Need help determining type of fish to get

[swimwithme]

I am new to this forum and to the fish world, although I have loved and adored fish tanks for a long time.
I am looking at getting a 16 to 20 gallon tank, possibly a 36 gallon. Probably the latter.
I need help to determine what fish I should start with and how many I can have in a 36 gallon tank. I do not want to have a crowded tank as I know this can lead to a lot of problems.

I am interested in the following fish and any help or advice is greatly appreciated.
Threadfin Rainbow
Gardneri Killifish
Dwarf Gourami
Mickey Mouse Platys

All of these are supposed to be peaceful and suitable for a community tank. Any advice or personal experiences with these fish are welcomed.
Thanks in advance.

 

[librarygirl]

Hi and welcome!

First thing you should do is cycle your tank. Here's a great guide that will help: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html

While cycling you can research what fish would go best in your tank. I'm not really experienced with stocking so I'll let someone else chime in. Welcome to AA!

 

[bruinsbro1997]

I am new to this forum and to the fish world, although I have loved and adored fish tanks for a long time.
I am looking at getting a 16 to 20 gallon tank, possibly a 36 gallon. Probably the latter.
I need help to determine what fish I should start with and how many I can have in a 36 gallon tank. I do not want to have a crowded tank as I know this can lead to a lot of problems.

I am interested in the following fish and any help or advice is greatly appreciated.
Threadfin Rainbow
Gardneri Killifish
Dwarf Gourami
Mickey Mouse Platys

All of these are supposed to be peaceful and suitable for a community tank. Any advice or personal experiences with these fish are welcomed.
Thanks in advance.

Hi there,

Definitely read up on what librarygirl linked for you. It's the most important thing your fish will want you to read!

As for the fish all would be fine in a community tank. Of you do plan on getting threadfins I would do a 36 gallon tank, they have much more room to swim. Rainbows are very active and need lots of room.
There are lots of dwarf gouramis. Their behavior however depends on the individual fish. Some are aggressive, some are shy, some are boisterous, and some are plain weird.

 

[agwats]

Like they said there are several varieties of dwarf gouramis and there behavior does very slightly but most are good for community tanks and they eat snails which is a bonus. You also may want to look into diff cleaner fish or shrimp. They make it much easier to maintain a clean tank and can be very interesting additions. Also as far as community tanks go I always say go with the larger tank, it just makes it easier to have a more diverse community without overcrowding

 

[Tigroscr]

I have a 40 g and I have some swordtails they are great! Also have a few zebra danios and some glo fish, they all seem to get along great. But I would recommend you get the larger tank.

 

[Brandon K.A]

I thing the bigger the tank, the more options you have for fish. Sometimes bigger is better, in this case it is. I only have a 5 gallon and wish I started with a bigger tank.

 

[swimwithme]

Thanks for all your responses.
I haven't purchased the tank yet but plan to after I do all my homework first. I have gone all in on things before and have learned my lesson. I would like for things to be right.
Is is best to cycle the tank more than once before adding your fish and can you put them in at the same time? (referring to the ones I had asked about)
Also how do the shrimp compare to the different cleaner fish. Are shrimp better. They do sound more interesting.

 

[maxwellag]

You can't really cycle your tank more than once, unless the tank loses the beneficial bacteria in the filter.I would highly reccomend guppies for that tank. They are very pretty and easy to care for, and you can breed them to whatever color, shape or strain you want. I believe that every tank needs a clean up crew-so some ottos, nerite snails, and some kind of shrimp... You could have more than just guppies in there. You could put in a school of tetras or something...

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Thanks for all your responses.
I haven't purchased the tank yet but plan to after I do all my homework first. I have gone all in on things before and have learned my lesson. I would like for things to be right.
Is is best to cycle the tank more than once before adding your fish and can you put them in at the same time? (referring to the ones I had asked about)
Also how do the shrimp compare to the different cleaner fish. Are shrimp better. They do sound more interesting.

No, as maxwellg stated you can't really cycle more than once unless you take out your filter cartridges all the time. Cycle once to get your bacteria colony started, and then when adding fish your bacterial colony will keep growing and growing until so much it should handle any bioload you give it.

There are no "cleaner" fish if you're looking for fish to eat feces and excess waste produced by other fish. Cories are good scavengers for any food that makes it to the bottom, and otos, SAEs, and BN plecos are all good algae eaters when combating algae. The advantage of having shrimp is less bioload so you can add lots of shrimp without overloading your bacteria. However one disadvantage of having shrimp is that if you keep small ones with fish that would eat them, like for example keeping red cherry shrimp with bettas or gouramis, there is a chance they will get eaten. Amanos are the best algae eaters IMO. Nerites or apple snails will also eat algae, but that choice is up for you to make. Keep in mind that there are different types of algae, so a fish won't eat every single algae your tank produces.

 

[maxwellag]

No, as maxwellg stated you can't really cycle more than once unless you take out your filter cartridges all the time. Cycle once to get your bacteria colony started, and then when adding fish your bacterial colony will keep growing and growing until so much it should handle any bioload you give it.

There are no "cleaner" fish if you're looking for fish to eat feces and excess waste produced by other fish. Cories are good scavengers for any food that makes it to the bottom, and otos, SAEs, and BN plecos are all good algae eaters when combating algae. The advantage of having shrimp is less bioload so you can add lots of shrimp without overloading your bacteria. However one disadvantage of having shrimp is that if you keep small ones with fish that would eat them, like for example keeping red cherry shrimp with bettas or gouramis, there is a chance they will get eaten. Amanos are the best algae eaters IMO. Nerites or apple snails will also eat algae, but that choice is up for you to make. Keep in mind that there are different types of algae, so a fish won't eat every single algae your tank produces.

By clean up crew, I meant some snails and animals that help by eating algae.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

By clean up crew, I meant some snails and animals that help by eating algae.

Ah ok, I misunderstood then. My bad!

 

[Mattefect]

Ok as someone else said you have to cycle your tank first should take 3-4 weeks unless you got things that speed it up. You need to also check your water to make sure the ammonia, nitrate and nitrite levels are good. Dwarf Gouramis are sensitive to ammonia levels and are not the easiest fish to keep. Just do some research on there water specifications and if they are all fairly the same I'm sure they'll be fine just watch out . Hope this helped

 

[Galligak]

I would suggest cories. I love my cories and you could have a decent amount of them in a 36 g. Probably like 8. They are so cute and very fun to watch. They eat left over food and actually I've seen mine eat some algae too, although I had fed them before in the day and had just upped their food because we had gotten ghost shrimp, which are other things that eat algae. There are lots of shrimp kinds, just google it

 

[Mattefect]

Yea cories are nice bottom feeders also clown loaches also bottom feeders they look awesome look it up

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Yea cories are nice bottom feeders also clown loaches also bottom feeders they look awesome look it up

Maybe as a temporary home for clowns, but not permanent. These guys get over a foot long and need massive tanks! But it's a good idea for those with big enough tanks

 

[Mattefect]

Wait 1 foot long maybe mine are different to yours mine only get about 5cm long

 

[Mattefect]

Well gtg to bed so se who's been chatting and try and help cya

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Wait 1 foot long maybe mine are different to yours mine only get about 5cm long

Google full grown clown loach and you will see how big these guys get.

 

[Galligak]

I still say get some shrimp and a school of cories for a great clean up crew and maybe 2 snails as well. I think that'd work wonderful!

 

[absolutangel04]

I am new to this forum and to the fish world, although I have loved and adored fish tanks for a long time.
I am looking at getting a 16 to 20 gallon tank, possibly a 36 gallon. Probably the latter.
I need help to determine what fish I should start with and how many I can have in a 36 gallon tank. I do not want to have a crowded tank as I know this can lead to a lot of problems.

I am interested in the following fish and any help or advice is greatly appreciated.
Threadfin Rainbow
Gardneri Killifish
Dwarf Gourami
Mickey Mouse Platys

All of these are supposed to be peaceful and suitable for a community tank. Any advice or personal experiences with these fish are welcomed.
Thanks in advance.

Hello,
if you are able to get the bigger tank, I would recommend that. Keeping fish is addicting. Lol.
Platys are great fish and I strongly recommend them. They are very peaceful, come in lots of colors, and have live fry! Try to get 1 male for every 2-3 females. The boys chase the girls ALL day long and it can be stressful for the girls, so the more girls you have, the more they can spread out the attention between them. If you don't want babies, get all of one gender.
Dwarf gouramis are a bit sensitive, but they are great fish. Another option is a honey gourami. It is a small red gourami that is quite peaceful.