[Lupin]

As for rummynose tetras, again you're talking about a "difficult" fish to keep. IF you can get them to settle in, they tend to thrive, but the hard part is getting them to settle in to begin with. Rummynose will be less tolerant of condition changes, much more prone to stress, and need extremely passive tank mates, such as the neons. I'm not sure I'd mix the rummynose with fiesty danios, as the stress of the chasing would be a bit much for them.

Agreed on this. I've tried rummies before and they seem a trouble to even transport.:shake: IMO, transporting them to your home proves very tricky. I struggled with three batches.
First-8 out of 10 died
Second-2 out of 13 died
Third-None died
The reason the mortality rate was decreasing is because I sorted it out to myself that the plastic bag should be laid horizontally to allow bigger surface area. This alone also confuses me at times.:shake: :wink2:
The other solution come up by the lfs employee is taping all corners of the plastic bag to prevent the rummies from trapping themselves which could easily kill them.

As for compatibility with danios, it can be done as long as your tank is heavily-planted. Thickets of plants give them a sense of security thus reducing stress which could easily kill them.

Another thing is they often serve as indicators of your water quality. Anything wrong with your water quality and their bright red coloration on the pretty heads will fade.

Pls be careful when selecting tankmates for them. They are often victimized by tankmates into harassments. I struggled to keep them alive in my tank mostly because some of my fish like the blue rams love to hunt them down and even kill them.:shake: 'Tis a great disappointment for such beautiful rummies.:sob:

 

[DanaJ]

Bettababy, thank you so much for your input. I think right now it's really hard for me to decided on what to add, all the requirements for specifics fish, and their compatibility. It's a lot to take in for someone just beginning. No matter how much I learn, there is always 10 fold more.
I appreciate the suggestions, and once I get some time later tonight I will go through your recommendations and see what's what and how I want this tank.
I like corys also.
musho got me to thinking about ghost shrimp, and I think that would be interesting.
Now i'm not so sure about the gouramis, but that's good you spent the time with that reply. Very useful, knowledgeable info that I need to understand.

I'm sure I will have more questions as time goes on and I learn more about certain types of fish, and the whole nine!

I was just throwing out the idea of all those fish bc they seemed interesting, but I didn't know the most important of things it seemed.
Thanks again, I'll check back to this thread later tonight!

 

[musho3210]

a good cory for a begginer is a sterbai (i think thats how you spell) cory. These things are almost as hardy as danios and they help clean your bottom of your tank. But as always, dont treat them as scavengers, make sure you feed them food designed for them

 

[DanaJ]

I looked into the sterbai(sp) cory and thought it would be good. It's definately been something that I've been eying up.

What about dwarf neon rainbowfish? I'm not too familiar with the rainbowfish category, so I'll have to see what I can find out about them. Again, just throwing out ideas.

 

[Lupin]

What about dwarf neon rainbowfish? I'm not too familiar with the rainbowfish category, so I'll have to see what I can find out about them. Again, just throwing out ideas.

Great fish. I had them before and they keep spawning every night.:shock2: Whatever information was provided regarding their way of reproducing too much is so true.:shock2: :wink2:
They are also very easy to keep and easy to distinguish the sexes. Males have red fins while females have yellow or orange fins.
Pls don't feed them large chunks of food. Their mouths may appear big but their throats are quite narrow.:shake:

The other suggestion is threadfin rainbows(Iriatherina werneri). Make sure their tankmates are not fin nippers.

 

[DanaJ]

Oh cool!
I was just looking at a site on the platies, and came across the dwarf neon rainbowfish at some point.
Back to the platies. The variations I saw that struck me as most appealing are: red coral and gold twinbar. I still have not read much about them yet, but I'm getting there.

So dwarf rainbow fish I should keep in mind also...

 

[DanaJ]

After a small amount of research (so far) I am starting to modify bettababy's list of suggestions.

In going with compatibility with neons and danios, I'm interested in:

red coral platy
gold twinbar platy
scarlet badis
green fire tetras
cory catfish
ghost shrimp

I want a pit bull pleco also, but don't know if I can put them with a cory or 2? How would that work if I wanted both?

Otocinclus... I have no idea what they are. I guess my real problem is telling the differences between them, pleco and cory. It's this mass confusion area for me But I really LOVE bottom dwellers and definately want some, but not really sure about which to choose and which are the best for my situation etc.

 

[musho3210]

there are many different types of plecos, some are aggressive and will attack other fish, some are calm and sit quitely at your gravel bed. They vary in many sizes. If you want to get a pleco you will need a lot of research.

On the other hand a cory would be great, pretty much all cories are calm and leave other fish alone. There is not as much research needed for cories
This is what i recommend you as a begginer

Another very nice bottom dweller is... The loach. These are very calm fish like there close relative, the cory, but they do have some which get very big, like the clown loach. But if you look into loaches you might find one you like

 

[DanaJ]

I looked into loaches, and they didn't strike me as something I felt I needed to have. All I mean by that is they didn't catch my attention as much as some other stuff. The one loach that I took a slight interest in was the kuhlii. Can you have them with cory and pleco though?
As far as plecos, the only ones I've really considered(and that are very small) would be the pit bull and bull dog varieties.
And I do know that bottom dwellers also need pellet type food in addition to scavenging I have some pellets that I bought in the beginning, as I knew, without doubt, I would want some
I came across some other fish while looking into things(as usual).

Does anyone have an x-ray pristella or know much about them? What about chili rasbora (boraras brigitae)?

 

[Lupin]

Otocinclus... I have no idea what they are. I guess my real problem is telling the differences between them, pleco and cory. It's this mass confusion area for me But I really LOVE bottom dwellers and definately want some, but not really sure about which to choose and which are the best for my situation etc.

Otos look far different from plecs, of course. Plecs and otos are both considered to be in the same family, Loricariidae.
They stay small as cories do.
Here are the pics:

 

[DanaJ]

Ahhh, I figured they would be in the same family. So they're like miniatures almost? I looked into some of them tonight

 

[Lupin]

Ahhh, I figured they would be in the same family. So they're like miniatures almost? I looked into some of them tonight

They do. Only problem is they're sensitive to water quality so you'll need to ensure your water parameters are stable. No detectable ammonia and nitrites and pH swings(rarely happens unless you are fiddling with the pH or have low KH).
They're excellent at consuming algae though.

 

[musho3210]

hey blue, since your here, i need to ask you a question. I have 4 ghost shrimp and 5 zebra danios. When my tank is done cycling i would love to get some freshwater clams to eat my nitrates but im not sure if it would be good in my tank. The ph is 7.6-7.8, its a 20 gallon high tank with standard non planted aquarium gravel.

Also i have a think layer of white slime covering the surface area of my tank, the glass is covered with it and my ornamants are slimy. It is white but a think layer. It is hard to see unless you put a light up to it. Is this a type of algae or something?

 

[Lupin]

Also i have a think layer of white slime covering the surface area of my tank, the glass is covered with it and my ornamants are slimy. It is white but a think layer. It is hard to see unless you put a light up to it. Is this a type of algae or something?

Sounds like you may have been overfeeding.:squint: A good surface agitation should get rid off the slime on the surface. I've had it before but only on the surface and the glass. I just brushed off the slime when it's stuck to the glass.
Not an algae in my opinion.

 

[Lupin]

hey blue, since your here, i need to ask you a question. I have 4 ghost shrimp and 5 zebra danios. When my tank is done cycling i would love to get some freshwater clams to eat my nitrates but im not sure if it would be good in my tank. The ph is 7.6-7.8, its a 20 gallon high tank with standard non planted aquarium gravel.

I've never kept clams so I can't comment on it.
Here's the link about clams though.
http://www.thekrib.com/Fish/clams.html

 

[bettababy]

First let me say that I've kept the freshwater clams, and that is very difficult to do. They don't eat nitrates, they are a filter feeder, so garbage and algae in the water are their food source. They also eat A LOT. The longest I was ever able to keep one alive was 2 yrs, and that was such a challenge.

Clams will need a sand substrate because they need to be able to bury down into it and room enough to move around. I have found that if the tank is large enough (55 gal or more), you can use a tub of sand on one end of the tank, but it's difficult to keep clean.

High nitrates will kill clams fast, as will any ammonia, or nitrite, or pH fluctuations. When a clam dies in the tank, it pollutes the water horribly and ammonia levels tend to spike very high, which tends to kill a lot of fish.
I really don't suggest keeping clams in a community tank... if you want to venture into clams, maybe try offering a smaller tank to just them, learn enough about them, and then consider keeping them with fish.

As for Dana's comments, and Blue's, too...
I'd avoid the threadfin rainbows because the danios would likely chew them to bits quickly.

Neon dwarf rainbows are a definite possiblity, and the list you came up with was a pretty good one. Just remember not to choose too many fish... overstocking will cause every problem you can imagine and then some.

The pristella tetras are nice, very peaceful, but get a little larger than most of the others you have mentioned so far. They need peaceful tankmates, and are prone to ick from stress. With the danios in the tank, I'd shy away from the pristellas.

As for plecos, I'd say choose 1 for that size of a tank. Food supply and territory will say a lot, and the smaller species that have been mentioned will each eat a lot.

Now, to approach the differences between corys & plecos:
The easy way to distinguish between the two is their function in the tank... pleco = algae eater and cory = bottom feeder. This will not apply with ALL plecos, as some will eat wood, but the funtion in the tank is different, and it is safe to keep both so long as everyone is fed properly and the tank is not overstocked or crowded. Do not rely on a cory cat to eat algae, they won't. Corys need "meaty" foods, such as black worms, tubifex worms, and various others, and they will also eat flake food if your other fish miss it.

For loaches, that's fine if they don't interest you, there are plenty of other people to love them. You mentioned you didn't see any that interested you, so let me just share my favorite with you, see if that peaks any interest?
botia angelicus
http://www.aquariumfish.net/images_01/loach_angelicus_w240.jpg

With kuhli loaches, be sure the grave is fine grade gravel, as they spend most of their time burried in it. If the gravel is too coarse, it can cause damage to their bodies. Loaches are scaleless, so any species will require really good water quality all the time. They are affected quickly by ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels.

 

[DanaJ]

I don't want to overstock my tank. I'm just trying to figure out which fish I want in this tank, and what would be ideal.
I think I'm crossing off the scarlet badis this time around. Definately something I will keep my eye on though for future or additional tanks.

I do want to go with ghost shrimp. How many would I choose? Would 4 be too much? What about 2?

Thanks for all the info and also the distinction between the cory and pleco! Very helpful

Yes the botia angelicus sparked interest!

If I did choose a loach, particularly the botia, would there be a point to having a cory cat? Should I pick one or the other? I'd like maybe 2 small plecos(pit bull, and bulldog). I guess I really just need to figure out the bottom feeder and algea eater scheme and what would be reasonable.
I still have some research to do and more proposed schemes to come up with. Every day I can learn more. If I start off with ideas, I can gradually knock off more that wouldn't seem reasonable for this tank.
I'm starting to think about keeping a list of those I really want, but wouldn't be idea for this tank....so that maybe down the line I can have 2 tanks and the best of both worlds

Also I forgot to add something. I don't know if my gravel is fine enough for the kuhlii. Would that mean it wouldn't be idea to have the botia either?

 

[musho3210]

You can fit many ghost shrimp in their, possibly about 8 as long as you slow stock. I have 4 in my 20 gallon tank atm and there fine. There very small, measuring up to about .75-1 inch length.

 

[DanaJ]

What do you mean by slow stock? Should I add in maybe 2 initially then gradually work my way up to 4 or 6?

 

[musho3210]

yeah, like once every week add 2 shrimp etc