Lafeet85
Aquarium Advice Regular
Hey guys I just bought an 80 liter tank and was wondering what is a good amount of fish that I can put in it, and what kind of fish would go nicely? I want it to be a community tank. Thanks.
Stocking an 80 liter tank. Help!!!
- Thread starter Lafeet85
- Start date
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Snowfire
Aquarium Advice Activist
As a general rule of thumb, a good stocking level is around 1" of fish (adult size) per 1g of water. 80l is roughly 20g so you're looking at 20" of fish. What type of fish would you like to keep? Have you thought about cycling the tank?
OP
OP
Lafeet85
Aquarium Advice Regular
Cycle is complete! Now just waiting to select my fish and am ready to roll. Its a tall tank so I want to occupy three levels the top, middle and bottom. But for the bottom I'll get Cory's, it's the rest that I would like suggestions for.
Bubbles0oO
Aquarium Advice Addict
If you would like some color Platies come in all colors, I have a fat school of them in my 55, only get a small school cause they are bound to breed , if you could try to get 1 male for every 2-3 females ( if u want to breed) also just getting females Means one or more of them will change into males, it happens and has happened to me in the Past. Another good fish is any kind of mollie ( I have marble mollies and midnight mollies) they will come up to the front of the tank and greet me like dogs , same with the male female thing , swordtails have lots of color too ( the Platies swords and mollies all go quite nicely together in my 55 hopefully they will work out for you too!)
Snowfire
Aquarium Advice Activist
Cories are great little fish, I've had problems with them recently (that's another thread) but they look great when you have a little schoal of them & they'll make sure there isn't any leftovers to foul your water!
How about a schoal (6+) of tetras, there are so many different ones available and are all pretty peaceful.
Would you want a 'centrepiece' fish? Something like a dwarf gourami or rams/dwarf cichlids?
You could have live bearers if you can deal with masses of fry!!
Have a look at some fish profiles or take a trip to your lfs & see what catches your eye, make a list and then read up on them to make sure they'll all be ok together.
How about a schoal (6+) of tetras, there are so many different ones available and are all pretty peaceful.
Would you want a 'centrepiece' fish? Something like a dwarf gourami or rams/dwarf cichlids?
You could have live bearers if you can deal with masses of fry!!
Have a look at some fish profiles or take a trip to your lfs & see what catches your eye, make a list and then read up on them to make sure they'll all be ok together.
OBEYtheFISH
Aquarium Advice Addict
Snowfire said:
What do you mean 20" of fish?
Bubbles0oO
Aquarium Advice Addict
True on the masses of fry
but most of them will be eaten 
it's also a great idea to read up on the fish you like I personally keep a few solid books one on aquascaping one on fish desiase and another on kinds of fish and what they like50 th post!
Talvari
Aquarium Advice FINatic
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2011
- Messages
- 732
The inch of fish per gallon rule is really inaccurate. Most people here tell you to throw out that rule completely. It entirely depends on the type of fish you get, and how large their bioload is.
For instance... Mollies have a much higher bioload than guppies. Goldfish are filthy. Cichlids its generally a good idea to overstock so that there is less aggression.
Tetra, platies, guppies... They would all be good for that size of a tank. Just keep in mind that most fish are highly social and should generally be kept in groups of their *own* kind.
librarygirl
Look It Up
I agree with the above; the 1" per gallon rule isn't a good way to stock a tank. Each species is different and other things need to be taken into account such as activity level, bioload (how messy they are), etc. With that rule it would be OK to put a 10" fish into a 10 gal tank. Not likely.
Your tank is about 20 gals, so you have some options. Corys are a good choice for the bottom. I have Pandas and they are fun. Some other options would be a group of schooling fish such as harlequin rasbora, most types of tetras, etc. There are really too many to name. Have any fish that you've seen interest you? Then we can see if they would do well in the tank. You could browse some sites (like this one Freshwater Fish: Freshwater Tropical Fish Species for Tropical Fish Tanks) for fish ideas; but ask here first, most sites aren't accurate when giving tank size for certain fish. Mollys can get rather large and are messy and you'd be limited in what else you could put in there with them so unless you're in love with them I'd avoid them.
How didd you cycle the tank? What ammonia source did you use? If you didn't then the tank isn't properly cycled I'm afraid. There's a link below in my signature: guide to starting a FW aquarium; the first thing it covers is cycling. You may want to give it a read
Your tank is about 20 gals, so you have some options. Corys are a good choice for the bottom. I have Pandas and they are fun. Some other options would be a group of schooling fish such as harlequin rasbora, most types of tetras, etc. There are really too many to name. Have any fish that you've seen interest you? Then we can see if they would do well in the tank. You could browse some sites (like this one Freshwater Fish: Freshwater Tropical Fish Species for Tropical Fish Tanks) for fish ideas; but ask here first, most sites aren't accurate when giving tank size for certain fish. Mollys can get rather large and are messy and you'd be limited in what else you could put in there with them so unless you're in love with them I'd avoid them.
How didd you cycle the tank? What ammonia source did you use? If you didn't then the tank isn't properly cycled I'm afraid. There's a link below in my signature: guide to starting a FW aquarium; the first thing it covers is cycling. You may want to give it a read
OP
OP
Lafeet85
Aquarium Advice Regular
Ok so I went out today and got 2 dwarf gouramis and 2 plattys. So how many more fish do you reckon I can still put in, if any???
Snowfire
Aquarium Advice Activist
Ok, I won't talk in inches, I was thinking that it would mean roughly 10x2" fish rather than 2x10" fish but your right, it isn't a clear way of deciding on stock.
How many cories are you planning to get? they do like to be in groups of ideally 6 or more, I used to have 4 and they did fine and would sleep in a little pile in the corner of the tank. There are pygmy species available which would leave you a little more room for other stock if you wanted.
How many cories are you planning to get? they do like to be in groups of ideally 6 or more, I used to have 4 and they did fine and would sleep in a little pile in the corner of the tank. There are pygmy species available which would leave you a little more room for other stock if you wanted.
librarygirl
Look It Up
Depends on how you cycled the tank. If you just let it run without adding ammonia, then none; you're doing a fish-in cycle now and the fish you have already are going to produce a good amount of ammonia that you're going to need to monitor closely and do frequent water changes for the next 1-3 months (see the link in my signature called: new tank with fish). If you cycled it by adding pure ammonia for 1-3 months until ammonia and nitrites rose and then went to 0 you can add more fish now. You could add 5 of some type of Cory (Pandas for example) and then a school of 6-8 fish like harlequin rasbora (depending on the type of schooling fish it is though).
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