Fish Stock For New Tank

[Trevor Johnson]

Hi all,

I have just started fish keeping in a small tank of 15-10-15in about 2/3 months ago, I originaly stocked it with 6 cardinals, 2 Platys, 1 small plec, 1 cory, 2 rams and 4 rummy nose tetras.

Wooops... as you would expect, beginners mistake... I think the fish mix was okay but maybe to soon and to many was a problem and the enevitable happened.. white spot, probably caused through stress or an infected fish meant I lost all bar 1 platy and the cory in a matter of days.

I then did the enevitable water changes, white spot treatment during the outbreak, took out the carbon filter for 5 days etc and it took at least 4 weeks to get the nitrite back down and the tank looking good again.

Now I have stocked with 6 lovely coloured platys ( 2 male and 4 female) and 2 very very tiny panda coryies and a small albino cory and it looks great and very active, all fins up, everybody in the tank playing and smilling.

My question now is this, is this tank now stocked to its capacity for its size and I personaly think that just having the platys looks great but I have this thing in the back of my mind as a beginner that I should have stocked it with a more varied variety. do people just specialise in just keeping platys or one species of fish, is it daft to stick with what is a hardy fish that may not challange my fish keeping abilities or future knowledge?

Would be greatful for your opinions.

Thanks, Trev

PS: little advise on the food other than flake, what type, how often, cucumber!!!

 

[dwarfgourami]

How many gallons/litres is that tank? It sounds quite small even for the fish you've got. There is absolutely nothing wrong with keeping only one or two species; nothing looks so amateurish as a tank stocked with one or two of everything including schooling species (like my first tank ). Anyone who knows about fish will be more impressed by a tank of well kept platys than one of moribund elephantnoses. Besides, platys are great little fish who will repay your care and attention.

The three kinds you have now will get on fine with each other being all pleasant and non-aggressive. I only have a few concerns:

-is the tank big enough to support them? You would need at least 15 US gallons, I would have thought for this many fish.

- panda corys are more sensitive to water quality than other corys so you need to be careful about keeping it clean. Ideally, they should only be added to a mature tank, but too late for that now

- have you any plans for how to deal with platy fry? Of course, the parents may eat them all, but then again they may not; the corys probably won't.

- ideally your albino cory should not be kept on his own, but if you are already overstocked it is better than risking another crash of the water stats.

As for foods, platys love an addition of vegetables in their diet: peas are particularly good (boil frozen peas, deshell and crush lightly, I find c. 1/2 pea/platy). Mine also eat spinach, broccoli, broad bean, banana (in small quantities as it can foul the tank). I feed them this sort of stuff twice a week. They also benefit from a weekly treat of bloodworm or daphnia (can be bought frozzen or jellied-TetraDelica). My corys are less keen on the veggies (apart from peas) but hoover up bloodworm and daphnia.

 

[OohFeeshy]

The tank is 15x10x15", which makes it... about 9.5 gallons.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Ha, I knew somebody would come along with the brains to do the maths!
In that case you are rather overstocked. 5 platys would be about enough to stock that tank, and that is with adding them very gradually. You need to keep a close eye on the water stats, particularly readings of ammonia and nitrites.

 

[Trevor Johnson]

okay, thought that may be the case, lets hope they are as sturdy as they are meant to be, I will test on a regular basis.

You mention feeding them with all kinds of veg and banana!!!! how would I don this. Is it as simple as just cutting a piece of brocolli or banana up and putting it in the tank!!!

I would love to see them produce fry, however, the likelyhood is that they will last about 5mins then be come a natural food for these guys!!!!

If I was o buy another tank of a simlar or a little larger size then I suppose I could transfer the mother fish prior to having the fry in to this and then put her back, however, you can only do this so many times, so do I just let them be eaten or can you take them to the LFS? do they take them from amateur hobbiests!!!

Thanks for your advise so far.

Trev

 

[dwarfgourami]

okay, thought that may be the case, lets hope they are as sturdy as they are meant to be, I will test on a regular basis.

Your problem is going to be with the pandas, as theya re not sturdy. If you do buy another tank (I'd say a 15-20 gallon at least) they will stand a better chance.

[/quote]
You mention feeding them with all kinds of veg and banana!!!! how would I don this. Is it as simple as just cutting a piece of brocolli or banana up and putting it in the tank!!![/quote]

peas: boil them slightly (you can use frozen), deshell them and crush them. I find about 1/2 pea to a platty is a reasonable serving
broad beans: same as peas
spinach: boil and chop (small quantities)
bananas: chop/crush (don't go to town on the bananas as they can mess up the water a bit
broccoli: boil and chop/crush (dont put in too much)

[/quote]
I would love to see them produce fry, however, the likelyhood is that they will last about 5mins then be come a natural food for these guys!!!! If I was o buy another tank of a simlar or a little larger size then I suppose I could transfer the mother fish prior to having the fry in to this and then put her back, however, you can only do this so many times, so do I just let them be eaten or can you take them to the LFS? do they take them from amateur hobbiests!!![/quote]

nmonks has just posted an excellent post on breeder nets etc in the livebearers' forum, contains everything you need to know about options for saving fry. Some lfs take them, others do not. I practise survival of the fittest in my tank, that is I leave them in there and let them take their chance. For the first 6 months nothing survived, either guppies or platys. Then more and more started surviving, I have now got 22 juveniles from 3 separate batches and only 3 of those were fry that I took pains to save. But then my tank is fairly heavily planted.