What fish do you recommend I get?

[Xabien]

Hello.

I just registered here. I started a new aquarium up a few weeks ago. It is a 125 litre tank (33 gallon)and is about 32" in length and quite deep. I added 6 neon tetras after about a week and they are doing fine. I have a few caves and other rock features and have real plants in the tank. The problem is that I don't really know what my limit is on the fish I can get now. I would really like to get Clown Loaches because they seem like interesting fish and would help combat the snail problem that is starting to develop. I also wanted angel fish but it turns out they would eat the tetras eventually A catfish would be nice too. Can anyone give me some advice? Thanks

[JamesMJ2]

There is a calculater somewhere on this site. I think the basic rule though is 1 inch of fish per gallon. you measure from the very front to just before the tail. Anyways 33 [acronym:2067dad58d="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:2067dad58d] is a great tank and you can keep a good number of fishies. Make sure you have a test kit that test [acronym:2067dad58d="Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions"]ph[/acronym:2067dad58d],ammonia,nitrites,[acronym:2067dad58d="Carbonate Hardness"]KH[/acronym:2067dad58d], and [acronym:2067dad58d="General Hardness"]GH[/acronym:2067dad58d]. Sounds like you tank is probably pretty well cycled, so you can start introducing more fish SLOWLY. Clown Loaches are great fish,very peaceful and handy to have. You probably won't want to keep Loaches and Catfish, since they would be competeing for the same space. You have a big anough tank that you could probably keep two angels(maybe a breeding pair) and not have a problem. Angels are only semi-aggressive, and I have never had a problem with mine attacking other fish, and I have a tank thats too small for four angels. Sometimes they will chase each other, but never the smaller fish. Now are you new to aquaria all together or is this just a new tank?

[LondonGman]

Due to the food chain, generally, get fishes that are of the same temperament and size as your existing fishes i.e. the neon tetra. That means fishes around the 2” size and docile. Samples are cardinal tetras, rams, dwarf gouramis, mollies, guppies, small carfishes have al worked for me.

Clown loaches, being bottom feeder are slightly exempt from the above rule since they occupy a different part of your tank but they, like the Angel fish, grow very large. Someone else here should know more about them than I.

[MACATUA]

My girlfriend has a couple of clown loaches in her 10 gallon, and they are so cool. And they really are handy at cleaning things up a bit.

[William]

The 1inch per gallon rule is antique, and is often used to justify putting a a large fish into a tank to small.


But onto suggestions, I'd get a few baby female bettas.

[Madame_X]

Originally Posted by MACATUA

My girlfriend has a couple of clown loaches in her 10 gallon, and they are so cool. And they really are handy at cleaning things up a bit.

I hope she plans to get a bigger tank soon. Clown loaches are much too large for a 10 gallon tank!

[Allivymar]

Hiya and welcome to Xabien :)

*nods and agrees with William*

Forget the 1"= 1g thing. It doesn't take into account how heavy a bio-load the fish places on the tank, how much room it needs to move, temperaments or surface area which is key to good [acronym:e34fd15e30="Oxygen"]O2[/acronym:e34fd15e30] exchange.

Clown loaches are awesome; I have 3. Do keep in mind an adult Clown can reach sizes of 12 inches (although they are not exceptionally quick growers). A 33g may not be large enough; you might want to look into yoyo loaches which top out at around 6 inches and also are great snail devourers. They also should leave the neons alone.

There are tons of different catfish out there. If you are looking for an algae eating one, let me recommend a bristlenose pleco. Gets to be around 6 inches long and does a great job on algae; you will likely need to supplement his diet with algae wafers. Don't get a common plec; 33g is not large enough for a fish which will reach about 2 feet long *grin* If you are looking for a bottom feeder, let me recommend a school of corydoras. Awesome lil guys, get to be about 2-3 inches long, extremely entertaining and need to be in schools (you could easily have a school of 6 in your tank).

There are plenty of fish who would also be compatible with your neons; you're best bet is to look into fish who prefer similar water parameters as neons (lower Ph, temps of around 80f or so) and see which ones would work. As you know, angelfish are not the best choice as neons are prey for wild angels; I have heard of angels living side by side with adult, full grown with neons, but usually they have been raised together and they don't see the neons as food.

[Xabien]

Thanks for all the help. I am a new aquarist. I'm going to go and see what fish are availible now. Thanks again

[Terry]

I don't know what to say now, i think Allivymar has about covered everything. All i really can say is if you do go for Clown loaches they need to be in groups, i always think 3 or more. But like Allivymar said they do grow big and there are other loaches out there that are a bit smaller. But you should always read up about fish before buying.

OR ask on here.

[tkos]

Look at Khulie loaches. Since loaches need to be kept in groups of at least 3 these are a great choice. They have veru skinny bodies and grow to about 4 inches but aren't huge waste producers.

And I second a big school of like 6 cory catfish. Great little guys to watch look for extra food on the bottom.

There is also nothing better to look at then a big school of neon tetras, so why not get more!!