Is this stocking okay?

[Darter217]

Thinking of using this combination for my 125 litre tank with a fluval U3 filter. Not sure if this would make my tank close to full capacity so if anyone has any other fish they'd add in then feel free to share.

13 neon tetras
3 Honey Gouramis
6 or 7 albino Cory cats

 

[Severine]

Thinking of using this combination for my 125 litre tank with a fluval U3 filter. Not sure if this would make my tank close to full capacity so if anyone has any other fish they'd add in then feel free to share.

13 neon tetras
3 Honey Gouramis
6 or 7 albino Cory cats

Dont worry, it’s still safe, nice setup!

 

[kwi]

Make sure you get 2 female Gouramis and one male, maybe even up the group to 5.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Assuming your water is softish, this should be fine. I'd probably do 20 neons and 8 cories.

 

[Darter217]

Assuming your water is softish, this should be fine. I'd probably do 20 neons and 8 cories.

I'm in Scotland so pretty much all tap water here is quite soft, I'm wondering if my tank would be big enough for that? It'll have quite a few plants in it too plus a big log at the bottom as a nice hiding place for the fish.

 

[Darter217]

Make sure you get 2 female Gouramis and one male, maybe even up the group to 5.

What about 4? two males and two females.

 

[kwi]

What about 4? two males and two females.

I think you're better of with a more female to male ratio.
How are you cycling your tank?

 

[Darter217]

I think you're better of with a more female to male ratio.
How are you cycling your tank?

I'll be doing a fishless cycle and adding quite a few live plants to help the process along. I'm planning to add the neons first once the tank is cycled.

 

[ClownLurch]

Neons are prone to short lives these days due to in/line breeding according to a few on here who know way more about the subject than me.
My waters too hard for Microdevario Kubotai but if I had soft water I’d choose them before Neon Tetras every time. Except maybe with a gun to my head....even then I’d toss a coin.

 

[ClownLurch]

I'll be doing a fishless cycle and adding quite a few live plants to help the process along. I'm planning to add the neons first once the tank is cycled.

Amazon Frogbit & Water Lettuce on the surface helps massively AND makes fish feel safer/less exposed.

 

[Darter217]

Amazon Frogbit & Water Lettuce on the surface helps massively AND makes fish feel safer/less exposed.

How easy are those plants to maintain? I'm wanting some low maintenance plants to start out with. I thought neons were quite hardy but maybe not, I was going to get cardinal tetras but I've heard they aren't as hardy as the neons.

 

[Darter217]

Either that or I'd swap the neons for harlequin Rasboras and add them to the tank first. They seem tougher.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Yeah, the numbers I gave should be fine in a 125l tank. Schooling fish are almost always more comfortable in larger numbers. If you're not sure, split the difference and get 15 neons. But a large group of them is beautiful, and 20 doesn't give you much more bioload than 12.

Kubotais are beautiful too; I hear they're a little trickier in regards to water quality and such. If you can find tank-raised ones , they'll probably do better. Harlequins are fairly indestructible as long as your water's clean, but they're bigger so you couldn't keep quite as many. Check out espei rasboras, too. They are very similar to harleys, but smaller and a bit brighter colored.

In my experience, Amazon frogbit is about as easy as a plant can get. I never had quite as good luck with water lettuce, but I think that's just my water chemistry. It does look very cool. When I start a new tank, I always use a ridiculous number (often 15+) of plant species, and see which ones thrive and which ones gradually die out.

 

[Retired Viking]

I would wait on neons until your tank is more established and stable, they are sensitive to chemical changes in the water. I have a shoal of 27 neon tetras in my 55 gallon tank. Glow light tetras are also good looking and more hardier, they would be a better choice when starting out. I have 14 glow light tetras and have not lost one. They get a little bigger than neons but they both get along and school together.

 

[Darter217]

I will probably go for a group of about 8 Rasboras, they seem to be the hardest and most interesting.