should this work in a ten gallon?

[Aylana]

khulie loaches and cory cats both like to be in groups (of at least 3 I would say) so you might want to bear that in mind.

 

[Mordinbar]

yup i got 2 loaches, and they sem to be doing fine, put them in this morning with the gourami. Im waiting until the tank finishes mini cycling before putting the neons in.

the loaches are both just chilling, and swimming back and forth together, seem to be very comfortable so good start i hope The gourami just swims down to em every now and then, says hi and goes back into the plants. Its pretty funny.

The tank does have enough filtration to support the slight overstocking

oh question, the guy at the LFS called them black kooli loaches, are those actual coolies, or just a faux kooli that im going to have to watch?

 

[Snailguy101]

so what fish are you gunna use for this?

 

[Mordinbar]

Final listing is:


In tank:
2 coolie loaches (1 black one striped)
1 dwarf gourami (Powder blue)


eventually in tank with ^^

8 neon tetras

Im running a Whisper 20 power filter on the 10 gallon tank, so i figure that even though its not to much over my limit, they should be fine.

One question though, Ive heard many stories of neons getting stuck to the filter. Should i put foam around the intake to prevent this, or is it not worth worrying about.

 

[sylvia]

Seeing as kuhlies get to 4", you should probably reduce the number of neons to 6. Dwarf gouramies also don't handle stress as well as honeys but it's too late now.

I think most 'neon stuck in filter' occurances actualy happen after the neon's died or with very small neons. As long as you get neons that are grown, you shouldn't have an issue. However, if you'd feel better doing so, feel free to place some foam around the intake. Kuhlie loaches are also known to swim up tubes and things so it may be of benefit...

 

[freddyk]

Honestly, two tetra's will not make a difference - it's getting petty at this point - these fish have a tiny affect on the bio-filter. 6, 8 - whatever. I'd give them a bigger group.

 

[Mordinbar]

Groovy Thanks


I put the foam on the filter today, cause i figure theres no need to risk a loach in the filter...

and im waiting till the tank finishes its mini cycle before i deal with the tetras.
Sorry if this is really bad english, I just spent 4 hours in the water lifeguarding a triathalon. 33 rescues in 4 hours in 96 degree weather (85 degree water) wears on ya a bit. Fareinheight of course

 

[Snailguy101]

Isn't your tank a bit overstocked?

 

[Mordinbar]

atm no. The loaches and gouarmi are all full size now, and they seem to be doing fine. I havent decided on the neons yet. Its one of those things that since i have to wait on em, i just kinda keep tossing it around. Not positive either way. The filter system is pretty decent in the tank, so im thinking that it should be supported.

 

[freddyk]

Doen't sound overstocked to me. There's more then just counting millimeters to determining stocking levels and M's proposal sounds very decent.

 

[sylvia]

freddyk I agree that there's a lot more to stocking than just counting inches. However, that's exactly why I showed concern. This tank is going to be taken to a school. I would think it's best to keep it low maintainance. Adding, even just 2, extra (rather finnicky) fish can very well make a difference. Neons don't like fluctuations (neither do dwarf gouramies) and don't deal with them well. Small tanks like this are already difficult to keep stable. There's no reason to push it when you can easily avoid over-stocking without sacrificing anything else (neons would be fine in a group of just 6 BTW as the tank's small, there are no threats etc). I would have suggested even fewer myself but, obviously, that's not realy fair on the fish because of the fact that they are a schooling species - so I said to at least take it down to the minnimum number of 6. If you think it's under-stocked, so be it. Under-stocking is better than over-stocking.

 

[freddyk]

However, that's exactly why I showed concern. This tank is going to be taken to a school

Good point

 

[Mordinbar]

you guys have any other suggestions of something that would work well instead of the neons? Otherwise I totally see the argument for fewer fish, and it does make a lot of sense. This is why i posted this here, so that i dont end up running into to much trouble down the road (I hope)

 

[freddyk]

Most I can think of are too active for a 10 gallon tank, which makes neons and similar good fish for it - they're more laid back. I'd still give the neons a shot.

 

[Ami]

How about Dwarf Pencil Fish? They're only 3cm when full grown and pencils are fairly hardy.