Advice On A 54L Tank

[aimyb]

Hi,
 
I'm new to aquariums and keeping fish and was wondering what tropical fish I can get for a 54L tank? I want about 6 or even more, and it'd be nice if they were quite hardy and pretty.
 
Also, can I use aquarium sand instead of gravel or is that bad for some fish? Cleaning won't be a problem, I just don't want to hurt my fish.
 
Thanks!

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi there
 
Could you post the dimensions of the tank and if your water is hard or soft please? We don't like to recommend species without knowing those
 
Aquarium sand is fine for most fish, and better than gravel for some, like catfish and loaches, so you should be fine to use it. I have sand in all my tanks.

 

[aimyb]

Hi! We get soft water in our area and the website has this info about the tank size (and heater, etc):
 
The dimensions of this kit are 60x30x30 cm and it holds 54litres of water
The internal filter is a PAT internal filter , the heater is 50w and the lighting is 6w

 

[fluttermoth]

Soft water and a decent size tank, oh, you have so many fish species to pick from!
 
To help us narrow it down a bit, what's your favourite colour, and from how far away will you mostly be viewing the tank?

 

[aimyb]

Probably viewing pretty close to it mostly, I like the look of neon tetras, they're super pretty. I want around 6 fish because I have 5 roommates and I want them to each name one! But yeah, I'd like a mixture of fish if possible - I quite like snails, bottom feeders, shrimp, etc too!

 

[aimyb]

I've read that 3 panda corys, 6 neon tetras and 2 dwarf gouramis would be an ideal first mixed tank but I'm not too sure.

 

[Akasha72]

Hi and welcome!
 
if you like panda cories then the sand substrate is a must as gravel will wear away their whiskers. Cories are social fish and so they need to be in a group of 6 - and that's a group of 6 of their own kind - so 6 panda cories would be fine for this tank. Panda's are in the smaller species and will suit this tank well.
 
The neon's are also a social fish that need to be in a group, we'd normally recommend a group of 10 for these but I'd be concerned that that would mean over crowding a little. 
 
Have you looked at dwarf rasbora's a group of 10 of these could look stunning. There is one that is green and it's a stunning little fish
 
http/www.seriouslyfish.com/species/boraras-maculatus/
 
http/www.seriouslyfish.com/species/microrasbora-rubescens/
 
http/www.seriouslyfish.com/species/microdevario-kubotai/
 
A note on the dwarf gourami. There is a disease that is affecting the dwarf gourami at the moment and there is no cure. Buying dwarf gourami's in fish stores isn't recommended right now as many of the farm bred gourami's are affected by this disease. If you want dwarf gourami's it's best to find a private breeder that is breeding from fish free from this disease
 
A note on the sand. To save money you could go to Argos and buy a bag of childrens play sand for around £2.50. It's perfectly safe to use (I've used it myself several times) so long as you wash it really well
 
Hope that's helpful

 

[NickAu]

Have you considered CPD's  aka Galaxy Rasboras The largest officially-recorded specimen measured just 21 mm.
 
Celestial Pearl 'Danio' - Seriously Fish

 

[fluttermoth]

Probably viewing pretty close to it mostly, I like the look of neon tetras, they're super pretty. I want around 6 fish because I have 5 roommates and I want them to each name one! But yeah, I'd like a mixture of fish if possible - I quite like snails, bottom feeders, shrimp, etc too!

That's sweet idea, but with small shoaling fish, like tetras or rasboras, you won't be able to tell them apart enough to name them

 
If I were you, I'd look at 8-10 pygmy corydoras (super cute!) and the same number of whichever small shoaler you like best; neons would be fine,although they are best added to mature tanks, so that might be an issue, and you can have some shrimps as well. You would be slightly overstocked, but such tiny fish don't make much mess, so as long as you keep up your regular water changes, you'll be fine.
 
Don't forget you'll need to cycle your tank before you add any lifestock

 

[aimyb]

Okay, so we went to the store today to check out the fish they have and we liked the balloon mollys, cardinal tetras and bronze corydoras! Do you think we could get any of these fish, and how many?
 
Thanks for the advice too!

 

[Akasha72]

the problem you have there is that molly's need hard water, preferably brackish (meaning the addition of aquarium salt) and the tetra's and cories need soft water - plus the cories can't handle salt.
 
I think the best course of action right now is to find out what type your water is - ie: soft or hard. That way we can better advise you on what fish will work with the water that you have
 
You can get this information from the water company - most have a website and readings that will tell you how soft or hard the water is. Clues often lie in the pH - normally a pH around 7 - 7.5 would point to moderately soft water where-as a pH of above 7.8 would point to moderately hard.
 
There are other ways to tell if your water is naturally soft or hard and that's by limescale build-ups. If you suffer with limescale your water is hard. If not it's likely to be soft

 

[aimyb]

I went on the website, and it says my water is very soft.
These are the exact parameters for my water: http/i.imgur.com/866SOZt.png
Thanks for the help! Also, would guppies be okay? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to be sure c:

 

[Akasha72]

that's great. There are members on here that can accurately interpret all of those figures, unfortunately I'm not one of them.
 
But let's go with the 'soft water'. That is actually really good as there are way more soft water fish than there are hard. Hard water fish are mostly all of the live bearers, so that's - Guppies, Platies, Molly's and swordtails. There's also African cichlids on the hard water fish list too.
 
So, soft water fish - all the tetra's, harlequin rasboras, central and South American cichlids, corydora's, catfish, betta's and many more. 
 
For this 54 litre I would look at harlequin rasboras (including the dwarfs), the smaller tetra's such as neons and cardinals the smaller cories such as panda's and pygmy's 
All of those fish need to be in a group of their own kind so if you choose neons  for instance I'd go with a group of 10 neons. If you decide on harlequins I'd go with a group of 10 of those. If you decide you would like something for the bottom to go with the fish in the upper levels that's fine as they inhabit different area's of the tank. You could add a large group of pygmy's or go with 6 of the smaller cories such as the panda's I mentioned. There are plenty of small sized cories other than panda's but panda's tend to be readily available. Some of the other smaller types tend to more specialist.
This tank isn't big enough for a plec but once it's been running more than 6 months you could consider adding a small group of oto's to clean the algae off the glass/plants/decor
 
Hope that helps