Cycled tank - Need some stocking advice

[Monzie]

So, we finally got our 27 gal Marineland "cube" cycled and are planning to buy some fish this weekend. We started our fishless cycle at the end of March, so we are pretty excited to get something in the tank. Hooray!

I'm seeing some conflicting advice about whether we should stock the tank fully or just add a few few fish every two weeks. Our water tests look good and the numbers have been stable for several weeks now. The tank is processing 4 ppm of ammonia to zero within 12 hours and there is no discernible nitrite. pH is a steady 8.2, which is what we see out of our tap. And we have done several large water changes to get the nitrates down to 20. (We live in an agricultural area, so our municipal tap water has 10 ppm of nitrate. Can't do much about that...)

As far as fish go, we were planning on a small school of harlequin rasboras, a small school of cardinal tetras, a few smaller corys (suggestions welcome here!), and a "centerpiece fish" of some sort...we were thinking a Pearl Gourami or something similar. I ran the numbers through the AqAdvisor and it said we were fine. Our LFS is holding 8 rasboras for me right now. They also have a sale on assorted Corys this weekend (I'm not sure what they have in stock, though). Oh, and there are a couple of beautiful Powder Blue Dwarf Gouramis in the same tank as the rasboras I'm buying, so I thought we might snatch up one of those guys at the same time, since they are tank mates at the store already. I didn't see any Cardinals at the store. PetSmart had a bunch but...ugh. I worry about buying anything from them. The fish at the LFS look so much healthier and happier.

So, what's the best course of action here? Do we add just the rasboras and then wait? Or can I toss in the gourami and some Corys too? Is there still a problem with disease in Dwarf Gouramis going around? (I've seen some negative stuff about them but most of it dates back a couple of years.) Are Pearl Gouramis hardier? And what Cories are going to stay on the small side? (Don't need them to be TINY...just not huge.)

Thanks again for all the great advice, you guys!

 

[Monzie]

Just an update...

Didn't feel like waiting around for an answer here so we bought eight rasboras and a single powder blue dwarf gourami. Got them acclimated to the tank and they have been happily swimming around in there for about two hours. The gourami carefully inspected every inch of his new home and seems to approve. Gave them a pinch of food and everyone chowed down.

So, if anyone wants to weigh in on our purchase, go ahead. The LFS recommended we wait on adding the corys for another two weeks. They have a few False Jullis that I have my eye on. And I'm on the waiting list for the next batch of Cardinal Tetras that come in. But, for now we'll just see how it goes with our current inhabitants...

 

[Mebbid]

Nice to see that things are settling nicely. Great choice on the rasboras, those are some of my favs.

Also, don't worry about stocking too fast after a fishless cycle. Your tank is primed to handle more of a bio load than it can safely be stocked with. Feel free to add up to a fully stocked tank as soon as the cycle is completed.

 

[Monzie]

Thanks for the input!

The water parameters still look good this morning...0, 0, and 20. We can't do much about the nitrate because it's already moderately high in our tap water. We'll just need to be scrupulous about doing regular water changes, I guess.

The fish are still looking happy. Our gourami (my son named him "Charlie") has found a nice hidey hole under the roots of the fake tree decoration but regularly comes out to eat and explore the tank. The rasboras are scooting around near the top of the tank. Seven of them are schooling like champs but we have one rebel who seems to prefer spending his time by himself. Should we be worried about this guy? Obviously, it's hard to tell whether it's always the same loner fish, since they all pretty much look the same. But when I watch the tank for a while and try to keep my eye on the single guy, it's the same one the whole time I'm monitoring him. Anyone here have a degree in fish psychology?

Anyway, we are now trying to decide whether to go back and get a few more tank residents. The LFS we went to yesterday had a few more of the dwarf gouramis in the tank where we got "Charlie" and they seemed to be cohabiting well. We could easily grab another one of those but I'm not sure whether it's wise in the long-term to have multiple gouramis in a tank. Will they constantly be beating each other up? Is there a different "centerpiece" fish that will be okay in our tank? My husband asked about an angel but I was under the impression that they can be bullies and might not like the gourami. The store didn't have any of the cardinal tetras I wanted but I might be able to find them someplace else. (PetSmart definitely has them but.....ugh.) I was also going to look for some corys but now I'm a bit worried whether we will be able to keep them alive. We have a gravel substrate (the same natural stone they use in all the tanks at the LFS) and our nitrate levels will always be slightly elevated because of our "country water". Is that a recipe for dead corys? I really think they're neat and want something to fill the bottom third of our tank. But I don't want to sacrifice fish to satisfy my own aesthetics. Any thoughts?

 

[Mebbid]

Thanks for the input!

The water parameters still look good this morning...0, 0, and 20. We can't do much about the nitrate because it's already moderately high in our tap water. We'll just need to be scrupulous about doing regular water changes, I guess.

The fish are still looking happy. Our gourami (my son named him "Charlie") has found a nice hidey hole under the roots of the fake tree decoration but regularly comes out to eat and explore the tank. The rasboras are scooting around near the top of the tank. Seven of them are schooling like champs but we have one rebel who seems to prefer spending his time by himself. Should we be worried about this guy? Obviously, it's hard to tell whether it's always the same loner fish, since they all pretty much look the same. But when I watch the tank for a while and try to keep my eye on the single guy, it's the same one the whole time I'm monitoring him. Anyone here have a degree in fish psychology?

Anyway, we are now trying to decide whether to go back and get a few more tank residents. The LFS we went to yesterday had a few more of the dwarf gouramis in the tank where we got "Charlie" and they seemed to be cohabiting well. We could easily grab another one of those but I'm not sure whether it's wise in the long-term to have multiple gouramis in a tank. Will they constantly be beating each other up? Is there a different "centerpiece" fish that will be okay in our tank? My husband asked about an angel but I was under the impression that they can be bullies and might not like the gourami. The store didn't have any of the cardinal tetras I wanted but I might be able to find them someplace else. (PetSmart definitely has them but.....ugh.) I was also going to look for some corys but now I'm a bit worried whether we will be able to keep them alive. We have a gravel substrate (the same natural stone they use in all the tanks at the LFS) and our nitrate levels will always be slightly elevated because of our "country water". Is that a recipe for dead corys? I really think they're neat and want something to fill the bottom third of our tank. But I don't want to sacrifice fish to satisfy my own aesthetics. Any thoughts?

Corys do need a sand substrate to be healthy sadly. I probably wouldn't add more gouramis to a tank that small since there wont really be room for them to be away from each other. Finally, for the lone ranger of your harlequin rasboras, don't worry about it, he just dropped out of school at an early age

interesting showy fish you might look at:
German Blue Ram (might run into nitrate issues)
Lyretail Killifish
Rainbow Fish
Endlers Livebearer

 

[Rodeo one]

From my personal and recent experience, don t get Cories unless you have sand. Mine lost all their barbels & two got ill from it. One died 2 days ago & I m currently treating one. I switched from gravel to sand about a month ago & the remaining 6 look fabulous thank goodness. Best of luck with your tank .

 

[Monzie]

Thanks. Yeah, we are leaning away from Corys now. I'm a little disappointed but I definitely don't want to invest in fish that will be miserable in our tank. Basically, we just wanted something interesting and small to help keep the substrate clean. Is there some type of pleco that will stay small enough to be happy in a 27 gal? Or should I start thinking about invertebrates instead? I think shrimp are pretty awesome but don't know what types won't wind up being munched by the other fish. I know nothing about snails but saw that our LFS had a few varieties. So many questions...

 

[Mebbid]

Thanks. Yeah, we are leaning away from Corys now. I'm a little disappointed but I definitely don't want to invest in fish that will be miserable in our tank. Basically, we just wanted something interesting and small to help keep the substrate clean. Is there some type of pleco that will stay small enough to be happy in a 27 gal? Or should I start thinking about invertebrates instead? I think shrimp are pretty awesome but don't know what types won't wind up being munched by the other fish. I know nothing about snails but saw that our LFS had a few varieties. So many questions...

a 27 can house 1 bristle nose pleco at most. I like those but they have a huge bio load. Shrimp are also a fun addition, I prefer Red Cherry shrimp personally but ghost shrimp are a good addition as well. I wouldn't worry soo much about them getting munched on by community fish. My GBR hunted my malawa shrimp occasionally in my 29g. I started with 8 shrimp and by the time I upgraded to a larger tank I had 38 shrimp that i pulled out of the smaller tank. As long as you have plenty of hiding places they should do fine.