Choosing Fish For A Fluval Edge

[travelling-guppy]

I can see these tanks are a bit of a marmite tank (love 'em or hate 'em) but I need some advice about which fish to choose. I am doing a fishless cycle so I am window shopping for fish at the moment. It is 23litres or 6 Gallons. It is planted up but now covered in algae due to the cycling I think.
I am keen to have lots of colour and movement. I don't want to breed fish as there is no space and I am just a beginner.

I was thinking
2 male guppies
2 male Endlers
6 green neons
2 cherry red shrimp

Is that realistic or not? I am not sure if keeping all male guppies and Endlers is OK or not and if a pair would be happy or whether they need to school.

Also, all the green neons I can find are live caught. Is there an issue with removing these fish from the wild. I am keen to be environmentally friendly and not endanger any species for the sake of my new hobby (although the green neons do look so lovely).

Any advice appreciated.
Many thanks.

 

[Assaye]

I would avoid wild caught fish, tbh. It damages the local eco-systems and can put species in danger.

If you can't find any captive bred green neons, how about ember tetras, galaxy rasboras (AKA celestial pearl danios) or chilli rasboras?

I wouldn't keep both endlers and guppies, simply because I think that might overstock the tank a little, at least initially. I would choose endlers or guppies, get 3 males and get some more cherry shrimp. However, I don't see any huge problems with your stock plan.

 

[Wills]

Wild caught fish are often unavoidable and tetras are some of the most common wild caught fish - cardinal tetras are nearly all wild caught hence why they are hardier than regular neons. Also most shops will be selling wild caught tetras and be totally unaware as they have just ordered from the farms and importers rather than specifically importing the fish direct.

Wild caught fish are often monitored on how fast they breed and how many are taken from the river month on month. And are actually often taken from reserves run by local villages - also South American fisheries are a lot better and more regularly regulated than asian wild caught fish - which is why the denison barbs and galaxy rasbora were nearly extinct in the wild after a year of being introduced to the hobby and also why the red tailed black shark is extinct in the wild - yet none of the common south american or central american fish are extinct.

In addition without wild caught fish in the hobby you end up in the situation of neon tetras and farmed guppies where they are just insanely weak fish that have no immune system or quality genes to pass onto future generations.

As for this tank I would go for 4 male endlers and the green neons or similar small tetra and the shrimp will be fine

Wills

 

[Assaye]

Wills makes a good point about hardiness. Unfortunately, a lot of fish are killed in the process of catching them and as Wills pointed out, when handled badly catching fish in the wild can threaten the entire species. It's a tough call to make, especially with so many WC fish in the hobby.

 

[MFZB]

Hi, I have also just brought a Edge and was wondering what would be best to put in it@? Not fussed what I put in as long as I have some shrimp. Thanks in advance.

 

[Assaye]

For an edge I would recommend a group of very small fish - adult size under 1 inch.

Good options include: green neon tetra (6), chilli rasbora (6), ember tetra (6), celestial pearl danio (6), sparkling gourami (3), endlers (4), cherry shrimp (10), male guppies (3).

I would start with one group and some shrimp, and maybe add another smaller group later.

For example:

Fishless cycle
Add 10 cherry shrimp and 6 chilli rasbora
Wait 6 months
Add 3 sparkling gourami

 

[elisew]

I`ve just started up a second shrimp tank, one is 35 ltrs, the newer is approx 15 ltrs. I have 6 emerald dwarf rasboras in with 4 celestial pearl danios in one tank and 6 chilli rasbora in the other. They`re lovely little fish but I`d have to say the celestial pearl danios are the nicest and most colourful to look at

Neons, (blue, black and green) are ok but I personally like to see something more striking in a nano size/type tank

 

[fluttermoth]

I`ve just started up a second shrimp tank, one is 35 ltrs, the newer is approx 15 ltrs. I have 6 emerald dwarf rasboras in with 4 celestial pearl danios in one tank and 6 chilli rasbora in the other. They`re lovely little fish but I`d have to say the celestial pearl danios are the nicest and most colourful to look at

Neons, (blue, black and green) are ok but I personally like to see something more striking in a nano size/type tank

Agree wholeheartedly with you there, elise!

All the neons look their best in large shoals in bigger tanks IMHO. I think the dwarf rasboras and CPDs are a much better choice for nano tanks.

 

[MFZB]

Thanks for the replies. My tank is still a few weeks away from putting fish in but would like to get an idea as soon as possible as to what to put in. Can you mix and match different types of shrimp or would it be best to just keep with one (cherry shrimp)? Also I would love to have some sort of Plec in my tank, I know that they normally grow quite big so wouldn't get one for my tank but is there any sorts that stay small enough for the Fluval Edge? Sorry for all the questions, am new to keeping tropical fish.

 

[fluttermoth]

Don't worry about asking questions; we like that It's what we're here for!

You could manage to fit a small plec, like clown plec in your tank, but I'd strongly recommend that you don't. Even the smallest plecs are quite 'chunky' and produce a lot of waste for their size. If you really want some suckermouths, I'd suggest some Otocinclus for a tank that size; they're much more suited to small tanks and should be quite happy in a small group of 3 or so.

 

[elisew]

I personally would keep just one species of shrimp in one tank i.e the Red Cherries. They are by far the hardiest and will breed very quickly, you can basically leave them to their own devices. If you begin to get overrun with the babies you could always take them to your lfs and they may give you credit for them. The shrimps produce very little in the way of waste too which is good.

As for the pleco, I have 2 juvi bristlenose plecs but the only small one I have any experience with over the last 18 months really is the clown (L104 I believe?) pleco. They grown to about 4 inches but they grow slowly. If it were possible to add a clown then you would have to have a piece of bogwood in the edge as clowns feed on the wood, not enough to worry about replacing the wood too often though. There is likely to be other smaller species of plecs that could be suitable but I can`t really give you any info on them as I have no experience of them so far. I wonder if maybe oto`s may be a better option but again I`m not sure.

Are you planning on sand or gravel for the substrate?

Don`t apologise for asking questions, it`s better that you ask and get it right


lol just seen flutters reply!

 

[MFZB]

Thanks, I will stick to one type of shrimp then. I have gone for gravel. The Edge is a beautiful tank even without fish in, cant wait until its fully functional!

 

[Wills]

I have to chip in and say that a Fluval Edge is no home for any species of plec 5 gallons of water isnt enough volume to cope with the mass of poop that they create.

Sucker fish for this size tank are ottos and similar hopomopota (spelling) species.

Wills

 

[curlyriff]

I have done allot of looking into this and still haven't really got anywhere. I asked my LFS just out of interest and actually said pretty much what you guys & gals have. No plec's as although the filter (when working) is really good it just isn't a big enough water volume for the waste.

They suggested that I looked at having something like:

3x Otocinclus
5x Kuhli Loach (although these get a little longer than normal for the rules they don't produce huge amounts of waste and keep to themselves in groups so should be OK)
1 x betta or 2 x dwarf gurami

They said although this is technically overstocked and they would not advise a newbie like myself as long as I put the time and effort to test the water every other day and change the water with a large(ish) water change around 40% once a week then I should be OK.

This although I always kind of hesitate at the LFS advise seemed to be good info and they said if anything happens let them know and they will either come out and look at my fish or give me store credit should anything happen to them in the first month (free of charge). They also said they will not let me have fish without testing the water first.

Kind Regards,

Adam

 

[MFZB]

I wont be getting a plec for my edge. I only wanted one as I remember my parents used to have one in their tropical fish tank when I was young and it was my favorite in there. I will save getting one for my next tank if i do decide to get another. When I put my first fish in would it be best to put the fish and the shrimp in at the same time or put one in and then wait a week before the other (e.g. put the fish in, wait a week then put the shrimp in)?