Fish Help Please! Setting Up My First 54L Aquarium

[robinreliant23]

Hello!

I'm about to venture into the the world of tropical fish keeping woohoo!

I have a Juwel Rekord 60 (54l) cycled tank and all I need to do now is the fun bit .. add fish! Question is what can I have?

What I would like is the following and I wondered if this would be ok?

8 or 10 neon tetras
2 pgymy corys
Pair of siamese fighting fish

Any help / advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[fluttermoth]

All cories should be kept in groups of 6+, and should have a sand substrate to dig in.

You can't keep fighting fish in pairs; the males harrass the females too much (in the wild they would have more room to get way); you can keep either one male, or groups of females.

Your tank is only around 10 gallons, so that means your looking at having no more than 10 or 12 one inch fish (or 4 or 5 two inch ones; you shouldn'r get anything that grows to bigger than two or three inches in your tank anyway as it is quite small).

Do bear in mind that that is a guideline based on the eventual adult size of the fish, not the size you buy them at, as they'll be juveniles in the shops!

oh, and to the forum

 

[blesser13]

Hello and welcome to the world tropical fish


I will probably not get the fighting fish in pairs, but you can maybe try the 2 pgymy corys. They are suppose to school but 2 only can work. Start with the neons then if everything run fine get the corys.

 

[robinreliant23]

hi fluttermoth, thanks for the welcome and good point about the siamese fighting fish, just a male it is then - have my eye on a stunning red one! (was also looking at a fine black gravel or sand which would work for the corys i think)

hi blesser13, thanks also for the welcome - are you saying what fish i'd like in my post would work or what fluttermoth said would work?

 

[StandbySetting]

If I were you I'd go for 12 Neon Tetra's and 6 Pygmy Corydoras, you could then add a pair of centrepiece fish if you wished, but I wouldn't go with a Betta as Neon Tetra's can nip their fins.

 

[blesser13]

I edited my post it was a bit confusing check again

 

[robinreliant23]

If I were you I'd go for 12 Neon Tetra's and 6 Pygmy Corydoras, you could then add a pair of centrepiece fish if you wished, but I wouldn't go with a Betta as Neon Tetra's can nip their fins.

Oooh I didnt think neon's were fin nippers!! What pair of centrepiece fish would you suggest?

 

[StandbySetting]

Well you could stick with the South American theme and go for a pair of Apistogramma, or you could go for a pair of say Honey Gourami's, do some googling, there are hundreds out there.

 

[robinreliant23]

After doing a little reading up on Bettas it does look like it may not be a good idea to keep one with neons. Would a small discus work? I know in time it would outgrow the tank but a friend of mine keeps discus and would happily adopt it from me at that point. Basically I was looking for another colourful fish or pair of fish as a centerpiece. Any ideas?

 

[StandbySetting]

Discus need to be kept in groups of 5+, it just wouldn't be fair to keep a fish that grows so fast in a tank that small.

 

[blesser13]

I don't recommend discus, your tank is to small and they ask a really huge tank. Start with the neons they are really beautiful when schooling together, since your tank is only 10 gallons, you better get smaller fishes.

 

[fluttermoth]

It's a very, very bad idea to keep fish in tanks that aren't large enough for them as adults. The problem being that they can easily become stunted and not able to grow poperly, even if moved into a larger tank.

Dwarf or honey gouramis, apistogrammas or Bolivian rams might fit the bill for your centrepiece fish; the gourmais stay nearer the top, and the cichlids near to the bottom

 

[KittyKat]

Welcome, I recommend the following:
* 8-10 neons
* 6 dwarf or pygmy Corys
.. stocking slowly, of course, then a few months later, consider increasing the numbers to 12 neons and 10 Corys, if you feel confident about it.

I recommend you leave the stocking at that, those fish do much better in larger groups, so I can't honestly recommend that you give up the numbers for more species. Depending on your water parameters, it may be worth trying some shrimp after a few months.

[...] Bolivian rams might fit the bill for your centrepiece fish[...]

Not Bolivian rams: they have the potential to grow to 5". Blue rams, yes.. but they're generally not for beginners.

 

[fluttermoth]

[...] Bolivian rams might fit the bill for your centrepiece fish[...]

Not Bolivian rams: they have the potential to grow to 5". Blue rams, yes.. but they're generally not for beginners.

Oh, shame on me; I didn't realise they grew that large

I specifically didn't mention the blues!