What would you stock and why?

[MasterSplinter]

I have two tanks that I am interested in stocking. The first tank is already stocked with fish, shrimp, a snail, and a couple of plants. I would like to add some more life to that tank. The second tank is in the process of cycling, and contains only one plant. When it is cycled, I'd like to keep something interesting in it.

My question for you:

"What would you add to these tanks and why?"

I'm curious to learn what some of your favorite tank inhabitants are, as well as what would go well with the inhabitants I already have.

The first tank is a tall hexagonal tank with a volume of 35 gallons. There is one older bronze cory, as well as five young bronze cories and one young albino cory. There is a young weather loach of the golden variety, as well as five neon tetras. I'm planning to add three to five more neon tetras in the short term. There is a fairly large mystery snail and three ghost shrimp. Finally, there is an anubias nana attached to a lava rock as well as a marimo moss ball. The substrate is PFS and the tank is cycled with a whisper 40 and an ecco pro easy35. I use a fusion 400 air pump and two air stones as well. The tank has a hood and the lightbulb that came with it.

The second tank is a 21L Fluval Chi, and I have only begun to cycle it. It has an anubias nana rubber banded to a lava rock in it, and no substrate yet. I'm planning on adding PFS, and perhaps a lid to the tank.

Both tanks are allowed to equalize with room temperature. The temperature of the water as measured with a mercury thermometer is consistently 75º, with occasional variation towards 72º, but never lower. The temperature has never gone higher than 76º.

Thank you to those who have taken the time to read this post. I hope that some of you will have fun with your replies. I will have fun reading them, learning, and imagining the possibilities for these two tanks.

Chase

 

[MasterSplinter]

Here are a couple of photos of the larger tank. Also, the water in the tank is generally of a higher pH, I'd say 7.8 to 8.4, and it is very hard water.

 

[MasterSplinter]

I think it would be nice to have a second golden dojo loach to go with the first, but I'm worried that the tank may be too small for them when they're full grown. Thoughts?

 

[miller44444]

I would agree that your dojo loach needs a friend (or two). I have two natural-colored ones in my 29 gallon (and am planning on getting a third), and although it looks like your tank is more limited on bottom surface area, as long as there are enough hiding places in the castle they should be fine. You can always add more fake plants or hiding places to make them extra happy. Mine also love laying on top of the amazon sword leaves, so if you were to buy a tall fake plant with big leaves you might see them laying on top of it.

If you are looking for critters that can do more algae cleaning, I would recommend looking into a true Siamese eater or a false Siamese algae eater (they both do a great job) or some nerite snails (but the nerites love laying their eggs all over the tank--they won't hatch, but they are sort of ugly). The mystery snails are fun to watch but they don't do much for algae.

 

[MasterSplinter]

Thank you for the suggestions! I'm happy that you think another weather loach is a good idea, because I love our little guy and want to see him or her happy I think we'll definitely add one more.

I hadn't considered algae eaters before, because I though we were nearing the capacity of the bottom portion of the tank, but I'll look into them. I'm actually planning on slowly removing the fake plants and replacing them with live plants of different kinds. I think the castle will eventually come out, too, and I'll have to replace it with something for the loaches to hide in. Perhaps driftwood, or some interesting rock structures.

Thank you again for your suggestions!

 

[rreekers]

I think it would be nice to have a second golden dojo loach to go with the first, but I'm worried that the tank may be too small for them when they're full grown. Thoughts?

if I were you, I would rehome the dojo loaches, he isn't appropriate for your tank once he is larger IMO .. I would instead get 5-6 kuhli loaches. they are awesome to water ( look them up on you tube)

 

[MABJ]

Are you looking for suggestions on the 5.5Gal? What are its dimensions? I'm making my own little tank too.

 

[Cichlid Kid]

I think a few juvenile dojos would be doable for your 35hex but long term with their adult size to consider you may have to upgrade. I agree that for a bottomfeeder they do use all areas of a tank but something with a much bigger footprint would be better.
My one female golden dojo is between 8-9" long @ 5yrs old. I think shes done growing lengthwise anyway,( just to give you an idea how big they can get)