Corydoras instead of Otos

tophat665

Lately I've been seeing a breed called Dwarf Sunset/Coral Platies. They look to get about an inch long. I'm thinking about setting up a 10 gallon breeding tank of these for live food for Angels and Leopard Ctenos.

tophat665

OK, for a 6 gallon tank, appropriate fish:
Betta splendens: 1 male or 1 female (room for more fish) - also other similarly sized betta species.
Dwarf Puffer: 1 male or female and one more female - no other fish
Mystery Snail: 1 with room for fish, 2 without
Amano Shrimp: Up to 12
Neocardinia spp (Red Cherry, Crystal Red, Blue Buddha, Bumblebee Shrimp): up to 4 per gallon.
African Dwarf Frog: up to 2
Japanese Ricefish: Cool water - up to 4
Javanese Ricefish: Up to 5
Dwarf Medaka: up to 10 (tolerant of water up to 35ºC)
Many species of Killifish: Species Tank. Requires further research. Need to be replaced annually.
Sparkling Gourami: 2 or 3 (one male)
Otto: up to 8 in a well planted tank with supplamental feeding. No more than 1 without. (I have one in a 5.5)
Aspidoras spilotus, A. raimundi: Cory like fish - 5 - no more, no less.
Corydoras gracilis, C. Guapore, C. osteocareus, C. Panda, C. similis: No fewer than four, no more than 6
C. pygmeus, C. hasbrosus, C. hastatus: Up to 12, no fewer than 6 - feed live or frozen daphnia at least occasionally.
Many many species of small tetras, in schools of 6 to 12, including especially: Neons, Glow Light, Black Neons, Green Neons, Cardinals, Embers, Flame (Von Rio), Kerri, Dawn, Gold
Smaller Apistogramma species: Mated pair only, well planted tank, lots of hiding spaces, and you'll have to cull all the fry.
Microrasboras including: Boraras brigittae (red finned Dwarf Rasbora), B. maculatus (Spotted Dwarf Rasbora), B. merah, B. micros, B. urophthalmoides (Exclamation Point Rasbora) - up to 15, Also Galaxy Rasbora
Small Rasboras: Trigonostigma heteromorpha (Harlequin), hengeli, and espi - 6 to 10
White cloud mountain fish - Maybe as many as 12

Been meaning to do this for a while now. More later....

Note, this is not dogma. This is a best guess on my part based on the limited information I have for these fish. I, for instance, would not keep Harlequins in a 6 gallon tank. I have a dozen in a 75g and they use all of it. So while the numbers work out to 6 to 10, I think they would feel cramped. Willing to hear arguments for or against any positions. (Except on bettas. That argument is tedious and I don't intend to hear it.)

tophat665

Continuing:
Everglades Pygmy Sunfish: Up to 2, no more than one (Actually, if you can get Okeefenokee, they're every bit as colorful as Electric Blue cichlids.)
Giant Moth Cat (Erethistes pusillus): Could probably have 3, but you wouldn't want more than one, it's a scavenger that will bury itself in the substrate.
Bumblebee goby: You could have between 6 and 10, depending o the tank footprint. One species requires brackish water. One tolerates Freshwater, but can be put in brackish water. There's no easy way to tell them apart, so that would make this a brackish tank.
White Cheeked Goby (Rhinogobius duospilus, formerly wui): 3 - one male, two females. Freshwater. Needs a fair current.
Kuhli Loach: You can probably keep up to 3, maybe 5 happily, but you won't see them much.

More later....

Fish that look like they ought to work but don't:
Pencilfish - need 20" of swimming space absolute minimum. 10 gallon yes. 6 gallon, no.
Hatchetfish of any kind - need both the swimming room and the wast dilution afforded by a tank of 20 gallons minimum.
Zebra, Leopard, and Pearl danios: Should really have at least 24, preferably 30" of swimming space.

mibi_fibi

WOW
Thank you everyone for soooo much information. Interestingly enough I did an experiment asking different individuals at my LFS what they would recommend. I got every reply from 'nothing, because of the betta', to 'oh yeah, you can put lots of guppies or tetras in there'. Guppies! With pretty tails?? They also didn't seem concerned about the idea of only a couple of schooling fish... guess they want to make a sale??? Felt like I knew more about it from all my internet research. Hence why I look to Fish Forum for some real experience.
I'm thinking I might try a few (3) small tetras, like cardinals and see how it goes. The other critter that has stolen my heart is an ADF, might get one (or two?) of those instead. Worst case, they will be relocated to my friend's larger tank.
My plan is to definitely get a large tank, but logistically it can't happen right now. The betta and the Eclipse system was my compromise as I was anxious to have something...
Thanks again !!

bf2king

good luck mibi fibi

jones57742

Mf:

I recommended neons or glowlights because I have experience with them and their temperaments.
Not "all tetras are created equal" and the cardinals may "work just fine" although will probably attain a size slightly larger than neons or glowlights.

Please keep us posted on "how this works out".

TR

tophat665

Go with the Frog. Make sure you have a lid. Also, just because it's not a fish, don't think you can slack on the tank maintenance. Amphibians are even more sensitive to ammonia than fish are.

The reason I would recommend that over the tetras is it really takes a school of 6 to get good behavior and color. You could do that, but you'd have to up your water changes to 2x a week and make sure you have some heavily planted areas so that they can get out of the betta's way if it goes on a rampage.

mibi_fibi

The frog is still an option, but I'd really like to try little tetras first.
Check out my poll under Characins, looking for opinions...
http://fishforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=9051