Tall 15 gallon tank... need some ideas

[rubysoho]

First of all, many thanks in advance. I have been without fish nearly two years now and I am excited to get started again.

It is pretty simple. The tank is 15 gallons (wish I could have bigger! ), but set on end so it is more tall than wide. Looking for some ideas in terms of inhabitants. I don't mind sensitive fish that need more than "beginner" care. I also don't have a preference for a single "show piece" or small grouping of fish. I (and my cat who enjoys watching) do want to see the fish/creatures though. So nothing that hides all the time.

Originally I was thinking about these options:

~Betta, or a couple females (have had success in the past with a trio of females)
~Small group of panda cories (+ show piece fish?)
~breeding pair of German Blue Rams (but I think 15 gallons is too small...???)
~single male GBR + a small group of schooling fish (tetras ... something that would stay out of the GBR's main territory)
~african dwarf frogs paired with suitable fish
~some sort of shrimp + show piece fish
~a smaller variety of pleco (is there such a thing?)
~gourami

What has kept me from moving forward is that everything listed above is something I have done before in one tank or another... If it helps, the tank has black gravel, driftwood and will be planted (2 - 4 wpg of lighting depending on the setting I use). The lighting is retrofitted because I do plan on "going all out" with the plants - my first time, and yes I should have better substrate...

Again, many thanks! It feels good to be planning a fish tank again!

 

[Bigfoot1030]

betta and some nice live plants

 

[chenwb]

Don't get dwarf frogs, they are inactive, hard to feed, and uninteresting creatures. Especially in tall tanks they will knock around everything when going up for air. I got two but returned them later.

You could go for the classic betta setup, have a few otos and a school of something or other.

Tons of active schooling fish will fit in such a tank: cardinal/neon, ember, von rio, x-ray, green fire tetra, boraras species, and celestial pearl danio are all readily available and easy. You can also get a few cories just fine.

Honey gourami would be the only gourami I'd put in there. I have a pair, and they are very peaceful and beautiful fish. No plecos, not even smaller Ancistrus species, should go in there. Also plecos are kind of more timid fish.

The rams should fit in the tank but I think they're not worth the price and trouble. I wanted some but decided not to get them because of the $40.00 pricetag at LFS, then it seems everyone on the forums has one, and I heard they are timid and fragile (not based on personal experience).

 

[Blueiz]

I like the idea of the rams. Personally, if you have rams as an option, I'd go with live plants and a pair of rams. With rams though, you will need to cycle the tank before adding them as they are very sensitive to there enviroment, if you have hard water, these won't be a good choice for you either. You could add a trio of cories for the bottom and a snail as well.

If you go the gourami route, a dwarf one, or the honey goruamis (as mentioned above) would be good for you as they don't grow very big. I'm unsure of other species of gourami's that stay on the smaller side.

You could also do a species tank with dwarf puffers.

Since your tank is taller, you will want to be sure to occupy the different levels of the tank, such as if you add cories on the bottom, you won't want to get anything else that occupies the bottom.

You could do a male betta, some neons and some cories.. maybe toss in a snail for good measure.

 

[rubysoho]

thanks. I am getting excited about the tank. Rams have always been a favorite of mine. Years ago I had a few breeding pairs but the fry never lasted past 12 days. Either other community fish were snacking or, and I saw this a couple of times, the GBRs were eating their own babies.

What about a breeding pair of rams (I've seen them around here for $8/each compared to the $40 pricetag! Otherwise I would not even consider them) and a group (3-5) of small tetras - neons? - to occupy the top of the tank? I love rummynosed tetras but I think they will be a bit too cramped in this tank since it is more tall than wide. I have heard that most rams found in the LFSs are weak from inbreeding, so that is one thing that puts me off the rams and keeps this from being a clear cut decision.

Of course, just going the betta route would still be fun. Even though they are common they have personalities.

 

[rubysoho]

mini-update... went to the LFS for some live plants and had a bit of an impulse buy (thankfully tank has been ready for fish I was just waiting for the weekend when I had more time).

I ended up with a beautiful red male betta. I wanted this tank to be more focused on aquascaping with a couple nice inhabitants. I think he will be perfect, with the red standing out from the plants. He might get 3 cory friends in a few weeks. Might not. I just know when I saw this little guy that he was it. And I already named him Taz.


Thanks for letting me bounce ideas!

 

[Fin Man]

Well, I might be the Pariah for saying this, but i would have gotten a few YOUNG Angel Fish. while they're young, they would set the tallness of the tank off. Angel Fish tend to "hang" alot. They don't do alot of forward motion. Neons and Danios would be a poor choice as they need room to swim. Angel Fish do grow, but in the future you could get a 56 tall or something. I'm an Angel Fish fan for sure.

If you were going to go with Plastic Plants, i would say that Silver Dollars might be good.

I love Fish. I at one time i had 5 Tanks Going, but that was long ago. I'm just starting to get back into it because i now live somewhere that i can keep them. Apartment Complexes get nervous when you have tanks on the upper Floors. My Last Apartment Complex wouldn't let me have fish for that reason.

 

[rubysoho]

Well, I might be the Pariah for saying this, but i would have gotten a few YOUNG Angel Fish. while they're young, they would set the tallness of the tank off. Angel Fish tend to "hang" alot. They don't do alot of forward motion. Neons and Danios would be a poor choice as they need room to swim. Angel Fish do grow, but in the future you could get a 56 tall or something. I'm an Angel Fish fan for sure.

If you were going to go with Plastic Plants, i would say that Silver Dollars might be good.

I love Fish. I at one time i had 5 Tanks Going, but that was long ago. I'm just starting to get back into it because i now live somewhere that i can keep them. Apartment Complexes get nervous when you have tanks on the upper Floors. My Last Apartment Complex wouldn't let me have fish for that reason.

angels would be nice... if I had a bigger tank to upgrade them to. I also had a minimum of 4 tanks going at one point in time. Including breeding the GBRs and a pair of breeding angels. They were splendid.

But now I have a different apartment and a pretty mobile lifestyle (moved every year for the last 4 years...) so I would rather not start up and tear down an even bigger tank. Been there, done that. Not again!

 

[rubysoho]

mini update. I just acclimated three snails in to the tank. A gold, a black and a blue one. One is already munching on an algae wafer. Taz is inspecting them. He is incredibly active compared to other bettas I have had. Although he does not have as big of an appetite as I would like to see. I am going to blanch a pea to see if I can get his appetite up a little.

 

[newfound77951]

Sounds like you are off to a good start. I think pictures are required now

 

[rubysoho]

sure thing! I do not have my regular digi camera but my laptop has a camera. Sorry for the square white glare. That is my computer's version of a flash.

Anyway, you can see my starter plants. I will move the Amazon swords to the back/thin them out when they are larger. And the anubias has not yet found a permanent home. I am waiting until I get more plants. You can also see only half of my lighting is on right now. I still need new freshwater bulbs so for now I am using them at half strength because I do not have plants that need the higher wattage.

My betta is up in the left corner and you can see one of the snails at the bottom. The other two are darker in color so they don't show up as well.