Tropical community tank stocking help

[Weston.Bratland]

Hello... I have a 30 gallon tank and am kind of new to fishkeeping "I know little more than the basics". So I am wanting to stock the tank with fish. Would these fish do?
-1 Dwarf Gourami (Main fish kind of)
-5 Congo Tetra or a 3 dwarf neon rainbow fish (more color)
-6 Marbled Hatchfish
-5 Cory Catfish (bottomfeeders)

I appreciate any help and please don't hate!

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi there

We need to know the dimensions of the tank and the pH and hardness of your water before we can properly recommend species for you.

Are you doing a fishless cycle, with ammonia, to get the tank and filter ready for fish?

 

[Weston.Bratland]

Soft water and 6.4 is my pH... For my tank dimensions it is L x W x H 36x12x16. Yes I will go through a fishless cycle.

 

[Byron]

Welcome to TFF.

The fish listed in post #1 are fine with respect to your soft and slightly acidic water, but there are some other considerations.

Congo Tetra really need a tank with more length, at least 48 inches. They have periods when they like to swim "relays" as I term it, two or sometimes three males swimming very rapidly down the tank at quite a speed. Without 4 feet of length, this is rather hampered. If you like the look of this fish (and who wouldn't, it is a beauty as it reflects every colour of the rainbow), a very similar tetra is the Diamond Tetra. Though still active at times, it would be better in your 3-foot tank. A group of 7, four males and three females, would be my suggestion for numbers.

Dwarf gourami. This fish is a risk, unless you know the source; by source I mean the breeder, not the store. It is still known to carry the iridovirus which cannot be treated. The Honey Gourami, very similar in colour and size, would be a better choice if you want a gourami. A group of 3-5, with more females than males. However, here you come to another issue, activity level. Gourami are very sedate fish, and they do not appreciate active swimmers like the Diamond Tetra (or the Congo for that matter). There are quieter tetras, or some of the rasboras, that are better with gourami.

Marble Hatchetfish is a nice fish, just have more of them; these fish are best with 9-10 minimum, and as they are quite small, and quite inactive, you would be fine with these in 9-12. The larger silver hatchets in different genera would be less suitable, but the Marble (Carnegiella strigata) ideal.

Cories. I would up the number here too. Five is minimum, but when you have the space, a few more will be better for the fish, as they live in shoals of hundreds in their habitats. Seven up to twelve. You can have the same species, or mix them; if the latter, try for 3-5 of each individual species. The species shoal together.

Byron.

 

[Weston.Bratland]

Welcome to TFF.

The fish listed in post #1 are fine with respect to your soft and slightly acidic water, but there are some other considerations.

Congo Tetra really need a tank with more length, at least 48 inches. They have periods when they like to swim "relays" as I term it, two or sometimes three males swimming very rapidly down the tank at quite a speed. Without 4 feet of length, this is rather hampered. If you like the look of this fish (and who wouldn't, it is a beauty as it reflects every colour of the rainbow), a very similar tetra is the Diamond Tetra. Though still active at times, it would be better in your 3-foot tank. A group of 7, four males and three females, would be my suggestion for numbers.

Dwarf gourami. This fish is a risk, unless you know the source; by source I mean the breeder, not the store. It is still known to carry the iridovirus which cannot be treated. The Honey Gourami, very similar in colour and size, would be a better choice if you want a gourami. A group of 3-5, with more females than males. However, here you come to another issue, activity level. Gourami are very sedate fish, and they do not appreciate active swimmers like the Diamond Tetra (or the Congo for that matter). There are quieter tetras, or some of the rasboras, that are better with gourami.

Marble Hatchetfish is a nice fish, just have more of them; these fish are best with 9-10 minimum, and as they are quite small, and quite inactive, you would be fine with these in 9-12. The larger silver hatchets in different genera would be less suitable, but the Marble (Carnegiella strigata) ideal.

Cories. I would up the number here too. Five is minimum, but when you have the space, a few more will be better for the fish, as they live in shoals of hundreds in their habitats. Seven up to twelve. You can have the same species, or mix them; if the latter, try for 3-5 of each individual species. The species shoal together.

Byron.

Wow thanks so much! That's a lot of useful info!!! So would 3 HONEY gourami, 12 silver hatchfish, 3 Albino Cories, 3 of the other type of cories (Dont remember the name but they are black and silver), and 7 Diamond tetra (they won't have babies will they) anyways would that work? Thanks

 

[Byron]

Wow thanks so much! That's a lot of useful info!!! So would 3 HONEY gourami, 12 silver hatchfish, 3 Albino Cories, 3 of the other type of cories (Dont remember the name but they are black and silver), and 7 Diamond tetra (they won't have babies will they) anyways would that work? Thanks

You're very welcome.

No problem with numbers here...but do you now mean the silver hatchets, or still the Marble? Marble will be much better in this situation. And they remain at the surface which the larger silvers do not. I would still have a few more cories, this really is important; the more there are the more stress-free they will be, and they are highly social fish. There are over 150 described species of cory, and more awaiting describing/naming. If you stay with just two species, I would go for five of each.

All these fish here are egg layers. They will spawn regularly if conditions are to their liking (which they should aim to be). Eggs however are gourmet delights to all fish, so they tend to get devoured within seconds of being expelled. Diamond Tetras are very prolific, meaning they are easy to spawn and have a lot of eggs. I have a group of 10 in my 70g, four of which are grown fry, and rarely I see a fry that has survived, hatched and fed on natural microscopic foods. I usually find 5-7 almost invisible fry when I clean the canister filter every six weeks. You won't see many fry, if any, because of the predation on the eggs. Same holds for most egg layers, except for species that have some type of egg or fry protection, like cichlids, some plecos, etc.

Byron.

 

[Weston.Bratland]

You're very welcome.

No problem with numbers here...but do you now mean the silver hatchets, or still the Marble? Marble will be much better in this situation. And they remain at the surface which the larger silvers do not. I would still have a few more cories, this really is important; the more there are the more stress-free they will be, and they are highly social fish. There are over 150 described species of cory, and more awaiting describing/naming. If you stay with just two species, I would go for five of each.

All these fish here are egg layers. They will spawn regularly if conditions are to their liking (which they should aim to be). Eggs however are gourmet delights to all fish, so they tend to get devoured within seconds of being expelled. Diamond Tetras are very prolific, meaning they are easy to spawn and have a lot of eggs. I have a group of 10 in my 70g, four of which are grown fry, and rarely I see a fry that has survived, hatched and fed on natural microscopic foods. I usually find 5-7 almost invisible fry when I clean the canister filter every six weeks. You won't see many fry, if any, because of the predation on the eggs. Same holds for most egg layers, except for species that have some type of egg or fry protection, like cichlids, some plecos, etc.

Byron.

Ok thanks so much Byron. This helped a lot!

 

[Weston.Bratland]

You're very welcome.

No problem with numbers here...but do you now mean the silver hatchets, or still the Marble? Marble will be much better in this situation. And they remain at the surface which the larger silvers do not. I would still have a few more cories, this really is important; the more there are the more stress-free they will be, and they are highly social fish. There are over 150 described species of cory, and more awaiting describing/naming. If you stay with just two species, I would go for five of each.

All these fish here are egg layers. They will spawn regularly if conditions are to their liking (which they should aim to be). Eggs however are gourmet delights to all fish, so they tend to get devoured within seconds of being expelled. Diamond Tetras are very prolific, meaning they are easy to spawn and have a lot of eggs. I have a group of 10 in my 70g, four of which are grown fry, and rarely I see a fry that has survived, hatched and fed on natural microscopic foods. I usually find 5-7 almost invisible fry when I clean the canister filter every six weeks. You won't see many fry, if any, because of the predation on the eggs. Same holds for most egg layers, except for species that have some type of egg or fry protection, like cichlids, some plecos, etc.

Byron.

Oh wait one more thing! Do these all eat tropical flakes or is there anything special to feed them?

 

[Munroco]

Probably better with pellets rather than flakes as some will sink to the bottom for the cories.

 

[Byron]

Yes, you must have two types of food. I have never had cories that would eat flakes that might get to the substrate. The pellet foods will, but not all upper fish take to these that well, in my experience. Hatchets especially, as the pellets tend to begin sinking rapidly. I would suggest two or three different types of flake and two or three different sinking foods.

For cories, shrimp pellets are ideal; I prefer Omega One because they contain no "meal" but whole fish and shrimp. The Omega One Veggie Rounds are also good, to add some vegetable for their digestive tract, plus these too have whole fish. Cories will huddle around sinking foods for literally hours.