Just Completed My Stock...what Do You Think?

comet30

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Hey guys,

Finally finished stocking my 95 litre tank and have: -

3 x Black Skirt Tetra

3 x Black Phantom Tetra

4 x Neon Tetra

2 x Sunset Platy + 1 Baby Sunset Platy

2 x Chain Loach

2 x Cory Catfish

What do you think? The Phantoms are incredible to look at and I already love my cory's to bits. Finding the Black Skirts a little aggresive, the tend to chase the Neons around.
 
youd be better upgrading your neons to 6 and your corys to 6, not sure if youd be over stocked though once they all reach full size if you did
 
That was my worry, Probably at the top end of stocking now although keep thinking about getting one of those fighting fish which I understand are peaceful alone?!?!
 
Sounds like the sort of tank i'd have :) The siamese fighting fish, i had one, beautiful it was, a male, was very aggresive towards the other fish, several neons disappeared too :unsure:
 
your corys will be better off in 4, up your tetra species each to a min. of 5 and then your laughing :good:
 
Siamese fighter fish are generally no problem with other fish at all however you may get the odd one every now and again which is aggressive, ive seen even mollies who are bullies and kill every other molly in the tank! generally though they should be fine however your at the top end of your stocking now especially if you do the recommended thing and up your corys and tetras
 
Right Im going to just tell it as it is, a few people have tip toed around the subject but the fish you have chosen need to be kept in greater numbers than they are at present. In my opinion your stocking should be -

3 x Platy (the baby will grow so needs to be counted, do you have 2 males or 2 female or 1 male 1 female?)
6 x Black Phantom Tetra OR 6x Black Widow Tetra
8 x Neon Tetra
6 x Cory Catfish (all the same species as the 2 you have) or 6 x Dwarf Chain Loach


Apart from the platies all your fish need to be in groups of at least 6 how ever if you went for 6 of everything you would be over stocked. While the black phantoms and the black widows look similar they are quite different in behavior with one being quite nippy (the widows) and the other pretty calm - they will school together but it is not really ideal and you would be better off in the long run just sticking to the one type. Apart from the behavior the only real difference is one has 1 black stripe and the other has 2 personally I would choose the phantoms as like I say they are less prone to nipping like the widows (which is a real consideration if you want a betta). Equally the loaches and the cory cats need to be in groups of 6 again to cut down the level of stress on the individual fish - in the wild the tetras, loaches and cories are found in shoals/schools of hundreds so when people say 6 minimum it really is a minimum number personally I usually stick to one type of schooling fish to maximize natural behavior and also to make them more predictable with levels of stress and signs of a hierarchy developing. So like I say choose between the loaches and the catfish - if you go with the catfish make sure you get the same species of catfish like if you have 2 bronze catfish get more bronze ones or if you have panda ones get all panda ones etc etc its the same principle I was saying with the tetras, they will shoal with each other but its not ideal by any means.

If you were to go with my suggestions that would leave you with a slot open for a feature fish - like a betta but they can be problematic with tank mates but your other options are things like dwarf gourami or honey gourami or bolivian rams (not blue rams though as they have quite specialist needs) other dwarf cichlids like checkerboard cichlids or laetacaras would work as well.

Or if you wanted to up all your fish to the correct numbers (ie at least 6 of all the tetras, loaches and cories) consider a bigger tank something like a 30g would make that work but I would go for a 40g as that way you would be able to consider some different species of fish to go with the ones you have at present rather than just add more of the same species.

Sorry to be so harsh but shoaling fish in those low numbers will eventually end up in such high levels of stress it could only take a small trigger to set some serious problems in the tank. Those small problems could be a slight fluctuation in water temperature at a water change, someone banging on the glass, one fish becoming dominant and adding more stress to the others (a strong possibility between the two lots of disk tetras) Like I say sorry to be harsh but just trying to help and its often better just to get straight to the point than try and coax someone into a new way of thinking.

Wills
 
Bit worried if I put extra neons and corys in I will be overstocked. Its only 20 UK gallon and got 17 fish already. Thanks for advice. Think I will skip the fighter. Just wanted a signature fish. Any ideas?
 
Thats why I said either or with the cories/loaches and the two type of black disk tetra. You need to choose which you want to keep in the correct schooling number and rehome the other species so like if you want the cories rehome the loaches and buy 4 more of the same species of the cories

Wills
 
Thanks Wills. Must admit they all seem pretty happy. The various tetra school together often and my loaches and catfish stick together too.

I do agree with you but I wanted a variety of fish in my tank rather than two/three species
 
"Seeming happy" and actually being kept in correct conditions are two different things, its not like the fish know they need to be in specific numbers and or that they need to be in specific sized tanks its just the best advised numbers based on people who have been keeping fish for many years collective advice to other hobbyists. Its more about being a fish keeper not a fish haver and fish thriving rather than just surviving.

Keeping schooling fish in low numbers like that is just adding to a number of issues that can arise in any tank like I said before.

If you want to keep a variety of fish rather than a few fish - why did you not stick to species that are happy in low numbers there are a lot of options for many sizes of tanks including yours.

Ive given my advice and warning on the issues with the ways you are keeping your fish if you listen to it or not is your choice, equally its your choice to act on my advice and rehome the fish you dont want to keep and restock your tank in a correct manor - while I agree that fish keeping is often subjective within reason there are certain rule like the ones I highlighted above that are just an absolute basic consideration for anyone with a tank and breaking them is just pointless because they are so easy to deal with.

Wills
 

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