Tetra Tankmates

Guber

I've had a school of 9 neon tetras after losing 6 others for almost two months now and I'd like to add some more variety to the tank. I'm fearful of a couple things though. I've had horrid luck with fish dying and getting ich up until these guys who have been doing really well. I'd like to keep the variety and color in the tank and I was looking at Boosemani Rainbows or Pearl Gourami's. I have 20 gallon tank so I'm also unsure how many of these or if they would fit at all? I'm also open to other reccomendations. My biggest fear though is that I don't have a quarentine tank so since my current tetras are doing well i'm just tempted to keep them with nothing else in fear of infecting them O.o

Fishin Pole

Your thinking is correct, your tank is just too small for Bosesmani's.............I myself wouldnt put a gourami in a 20, but other members will say different.....thats your call, since its your tank........If your looking for other small fish, their are alot of other tetras that would do well with your neons.............Hatchetfish, rasboras, pencilfish and the smaller danios will all do well with the neons in your 20 gallon.......

......I would let the tank go for at least 2 weeks, if you just had your last Ich outbreak recently..........How have you been treating the Ich?..........With tetras, you should only do half doses of medication, they are VERY sensitive to medication and not in a good way.......During Ich treatments you should raise your tank temp to 80 to 82, but do it in small increments as to not shock your fish........Ihope some of this info helped you out

Byron

I go along with FishinPole's suggestions. With respect to additional fish, I always think it is best to spread the fish out in the tank; as neons are primarily mid-water swimmers, something close to the top (the hatchets) and something at the bottom (small cory species) would do this. When all the fish tend to be roughly in the same range it looks like something's missing, at least to me; it also creates the illusion of there being plenty more room, and with most of us, that means we want more fishies...

With 9 neons, a group of 3-5 of the small cory species [or if you prefer loaches there is the Dwarf Loach if you can find them, also a shoaling fish so 5-6 would work] and a group of 6-7 hatchets (the marble are nice) would work well.

Byron.

Guber

Ok thanks guys. The ich outbreak was months ago. With my first group of fish which were cherry barbs and then later led to the death of my otos as well i think. I treated it with QuICK Cure but that was a really long time ago. I'll look into hatchet fish, I've always thought they were pretty cool looking. I'm just finally glad that I've had success with some fish but then i want to add some variety and at the same time just don't want them infected. and in my case the only option i really have is petsmart or petco for fish.

Byron

Take a very good look in the tank before buying any fish, always. Hatchets are notorious for carrying ich (odd that some fish are worse, some never get it--clown loaches are also bad for ich but I don't think I've ever had it on a dwarf cichlid). If you see any fish in the tank with spots, don't buy others even if they look OK; they can still carry it.

I'm surprised you don't have more stores in or near Monterey. Maybe it would be worth a special trip to a good quality store, calling ahead to see if they have what you want. Fun anyway, exploring a new store.

Byron.

Guber

Maybe there are some specialty stores around that i just don't know of. Theres a smaller store about 15 minutes away that is a normal pet store but i got my otos from them and those ended up dying back with the cherry barbs i had way back when. the only specialty store i know is about a block or two from me but they only specialize in marine and the lady is a legitimate crackhead...or something is just wrong with her. She's also extremely biased against freshwater for some reason from what i've been told.

The store I got my oto's from is also the only store around here i've seen that carries german rams, another fish i was interested in getting some time ago that i just don't have much knowledge on.

Byron

I've posted quite a lot on rams, some maybe in the cichlid section, or freshwater... if you can't find that I'll repost the info. Ottos are not easy to keep alive at first; they must have algae in the tank when you get them, and they do not always adjust easily to differing water parameters. In an established tank and with care adjusting them slowly, they can be OK. They've spawned more than once in my tanks, unknown to me until one day I'll notice there are 2 or 3 more ottos than I put in there. I've read of others who found fry in the filters.

Guber

Ah, I'm really tempted to get maybe a pair of German Blue Rams. I always thought they were really cool looking fish. I'll try and find your posts and post back here if I can't find them.