Good Fish Ideas For My Tank?

[eaglesaquarium]

That's a long time... which might be where the algae is coming from. I get away with 7 hours, because of my BN pleco, and I actually want to have a bit of algae for him. If not, I'd probably cut the time down to about 4-6 hours. Before I got the BN I only had it on for 6 hours, and i always had a touch of algae, not much, but some. I'd clean it off monthly.


Understood about the otos... the key is to keep them in numbers too though. At least 3, I'd say.

The gouramis are only 1.5 inches long (but they can get a little bigger than that), but they are disk shaped, not long and slender, so they are bigger than they seem when only looking at the length.

 

[NeonSagaris]

I guess three couldn't hurt... but six Corys as well? Wouldn't that make the bottom a bit overcrowded? The tank is a tall, not exactly wide... but I don't know. I'll also reduce the amount of time I have the light on.

So what should I do about the swimmers then... 6 Cardinals, 4 Endlers and maybe no Gouramis.... Can you recommend another swimmer that could go with Cardinals and Endlers to replace the Gouramis? Something that is ok on its own that also isn't too big.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

If you are worried about that, go with the C. pygmaeus, they spend as much time in mid-water as they do the substrate.

 

[NeonSagaris]

Ok, that's a good idea. If they don't spend much time down at the bottom then I guess there is no point having another swimmer with the Cardinals and Endlers, eh?

If I can find the Pygmy Corys, I will most certainly get them when it comes to it.

Thank you very much for the help, I think I may have my final list!

Do you think I could have a snail of some sort as well?

 

[NeonSagaris]

I also have 2 baby Platy Fry in my 19 liter which I might transfer over to the new one. Since my friend might not want the fry, would it be ok to have them in the new tank with the 4 Endlers, 6 Cardinals, 6 Corys and 3 Otos? When the fry grow up, would the tank then be overcrowded?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

It should be fine, but I'd suggest you make sure that those two are the same gender, otherwise you'll end up with many, MANY more.

 

[NeonSagaris]

Well, it's kind of hard to tell at the moment. They are both still small and are pale red with black tail fins. Hopefully it'll be ok.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

It will stay hard for awhile. They all start out looking female, which gets some people in trouble. They think they have a single gender, then all of a sudden one of the females turns out to be male. This is because some males are just slow in developing.


I believe there are some documented cases of livebearers changing genders though. Personally, I'll take my chances on that and stick to all males whenever possible. Especially with endlers or guppies. The males are far more colorful. In the case of guppies though, they are also far more sensitive as they've been inbreed more to try to get specific colorations.

 

[NeonSagaris]

That's interesting, thanks for the warning... What should I do?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

You'll just have to wait it out. ;-) Nothing else to do. You could talk to your LFS and see if they are willing to take the fry off your hands (not expecting anything in return) and see what they say. Don't talk to just an employee though... ask to talk to the manager/owner. Let him know that these are the only fry that you are expecting to have - since you have no other platys.


Another option is to keep them separated... they sell dividers for a 10 gallon tank, and keep them separated until you find out their gender. The best option would be to consider taking them to an LFS, or a local fish club.

 

[NeonSagaris]

Ok, I might try that, thank you.

 

[NeonSagaris]

I have decided against the idea of baby Platties in my tank because then the tank would be overstocked and also because I recently found six or seven more babies in my 19 liter, so that makes about nine! I'm going to phone the most friendly fish shop near me and ask for them to take about nine-ish baby Platy fry. I hope they take them...

 

[NeonSagaris]

My LFS does take fry, so I'll be taking them there soon. I will also be taking my Molly there too. Also, I delivered the four Platties to my friends tank safely and they are doing very well, which is very good!

I'm getting five (yes, I upped it to five) Endlers tomorrow which I'm very excited about! My pH is 7.2, Nitrate is 25 or 10 (can't really remember), Nitrite is 0, and Ammonia is 0. So that is very good I think!

I've been juggling between Cardinals and Neons to have as Endler tank mates again...

Just I'm not sure which is easier to keep, though Cardinals are more colourful, Neons are just... cooler! Don't Cardinals need a low pH, like 4 or something? Whereas Neons can have 6 or 7, which is better for me because mine is 7.2, which is neutral. I wouldn't mind a bit of help deciding on which to have, if that's ok.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

For breeding, I think they say it needs to be low like that, but not to keep them.

 

[NeonSagaris]

So, what you're saying is that the low pH is just for breeding and that Cardinals could live in water with a pH level of 7.2? I don't want them to breed, I don't want more fish fry. If you had my 60 liter tank with 5 Endlers, 6 Pygmy Corys and 3 Otos (what I'm getting after getting Endlers) would you get Neons or Cardinals? Which would be easier to care for?

I was also thinking Neons because they're smaller and wouldn't take up as much room as Cardinals would.