More Stocking Advice Please

[AquaNoob.]

I currently have a 54 litre tank with 7 neon tetras. I was looking for some friendly tank mates.

I wanted 7 rasboras, 4 panda cory's and a betta. Is this overstocked?

I have a few other questions too

Are 4 panda cory's enough for them to be happy

Will a betta be peaceful with the other fish.

Any advice and suggestions are welcome
Thankyou

 

[libertybelle]

6+ is conventional wisdom for schooling fish and in my experience every schooling fish I’ve had has acted less skittish once I hit 10+ as such I personally wouldn’t push a schooling fish’s school size that low.

Also don’t the panda‘s get to 2.5-3 inches? If this is a permanent tank that’s pushing the stocking a lot when they get bigger. Have you ever seen a full grown cory? They’re actually pretty beefy fellas at full size. I was shocked when I saw one at a lfs once; had no idea they got so big! I’m kinda obsessed with these guys lately so here’s another plug for pygmy cories. Tiny and adorable and great for this size tank.

What kind of rasbora. There are tiny ones who would probably be fine and larger ones which might be overstocking.

Bettas are really hit or miss in communities. Many couldn’t care less as long as he’s not having his fins nipped, some pester/chase anything that moves. When I did a community betta I had a 5 gallon backup aquarium in case it didn’t work out. Even though he did fine in my community tank I still ended up needing it after he was a few years old and the flow/depth got a little much for him in his older age.

 

[AquaNoob.]

Thankyou so much, i'll look into some pygmy cory's. I was looking at the harlequin rasboras. I think I'll pass on the betta and increase my schools instead. Your advice is much appreciated

 

[libertybelle]

I like harlequins; very peaceful and pretty. Great for smaller 10+ tanks because they get big enough to be seen without outgrowing small tanks and they’re not so super active they need tons of swimming space. In my experience, they’re less shy than neons. My neons were always super shy until schools got quite large (12-15) whereas the harlequins stayed out and about more. (I don’t know if this is common for these guys or just how mind acted... possibly having the betta in the tank made mine a little more reserved.)

Pygmy cories stay super tiny even at full size so they don’t contribute too much to the bioload. They also like bigger schools and thanks to their size it’s not hard to keep enough of them to make them happy.