Which Fish Should I Get?

[brianpressman]

Hi

I set up my 35 gallon hexagon tank about 4 weeks ago. I have been cycling it with 6 guppies and my water tests indicate that the cycle is complete. I am now trying to figure out which fish to add. My water has a 7.5 ph and a temp between 24-26 (I live in Hawaii and don't use a heater). I have a Aqua Clear hanging filter rated for 70 gallons. There is black gravel on the tank floor with 2 good sized (tall) artificial plants.

The following fish are available at my local pet store:

Blue tetra
ember tetra
neon tetra
leopard dano long fin
silver tip tetra
head and tail tetra
golden white cloud
glowlight tetra
robertsi tetra
white fin tetra
platy
danio pink
checker barb
rainbow shark
gold barb
chinese algae eater
harlequin rasbora
neon dwarf rainbow
pearl danio
feeder comet
pleco
bumble bee goby

What fish combination do you guys recommend (given that I already have 6 guppies)? Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

 

[anwhyte]

a mix of tetra's would look nice & they are peacable fish, i'd give the chinese algae eater a miss (get big & aggressive) & the pleco could get very large too.

 

[kiriyama]

Have you checked out Lemon Tetras as well
Corries are cute also

 

[kelly528]

Stay away from the rainbow sharks and feeder goldfish as they get too large for a 35g as well.

And as for everything else... the only advice I have for you is to keep the tetras & danios in groups of at least 6 of the same species (they are shoaling fish) and other thna that.... knock yourself out!

 

[Hagrid66]

I've got 4 harlequin rasboras They're great if your after more shoaling fish. x

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, I agree with Hagrid that harlequins are really great hardy, shoaling, beginner-friendly fish, with really nice colors in the right light. I wonder how tall your tank is? Some hex dimensioned tanks are pretty tall and might not afford enough horizontal swimming room for danios.

So I agree that tetra shoals are great, but what I would do is take your list there of ones you like and do some searches to pull up the typical species info on each of your tetra types. Read them carefully to try and see whether the info hints at a particular type being aggressive. There's quite a wide range among the tetras of non-aggressive to aggressive. Since each choice you make will need at least 6 fish minimum, you'll want to be sure you're not choosing types that will nip other types.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[brianpressman]

Yes, I agree with Hagrid that harlequins are really great hardy, shoaling, beginner-friendly fish, with really nice colors in the right light. I wonder how tall your tank is? Some hex dimensioned tanks are pretty tall and might not afford enough horizontal swimming room for danios.

So I agree that tetra shoals are great, but what I would do is take your list there of ones you like and do some searches to pull up the typical species info on each of your tetra types. Read them carefully to try and see whether the info hints at a particular type being aggressive. There's quite a wide range among the tetras of non-aggressive to aggressive. Since each choice you make will need at least 6 fish minimum, you'll want to be sure you're not choosing types that will nip other types.

~~waterdrop~~

Thanks for the advice. The tanks is about 23'' tall (the swimming part for the fish). I have been looking up all of these and have started crossing a few off (the aggressive ones). It is too bad because I thought the barbs looked very neat. I like the neon and blue teras a bunch. My only worry is that my water is 7.5 and I think those guys like acidic.

 

[OldMan47]

The neons are better if you have soft and acidic water but they can be acclimated to harder water with a pH of as high as 7.8. Living in Hawaii, you are in the center of some really good fish farms that breed livebearers like swordtails and platies. They do great in hard, high pH water and should be very easy to find if you are willing to go to any other nearby store on the island. It is silly to put up with a small assortment of fish in a place where the big breeders are running their farms. They ship tons of them to the mainland so they should be eager to sell some locally.

 

[brianpressman]

The neons are better if you have soft and acidic water but they can be acclimated to harder water with a pH of as high as 7.8. Living in Haw3aii, you are in the center of some really good fish farms that breed livebearers like swordtails and platies. They do great in hard, high pH water and should be very easy to find if you are willing to go to any other nearby store on the island. It is silly to put up with a small assortment of fish in a place where the big breeders are running their farms. They ship tons of them to the mainland so they should be eager to sell some locally.

Oh thanks. I didnt know that. The petstore with the fish I listed actually has some others, but, I omitted the really expensive ones as I am a beginner and am afraid of killing. I'll ask on Yelp for some better stores. Thanks again.

 

[Gourami123]

i would get neon tetra and glowlight tetra

 

[brianpressman]

i would get neon tetra and glowlight tetra

I went to a different pet store today. Some fish they have the other one didnt:

long fin zebra
stebai catfish
flying fox
blue moon
sword tails
golden white cloud
kuhli loach

 

[kelly528]

Sterbai cories are a really good tankmate, they're a type of cory.

 

[brianpressman]

Sterbai cories are a really good tankmate, they're a type of cory.

Yeah, i liked those. Might get one shortly.

Store number 3 had a few others:

coral sunset platy
otocindus
pencil fish
bushynose pleco
bronze cory
white clouds

I also got 5 baby Golden White Clouds that this store had on sale (5 for $1). I thought they would work well and since they are so tiny, Im not worried about taxing my bio filter.

 

[OldMan47]

If you decide to bring in C. sterbai, don't forget that they do best and are most entertaining in groups of at least 5 of the same species. In a small group like that, you start to see the social interactions that make cories such a fun part of many of my tanks. In groups of 10 or more, they can dominate the action in a tank. C sterbai are one of the warmest water cories that you will find. That makes them suitable tank mates for lots of community fish at the higher temperatures often used for a community tank. Other cories like the trilineatus, often sold as julii, and the paleatus, called peppered in the trade, are really only good choices at somewhat lower temperatures.