Microrasboras

[willroo]

Hello everyone,

Will i be able to get a few microrasbora Galaxy or harlequin in my tank that is listed in my sig.

the fish in the tank are 2 platties and 4 guppies.

Thanks Will

 

[crazie.eddie]

No room. Your 6 gallon is already overstocked. If the platies are male and female and the guppies are male and female, then you will have lots of babies, since both fish are livebearers and very prolific (horny).

 

[willroo]

The platties are a pair.


The guppies are all male. lfs said i will be ok with 12 small fish.

Thanks

 

[Darkmoon Bettas]

The platties are a pair.


The guppies are all male. lfs said i will be ok with 12 small fish.

Thanks

LFS was wrong. While a few good stores will try to talk you out of overstocking your tank, most of them will tell you what you want to hear, and don't care if your tank or your fish are healthy as long as they make the sales. And hey, if your fish get sick from being overfed or overcrowded, that's just more medication they can sell you.

While the rule fails with large, predatory, or special needs fish, the "one inch of fish body length per gallon of water, calculated with the ADULT size of the fish involved" is still a decent guideline when you're dealing with small, common species like rasboras, guppies, platies, etc. Your 6-gallon can hold roughly 6 inches of fish.

Guppies usually top out at an inch (1x4=4 inches) , and platies usually hit an inch and a half (2x1.5=3 inches), so no, you don't have enough room to add ANYTHING to your tank as it stands. Your tank could handle ONE school of 6 rasboras and *nothing* else, but you can't add that school with what you already have in there. It's already at capacity with roughly 7 inches of fish potential in it..


And in any case, the two types of fish you'd like aren't totally compatable. Livebeares like a ph of 7-7.5ish, and the galaxy rasboras in particular--being all wild caught in the trade at this time--like a soft, lower ph of 6.5 at the HIGHEST and prefer it even lower.

 

[DrFish]

Will,

Dont listen to the 1 inch rule that was for setups about 20 years ago on old technology, and also for marines with modern technology and good filtration you can go to 1.25 to 1.5 inches... however my recommendation would be the following...


I assume that these Guppy's you have are the Poecilia reticulatus variety i.e full size.

There is a Pygmy variegated variety which are approx between 5mm and 12mm in length and go for about $3-$5.
They are much more colorful than their larger twins.

The Platties are too large for this setup... take them to a LFS for credit towards my recommendations below.

Another way of ensuring that you do not hit a cycle is get filtration that can cope with the setup. Tom or Zoo med do a very small handy external filter container that online are quiet cheap, that would site behind your 6 Gallons and nobody would no its their alternatively add a Red Sea trickle filter if you can hang on the back, they are attractive to look at as they transparent and also you can make into a fresh water refugium.

Also buy your self a 5 gallon water container, sold at any good LFS not the white drum variety, get the screw top variety with handle.

Container.jpg

Once every 6 weeks month buy 5 gallons of RO water about $2.50 use your container, add buffer costs cents per month once initial outlay cost of $7 purchase, add RO minerals again uses cents per month once initial cost outlay of $7. this way your water will be pretty mucht he best you can get.

Change 10-20% water change weekly. don't disturb filtration, clean on 3 month cycle other than mechanical filtration check monthly and clean.

I would aim for no more than 10 6mm fish. for your six gallons if you use an additional filter and water offered.

2 galaxy microrasboras male and female.
2 pygmy V guppies.
2 Pygmy Corys
2 Badis Badis (Perch family easily sex male brighly coloured)
2 Microrasboras kubotai
2 Cherry Shrimp (male brightly coloured)

All these are hardy little fish and also a lot of fun to watch... Books will say these grow to 20mm in my experience I have never seen one larger than 12mm.

The Pygmy guppy's will breed if you have male and female of course, they are also very easy to sex, male bright colours female drab.

After breading dont worry to much about the extra fry as they only measure about 3mm for the first 3 months.... when they get to around 5mm-7mm then give them away to a local pet store for credit.

Best of luck with your Nano tank.

Dr Fish

Hello everyone,

Will i be able to get a few microrasbora Galaxy or harlequin in my tank that is listed in my sig.

the fish in the tank are 2 platties and 4 guppies.

Thanks Will

 

[Wills]

Interesting read DrFish but all the micro rasboras and pygmy cories required larger schooling numbers than 2 of each.....though I have to admit that just sounds so knowledgeable Im doubting my knowledge? Could you go into any more detail please I am utterly intrigued....

Wills

 

[OldMan47]

I am going to step in and disagree strongly with a few of DrFish's statements.
The inch per gallon guidance is no more or less valid today than it was 50 years ago. It is a not bad starting point for stocking a tank with small fish before you get a feel for what a crowded tank looks like. It keeps new fish keepers out of tons of trouble if it is followed.

Guppies are not small fish of an inch or less. A mature female runs to about 1 1/2 inches.

We are not talking about a saltwater setup that adds special salts to RO water, so tap water is a much better choice for most people than RO water. RO water used straight for freshwater fish will kill most of them in pretty short order. Some of the very low mineral Amazon river fish can tolerate it fairly well if you only mix in a small percentage of tap water. Even those fish will be harmed by straight RO water.

There is no magic brand of filtration that does a better job than any other brand of providing biological filtration. Any filter that is cleaned regularly without discarding the media will treat a larger biological load than any reasonable person would add to a tank. Filtration does not, let's repeat that, does not allow any larger stocking than the minimal filter for the same tank would allow. Once your filter is big enough for your tank, every addition of fish beyond a reasonable amount means more frequent and larger water changes, not a bigger filter. The filter of almost any size will convert all ammonia through to nitrates which must be removed by water changes, hence the need for a new fish keeper to restrain their desire for large stockings. That is where the inch per gallon guidance helps them judge the stocking level. For larger fish it certainly does not apply and it says nothing about the compatibility of various fish.

Pairs of lots of different fish seldom works out well. Many fish do much better in larger groups, as Wills said, and often a tank with a small number of different fish in large groups actually looks much better than a Noah's ark tank like you have described. The present guppy and platy stocking is very heavy in that tank so no additions are recommended. You will soon have some platy fry to deal with unless the cover in the tank is poor enough that they are all eaten.

 

[Assaye]

I've got to disagree with both Dr. Fish and your lfs, willroo.

Platies are too large for your tank and if you have a male/female pair then a) the female will end up becoming very stressed and possibly ill and b) you've end up with loads of babies.

In a 6 gallon, I'd only want to see 6 small fish. This isn't because of the "inch per gallon rule" (which is a good guide for newbies) but because fish, even if small, still need a varied, stimulating and safe environment to live in. The smaller the tank, the harder the water quality is to stabilise and the less space you have to plant the tank up and add fish-friendly decor.

Some ideas for your 6 gallon:

4 male guppies
2 sparkling gourami
6 cherry shrimp

or

4 male guppies
2 african dwarf frogs
6 cherry shrimp

or

1 betta
6 cherry shrimp

or

6 microrasbora
6 cherry shrimp

Ok, cherry shrimp can be swapped for loads of other shrimp species, but you get the idea?

It's hard to overfilter a small tank (which may allow you more fish) without taking away quite a lot of space (unless you get a mini-external).

Some of Dr. Fish's suggestions are good but you must remember that rasboras, corys, tetras and the like are all shoaling fish and are not suited to being kept in small groups or pairs. You really need 6 of each species to get them behaving naturally and get them truly settled and happy.

Allowing fish to breed is also risky for three reasons:

1) More fish = more stress and higher waste. Even tiny fry produce a lot of waste as they eat so darn much due to their activity levels.

2) You might not be able to find homes for the babies

3) Your tank won't be able to fit the extra fish in, even when they are small.

 

[waterdrop]

Strongly agree with OM47's post up there. Couldn't have put it better myself. WD