Choices for stocking my tank.

[zparticle]

While in the process of cycling the tank I'm trying to decide what I'm going to put in it, fish wise. I found a LFS with a wide selection which is good because I wasn't feeling good about buying fish from Petco. I overheard two of the employees at the Petco talking about how many tanks they had with fish dieing off.

So here are the fish most held my attention at the store and are therefore high on my list of possibles. Have to figure out which are compatible and small enough for my tank.

Ghost Glass Cat
Fantail Goldfish, Calico
Red Oranda Goldfish
Neon Tetra
Snow White Zebra (Chiclid)
Texas Chiclid
Yellow Labid
Red Marlboro Discus
Leopard Longfin Danio
Panda Cory Cat
Redtail Shark
Pineapple Swordtail
Dalmatian Molly
GloFish
Harlequin Rasbora
Gold Pristella Tetra

 

[adadkins1]

Welcome to AA!

I see in your tags this is a 20 gallon?

I will go ahead and tell you what you definately can't have from this list (due to size/ too aggressive):

Red-tail Shark
Red Marlboro Discus
Texas Cichlid
Yellow Lab
Glass Cat

I would also avoid the goldfish. If you did get a goldfish, only one would fit in your 20 gallon since they are very messy.

All of the other fish are peaceful and can fit in a 20 gallon. Some stocking options:

#1: 3 Swordtails and 8 Tetras
#2: 5 Mollies
#3: 5 Panda Corys and 6 Glofish

These are just a couple of ideas, and I am no stocking expert so hopefully someone else can come along and help you.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

While in the process of cycling the tank I'm trying to decide what I'm going to put in it, fish wise. I found a LFS with a wide selection which is good because I wasn't feeling good about buying fish from Petco. I overheard two of the employees at the Petco talking about how many tanks they had with fish dieing off.

So here are the fish most held my attention at the store and are therefore high on my list of possibles. Have to figure out which are compatible and small enough for my tank.

Ghost Glass Cat
Fantail Goldfish, Calico
Red Oranda Goldfish
Neon Tetra
Snow White Zebra (Chiclid)
Texas Chiclid
Yellow Labid
Red Marlboro Discus
Leopard Longfin Danio
Panda Cory Cat
Redtail Shark
Pineapple Swordtail
Dalmatian Molly
GloFish
Harlequin Rasbora
Gold Pristella Tetra

Goldfish can't really live together with any of the species you also mentioned but other goldfish. The tetras, swordtails, mollies, danios, cory cats, and rasboras are all fine in a community tank. Redtail sharks are a maybe, depends on how big of a tank you have. The Texas cichlid can't be kept with any other fish on the list. The yellow lab and the snow white zebras are African cichlids that will need to be kept in just a pair or in an overstocked tank. Discus need a species tank or a biotope with select tetras and cories, I wouldn't reccomend them unless you're experienced. How big is your tank exactly?

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Oh twenty gallons, here are some stocking options:
1-four panda cories, six neon tetras, six harlequin rasboras
2-platies and swordtails in a tank (3 of each species, only one sex)
3-glofish with harlequin rasboras and some Cory cats

Let me know if you have any other fish you like or if you want a specific combo of fish, I could tell you if it could work or not.

 

[zparticle]

Thanks for the info guys I was just out determining which would fit and co-exist. I ruled out:

Fantail Goldfish, Calico
Red Oranda Goldfish
Texas Chiclid
Yellow Labid
Red Marlboro Discus
Redtail Shark
Dalmatian Molly
Glass Cat (Although I thought I might get away with it, they are incredible)

All due to needing a larger tank. Looks like the Snow White Zebra is also out.

So here is what I'm left working with from the initial list. Grouped by temperature needs (Count is the recommended number to have together for them to be happy).

GloFish
Max Size-2.5", Count 5>, 64-75° F, KH 8-12, pH 6.5-7.5

Neon Tetra
Max Size - 2", Count 6>, 68-74° F, KH 4-8, pH 5.0-7.0

Leopard Longfin Danio
Max Size - 3", Count ??, 64-75° F, KH 8-12, pH 6.5-7.0

German Blue Ram
Max Size - 3", Count ??, 72-79° F, KH 5-12, pH 5.0-7.0

Panda Cory Cat
Max Size - 2", Count 6>, 72-79° F, KH 2-12, pH 5.8-7.0

Harlequin Rasbora
Max Size - 2", Count 8-10, 72-77° F, KH 6-10, pH 6.0-6.5

Pineapple Swordtail
Max Size - 4", Count ??, 64-82° F, KH 12-30, pH 7.0-8.3

Gold Pristella Tetra
Max Size - 2", Count 6>, 64-82° F, KH 4-8, pH 5.8-8.5

So based on temp they would all work together. The Pineapple Swordtail is out because it's KH needs are way above the others. The GoldPristella Tetra and the Neon Tetra appear to be out as the KH level is too low for the others. So this leaves me with.

GloFish
Max Size-2.5", Count 5>, 64-75° F, KH 8-12, pH 6.5-7.5

Leopard Longfin Danio
Max Size - 3", Count ??, 64-75° F, KH 8-12, pH 6.5-7.0

German Blue Ram
Max Size - 3", Count ??, 72-79° F, KH 5-12, pH 5.0-7.0

Panda Cory Cat
Max Size - 2", Count 6>, 72-79° F, KH 2-12, pH 5.8-7.0

Harlequin Rasbora
Max Size - 2", Count 8-10, 72-77° F, KH 6-10, pH 6.0-6.5

hmmmm.....

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Temperature, pH and kH and all that stuff doesn't really matter with these fish because they're more forgiving on that stuff. Keep the temp around 75-80 degrees, the pH 6.5-7.5 and the water neutral to slightly alkaline and you can basically keep any one of these fish.

 

[zparticle]

Eewww, cool. More choices.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Eewww, cool. More choices.

You know it!

 

[adadkins1]

Yep! You just have to figure out what you want now since these are all suitable and peaceful.

 

[zparticle]

Okay so I would like to get one or two "showcase" fish for the tank to go with the others. Any suggestions? Things to look out for, keep away from?

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Showcase fish...definitely not a lot listed above, they're all schooling fish or at the bottom of the tank. You mentioned rams, those are good showcase fish. Also any dwarf cichlids or dwarf gouramis are good if you have a single one or a pair.

 

[zparticle]

Can shrimp, I don't know what kind would be best, be kept with the fish on this list? I'd love to have some of those little buggers in the tank.

 

[eco23]

Can shrimp, I don't know what kind would be best, be kept with the fish on this list? I'd love to have some of those little buggers in the tank.

I have a ton of Red Cherry Shrimp and 3 Amanos in my 46 gallon with Tetras, Danios, Otos and a Bolivian Ram. Cool thing about shrimp is they have virtually no bio-load, so you can pretty much add as many as you want. I've probably got 40+ RCS because they breed like crazy. Some of the juvies will get picked off, but they are basically a self-sustaining population. It's a good idea to add some Java Moss to your tank for them to hide out in while they mature. They're great at keeping the substrate free of leftover food, and the Amanos are fantastic algae eaters...plus they add a really unique dimension to your tank.

 

[Tropical]

Just to give you an idea, in my 20 long tank I have a German Blue Ram, a school of neon tetras, and some platy. I may add some panda or pygmy cory cats in the future, those guys are so cute.

The most popular shrimp are ghost, red cherry, and amano shrimp. Amanos eat algae, but are the most expensive. Red cherry shrimp are cheaper, and colorful. Ghost shrimp are the cheapest and probably the most common. Any of them can go in the tank if you have enough hiding places, like java moss, terracotta pots, ect. Like eco said, the smaller ones may get eaten by omnivorous fish.

 

[allaboutfish]

id pick one schooling fish one kind of smaller corys like juliis and a type of ram bc it's a great looking tank with all these things. this is what i would do
8-rummynose,cardinal tetras or any tetra around 2 inches or zebra danios or glofish (the same thing)
6-smaller corys (julii maybe peppered or panda corys)
2(pair)-bolivian(ruby clown cichlids) or german blue ram cichlids. now if you decide with the german blues then wait a month or 2 after your cycled to add them. so your tank would look like

 

[zparticle]

Great! Thanks for all of the info and advise.

 

[zparticle]

assuming things don't go down hill I may be getting some fish in a few days.

 

[JimmyA]

You don't want to overstock either. The old rule is about 1" per gallon. That doesn't consider girth, but it's what most people use as guidance.

 

[allaboutfish]

The best way to stock is go look at fish you like come back and list them then we will help stock it

 

[adadkins1]

The best way to stock is go look at fish you like come back and list them then we will help stock it

I agree that this would be the best way to effectively stock your tank. The 1" of fish per gallon of water rule is out-dated and inaccurate. It only works for smaller fish like tetras, and doesn't take into consideration the activity level, bioload, etc. of the particular fish. No rule can replace experience.