Stocking With Slim Fishes

[Leila2]

Regarding the one inch per gallon rule - I know that this is vague because it depends on the other dimensions of the fish.

In my opinion it would work to have as many as 60 fish the size of neon tetras (ie one inch long and very slim) in a 37 gallon UK (about 40 gallon US) size aquarium that is 4 ft long.

Is that fair to say?

With that in mind I have the following stocking:

10 neon tetras
5 Otos
5 zebra loaches
5 zebra danios
7 tiger barbs

Any opinions on whether this is going to succeed?

 

[tropic_john]

neon tetras prefer a 6 month old/matured tank. try cardinals [fewer but brighter]

 

[sjolliff]

I was goin to get some cardinal tetra but this edit from a mod put me off slighlty from the fish index section

<Mod edit> These are shoaling fish that in nature exist in VERY large groups. Generally I would advocate a minimum of 6 fish for shoaling species, for Cardinals, they really benefit from being in larger groups.

A lot of people have difficulty keeping these alive. They are a blackwater fish, and as the OP says, are often wild caught. Such examples rarely live long in typical tapwater conditions. Their metabolism is evolved to low pH, (below 4 pH at times), and almost no dissolved solids. Even if they survive the transition to the harder alkaline water, the kidney usually fails in short order due to osmotic stress.

Tank bred imports are generally more resiliant.

 

[OldMan47]

I would avoid mixing the tiger barbs with any peaceful fish, especially a small peaceful fish like a neon. IME the tiger barbs reputation for being rough with tank mates is well deserved.

 

[Leila2]

I would avoid mixing the tiger barbs with any peaceful fish, especially a small peaceful fish like a neon. IME the tiger barbs reputation for being rough with tank mates is well deserved.

This is no doubt true fairly much of the time, but I have found that if you have the tiger barbs in a group they'll leave the neons alone. What else I noticed about tiger barbs is that their individual personalities can vastly vary so its possible, as I seem to have , to get a group that is on the placid side. The group leader is a little cheeky bully though and even though he's smaller than a couple of the others he chases them. I have had the tiger barbs over 2 weeks, initially in a smaller tank. It's funny how zebra danios have no fear of the tiger barbs and think nothing of playfully chasing them!

Having just read further about the stocking I have in mind (I have them all so far other than the zebra loaches and otos) it looks promising in that they inhabit the different areas of the tank, not just the mid ground. Tank has been zero ammonia, zero nitrite and under 10 nitrate for at least 10 days now so that appears to be cycled. I got lucky and had a "silent cycle" pretty much.

 

[OldMan47]

I have no issues with the number of fish you are considering Leila. My concern was the specific fish that you want to mix. The zebra danios are little hellions themselves but seldom pick at fish of other species so I am not too surprised there. If you are sure of the tiger barbs in your mix, then wait, as Tropic John suggested, to introduce the neons last due to their sensitivity in a new tank.

 

[waterdrop]

I've had success over the years with both neons and cardinals but I do advocate the wait of ideally 6 months (sometimes perhaps 4 months) for a new tank to age before adding a first batch of them. It seems to be a completely separate issue for neons/cards than the usual cycling considerations, my feeling is that its something else going on that we don't have quantified. Even with these precautions, its pretty easy to lose one in transition, so many people buy an extra one or two whenever they buy neons/cards.

~~waterdrop~~