What Would You Stock In This Tank? (pic)

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Hi there,

I've been reading through these forums for the last couple of weeks, and i'm now addicted.

My goldfish recently passed away (12 years old), and i'm looking to get into tropical fish, but am very much still a novice.

My tank is set up and currently cycling - its going well though.



My tank is 2 foot, and approx 13-14 UK gallons.

I'm looking for ideas on what to stock, i've read the 10 gallon thread and considered:

4 pygmy cories
4 spotted rasboras
3 sparkling gouramis
1 honey gourami


I've also looked at the betta thread and considered them, perhaps 4-6 females, but still swaying towards the community set up.



Any other options? things i havent considered? Just looking for ideas then i could research them.
This is what the tank looks like

Thanks for any help

 

[Underwurlde]

Hi,

As un utter newby to all this, all I can do is pass on the things that I have learnt only through extensive research:

Some people base the number of fish you can keep in a tank on the volume of water (1"/Gallon), others on the surface area of the water in the tank. The latter made much more sense to me as it is this that is the effective area of the fish's access to oxygen - i.e. you can keep more fish in a wide tank than in a tall narrow tank, gallon for gallon - this just makes sense to me.

I'm guessing that the surface area of your tank is about 1900 sq cm i.e. you can keep about 25" of fish in there (obviously not a SINGLE 25" fish on it's own of course!).

Also, if you add an airstone et al, you've effectively increased the surface area of the tank that has access to oxygen & hence you can add more fish (but I don't know by how much).

You base the amount of fish you can keep (13-14Gal x 1" = 14" OR based on surface area, 25") on the MAXIMUM expected growth length of the fish you eventually choose. I guess you know, for the fish you have chosen that this adds up to about 15", thus meeting the maximum Gallon per inch rule). Personally I'd be quite happy adding more & I've even seen Proffesional setups for this size tank having 68" of fish in the tank! (Obviously heavily aerated!).

You have gone for very small fish (posib in an attempt to maximise the final number of fish) and hence I'd say all the fish on your list are well matched.

Some threads mention the MINIMUM amount of a given type of fish to mix. Based on this:

Keep a MINIMUM of 4 Cories (You have) - (Note: VERY sensitive to meds)
Keep a MINIMUM of 6 Spotted Ras (You need 2 more)
Keep a MINIMUM of 6 Sparkling Gour (You need 3 more)
Honey Gouramis should be kept in PAIRS (You need 1 more)

So, can you add the extra fish to your sized tank in order to get the best community (and stress-free) fish?
I believe so because in adding the extra lengths up I get...... 25"

But like I said, just a novice's worthless opinions....

Andy

 

[mark.w.jones]

Pygmy cories sound good. Go for pygmaues species as they are the smallest. Full size about 1". Honey gourami is good as well. Nice looking peaceful fish. Spotted rasboras I don't know if you'll find easily in UK, assuming that's where youre from. Also the vast majority of Sparking Gouramis are very prone to infection, especially if water quality drops. Something to do with too much in breeding. Do a search on google for sparkling gouramis and bacterial infection etc. and you'll see that its a common problem. Other than that it seems fine. Maybe consider cardinal tetras, harlequin rasboras or other hardy tetra sp. instead of the sparkling gouramis. Cherry Barbs can also look good.

 

[countdown]

Thanks guys, gives me a lot to think about.

Underwurlde, I do have an airpump in the tank, interpet AV3. But the last thing i want to do is overstock it.

Shame about the sparkling gouramis, they really are lovely looking as well. I may consider cardinal tetras or perhaps harlequin rasboras (And yes i am from the UK, glasgow.) Although what size groups should they be kept in? i think they can grow up to 2" as well.

 

[fishwatcher]

I have 4 sparkling gouramis, and, so far at least, they have been great. I had them ordered for me and they were only about 1/4-1/2" long... so small that the lady told me I didn't have to take them if I didn't want them! LOL But now they are all pretty well full grown and are beautiful! All I'm saying is I wouldn't discount them completely. Check around on your sources and all first.
As for the other stock you have planned, all of those should work great in a ten-gal. Other than the type of rasboras, I have almost the same set-up.
Great tank!

 

[Underwurlde]

Keep Harliquins in minimum group of 6.

Adding middle zone fish such as harlequins or tetras would also balance your tank as your original list suggests a mix of only top & bottom zone fish..

I do have an airpump in the tank, interpet AV3. But the last thing i want to do is overstock it.

Then I'd definately say that 25" of fish is NOT overstocking your tank by a long chalk - but would of course take time to build up to this level of stock.

regards,

Andy

 

[scubadoo]

Hi countdown

Are you doing a fishless cycle ?

 

[countdown]

fishwatcher, yeah dont worry i havent dismissed the sparkling gouramis Lovely looking fish.

Underwurlde, thanks for the help, 25" is more than i thought i could stock, good news - but i'll build up the stock slowly I think the tank is well filtered as well, fluval 3 plus - so that should hopefully help as well.


scubadoo, yes i am fishless cycling. Been going for around a week now, i keep adding 4ppm of ammonia a couple of times a day - seems to very quickly process it. Just waiting for my NitrItes to fall (currently off the chart). And i have about 10ppm of nitrates. I wish it would hurry up, i really want some fish



Thanks for all the help


Ross