Best Starter Fish?

[peteus2002]

I've been keeping fish for over a decade, but this is my first foray into the freshwater tropical domain. I'm still in the research and development phase, but I have a reasonably clear idea of the look I want to achieve. My question is this:

Once the fishless cycle is complete, what are the best fish to introduce first?

At present I am looking at getting a tank between 20-40 gallons. There are two fish that I am dead set on:

Neon Tetra shoal (10+)
Dwarf Gourami (I'm getting conflicting advice as to whether one on its own would suffice; not sure that I want to encourage breeding).

From my research thus far it would seem that neither of these fish cope well in a new-ish tank.
I will also be getting some bottom (algae hungry) feeders, but am unsure which to get (all advice welcome + for the record I will be using live plants).

Asides from all of the aforementioned fish, are there any particularly intrepid fish who don't mind venturing into a developing tank?

Thanks for your advice. This is my first post, but this site has been of great help so far.

 

[Truck]

first off, you will need to forget about the neons for 6 months, they are sensitive fish that need a mature tank, try something like glowlight tetras instead

 

[peteus2002]

first off, you will need to forget about the neons for 6 months, they are sensitive fish that need a mature tank, try something like glowlight tetras instead

That long for the Neons? Well I'm not in a massive hurry, so i guess it doesn't matter.

What about the Dwarf Gourami? How long should I wait for that one, and what should I put in in the meantime?

 

[Truck]

in the meantime (to replace neons) you could go for glowlight tetras, dwarf gouramis are prone to bacterial infections. but im not familiar with them

 

[stang1]

Glowlight, Pristella and Black Neon Tetras are all good starter fish.
I would avoid the Dwarf Gourami and go for a shoal of Honey Gourami instead. As Truck stated, Dwarf Gourami are prone to bacterial infection.

 

[peteus2002]

in the meantime (to replace neons) you could go for glowlight tetras, dwarf gouramis are prone to bacterial infections. but im not familiar with them

My set up will have black substrate with a black background, flourescent light, green plant-life etc. So what I'm really looking for (in an ideal world) is fish that will pop against this backdrop; thus the choice of Neons and Dwarf Gourami.

Any suggestions for hardy fish that will look good in this environment.

Sorry to be demanding, but I want to get this right.

 

[waterdrop]

In addition to the tetras mentioned by stang and truck, rasboras and zebra danios are both good hardy starters directly after fishless ends. Corys are good about 3 months after that and neons/cardinals are good 6 months after.

I believe the Dwarf G. problem is hit and miss, so its really a matter of hearing the information (which is correct, a lot of them do succumb to this) and deciding if the cost is too much for the risk. If you decide to try them, and the don't turn out to be among those that have the problem, they are pretty hardy fish and good tankmates with beautiful color.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[peteus2002]

In addition to the tetras mentioned by stang and truck, rasboras and zebra danios are both good hardy starters directly after fishless ends. Corys are good about 3 months after that and neons/cardinals are good 6 months after.

I believe the Dwarf G. problem is hit and miss, so its really a matter of hearing the information (which is correct, a lot of them do succumb to this) and deciding if the cost is too much for the risk. If you decide to try them, and the don't turn out to be among those that have the problem, they are pretty hardy fish and good tankmates with beautiful color.

~~waterdrop~~

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I think I'll give Dwarf Gourami's a chance, but i'm still open minded. Heard that Zebra Danios can be fin nippers? They do look pretty lively though!

Loking into Oto's at the moment. Could they go in after the fishless cycle; will there be enough for them to eat?

 

[bettaluv]

For my starters I bought 3 platys. Easy to take care of, mine just want their food. But if you don't really want to encourage the breeding, maybe don't start with them.

 

[RadaR]

first off, you will need to forget about the neons for 6 months, they are sensitive fish that need a mature tank, try something like glowlight tetras instead

That "rule" is generally referred to Cardinal Tetras, not Neons...

 

[Miss Wiggle]

are you planning a fishless cycle?

if so then you should be thinking of two stages in stocking. after the cycle has finished you can stock to around 1"of fish per US Gallon of water, then once the tank has been running around 6 months and everything has matured and settled you can gradually increase to 1.5 or even 2" per gallon depending on your filtration and how much maintenance you want to do.

So it's easy to plan around the neon's that need to go in later down the line, they just come in phase 2 of stocking after 6 months and you leave room for them.

As an alternative to the dwarf gourami's look up nannacara anomala, they're much more hardy but at breeding time (which is a lot of the time) they go the beautiful bright blue the same as the DG's do. also i find their behaviour is much more interesting than the DG's.

Something like the pearl danio's might be a bit more striking than the zebra's but equally hardy for the first round of stocking, harlequin rasbora's are another good choice. Apart from a few species nearly all corydoras can go in a new tank and a group of them is a must in any community tank.

another fish with the nice striking blue but a bit more hardy is the dwarf neon rainbowfish (melatonia praecox)

 

[thomasp9021]

barbs are always a good starter fish but avoid tiger barbers if you are getting the dwarf gouramies. cherry barbs are very hardy and a striking colour