Yet Another "help Me Stopck My Tank" Thread :-)

[Benson112]

Hi All,

I have recently lost some of my gourami (as mentioned in another thread) and will obvoiusly need to re-stock my tank at some point. I wont be rushing into this as A) i want to sort out what ever is wrong with my tank and B) im skint lol

But whilst i am waiting to sort that bit out i want to plan my tank stock.

Remaining stock:

3 x neon tetra
4 x goldy coloured tetra (not sure what they are called)
1 x Dwarf gourami
1 x cherry / honey gourami
1 x white gourami (not sure what breed)

I have a 60 l tank (i think...not very good at this am i), with live plants and about 6 million snails that i am trying to get rid of!

My g/f wants a pleco in there but i have no clue about these what so ever so would deffo need your advice on this...i have read they get quite big so might not be suitable for my tank?

I have also raed somebody's suggestion on Blue Ram which i am very keen on! I found this awesome pic Blue Ram but again i know nothing about these! I love colourfull fish, so any more suggestions on this would be great

My g/f is also desperate for angel fish which i have avoided for about a year now as i think they are too big for our tank...but advise is always welcome!

Thanks in advance people...i understand you get alot of these requests.

 

[Davo86]

I'm afraid your tank is only around 15G so therefore it is too small for all 3 of the above
in fact i'd say your near to be fully stocked atm

can you post pics of the white gourami (could be kissing or indian) and the tetras (possibly glowlight, lemons)

 

[Mr Bliss]

Angelfish are definitely too big. German Blue Rams can be pretty sensitive fish, and are notorious for suddenly dying without an obvious cause. I'd suggest Bolivian Rams, they aren't quite as colorful but much hardier.

You might have room for one Bristlenose pleco. But your tetras need company. Both of the tetra species are in schools too small for their natural behavior. They'll be more secure, healthier and happier if they're kept in schools of 6 or more. That's where I would start.

It's hard to say without knowing what all the species in the tank are, but you might be getting close to the stocking limit already. If you do stock the tetras up to 6 individuals each, you'll probably hit the limit and will have to forget about the pleco. The way I see it, you need to choose either a pair of Rams, a bristlenose, or additional tetras.

 

[Benson112]

I'm afraid your tank is only around 15G so therefore it is too small for all 3 of the above
in fact i'd say your near to be fully stocked atm

can you post pics of the white gourami (could be kissing or indian) and the tetras (possibly glowlight, lemons)

The other tetras are glowlights...now you have said that i remember what they were called. I will post a pic later on. thanks for your help

Angelfish are definitely too big. German Blue Rams can be pretty sensitive fish, and are notorious for suddenly dying without an obvious cause. I'd suggest Bolivian Rams, they aren't quite as colorful but much hardier.

You might have room for one Bristlenose pleco. But your tetras need company. Both of the tetra species are in schools too small for their natural behavior. They'll be more secure, healthier and happier if they're kept in schools of 6 or more. That's where I would start.

It's hard to say without knowing what all the species in the tank are, but you might be getting close to the stocking limit already. If you do stock the tetras up to 6 individuals each, you'll probably hit the limit and will have to forget about the pleco. The way I see it, you need to choose either a pair of Rams, a bristlenose, or additional tetras.

Yeh i kinda knew that about the angel fish. the plan is to get a much larger tank in January so i may be back asking this question again in a few months lol.

I had 6 of each tetra's at the beginning but a few died off over the months. These have now been in there for around a year and all of them (both neons and glowlights) hang about together. (which leads me to a question....how the hell do fish know that the one swimming next to them is the same as them? They dont know what they look like themselves! lol)

I would rather not get any more tetras if i can help it, i didnt really want them in the first place but the kids chose them and i knew from past experience that the neons out live all my other fish so didnt really mind getting them.

Id love a pair of the blue rams, they are stunning fish. If its not a good plan to get these, are there any other species suitable for my tank that are similarly colourfull?

Ive just had a look at the Bolivian Rams and i like them too! But definately prefer the blue rams

Any suggestions on a good place to buy these? I have never seen them in any of our LFS, the best shop i have been to in town doesnt have anything like this. They tend to stock more marine fish than tropical. Ive seen a few places on the net that deliver fish...is this a good plan? any suggestions?

 

[Mr Bliss]

Id love a pair of the blue rams, they are stunning fish. If its not a good plan to get these, are there any other species suitable for my tank that are similarly colourfull?

In general I think it is a good plan to get the blue rams, since they are very interesting and nice looking fish. Just wanted to point out that you may need to watch the water quality more than usual when keeping them. They are more sensitive to nitrates than many other fish and extremely intolerant of ammonia. It helps if your pH is below 7.

 

[Benson112]

Ok so in theory its do-able. I will have to buck up my ideas though, i often forget to do the weekly water change and do it a little late. Ill have to make sure im ontop of it completely!

What do you do when you test your water and there is too much ammonia? More water changes i guess?

 

[Davo86]

Ok so in theory its do-able. I will have to buck up my ideas though, i often forget to do the weekly water change and do it a little late. Ill have to make sure im ontop of it completely!

What do you do when you test your water and there is too much ammonia? More water changes i guess?

too much ammonia would easily explain your gourami deaths on the other thread, and yes water changes are the key to preventing this,
although i'd say your stocking would be the reason behind this, with the gouramis you lost and your stock listed above you almost certainly had too many fish in the tank.

with your current stocking you don't have any room for a pair of blue Rams,

 

[Miss Wiggle]

too much ammonia would easily explain your gourami deaths on the other thread, and yes water changes are the key to preventing this,
although i'd say your stocking would be the reason behind this, with the gouramis you lost and your stock listed above you almost certainly had too many fish in the tank.

with your current stocking you don't have any room for a pair of blue Rams,

agree, what are your water stats at present?

i'd say the tanks fully stocked, if you're going to upgrade the tank then fine but don't get any more fish until you have upgraded it?

 

[Benson112]

Thanks for your input guys. I will put the stats up around 6pm

 

[mark.w.jones]

too much ammonia would easily explain your gourami deaths on the other thread, and yes water changes are the key to preventing this,
although i'd say your stocking would be the reason behind this, with the gouramis you lost and your stock listed above you almost certainly had too many fish in the tank.

with your current stocking you don't have any room for a pair of blue Rams,

agree, what are your water stats at present?

i'd say the tanks fully stocked, if you're going to upgrade the tank then fine but don't get any more fish until you have upgraded it?

Agreed. If you plan to stick it out with your current tank for the next few months but want new stock you will have to return some of the fish you already have to your LFS. Overstocking previously is the mostly likely cause of your gouramis deaths and I would not advise in your current situations that you go for a species as sensitive as Rams. Stabilise what you currently have and wait until you have 0ppm readings for ammonia and nitrite for at least 2 weeks before you do anything. Masses of snails also suggests that you are overfeeding as well. One small pinch of flakes fed once per day that get completely eaten within one minute is more than enough. Bear in mind that in a mature tank the fish can go up to 10 days without been fed at all just from scavenging.

 

[Benson112]

Ok thanks very much, will take on board what you say and hold fire with the new fish until i have a bigger tank.