45G Questions

[Mom of MnE]

Hi all i am getting 45 gallon today that is already cycled YAY me. Anyways Im still really confused on how to stock a tank. I understand the aggression and peaceful fish difference but i dont want to over stock the tank.. At the moment i have 2 adult mollys 1 male lyre tail 1 female 2 female platy 4 oto and my mollies had fry so 10 fry. I plan on selling/giving away the fry when they get bigger and can be sexed maybe keep one female.Other then those what else could i stock with and how much more fish could i stock with?!? thanks for all the help and advice. I LOVE THIS FORUM.

 

[sylros]

Hi,

46gal that's a nice size tank, and you're not even half stocked. The rule of thumb is to have 1-in of fish per gallon. The fishtail is not included in this measurement, and it's the adult size you are using. The way I figure, you're maybe at the halfway point...so, are there any fish you like? With your tank you can have regular size gouramis, even the dwarf ones are pretty nice...I've got a sunset or red flame gourami and a dwarf gourami...they are orange and blue, making a nice contrast against the other fish.

How about some corydoras for the bottom of your tank, like the julii or even the panda is pretty cute. The tetra family would do well in your tank, there is quite a selection.

Of course, you can always have more livebearers such as guppies, there are bright yellow ones that would look good against the dalmation molly and red platy...actually there's all kinds of colours.

The choice is yours and you don't have to go very small either. Lucky you! I have a 36gal, and am in the process of stocking it with fish,the communal and hardy kind.

 

[Mom of MnE]

O thank you for responding. I want to do something different from livebearers but didnt know what my options would be.I will look at gourami. for the coreys dont they require sand?. i have gravel for the tanks.Im also leaving the fry in the tank as a strong survive so im looking for something that will help keep them under control. If i were to do one Gourami or would 2 be better?, my already have fish i have is there a schooling fish that i could do that wouldnt hurt my platy or mollies? i dont want to stress my loves out. How many of the schooling fish would be good for that tank with the others?

 

[sylros]

The gourami can be by itself, but would do better with a pal. But if you're going to have 2,introduce them at the same time. They adjust better this way. The two I have play together and leave the other fish alone. The corydoras don't need sand necessarily...you can probably go with a pleco with the size of your tank. Just a bottom feeder of some kind as the oto are pretty small to clean such a huge tank.

When it comes to shoaling fish, cardinal (red) neon tetra would be the best, they are hardier than the regular blue neon tetra. I'd try about a 10-12, they're pretty small so you can have a few. There are other colours now, pick the ones you like.

You can check out this fish compatibility chart. http/www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=16+1911&aid=3284

And here's a bit more info about possible schooling fish. It mentions Danios but having some, they are so energetic, they almost disturb the tank...plus they have no colour.
http/badmanstropicalfish.com/charts/good_bad.html