Hey there, just thought I'd join Aquarium Advice for a bit of, well, advice, on tropical freshwater fish. I have been wanting a fish tank for a while so I went and got a small 36litre starter. Currently planted with four nice plants, not quite sure of all the names but I have attached an anubius (?) to a cool bogwood archway. Currently I have a gravel-dirt substrate good for plant growth but I may add some white sand on top. At the moment my tank has been running for 4 days and I have just bought a group of mixed danios, two long-finned, two zebras and two leopards as I have been using denitrol and biotrol (I think?). I'll upload some photos tomorrow anyway. I'm thinking of definitely getting two cory cats, two dwarf gouramis, and a clown catfish and some red cherry shrimp to eat algae. Also I would like a small shoal of maybe 6 rummy noses, neons or guppies but I'm not sure, maybe two of those types. Anyway, it would be nice to see what you all think.
By the way, thanks to dragonfish71 ( I think?) for inviting me to the intro forum.
Hello and welcome to AA. you might have made the first mistake to fish keeping already
I'm assuming that you didn't cycle your tank as 4 days is very fast. But don't worry you can do a fish-in cycle. Just keep an eye on them and keep on top of those pwc's
also I know how tempting it is to fill your tank with as many fish as you can think of. And that was your second mistake. Danios should ideally be kept in small groups 5/6 of their own species, so 2 of each isnt really ideal. But don't worry everyone makes mistake and you've got a lot more to come yet trust me.
Now on to the good points, planted tank is a great start, I recently did my first tank to, I have anubias/java fern/marimo moss. And like you I also have some shrimp. Your substrate is good. But find out which plants you have because like the anubias not all plants like being in substrate.
Now for the things you might want to consider before moving forward: with corys you need a nice group for them to feel safe. Otherwise if you only had 2 you wouldn't see very much of them they would spend 90% of their time hiding away.
When you say clown catfish, what I think your referring to is a clown loach, which grow far too big for a 36L tank unfortunately
Dwarf gourami are a beautiful fish but are very shy and can become aggressive and territorial if you get 2 males, I was going to get these but instead opted for a pair of golden honey gouramis which grow slightly smaller (2") and are less aggressive. Alternatively just 1 dwarf is a safer bet.
A school of male guppies would be nice but I would only recommend getting 3 because of your tank size it limits your stocking options. Get males because they are the more colourful and probably what you will want. They are fine alone or in groups. Very peaceful community fish.
As for shrimp they need a nice established tank and are very sensitive to copper medications and things, they also need plenty of hiding places and some type of moss is highly recommended but I would wait at least 4 weeks before adding shrimp.
If you want to see what your options are with numbers and types of fish try using
http://www.aqadvisor.com/ that's what I used and make sure you research any fish before you buy them.
Happy fish keeping I hope this helps
