Celestial Pearl Danio Stocking

[stubzy]

hi there, i have started a new iwagumi tank and i am planning on a small school of cpd's. Although i am aware of the fish rule 1 inch per litre etc i have heard people say its a bit different for nano aquariums. The tank i have is 40cmx40cmx40cm and is 55 ltrs. Here is a pic http/img545.imageshack.us/img545/6214/iwagumimountainscapepla.jpg 
What amount of CPD's would you recommend for this tank. Also for anyone that has any experience with these fish, are they as hardy as their zebra and leopard variety? Thanks.
 

 

[Lilfishy]

You could have a nice group of 12 in a tank that size if that's all you're having in it
They do like a very well planted tank, the more hiding places they have the bolder they are.
They are quite hardy if you acclimatise properly, I've never had any problems with mine.
If you want them to breed then you need to have a really densely planted area with moss or other fine leaved plants, they will eat their eggs & fry given a chance, so the more densely planted the better

 

[Lunar Jetman]

It's actually inches to gallons I'm afraid so you can have 14 inches of fish in a 55 litre tank.

I'm not a expert on CPDs though so am reluctant to advise on how many can go in a small tank like yours. I've had a quick hunt on the Internet and found one place saying they needed to be in at least an 18 inch tank but another saying you could keep 3 or 4 in a tank similar to your size. Hopefully someone with more experience with them will offer more advice.

 

[Lilfishy]

They don't need a lot of swimming space as most of the time they tend to hover in one place with the occasional flurry of activity

 

[Shelster]

Mine are very active in my 54litre.
Although I do have it heavily planted, they seem to like quite a bit of swimming space.

 

[MBOU]

Personally I would happily keep 10-12 in that size tank, they are great little fish suiting to heavily planted tanks. They do have flurries of activity but mostly they like mooching about in and out of plants. well suited to smaller tanks. I have 5 (plus 1 sparkling gourami and 3 small pseudomugil sp rainbows) in a 30L cube tank (though the rainbows will be coming out and swapped over) and the water is fine and the tank looks a little empty, the CPDs are colouring up and behaving nicely.
 
The inches to gallon rule is a very poor one and not even worth contemplating tbh because it doesn't take into account the type of tank, personalities of the species nor where in the tank the species live.

 

[stubzy]

i ended up getting 12 ember tetras, the celestial pearls were way too expensive for me at £5 per fish. will prob add 6-8 neon tetras once the tank has matured a little more as the filter on the tank is enormous and cycles over 500 ltrs per hour so can hold a heavier stock of fish

 

[Lilfishy]

Wow that is expensive for Cpd's not surprised you didn't get any.
Ember tetras are nice little fish, once settled & coloured up they'll look great against any plants you have

 

[stubzy]

ye i know, was pretty dissapointed tbh, i really wanted those fish in my tank as they are stunning, but there is no way i am going to pay £5 per fish, but the embers and neons will look pretty good in the tank together, the embers already have pretty dark coloration and seem happy in the tank