CrystalStars
New Member
Oh, right! I forgot about food! I have Essentials Algae Grazers for the otos, though the corys eat them as well. And Essentials Shrimp Pellets for the corys. They seem to prefer those over the grazers.
@Byron First of all, I would like to say that I'm sorry you had to surrender your fish. And I hope you are doing well despite your diagnosis.
Thank you for the advice on the otos. I'll continue giving them the best I can. I feel bad that my lack of research has made things difficult for them. I hope I will continue to improve from here and provide a good quality of life for the fish I own in the future. When they pass away I would still like something to eat the algae. Perhaps by then the tank will be established enough for me to get more otos (I love these little guys). Or I'll get a bristlenose pleco or Siamese algae eater.
Wow, that's a lot of fishies for your 20 gal! Must've been super colourful! Well, I've been looking and I'm very partial to mostly tetras. I know neon tetras are common, but they're so pleasing to look at. I have also had my eye on emperor tetras. Someone mentioned red phantoms. Those are super pretty! I'm also realizing how much I enjoy lots of catfish species. I had my eyes on red lizard whiptails(Rineloricaria sp). But I might have to wait until much later to get some. Don't want to overstock this tank.
And thank you both for the input on the betta. I really love them because of my late Buddy. But if they are an issue to have in a tank, then I will wait until I can get a nice 5-10 gal for just a betta further down the road.
Sorry for constantly bumping and updating. I just want to make sure I'm getting the perfect species for this tank before buying them. I still have a lot of waiting to do, but I'm the kind of person who likes to plan ahead of time.
I figured even family run businesses get their animals from the same places as chain petstores. I just feel I can trust people that specialize with fish over a chain petstore. I have tried looking into actual breeders, and there's nothing popping up in my area. I finally found a place that is actually close to my town with amazing reviews and not a hefty shipping price.
I do have some concerns after doing research into neon and pencilfish. Firstly, most neon species, except Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi(Black neon), prefer a PH lower than 7. I have researched that you can lower PH by adding peat moss and leaves into the tank. Honestly, the black water is not the asthetic I'm going for. So, I may switch those out for 12 Trigonostigma heteromorpha (harlequin rasbora). And the pencilfish I have read they don't like fast moving water, and I'm afraid even at low setting my aquaclear 50 will be too much for them.