Five Tank Resuffle

[Sorg67]

I have five tanks. This exploded beginning with one tank last October. I added tanks to support guppy breeding. I have since decided that selective breeding is too much work. I am in the process of consolidating my guppies down to one tank and plan to restock the other tanks. I am looking for stocking thoughts.

The guppy community will be in a 40 gallon breeder. The guppies are common wild type / feeder. Maybe some Endler hybrids mixed in. I plan to cull the adults periodically by giving them to my LFS as feeders and watch the colony evolve.

I have a 20 long planted that has a separate colony of guppies. Plan to consolidate that into the 40 gallon breeder colony and restock.

I have a 10 gallon with a large female and a bunch of young. I plan to consolidate that into the 40 and restock. I started another thread for this tank. Thinking a school of small fish. Maybe nano.

I have a 10 gallon that has one sick Corydora in it. It has a sand substrate. If that Cory recovers, I plan to put the other two from the 40 gallon in there and add a few more. It might be just a Cory tank. Or I might add something that lives towards the top of the tank. I might try over stocking this tank and see how that works out.

I have a 10 gallon Betta tank. I like that tank the way it is.

All tanks have pest snails. All except the Cory tank have assassin snails. I like the pest snails and plan to keep the pests and assassins in balance. At the moment, the assassins are winning. The five I started with have grown to more than 50, maybe more than 60. I plan to donate some to my LFS so they don’t wipe out my pests.

My water is PH 8.0 to 8.2. GH and KH are both about 8 degrees. I would like to find fish that like hard / alkaline water. Some have advised not to worry about that. They say most captive bred fish will adapt as long as the water parameters are stable. I am sure that is true, but I want to focus on ideal fits for my parameters as much as possible.

I am also considering shrimp.

All comment welcome. Especially critical comments. I will not be offended. The critical comments are the most useful.

Bring it on. I am a newbie and I want to learn.

 

[libertybelle]

Any interest in other live bearers?

Or shellies perhaps, little shell dwelling cichlids that I’m pretty sure do well in higher ph water.

You may have more options than you realize though. What’s the pH of the place that you’re getting these fish from? If it’s local it’s probably higher like you and the fish may already be adapted to it. Things like barbs, danios i think perhaps rainbows... they are really quite adaptable.

Dwarf Emerald Rasboras might work for your small schooling fish?

On the shrimp side you can’t go wrong with neocaridina in any and every color of the rainbow. Very adaptable (though things might go smoother if you can find a seller that already keeps them in higher ph water. ). Put enough cover in and you may even be able to stabilize a colony that will outbreed predation, though that depends on tank mates of course. You’ll have more luck putting shrimp in with cories or nano fish than guppies or cichlids! Or you could give the shrimp their own tank to breed and just move some into other tanks occasionally as they get denser.

 

[Sorg67]

I have an interest in Endlers. The dwarf Emerald Rasboras appeal to me too. My LFS has PH 7.8. A bit lower than me but high. I also like the idea of Shellies.

 

[Fishlegend]

Critical comment alert!

You need to keep cories in schoools of six!!! not threes and absolutley not One sick by himself !

 

[libertybelle]

There is no problem keeping a schooling fish isolated when sick. Not a good idea to expose healthy fish to a potentially contagious pathogen. After the fish is well then, yes, of course schooling fish should be kept in groups. I think op knows that considering they were talking about making it a species tank!

 

[Sorg67]

There is no problem keeping a schooling fish isolated when sick. Not a good idea to expose healthy fish to a potentially contagious pathogen. After the fish is well then, yes, of course schooling fish should be kept in groups. I think op knows that considering they were talking about making it a species tank!

The sick fish died. I plan to add more to the group, but I am researching their care. I started with eight. Four died in the first three days. Two more died in the following few weeks.

I have read that Panda’s are weak. I think the ones I bought were weak to begin with. Add that to my high PH hard water, stress of move, rough substrate. I am not going to add more fish until I understand what when wrong with these.

Once I get it figured out their 10 gallon will get upgraded to a 20 long. That tank was just upgraded to a 29.

Thinking a school of 6 to 10 in a 20 long will be cool.

But I am not sure I want to add Pandas if they are truly weak fish. They may just have to live out their lives as a twosome and I may get a different variety that will hopefully be hardier.

But I might add Pandas if I get comfortable with their hardiness.

The 29 will be stocked with 20 Harlequin Rasboras tomorrow. The current occupants will be moved to another tank. I would like to put Cories in the 29 with the Rasboras, but it has a gravel substrate and I am still weighing the perspectives of those who say Cories need sand and those who say they do not.

The supplier of the Rasboras also sells Corydoras and says sand is mandatory. i am not yet convinced that is true.

I have a 10 that has guppies at the moment and I am adding shrimp tomorrow.

I am also interested in Otocinclus. Waiting until the economy opens up and they become available.