcome to the Forum BDC!

How do you plant to equip your tank i.e. lighting, CO2, substrate etc? These factors will largely determine what plants you are able to grow succesfully.

Hang on - I've just re-read your post, you're after fish stocking, not plants right?

Small tetras for display with some Otos or shrimp for algae crew would be suitable.

You tank volume after displacement will be about 13 US Gallons so I wouldn't recommend keeping more than about 15-18 inches of small fish. A shoal of 10 or so small tetras with 4 Otos would look good IMO if you were to plant heavily. I prefer to limit to one or two species in a well-planted tank personally, the plants and fish then compliment each other if you do a good job.

Good luck.

 

[BDC]

I added some spotted (or dwarf) danios today. They're cute, quite active, and school together nicely. They're also pretty tough, so they should help cycle the tank, although it's been set up for a while with plants in it which are already growing. Now it's just a waiting game to see what happens - ie which plants grow well in the tank, and then buy more of the same. I've used that strategy in the past (buy a heap of plants that I like - 1 of each - and watch them to see which ones are best suited to the light, and more importantly the height of the tank which in this tank isn't much). Hopefully I can post some photos soon.

 

[RYO]

Hi m8 , not sure whats readily available down there but try cherry barbs, great colours and hardy little bleeders, will go well with the danios too. Ottos wouldnt go amiss in a planted tank either and are so cute.
ps i hope you give your house m8 a good kicking lol

 

[BDC]

Tank still cycling with the danios, which are still schooling. Added some fertilizer tabs today, some plants growing well, and some algae developing (already!). Here's a pic. Still a lot of planting to be done - still waiting to see what grows well.