Stock advice please!

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Deadna

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Aug 15, 2013
Messages
95
So I have a 30 gallon tank set up, and planned out my stock list as such:
5 Neon Tetra
5 Harlequin Rasbora
4 Corydoras
1 African Butterfly fish
1 Pearl Gourami
Is there any compatibility issues in this list? This is my first tank, so any advice is helpful! Thanks!
 
I think you're going to have problems with the African Butterfly Fish. They are aggressive and will most likely eat your neons and your harlequins. If I were you, I'd ditch him, add 1 neon, 1 harlequin, and two cories and I'd say you'd have a pretty good stock.

What is your filtration like? Also, are you planting your tank?
 
The filtration is an Aqueon Quietflow 30. And I'm not doing real plants, just fake plants, gravel, and other decor.


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I think you're going to have problems with the African Butterfly Fish. They are aggressive and will most likely eat your neons and your harlequins.

On ABFs...

A generally peaceful small Cichlid that should work well with other peaceful community fish such as Neon Tetras or Harlequin Rasboras

Anomalochromis thomasi - The Free Freshwater and Saltwater Aquarium Encyclopedia Anyone Can Edit - The Aquarium Wiki

I agree that you should have more neons and harlequins, as both like to be in decent-sized schools. I'd add 2-3 more of each.

As far as stocking goes, AqAdvisor is sometimes helpful with compatibility issues and stocking number questions. It's not perfect, but it's a good place to start.
 
When I looked up African Butterfly Fish, I found Pantodon buchholzi. According to Wikipedia (I know, not always a reliable source...),

"They eat any fish small enough to fit in their mouths, so they should be maintained with bottom-dwelling fish or top- and mid-dwelling fish too large in size to be bothered by them. They generally will not eat prepared food, and do best on a diet of live or possibly canned crickets and other insects, as well as live, gut-loaded feeder fish (goldfish should be avoided)."

So I guess we need to know which one the OP was planning on putting in, as the African Butterfly Ciclid is a good tank mate for the others listed and the African Butterfly Fish is not.

Hooray for both being correct! Haha


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The one I'm looking at is the cricket eating one, not the cichlid.


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Yeah he'll probably cause problems in your tank. Just in reading a little about them, it seems like they would like a larger tank with some bigger tank mates than neons and harlequin rasbora.

If you're looking for another centerpiece fish, maybe you could add another pearl gourami so you can have a male and female.
I'm sure someone will chime in in whether or not that will work.

If you're ok with just one gourami, you could add more neons and harlequin rasbora. Don't forget cories like groups of 6 and up, too!

Good luck!


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