Need help figuring out how to stock my fish tank

[eicca]

I've got a 33 gallon (125L) fish tank that is currently cycling. It's my first fish tank and it's now the beginning of week 4, and I'd like to start stocking when it's fully cycled + when my pH and KH levels have stabilized, which might be in 2-3 weeks. It's still a long time to go, but I like to be prepared, so I feel like now is the time to finalize my stocking plans.

Fish tank:
- 125 L
- planted
- heater, filter, light, skimmer
- some bladder snails present



One thing I know for sure, is that I want 1 male betta in the tank, the rest I'm quite unsure how to plan in a safe way.

Here are the fish I'd like to have:

1) 1 betta (male)
2) 6 ember tetras
3) 6 neon green rasboras
4) 6 panda corydoras
5) 1 bristlenose pleco (or would 2 work?)

Here are my questions:
1) Is that a good stocking plan? I planned according to the fish I liked and the fish that apparently can handle living with a betta. I'd be adding the betta as the last fish.

2) How do I know if that's too many or if I can add more? If possible to add more, should I make the tetra and rasbora schools larger or add another school? If another school, any recommendations?

3) For fish 2-4 (and 5 if getting two of them), should I get only males/females? I'm not looking into breeding any of them and wouldn't want my tank to get overpopulated by new fish. Anytime I try to google this, only advice on breeding pops up, never how to prevent breeding XD

4) I'm not sure if I'll be able to get bristlenose plecos where I live, what are some good alternatives for this setup? I looked into otos, but they like to be in schools of 6 at least, and I feel like that would overcrowd the bottom of the tank.

Thank you!

 

[connorlindeman]

Sorry to have bad news, but a betta wont work in that set up. They do best solo.

 

[Essjay]

We now know that shoaling fish do better in groups of at least 10, so I would increase the numbers of the tetras, rasboras (I assume they are Microdevario kubotai?) and corydoras to at least 10 each.



However, you do need to find out your hardness as all the fish on your list are soft water fish. Your water provider's website may give your hardness. if they do, you need a number and the unit of measurement as there are several units for hardness.

 

[BigBen1989]

I'd say scrap the Betta as others have said. There's always exceptions where it works, but generally they're not good with other fish. What about a pair of dwarf cichlids if you have soft water? Blue rams, Bolivian rams of Apistos would work nicely in that tank. I'm a big Apisto fan...

 

[eicca]

@connorlindeman & @BigBen1989, thanks for your advice, I totally understand that! What made me want to go for it anyway, is that my LFS keeps them in fish tanks with the fish I've named. They have a tank full of ember tetras with a male betta, one with rasboras, and a few others, and they said that there haven't really been issues. So I figured that it could work. I might rethink it then, perhaps get a secondary, smaller tank later and get a solitary betta.

@Essjay, thanks, I was thinking that 6 might not be enough, but there's so much contradictory information out there that it's difficult to always figure out what's true. As for water hardness, our water here is quite soft as it is, I do test it regularly. I've had some issues with pH and KH being too low (I think due to the aquasoil for the plants that I added) so I definitely won't be adding fish until that stabilizes.

 

[threecharacters]

I kept a male betta with X-ray tetras and rosy loaches for years with no problems. I think you'll be fine, just avoid any other long-finned species besides the betta. A lot of people on here have strong opinions about keeping bettas in very specific setups, which I mostly don't agree with. There's a bit of a mob mentality to it.

As already mentioned, I think you should increase the number of schooling fish up to 10 at least. It's not really obvious, but many schooling fish look much better in large groups. At lot of them have complicated social structures and behaviors that only become obvious in large groups. I personally dream of getting a large tank (75-125 gallons) and keeping schools of 30-40 fish.

 

[Byron]

Welcome to TFF.

It helps members advise you if they know data such as the GH and pH rather than subjective terms that can mean something very different to different people.

Fish in fish store tanks are in a very different setting from the home aquarium. The conditions in store tanks can be anything but ideal, but the fish are only there for a very short time (so the store hopes) but once settled into their permanent home things can play out very differently. The earlier advice not to include a male betta in with other fish is very wise advice. This is a real risk, and not fair to the fish, either the betta or the smaller fish.

 

[GaryE]

It's contradiction time. I would choose a male betta out of the tanks the other fish are in. None are nippers, and the Betta will have passed through the initial socialization. They are raised alone and some get excited and hostile when they meet new fish. It has never lasted here, through about 30 Bettas in my tanks, school tanks, kids' and friends' tanks.

it's a new orthodoxy that Bettas must be alone, but you have excellent choices for tankmates. None nip. I have simply never seen the problems people raise. You need a decent sized tank and a socialized Betta, and you are good. You can benefit from that rarest of things - a store that treats Betta splendens well!

Two male bristlenoses will fight. A pair may breed, and they would breed a lot in that company. Females alone don't have the cool bristles.

And yes, 10 of the small fish would be better than 6, but both are arbitrary numbers.

 

[Kyanite14]

Fish tank:
- 125 L
- planted
- heater, filter, light, skimmer
- some bladder snails present

View attachment 309416

One thing I know for sure, is that I want 1 male betta in the tank, the rest I'm quite unsure how to plan in a safe way.

Here are the fish I'd like to have:

1) 1 betta (male)
2) 6 ember tetras
3) 6 neon green rasboras
4) 6 panda corydoras
5) 1 bristlenose pleco (or would 2 work?)

Here are my questions:
1) Is that a good stocking plan? I planned according to the fish I liked and the fish that apparently can handle living with a betta. I'd be adding the betta as the last fish.

2) How do I know if that's too many or if I can add more? If possible to add more, should I make the tetra and rasbora schools larger or add another school? If another school, any recommendations?

3) For fish 2-4 (and 5 if getting two of them), should I get only males/females? I'm not looking into breeding any of them and wouldn't want my tank to get overpopulated by new fish. Anytime I try to google this, only advice on breeding pops up, never how to prevent breeding XD

4) I'm not sure if I'll be able to get bristlenose plecos where I live, what are some good alternatives for this setup? I looked into otos, but they like to be in schools of 6 at least, and I feel like that would overcrowd the bottom of the tank.

Thank you!

A betta COULD still work if you choose a female, but they still can be aggressive sometimes. It’s risky.

You could try getting more of the tetras, they’ll probably feel more comfortable in a larger group. 10 is a good number.

 

[Boundava]

I've got a 33 gallon (125L) fish tank that is currently cycling. It's my first fish tank and it's now the beginning of week 4, and I'd like to start stocking when it's fully cycled + when my pH and KH levels have stabilized, which might be in 2-3 weeks. It's still a long time to go, but I like to be prepared, so I feel like now is the time to finalize my stocking plans.

Fish tank:
- 125 L
- planted
- heater, filter, light, skimmer
- some bladder snails present

View attachment 309416

One thing I know for sure, is that I want 1 male betta in the tank, the rest I'm quite unsure how to plan in a safe way.

Here are the fish I'd like to have:

1) 1 betta (male)
2) 6 ember tetras
3) 6 neon green rasboras
4) 6 panda corydoras
5) 1 bristlenose pleco (or would 2 work?)

Here are my questions:
1) Is that a good stocking plan? I planned according to the fish I liked and the fish that apparently can handle living with a betta. I'd be adding the betta as the last fish.

2) How do I know if that's too many or if I can add more? If possible to add more, should I make the tetra and rasbora schools larger or add another school? If another school, any recommendations?

3) For fish 2-4 (and 5 if getting two of them), should I get only males/females? I'm not looking into breeding any of them and wouldn't want my tank to get overpopulated by new fish. Anytime I try to google this, only advice on breeding pops up, never how to prevent breeding XD

4) I'm not sure if I'll be able to get bristlenose plecos where I live, what are some good alternatives for this setup? I looked into otos, but they like to be in schools of 6 at least, and I feel like that would overcrowd the bottom of the tank.

Thank you!

The Betta should be fine but there is an important point to consider. When choosing a beta for a 33 gallon you're going to want to look for one that does not have overly ornate fins. So you're looking for something that is more like a placket. Ornate fins in a tank of that size will make it challenging for him to move around.

I agree that you're going to want to increase the school numbers for your tetras, they're relatively small fish so they should be okay in groups of 8 to 10, even 12 each in that tank.

The panda cory probably should be upped to at least eight, which should be okay because they are a relatively small cory.

To be perfectly honest if you are going to go with a pleco for the 33 gallon you're going to want to choose something smaller. The bristle nose pleco I have is slightly over 6 in, which would be too big for a 33 gallon because they are waste producing machines. You may want to go with something smaller like a clown pleco or a small pecoltia or you may be able to find a small bristlenose species like a super red. If you wanted to you could even go with one of the whiptail species like a farowella. If you're looking for something that's more algae grazing the whip tail/farowella are very good at that.

Also make sure you have a good filter that can handle at least 6 times the tank volume (33*6)

Good luck.

 

[sharkweek178]

A lot of people are saying that a betta could work with tank mates. And this often comes down to the personality of the fish. You can't judge from how fish are in the shop because they are usually so stressed out that they don't behave in their usual personality. Once it becomes comfortable in it's new home, aggression could come out.
If you do want to get the betta, the question you have to ask yourself is what is your Plan B. What will you do if the betta doesn't get along with the other fish? Do you have another cycled tank you could immediately move it to?

 

[eicca]

Thank you all for your help, it's all very confusing but I'm trying to learn. I've decided to hold off on getting the betta. I will get all the other fish that I wanted, taking into account your advice, that being:

10 ember tetras
10 neon green rasboras
8-10 panda corys
1 super red pleco (or clown pleco if I don't manage to find a super red) - @Boundava, thank you for the suggestion, looking at them now, I really like the super reds! Do you recommend getting only 1 or more of them?

As for the betta, when I'm ready to get a second tank, I'll have it ready and cycled. I'll try to introduce a betta into my current tank, and if it doesn't work out, he'll have a home for himself waiting. If it does work out, it won't be difficult finding new tenants for the new tank

@threecharacters, I love that! I'd love to get more tanks and a super large one eventually, but I currently live in an apartment, so that dream will have to wait for now. Best of luck to you!

 

[Boundava]

Thank you all for your help, it's all very confusing but I'm trying to learn. I've decided to hold off on getting the betta. I will get all the other fish that I wanted, taking into account your advice, that being:

10 ember tetras
10 neon green rasboras
8-10 panda corys
1 super red pleco (or clown pleco if I don't manage to find a super red) - @Boundava, thank you for the suggestion, looking at them now, I really like the super reds! Do you recommend getting only 1 or more of them?

As for the betta, when I'm ready to get a second tank, I'll have it ready and cycled. I'll try to introduce a betta into my current tank, and if it doesn't work out, he'll have a home for himself waiting. If it does work out, it won't be difficult finding new tenants for the new tank

@threecharacters, I love that! I'd love to get more tanks and a super large one eventually, but I currently live in an apartment, so that dream will have to wait for now. Best of luck to you!

So regarding the super reds, the size that you're going to buy them you're not going to be able to tell the sex so you can start out with two or even three and as they grow up you'll be able to tell whether or not it's male or female based on the bristles. Just be prepared that you're going to have to rehome a mail if it turns out that you have two males and a female or if you're really lucky and you get three meals or vice versa 3 females the females will be peaceful in a tank the males not so much and I'm not sure for 303 gallon would be big enough for two of them. The clown plecos are much more peaceful so if you decide to do two of them or three of them just be aware that with both species you're going to need to have some driftwood in there because even though the super reds don't rasp on wood as much as the panax do or the clown plecos they will still have some wood in their diet or the actually the biofilm that grows on the wood for their diet.
Hope that turned out okay as I am talking to my microphone while driving to work so any sentences that turn out a little weird blame my microphone.