Restocking A 15 Gallon Community.

[natalie265]

Cories do best in schools of six or more, so i wouldn't give any away if i were you.

If you like gouramis, you should check out honey gouramis. They are small, colorful and supposedly have fewer health problems than dwarf gouramis. I'd do something like this:


7 panda cories
10 neon tetras
2 honey gourami

 

[mr130gallon]

if your going to get rams, get bolivians because german blues need high temp and low ph. which the other fish wont like

 

[Bebobb]

The maintenance plan is worked out fine, but I understand your concern. The problems were caused by things that could not be controlled. I'm fairly certain my White Clouds were doomed from the start as I got them from a major chain store that went out of business and had all of their fish on sale (Buy one, get one free). The other molly that died was older when I got him. The ick breakout was caused by the first waterchange they did when they didn't check the temperature of the water they were adding, and they recognized it for what it was and treated it as soon as they could. Basically all dumb little things. They know what they're doing now for the most part with the maintenance.

As my family knew that the tank was mine, they didn't want to restock it while I was away because the last time they tried, I came home to a silver shark and a bunch of other fish that would DEFINITELY not work in that tank. We haven't had a fish death since November (with the exception of the white clouds, as regardless of what we did for them, they continued to waste away to nothing and die despite eating heartily).

I just don't like that the tank looks so empty. Nothing in it grabs your attention anymore. I'm home for a 10-day period in February, a weekend in March, and a weekend in April, and then I'm done school at the end of April. Everytime I'm home, I test my water and clean the tank thoroughly, but my water stats have always been normal.

I would go with

1 pair of apistogramma
10 neons
7 panda corys

I've been looking at pictures of the Apistogramma. Any idea what price range I'd be looking at for them?

In the United States, I would be looking at anywhere from $20-$40 for a good PAIR in a LFS. I know a huge apistogramma fan in my aquarium club, and I could say that I could pick up a great pair for $25. But it depends on where you live, and who you know.

Reading here for some time, I got the message that a pair of apistogramma need a minimium of a 30 gallon tank. I have a pair in a 30 and they seem to use all the space. They each seem to need their own territory even though my two generally get along.

Not true at all. 10 gallon is the absolute minimum for a pair. Some species might need that large of a tank, but not any that I am aware of.

 

[OldMan47]

The aqua advisor calculator is only as good as the advice that the software writer has received here and on other similar forums. He has a presence on many forums that I am aware of and puts together a consensus of what he learns on various forums into a half decent calculator style database. I admire the work that has gone into it but it has no more intelligence than the simplest of advice that the person assembling it has received from sometimes not very knowledgeable forum members on lots of sites. I admire the work that I see the person making a life work out of, refining the software, but so far I find that I trust my own experiences more.

 

[yhbae]

The aqua advisor calculator is only as good as the advice that the software writer has received here and on other similar forums. He has a presence on many forums that I am aware of and puts together a consensus of what he learns on various forums into a half decent calculator style database. I admire the work that has gone into it but it has no more intelligence than the simplest of advice that the person assembling it has received from sometimes not very knowledgeable forum members on lots of sites. I admire the work that I see the person making a life work out of, refining the software, but so far I find that I trust my own experiences more.

That is a pretty good description of AqAdvisor although I have a slightly different opinion on it.

If you look around for many software on the internet, especially those that build on mass of information you will find that they all have something in common. Initially all of them will look daunting with the amount of information you need to collect and question accuracy as well. I can point out hundreds if not thousands of applications on the net that people would have said are impossible to build 20 years ago but now people use them without even thinking about it. But just about in all cases, the first of its kind goes through this "growing pain" especially because experienced people in those sectors have not seen one before and they understand the solution to the problem is huge. You mention that sometimes I collect info from not very knowledgable forum members. Please go to Google and type "AqAdvisor" and see if that is true. You will find that MANY of them have been keeping very specific species and have been reading and keeping up with them for longer than the age of the readers on this forum (and other forums too). Some of them own their own forums addressing just one species. Many are moderators with significant knowledges. I may at occasion, receive bad advices without realizing it. But someone else usually points that out later on. Given enough time & updates, and I am CONFIDENT that the accuracy will improve greatly.

I've designed it in such a way that if you can describe interaction between any two species, I can probably code it and display appropriate warnings. Nailing bioload is MUCH MUCH simpler than compatibility. I have separate bioload factor for each species - its just a matter of finding out what that number is for each species. For common species, I have many confirmation that they are good. For others I am refining them every day.

If you could let me know what is wrong with it right now, that would be really useful.