6 Gal tank stocking questions

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

ryguy76

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Nov 6, 2011
Messages
25
I'm going to be setting up a 6G Fluval Edge tank and according to the various calculators, it says that i can have 20" of fish, which seems to be more than I expected for this size. I came from SW, which would be 5" in the same size tank.

So, I'm thinking:
- 5-6 Celestial Pearl Danios
- 2 Red Platy's
- and some Red Cherry & Crystal Red Shrimp

Is this a do-able bioload? I don't think the shrimp will add to the bioload, but what would the recommended number be of each shrimp types?

Also, I have LED lighting so I was going to do real plants, just wondering what would be good choices for this size of tank. The tank is about 14" high so I would be looking at dwarf species for most I guess.

Any help would be fully appreciated. I am not a beginner aquarist as far as concepts and science goes, but I know very little about FW specifically.
 
I don't think you can have 20" of fish in a 6g tank.
CPDs, I've read, are good nano fish as well as bettas and shrimp but I wouldn't do platys in a 6g. Besides the platys, I think you have a good stocking listed.
 
I agree, the Celestials would be fine (or some other type of nano fish like ember tetra or chili rasbora) and the shrimp, but no to the Platys; they get too large and are too messy for a 6 gal.
 
Ok, good to know about the platy's. I read that that particular fish was a 2" adult, so I calculated 4" for the platy's and 6" for the school to give me 10" total in the 20" calculation that 3 separate calls gave me. I don't want messy fish, so I'm good without the mess they'd incur. Can you recommend a smallish feature fish for this tank to go with the school?

What kinda numbers for the shrimp?
 
I think a betta would be a nice feature fish. Lots of different colors and fin variations. Not sure about the shrimp though.
 
Ok, good to know about the platy's. I read that that particular fish was a 2" adult, so I calculated 4" for the platy's and 6" for the school to give me 10" total in the 20" calculation that 3 separate calls gave me. I don't want messy fish, so I'm good without the mess they'd incur. Can you recommend a smallish feature fish for this tank to go with the school?

What kinda numbers for the shrimp?
Possibly a trio of sparkling gourami. I would generally consider 10 gals the minimum for them, but I do keep a trio in a 6.6 bookshelf tank along with a school of CPD's and everyone seems to have plenty of room.
 
I think a betta would be a nice feature fish. Lots of different colors and fin variations. Not sure about the shrimp though.
Bettas like it around 80 degrees and CPD's prefer it cooler, so I don't think that's the best mix. Plus CPD's are very timid, and IME you'll see them more if kept with fish of similar size.
 
The edge tank isn't a good tank for bettas because of limited surface area. I'll look into the gouramis. Any other suggestions?
 
the dimensions are 17"L X 10"W X 9"H approx, but the tank design only has a small opening on top because it's designed to be filled completely to the brim with water so it's viewable from the top down too, the same as it would be from any side.
 
Ok that sounds great. I think you could do a nice little mini community in there. If I were you I would do either 6 CPD's or 8 chili rasbora, with either 3 sparkling gourami or 2-3 dario dario, and if you use sand for substrate, you could also do 3-4 hara jerdoni.
 
The Dario Dario looks very cool...Thanks for the suggestion! Any thoughts on plants?
 
I've got a school of 9 CPDs in my 6gal and they seem to like it :) definitely growing and are healthy as can be. I decided to stick to the one species due to not wanting to overload the biosystem but my water quality is exactly how it should be so you should be able to add a nice centrepiece.
 
I've just started a planted edge as well. For my first fish in there, I went with 3 pristella tetras. Before I added anything else, I wanted to double check what else would safely fit. Would a school of CPDs do? Maybe 5-6? Or do there need to be more than 3 tetras for them to be comfortable?

Ryguy, how's your setup coming? Any pics?
 
I've just started a planted edge as well. For my first fish in there, I went with 3 pristella tetras. Before I added anything else, I wanted to double check what else would safely fit. Would a school of CPDs do? Maybe 5-6? Or do there need to be more than 3 tetras for them to be comfortable?

Ryguy, how's your setup coming? Any pics?

I think first priority should go to the pristellas since they are already there and don't have a school.
 
WBAC88 said:
What would count as a school? 5-6?

At least 6. How big is your tank? If it's 6g i don't think you would give a school of pristellas the space they need. Personally, I would switch the pristellas for a larger school of CPDs or any kind of nano fish. I think pristellas are quite big, much bigger than a nano fish fit for nano tanks.

Back to the OP, I would second sparkling gouramis! They are great. But Dario dario are equally cool, although you may have trouble getting them to eat anything other than live/frozen food.
 
Sigh, you're right, I had been looking at the purchase size on websites and all the ones in the LFS must have been juveniles. It's alright, I'll fill out their school and move them into my bigger tank. I think I'll go with the CPD and Sparkling gourami stocking scheme. Would a snail or possibly a couple ghost shrimp be alright in there as well?
 
WBAC88 said:
Sigh, you're right, I had been looking at the purchase size on websites and all the ones in the LFS must have been juveniles. It's alright, I'll fill out their school and move them into my bigger tank. I think I'll go with the CPD and Sparkling gourami stocking scheme. Would a snail or possibly a couple ghost shrimp be alright in there as well?

That's ok it happens. I think pristellas are really awesome. I had 2 albino ones dumped on me when I bought plants off craigslist. I keep meaning to give them to the LFS because i think the albino morph is hideous! But they swim together and are extremely hardy, as well as very peaceful. And really easy to catch with a net ;) I think you will like a bigger school of them!

To you and the OP, i think snails like ramshorns will be ok, not like nerites or mysteries because i think they are very poopy. Ghost shrimp should be fine, but I've had experiences with ghost shrimp killing and eating my platties so I don't buy them and I will never believe they are peaceful! ;) but most people are fine with them though. They may grow bigger than your younger CPDs! There are much prettier shrimp out there like RCS that are very peaceful. Jetajockey has nice ones, i started my colony with his.

OP, post pics! :)
 
Ghost shrimp eating your platties?!? How did that happen? They're tiny! I didn't realize they were so predatory. I've done badly with RCS in the past, so I may be a bit scarred, but I'd be willing to try them again. Thanks for the tip on the nerites and mysteries, poopy snails are not something I need right now.

And yes, OP, post pics, I'd be really interested to see what you came up with!
 
Back
Top Bottom