What Fish To Put In My Tank.

[vemb]

Hi
I think my tank is finally cycled!
Readings today are Am 0. NitrIte 0. NitrAte <10. PH 7.6.
Current inhabitants are 3 Albino Corys, 2 Platties, 1 male Guppy and a Plec (soon to be rehomed in a friends 300L). Tank measures 60cm x 40cm x 30 cm. Its has a Fluval 3 internal filter. (The old Fluval 2 broke so I got the next size up!)

I was wondering if any of you have some suggestions of fish which I could put in. Im going to be waiting a week to make sure levels are stable, and of course give me chance to do some research!

Any ideas appreciated!

 

[Colin_T]

How long has the tank been set up with or without fish in?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hi there, congrats on finishing your cycle

your tank works out to around 15 gallons, so you need to aim for 15" of fish.

it's not a set rule but it's a good guideline to get an idea of the number of fish you can have. As I'm sure you can imagine, there's a difference between keeping 15 fish's that are 1" long and keeping 1 fish that's 15" long!

you're current stocking works out like this

3 Albino Corys, 2" each = 6"
2 Platties, 2" each - 4"
1 male Guppy - 1"

so you've 11" of fish already and therefore only have room for a couple more fish.

are your platy's male or female? if you have a mixture then you need to keep 2 females to every male, so potentially you'd need to get another platy to balance out the equation. If you need to get another platy then the tank will be just about full as it is.

you're guppy may prefer some company, you either need to get all males or (as with platys) a mix of 2 females for every male

 

[vemb]

Wow quick replys!

Tank has been set up for 25 days now and was cycled with 2 Platys, 2 Guppies (1M 1F) 1 Cory and the Plec. (No research & bad advice from LFS) I lost one guppy but think it died after having fry, which were all eaten. 2 more Corys were added a week ago.

The platys are both female. (I think!)

I was hoping to get some schoaling fish, I was under the impression that I could have slightly more than that as I have an oversized filter?

Thanks for the suggestion of another Guppy as I must admit he does seem a little lonely!

Many thanks

 

[Miss Wiggle]

there's v few schooling fish which are suitable for your tank

by nature schooling fish are lively active little fish and as such need much more swimming room than they're small size would indicate.

most of the common schooling fish that you see around (danios, rasboras, tetras etc) will be a bit cramped for space in a 15 gal. tbh your platy's and albino cories would prefer a bigger tank as well although they'll be just about alright.

you could get a small group of microrasbora to go in with your existing fish.

if you have a look at this topic it will give you some ideas for what to put in small tanks. http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...or-A-10-Gallon/

personally i'd be tempetd to return the cories and platys and swap them for some more suitably sized fish

 

[Colin_T]

to sex your platies have a look at the bottom (anal) fin. On the females it is fan or triangular shaped, whereas the males have a long straight anal fin.

I recon you could get 6 neons in there, or another small species of tetra similar to neons. Just monitor the water quality and if you find its going all over the place then do more water changes, reduce the food going into the tank, or reduce the number of fish.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

to sex your platies have a look at the bottom (anal) fin. On the females it is fan or triangular shaped, whereas the males have a long straight anal fin.

I recon you could get 6 neons in there, or another small species of tetra similar to neons. Just monitor the water quality and if you find its going all over the place then do more water changes, reduce the food going into the tank, or reduce the number of fish.

it's pushing the limits of the tank and the fish to put 6 neons in a 15 gal IMHO. it's do-able and ok, but only just OK.... which I don't like! I'd rather encourage people to put fish in which can have a more comfortable and happy existance rather than it just being OK for them.

also the tanks newly cycled, neons don't do well in newly cycled tanks.

 

[OohFeeshy]

It's a 2ft tank... How is it too small for tetras and cories? They're not *that* big...

 

[Miss Wiggle]

15 gal, just doesn't giev that much swimming space, i personally wouldn't put them in less than a 20gal.... my personal opinion though.

 

[geo7x]

I personally think that a 2ft tank is fine for tetras and cories, I have rasboras and cories in my 2ft.

 

[vemb]

Hi
Thanks guys. I think I may also going to give the Guppy to the friend whos taking the Plec so that will give me a bit more room to play with.

Would Tetras be OK in a fairly new set up also with a slightly high PH (7.6), The friend is over run with Neon fry at the moment so could possibly do a swap!

Am I right in thinking that having an oversized filter can in able me to over stock a bit?

Many Thanks

 

[Juice]

Hey, I have the same size tank.

I currently have

4 Tiger Barbs
1 Scissortail Tetra
1 Black Fin Shark
1 Black Mystery Snail

Lets see. Shark is about 3 inches, Barbs are about 1 inch each, snail is 1 inch and scissortail is 2 inches. That's a total of 10 inches

I was thinking of getting 3 more scissortails (6 more inches) and a 4 inch pleco (total of 20 inches)

So basically depending on what fish you have the inch per gallon rule might give or take a few. If you have plecos or snails, doesn't really take into play since they stick to the glass out of the way anyways.

Basically get some fish that don't need to have a very long dash, neons I beleive need a 3 foot long if you have a school of about 5 or 6.

Plecos, Loaches, Corys, and snails are great as they don't get in the way of the faster swiming fish.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Lets see. Shark is about 3 inches, Barbs are about 1 inch each, snail is 1 inch and scissortail is 2 inches. That's a total of 10 inches

So basically depending on what fish you have the inch per gallon rule might give or take a few. If you have plecos or snails, doesn't really take into play since they stick to the glass out of the way anyways.

ok, first paragraph, you need to work it out on the adult size of the fish not the current size. you're shark will be more like 6/7"

second the " per gallon guideline (not rule) does apply to plecs, it's not based on swimming space but on the waste that the fish will produce, plecs are very messy so in fact they should count for more than they're actual size not less because they're out of the way.

 

[vemb]

I Guess the best thing would be to get a bigger tank!! LOL

 

[Miss Wiggle]

I Guess the best thing would be to get a bigger tank!! LOL

that is ALWAYS the best thing to do lol

in reality you can do a nice little set up with a 15gal, plenty of things you can keep. particularly with small tanks there's always diagreement on what is suitable, just have to read as much advice as you can and make up you're own mind.

But larger tanks give more options and are more stable therefore easier to look after, so if it's a possibility then you might want to consider it!