15 UK Gallon Stocking Ideas:)

[Mr.Albiman]

For my birthday I am getting a 15 gallon tank and I'm wondering what to stock it with. I will be moving 3 Mosquito Rasboras and 10 - 15 Red Cherry Shrimp over from my 3 gallon tank. I will be leaving the remaining RCS and the live plants (Corkscrew Vals and Ludwigia Repens) in the 3 gallon and giving it to my 9 year old brother. I will of course be helping him maintain it as it will be his first tank.

Here's my stocking plan:

Fish/Inverts
8 x Mosquito Rasbora
10-15 x Red Cherry Shrimp (and any babies they may produce)
6 x Albino Cories
1 x Dwarf/Sparkling/Pearl Gourami (any one that i should consider more than others?)
3 x Zebra Nerite Snails

Any good? Any other fish I could add/should not not include?

Live Plants (when I've saved up enough for a stronger light!)

Java Fern
Java Moss

Any other low-light (2-3W/g) beginner plants I could get? How much of each should I get?

Sorry for the long post, I know it's a lot to read!

Much appreciated, Dan

 

[Mr.Albiman]

Here is my planned stocking list according to AqAdvisor.com.

 

[Mr.Albiman]

This was with having the following filters:
Hagen Elite Stingray 10
AquaClear 30

 

[Mr.Albiman]

Anyone?

Dan

 

[siva]

Hey there! I think your list looks ideal other than the ablino cories..those are just too big for a tank that size. In my 14 gal I'm putting 5 corydoras hasbrosus...1 albino cory would almost get as long as all 5 of mine combined! Plus cories are veeeery active fish, and need room to groove. If you can get your hands on one of the nano cories like the hasbrosus, julii's are pretty, widely available and still stay pretty small at 1.5". They still wouldn't be my fav pick for a tank that size but I think they would be OK..no more than 4 of them though. Also I don't know the dimensions of the tank though...if it's a longer 15 and not a tall one than 4 julii's would definitely be good.

 

[Mr.Albiman]

the dimensions are 20"length x 15"height x 12"wide.
I think my LFS will let me order in the Julii or Habrosus cories if they don't have them already.
Thankyou, ill put the new stocking list in AqAdvisor.com

Dan

 

[Mr.Albiman]

According to AqAdvisor.com...

8 x Mosquito Rasbora (Boraras brigittae)
1 x Sparkling Gourami (Trichopsis pumila)
4 x Dainty Cory (Corydoras habrosus)
10 x Red Cherry Shrimp (Neocaridina heteropoda)
3 x Zebra Nerite Snail (Neritina natalensis sp. Zebra)

... Recommended temperature range: 25 - 27 C.
Recommended pH range: 7 - 7.
Recommended hardness range: 10 - 14 dH.
You have plenty of aquarium filtration capacity.
Your aquarium filtration capacity for above selected species is 158%.
Recommended water change schedule: 23% per week.
Your aquarium stocking level is 87%.

Does this sound about right?

Dan

 

[siva]

Well I think that's perfect

 

[siva]

I think 2 sparkling gouramis would be fine if you wanted to.

 

[Mr.Albiman]

Really?! Wow. Should I get a male and a female or two of the same sex?
Also, would it make any difference if i got 4 dwarf cories instead of 4 dainty cories?

Thanks, Dan

 

[siva]

I think the sparkling gouramis they get along and it doesn't matter which sex you get.

Which species of dwarf? Lots of them are referred to as dwarf so I'm not positive which. I think 4 of anything julii sized or smaller would be fine. Usually I wouldn't stock them in less than 20 US gals - but you are pretty close to that so...I think it's OK. My tank measures the same as yours except for 2" less in width (which made me realize for the first time this is UK gallons so your tank actually bigger than mine!) and I'm doing 5 hasbrosus so I think if you went with those you could do 6. I'll feel more comfortable making recommendations on them once I actually have some myself though..should have mine next week

Hey you might want to mix it up by doing different kind of nerites. Just an idea. I'm a big fan of snails, I have all sorts. I keep many different kind of nerites and they are really cool looking. The green horned is my favorite. Just thought you might want to look into them in case you've never seen them

 

[Mr.Albiman]

Okay thanks!
Ill stick to (6?) Habrosus cories, 8 mosquito rasbora, 2 sparkling gourami (1m, 1f), 10 RCS, 4 nerite snails (2 zebra, 2 olive).

Thanks, Dan

 

[siva]

We are going to have very similar tanks lol

 

[Mr.Albiman]

Aha! remind me of your stocking list? I've read it somewhere but I have a rubbish memory!

 

[Mr.Albiman]

I've changed my mind, sorry!
I would like 2 Dwarf Gouramis (1m,1f) instead of 2 sparkling gouramis. Would this be okay?

Thanks, Dan

 

[siva]

I'm pretty sure at this point that I'm going to do
12 brigittae
5 hasbrosus
4 scarlet badis
several clithon sp sun nerites
maybe some thai micro crabs as well

 

[Mr.Albiman]

That sounds awesome, I love the scarlet badis

 

[Mr.Albiman]

Any thoughts on swappibg the sparkling gouramis for dwarf gouramis?

Dan

 

[siva]

Yeah I just discovered it and I'm totally smitten with it.

Ah if you do the dwarf gourmis you can only do one. Sometimes people are succesful with 2 but usually in larger heavily planted tanks. One almost always dominates the other, picking on it until death. They are similar in many ways to their cousin the betta. I'm wondering about mixing the sparkling gourami with the dwarf...I've never done that. You are stocking pretty modestly so if they would get along I'd say you you could probably have the 2 sparkling and the dwarf. I mean other than them, the only other things you have in the middle and top sections are the teeny rasboras. JMO.

 

[Mr.Albiman]

okay, then i think i will stick to the 1 dwarf and if that goes well maybe add the 2 sparkling gouramis if it goes badly, i'll take them back.

are you sure that the two gourami species wont fight?

thanks, Dan