Cycling Done Looking For New Fish

[welshfish]

Hi guys,

Ive got a 35Litre (british) tank thats done cycling.

Im looking for fish to start it out but couldnt find any of the recommended fish in my LFS.

They dont have endlers livebearers (which i wanted

Heres some of the stock they had

swordtails, crowntail fighters, neon tetra, rosy tetra, marble molly (dalmation?) guppies, nose tetra, gourami, pearl gourami, tiger barb, paradise fish and various other tetras

what can/should i get?

any recommendations?

thanks

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Except for the Paridise and Crowntail, the rest are compatible, but I'd rather be patient and wait for what I really wanted originally....

Maybe if you ask them, they'll order for you and have it ready in a week or two....

 

[mark.w.jones]

They are indeed compatible but none are suitable for a 35litre tank apart from the guppies which you don't want as they are boring. Either ask them to order what you want in for you, which any good LFS should do. Or ring around a bit to find what you want. You may end up driving a 2 hour round trip one weekend but at least you'll get fish that are fine in a small tank. The other option is to mail order fish. I've not done it myself but there are a number of places that will deliver them to your door.



ps endlers are a great first choice fish but not easy to find. If you're having problems there are quite a few stunning pygmy rasbora species that also look great. Galaxy and spotted for example.

 

[welshfish]

cheers for the advice so far

any advice for specific combos?

Preferably from the list of fish i gave? or with one or 2 of them

As this is the only shop i have access to

 

[loachman]

Surprisingly, the small tanks are some of the most popular (well stocked and promoted) ones at pet shops but the small fish species are typically hard to find.

 

[welshfish]

would a crowntail fighter with a few neon tetra be ok? also maybe a gourami?

also a shrimp or 2?

Wouldnt be added all in one go. Any idea for what sort of stages to introduce them?

 

[Brette]

Surprisingly, the small tanks are some of the most popular (well stocked and promoted) ones at pet shops but the small fish species are typically hard to find.

Yeah I've never understood this! The fish stores here in Canada have shelf and shelf of nano tanks but it's a 50/50 proposition whether or not they will actually find the fish compatible for 3, 5 or 10 gallon tanks. I had to wait a bit to get the galaxy rasboras (teeny weeny leetle feesh) that were suitable for my 3 gallon.

I'm glad I did wait though. Those fish have done very well in that tank and I've had them for 2 years. They are so small that they have plenty of room to swim in the 3 gallon and they are happy and healthy. So I think it's worth waiting.

 

[loachman]

Surprisingly, the small tanks are some of the most popular (well stocked and promoted) ones at pet shops but the small fish species are typically hard to find.

Yeah I've never understood this! The fish stores here in Canada have shelf and shelf of nano tanks but it's a 50/50 proposition whether or not they will actually find the fish compatible for 3, 5 or 10 gallon tanks. I had to wait a bit to get the galaxy rasboras (teeny weeny leetle feesh) that were suitable for my 3 gallon.

I'm glad I did wait though. Those fish have done very well in that tank and I've had them for 2 years. They are so small that they have plenty of room to swim in the 3 gallon and they are happy and healthy. So I think it's worth waiting.

Exactly my point.

For the most part, the only truly small fish that are stocked are neon tetras and guppies. And neons are somewhat debatable on how small a tank is suitable. You also get the smallish danios, but they're "schoolers" and too active for a small tank.

However, there are many small fish that are appropriate...Pygmy cories, pseudomugil rainbows (p. gertrudae are starting to become popular in my area, I think there is a breeder locally now), micro rasboras (I've never seen these in person). Not to mention the numerous shrimp species that do well in 5 gals.

But no fish store is complete without bala sharks, iridescent sharks, common plecos, and clown loaches.

 

[OldMan47]

Another source of fish that are not easily found locally is almost any fish club. Many of the club members will have any number of fish that are not found in the LFS. It is the real way that the less common fish et distributed. I get a fish that is hard to find locally. Then I do lots of experiments to figure out what it takes to breed the fish. When I am successful, as a hobbyist, I end up with more of that kind of fish than I have room for. Next time the club has a sale, some of my overstock of rare fish ends up for sale there. No matter how rare the fish may be, when you have no room for them, they get shared around. Your local fish store, unlees it is a big chain store, probably has a bulletin board or can tell you where to find the local fish club. It is good business for the store because the clubs promote the hobby and the stores profit by selling equipment. It also means that serious hobbyists don't end up asking them to stock fish that can be hard to sell in quantity.