Help! Stocking More Tetras?

[shmily]

Hello everyone. Some of this information I have posted on a previous thread but now I have new questions.

I have a 60 Gallon rectangle tank that measures 48 3/8" wide,12 7/8" deep, and 24 7/8" high. I have hiding places in fake coral and fake plants. I have an aqueon quietflow 55/75 power filter.

Right now I have 6 skirt tetras (3 black skirt and 3 gold skirt) and 3 black kuhli loaches. The woman at petsmart said it was fine to have three loaches but I am finding out online that they should be in groups of 5 or more.

So... I am going to add 2 more Kuhli loaches (for a total of 5). I am also going to add 4 Melini Cory Catfish. (Dont worry, I am not adding all the fish at once. I know this is going to be a slow process.)

Q: How many more Tetras could I add to my tank? I was thinking of getting a school of bleeding heart tetras or just getting more black skirt tetras. If I go by the 1gallon per 1inch of adult fish rule then it seems like I can only get 4 more tetras. It doesn't seem like a lot of fish to me but I am new to this and I don't want to overstock my tank.

Thank you!

 

[Soul-Man22]

U can go to aqadvisor and plug in all the fish your looking and see what they say for stocking. I have used it and it's very helpful!

 

[azmodan]

Hello everyone. Some of this information I have posted on a previous thread but now I have new questions. I have a 60 Gallon rectangle tank that measures 48 3/8" wide,12 7/8" deep, and 24 7/8" high. I have hiding places in fake coral and fake plants. I have an aqueon quietflow 55/75 power filter. Right now I have 6 skirt tetras (3 black skirt and 3 gold skirt) and 3 black kuhli loaches. The woman at petsmart said it was fine to have three loaches but I am finding out online that they should be in groups of 5 or more. So... I am going to add 2 more Kuhli loaches (for a total of 5). I am also going to add 4 Melini Cory Catfish. (Dont worry, I am not adding all the fish at once. I know this is going to be a slow process.) Q: How many more Tetras could I add to my tank? I was thinking of getting a school of bleeding heart tetras or just getting more black skirt tetras. If I go by the 1gallon per 1inch of adult fish rule then it seems like I can only get 4 more tetras. It doesn't seem like a lot of fish to me but I am new to this and I don't want to overstock my tank. Thank you!

The inch per gallon rule is extremely outdated and not really seen as an effective way to measure proper stocking anymore. Sadly it's a rule still spread by many pet store employees. With that said your tank still has plenty of room. I'd recommend perhaps getting another filter to help a bit but you could easily do like 12 kuhlis (they do much better in larger groups) and 10+ black skirt and 10+ gold skirts. Depending on what you decide to do the size of your tank would also allow you to look into a few larger fish too. Here are some fish you can research:

Angelfish
German blue rams
Apistogramma
Pearl gouramis
Boesmani Rainbows
Denison barbs

Just as a final note black skirts can sometimes get a little nippy with other fish so you'd want to a little careful with them.

 

[shmily]

Thank you very much! I was looking into some boesemani rainbows before. I love them but my only concern is that I read they prefer hard water and I have very soft water unfortunately. I too have heard the black skirts can be nippy. They mostly seem to chase each other around during feedings. The rest of the time they have been peaceful. I still would rather everything else in the tank be quick and either their size or bigger just in case though. Thanks again, I appreciate the suggestions!

 

[henningc]

I agree with upping the loaches to at least 8 if not 10. The skirts are nippy and any new schooling fish need to be able to hold their own.

 

[shmily]

Thank you! Do you think If I have 8-10 loaches it would be bad to get the melini cory cats? Would that be too many fish inhabiting the bottom? Also, do you think a school of bleeding heart tetras or boesemani rainbows would be able to hold their own against the black skirt tetras?

 

[shmily]

Also, has anyone heard if boesemani rainbow fish can do well in soft water? I read they like hard water but are pretty adaptable. I don't want to stress them. Thank you again everyone for your input!

 

[azmodan]

How soft is your water?

 

[shmily]

How soft is your water?

I am not sure how soft exactly but I am going to get it tested this weekend and buy better test kits. Being a newbie I got the API test strips and it looks like it is around a ph of 6.5-7 but the dgh is hard to read. It is a color between 0 and 30.

 

[threnjen]

Schmily I have some of the softest water in the US and my Boesemanis are happy and thriving

 

[shmily]

Schmily I have some of the softest water in the US and my Boesemanis are happy and thriving

Thank you! That's good to know!

 

[venymae]

+1 to using aqadvisor.com to double check that your stocking idea is good for the amount of space/filtration you have. It's really an invaluable tool.

 

[shmily]

Thank you! I have been checking out aqadvisor and I like it too. It seems to take in a lot of different factors.