Setting up a new tank. Need help with my ideas.

DarthGuppy

I've decided to setup my 37 gallon tank and have decided that I want it to be a community tank. I visited my LFS today and really liked a lot of Tetras I found.

I want live plants and here is a list of the fish I'd like to start researching and possibly put in the tank:

I got rid of a lot of the stock in my 10 gallon today whilst at the LFS. Remaining are my Albino Cory, one gup, and a Platy. So, these may be going in the new setup but I can always simply leave the 10 gallon setup just for these dudes.


Seppae Tetra
Neon Tetra
Cardinal Tetra
Glowlite Tetra ( maybe )
Beckfords Pencilfish
Cherry Barb
Het Rasborn Tetra
Lemon Tetra
Odessa Barb
Gold Barb
Bloodfin Tetra
Zebra Danio
Foot Loop Tetra

This is just a list of the small fish that really caught my eye. I'm not dead set on any of them. I'd like to hear from you all as to what would be best here based on the list.

tanker

What sort of water do you have? I know cardinals like soft water so if you don't have soft water, I'd rule them out. I'd go through the fish profiles for the ones you've listed and see what water parameters (pH and hardness) they like and try to narrow down your list to the ones that suit your water. I've read that serpaes can be a bit nippy and aggressive and so can some barbs, so check out their profiles for their aggressiveness and compatibility with the other fish you are considering.

DarthGuppy

Thanks for the reply.

I've narrowed the list down to a few species such as the Lemon, Bloodfin,Cherry Barb, Het Rasborns, and i think the Gold Barb.

The recommendation is minimum of 6 fish for all the ones I've listed. In the tank I mentioned, would putting 18 fish in there be too much assuming plants are present? The fish listed all said 1.5 inches as adults. That's 6 fish for three different types.

I plan to purchase a canister filter for the tank also that will be rated much higher than the tanks actual size.

tanker

I'm no expert so don't rely on my opinions about stocking, but 3 groups sounds ok to me.

You might need to consider where in the tank the fish you want swim. I think bloodfin tetras hang around the top (although mine did in the shop, the minute I got them home they swam around with everyone else lower down...). If all of the ones you select hang in the middle of the tank it could be crowded, but if you get a group that likes the top, a group for the middle and a group for the bottom, that is better. I have groups of platies, pristella tetras and cories in my 165-litre. They were previously in a 75-litre, 5 platies, 6 pristellas and 5 cories. I'm just going to increase the numbers. Your tank is about 140 litres so 6 of 3 groups sounds ok to me. Maybe you could get some fish like cories for the bottom, instead of fish that hang higher up (if that's where the ones you've selected swim).

DarthGuppy

That sounds great!

I'm gonna do more research to find out where each of those fish like to swim ;)

Thanks a lot.

tanker

Here's another site that I've got in my bookmarks that might be helpful in your decision. You can put in the fish you want and see if they are considered to be compatible. Tropical Fish and Aquariums Compatibility Match (Like all of the internet tools, I can't vouch for its accuracy or reliability but I use it as a bit more information to guide my research). You've got the fish profiles, compatibility tool and you could also run your ideas through a stocking calculator like aqadvisor to see what that says.

I still also ask the guy in my aquarium shop (the good one) what he thinks about the fish I want. Sometimes there's info about the actual fish in your location that changes whether you want to buy them. (Like I was wanting guppies and they were having trouble with the guppies they'd stocked so I changed my mind.) They know what fish are "bulletproof" and which are a bit more sensitive - I know I get upset when my fish die, I want hardy fish with good survival rates. They sell fish every day and watch how they do in their store tanks. They are a good source of information. The other aquarium shop I go to has all of the "mean" tetras on one side (the ones that might be nippy) and all of the "nice" ones on the other. If you ask them they'll tell you that you need to be a bit more careful before you start buying a whole heap of different potentially nippy fish.

Byron

Looking at your "revised" list in post #3, the first four are fine together but not the Gold Barb. It attains close to 3 inches and is very active, which means not only more space but similar companions.

The Cherry Barb is slightly active but less than one would expect from a barb so it will suit the other characins and rasbora. By which I am not meaning all these in one 37g, but a group of 6-7 of 2 or 3 of them should work. You might want something for the substrate or it will seem barren.

DarthGuppy

Thanks for that. I plan on getting small black substrate to make everything 'pop'
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Byron

An excellent choice for forest fish like these.