Stocking ideas for a 30gal

[thecrazycuban25]

Hello everyone, I am new to the forum but I have kept fish for over 10 years (mainly my dingy 10 gal ). Currently I am cycling a 30 gal and I decided to do some research on what to stock it with. My idea is this:

6 Cory Catfish
8 neon tetras
2 dwarf gouramis

It's a basic community tank with top/mid/bottom dwellers with gouramis as center-piece. However, I was wondering if there is something a little more bold I could do. Like I was looking into blue german cichlids (2in) instead. So what are you guys' ideas for stocking? I'm ok with all one type of fish as well if they're interesting to watch. Thank you guys and thanks for adding me.

 

[Rodeo one]

What about Platys? I just got a gorgeous blue & black one, looks great in with the orange & yellow of my other two. Cuz, wouldn t a cichlid eat the other fish? I have Bolivian rams too, the male is stunning .

 

[mistersprinkles]

Hello everyone, I am new to the forum but I have kept fish for over 10 years (mainly my dingy 10 gal ). Currently I am cycling a 30 gal and I decided to do some research on what to stock it with. My idea is this:

6 Cory Catfish
8 neon tetras
2 dwarf gouramis

It's a basic community tank with top/mid/bottom dwellers with gouramis as center-piece. However, I was wondering if there is something a little more bold I could do. Like I was looking into blue german cichlids (2in) instead. So what are you guys' ideas for stocking? I'm ok with all one type of fish as well if they're interesting to watch. Thank you guys and thanks for adding me.

Go for 8 corys. The dwarf gouramis are fine but make sure it's a male and a female. You may also like honey gouramis. They're nicer looking IMO. Less prone to disease as well.

You can keep dwarf gouramis and rams together, as they occupy different areas of the aquarium most of the time. Rams stay near the bottom, gouramis tend to stay in the middle or near the top. I suggest Bolivian Rams instead of blue rams. They're much hardier and tolerant of alkaline pH. In fact, they prefer it.

If you did keep a pair of rams, a pair of gouramis, 8 neons and 8 corys, that's 20 fish and a few of them are rather large. A bit of a stretch for a 30 gallon, but if you did very frequent water changes you could get away with it.

 

[Mattyfelts]

in my 20H i have a DG and GBR and they are awesome together, i also have 2 platies but dont find them as interesting as the Rams and Gouramis. They are both HUGE characters and either would be great! Just depends what colour scheme your looking for

 

[Rivercats]

You could do the stock you listed but IMO I would do one dwarf or honey gourami male and do a pair of German Blue rams. The only thing is you would want to wait till the tank is about 4 months mature before add the GBR's as they don't do well in new set ups. Also be sure to do a 50% weekly WC and monitor nitrates as GBR's don't do well with high nitrates which you should keep below 20ppm. I also would up the neons but not the amount of cory's since many cory's get rather large. 6 cory cats in a 30g is a good number.

 

[thecrazycuban25]

Thanks so much for your responses. I should state that I meant the blue rams rather than the gouramis not added to. However, I saw some of the dwarf gourami colours at my local store and I really like them. So I think I will go with that idea instead of two colossal fish dueling eternally alone

 

[thecrazycuban25]

What about Platys? I just got a gorgeous blue & black one, looks great in with the orange & yellow of my other two. Cuz, wouldn t a cichlid eat the other fish? I have Bolivian rams too, the male is stunning .

I was thinking about platies but idk what to exchange them for prob tetras. I like corys to clean the bottom

 

[Mattyfelts]

I was thinking about platies but idk what to exchange them for prob tetras. I like corys to clean the bottom

consider that platies have very large bioloads, are live bearers, and breed unstoppably and can easily over run a tank. I would keep the tetras and corys and not get platies.

 

[Rodeo one]

I only have female Platys, so no babies! But, the other choices are good, too. Let us know what you get.

 

[mistersprinkles]

I was thinking about platies but idk what to exchange them for prob tetras. I like corys to clean the bottom

Corys are not for cleaning the bottom. Corys require significant amounts of their own food. They need to be fed just like every other fish. They don't like scraps, but will eat them from time to time. They don't eat algae either. A lot of people think they do.

 

[celtic11]

I don't have near the experience level of some here but I do have a similar setup. I have a 29gallon with the following.

8 neon tetra
6 serpae tetra
4 peppered Cory
2 Bolivian ram
1 albino bristlenose pleco

My tank has only been stocked for a few weeks but everything is going well so far with this combo. I stocked it based on recommendations from this very forum and my only complaint is all my fish are mid-level to bottom level fish. If I had it to do over again I'd switch out the serpae tetras for something more top level like the scissor-tail rasbora.

 

[thecrazycuban25]

Corys are not for cleaning the bottom. Corys require significant amounts of their own food. They need to be fed just like every other fish. They don't like scraps, but will eat them from time to time. They don't eat algae either. A lot of people think they do.

Thanks mistersprinkles. Yeah I know that and I feed the ones I have now sinking pellets regularly. However, on the day that I don't feed the 10 gal they always clean up house. I'm wanting to move them to better substrate (sand) and get them more mates.

I am liking better the tetra idea as well. Thanks all I will post pictures once I have it set up

 

[apr28]

I don't have near the experience level of some here but I do have a similar setup. I have a 29gallon with the following.

8 neon tetra
6 serpae tetra
4 peppered Cory
2 Bolivian ram
1 albino bristlenose pleco

My tank has only been stocked for a few weeks but everything is going well so far with this combo. I stocked it based on recommendations from this very forum and my only complaint is all my fish are mid-level to bottom level fish. If I had it to do over again I'd switch out the serpae tetras for something more top level like the scissor-tail rasbora.

Look into Dwarf Rainbowfish

 

[celtic11]

Look into Dwarf Rainbowfish

Was that intended for me or the OP? The dwarf rainbow fish are neat but I think my tank is full unless I get rid of something, which seems like a pain. If I add anything it'd be 2 more peppered corys to get to 6 as that seems to be the number people recommend as a minimum.

 

[apr28]

Was that intended for me or the OP? The dwarf rainbow fish are neat but I think my tank is full unless I get rid of something, which seems like a pain. If I add anything it'd be 2 more peppered corys to get to 6 as that seems to be the number people recommend as a minimum.

Yeah I was making reference if you ever decided to switch out for a top dweller.

 

[celtic11]

Yeah I was making reference if you ever decided to switch out for a top dweller.

OK well thanks. I hadn't seen those before you mentioned it so I would definitely look at those if I make a change.