Help Me Choose

[croggy]

hi guys i have a 67L tank and its currently got 2 male guppies , 2 zebra damio, 4 neon tetras, 5 (forget name )tetras with black spots, 1standard pleco and 1 of the old skool pleco(also forget name- they are the unmessed with one)

anyway what i would like to know is where to go next i have built up a strong team of "background" fish that are hardy and good together and now i want to expand and get something a little more eye catching.

i was thinking first of all expanding my neons to a 15 man blob as these will then become a feature in their own right

but after that i am a bit stumped what would you guys recommend for my setup

thanks in advance

 

[mattlee]

to be honest mate with the 2 plecos your probably fully stocked as these are poo machines... can you post some pics of the plecs so we can id them for you as alot of gibiceps get sold at the lfs and they can grow massive. you might get away with a bristlenose in a tank that size but only 1 really especially when it gets bigger.

15 neons would look brilliant in a planted tank you really cant beat them or cardinalsbut i would lose the guppys and danios and maybe 1 of the plecos. you really have to look at the full adult size of fish when stocking, they may be small now but when first bought from lfs most fish are tiny in comparison to their full grown size. most fish like danios and tetras prefer to be in as bigger group as possible as it makes them feel more secure and therefor more adventurous and also it brings the colour out more when they feel safe. 15 neons is ideal and would look brilliant

 

[croggy]

cheers for the reply matt

i glad you think the neons will look the part

as for the pleco i'll be honest with you once they get to a certain size i pass them on to my brother. i know it may seem selfish to some fish owners but hey thats the way i do things and my bro takes good care of them he has my old pleco who is know a monster 13inches and survived for more then 6 yrs and 3 tank breakages and one incident where my brothers flat mates mom decided to feed the fist with a fist full of food and killed every other occupent of the tank .

so i would not count these towards my total stocked level

at the minute they are about an inch long as i've only just gotten back into the hobby and i will get some pictures asap

o and as a final note the guy at the shop told me not to expect any of the tetras with black spots to live more then 6 months does anyone know why this maybe?

 

[mattlee]

ive never heard of that before. there are fish such as killifish that may only live a year but 6 months for a tetra is a very short life indeed. can you id them or describe them a little better?

 

[croggy]

ive never heard of that before. there are fish such as killifish that may only live a year but 6 months for a tetra is a very short life indeed. can you id them or describe them a little better?

yeah clear/silver body fins coloured yellow/black/white in that order starting from the body they all have a black spot just above their gills

they look similar to this only they are clear and have a large spot on their backs also only a really thin yellow line on the fins and no red on the tail either

 

[mattlee]

pristella tetra
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/214236-pristella-tetra/
they will colour up when settled and fully happy there is no reason that they should only live for 6 months though, i would say at least 2 or 3 years at a push unless they are already fully grown old adult fish......maybe question it if you go back to the shop

 

[croggy]

thats the ones thanks

they are about 3.5cm at the moment so i don't think they are old fish as such

 

[mattlee]

thats the ones thanks

they are about 3.5cm at the moment so i don't think they are old fish as such

i think they will grow between 2 and 2.5 inches so they still have a way to go yet.... just goes to show you that just because people work in a shop doesnt mean they know much to do with fish...... never trust a shopassistant always research before buying fish just to be sure. there are some very knowledgable shop assistants, some are on here regular but always double check it does no harm and can save alot of bother later on. you will get to know which people at shops know their stuff in time

 

[Nonserviamgr]

You should definately add a ton of Zebra danios... They got ecstasy in their blood.. They will school up and be on a constant move plus they are really small so you can add many of em.. They make the tank look more alive and they look nice.
Tho keep in mind that if you get only one it might be like really aggresive but if you get 2 they will just chase each other and wont hurt your other fish.