Which Fish To Go With My Current Ones?

BubbleBlower · Jun 16, 2007

Hi, I bought my initial fish on the 15th of May and as a month has now passed I'm looking to add a few more.

At the moment I have 3 Black Phantom Tetra and 3 Columbian Red Fin Tetra. The tank is 60 litres.

I wondered what types of fish you would recommend to add to the ones I already have and how many.

Thanks.

community begginer · Jun 16, 2007

BubbleBlower said:
Hi, I bought my initial fish on the 15th of May and as a month has now passed I'm looking to add a few more.

At the moment I have 3 Black Phantom Tetra and 3 Columbian Red Fin Tetra. The tank is 60 litres.

I wondered what types of fish you would recommend to add to the ones I already have and how many.

Thanks.

im not sure but maybe a few guppies or corries would look good. some platties would really help "tie" the tank together.
what sort of fish would you like to add? need some sort of idea.
community

penguin22 · Jun 16, 2007

I agree with community, guppys and corys would be a great addition. Maybee panda corys as they dont grow too big and are very cute. Congratulations on your choice already with the black phantoms :good:

mine are great and I think they work better with more females. I have 2 males who are territorial and are the more interesting fish but at dusk they "skirt" arond the more friendly females this is fascinating to watch. If you have 1 male and 2 female phantoms that is great if not I would add a few more in the ratio of 1male to 2,3 females. The way to sex your phantom is the males are darker and the females have a tinge of red to their lower fins. Good luck!

mark.w.jones · Jun 16, 2007

All tetras really need to be in groups of 5+ minimum ideally more. Otherwise they will never flourish or live happily. They are a schooling species and will be on edge at all times if they don't have more members with them. You really need to add more to each of your original schools but once you get to 5 of each you are unfortunately fully stocked. The COlumbians are not ideal for your tank IMO as they get too big and too active.

:good:

BubbleBlower · Jun 17, 2007

Thanks for the replies.

I love my Columbians as they are happy fish and swim about a lot

How big can they get? I was advised they won't get much bigger than they are already.

Thanks for the tip about sexing the Phantoms, penguin22 - it would appear I have 2 males and 1 female (got them from Pets at Home - won't be buying from there again as they did misadvise me really) as only one has a bit of red underneath. Should I get 2 more females?

I bought two dwarf Gouramis yesterday - I got a blue and a red and they are both male. They have livened the whole tank up and all fish are swimming around even more happily now.

I am wondering whether I can fit two of the little white bottom feeder fish and maybe two honey Gouramis? I also like the little bright yellow fish you can get, I can't remember what they're called though.

mark.w.jones · Jun 17, 2007

As I said above you would have been almost fully stocked if you filled out your tetra schools as you should really do to 5 members each. The Columbians will reach around 2.5" but won't really be happy with just 3 in a school but its your choice. You are now just about fully stocked without adding anything else at all. You should definitely add 2 more black phantom tetras at some point in the future but that will push you to being just over stocked and should probably be left to another month away. Forget the honey gouramis and cories as you do not have room I'm afraid.

:good:

doresy · Jun 17, 2007

One of the dwarf gouramis must go back. They may seem happy now but they are territorial and will fight. Better to have 1 male and 2 females but you are overstocking with your wish-list as it is! Also there have been heaps of troubles with dwarf gouramis for some time now. Something to do with the gene pool? Also they need a mature and well planted, peaceful set-up.

BubbleBlower · Jun 17, 2007

Well they seem happy at the moment so I'll see how things go. The lady in the shop recommended the 2 males, and also said I could have a total of 12 fish in my tank.

Here's some pics of them

Red Gourami

Blue Gourami

Columbian Red Fins

Columbians and Black Phantoms

Male Phantom

Female Phantom

penguin22 · Jun 17, 2007

I agree with dorsey and jonesy about the fish stocking, You have sexed your black phantoms correctly :good:

also all your fish look very nice. I know its tempting to buy more and albino corys would be a great choice if you had a little more room. For now I would buy 2 female phantoms and keep a close eye on your gouramis. Adding even more plants can help you bend the stocking rules but only to a certain level

paul_219 · Jun 17, 2007

Nice pics.

fishlette · Jun 17, 2007

penguin22 said:
I agree with community, guppys and corys would be a great addition. Maybee panda corys as they dont grow too big and are very cute. Congratulations on your choice already with the black phantoms mine are great and I think they work better with more females. I have 2 males who are territorial and are the more interesting fish but at dusk they "skirt" arond the more friendly females this is fascinating to watch. If you have 1 male and 2 female phantoms that is great if not I would add a few more in the ratio of 1male to 2,3 females. The way to sex your phantom is the males are darker and the females have a tinge of red to their lower fins. Good luck!

panda corys prefer lower temperatures that generally are not supplied in a tropical tank. they will perish and die very quickly if not kept at the right temp for them

15g isnt much floor space for full grown corys. maybe try looking for a pygmy cory or on otto or something like that. even a bristlenose catfish would be good. the latter two also eat algae and are irreplacable when it comes to keeping the tank clean.

for other fish might i suggest a small shoal of neon or cardinal tetras, or some flame/fire/ember tetras.

the lady in the shop was very wrong when she said you could have 12 fish in there. the rule is 1" of fish per gallon. 60L is around 15 gallons. you work it out by full grown size too. so your columbians alone are taking up around 7.5". then with your phantoms another 5-6". this leaves very little room.