Stocking 30g!

[bccromer]

I finally picked up my 30g tank today. Haven't even gotten it all the way setup but I don't know what I am going to put in it. Here are my choices. If some of you guys and gals can give me the pros and cons of a few of them that would be great.

1. Livebearer breeding tank. The only problem is I don't have a growout tank and am not getting one. The fry will just have to hope they survive wish kinda defeats the point of trying to breed.

2. Betta breeding tank. My lfs actually has some femal bettas. 3 females and 1 male? Also I think that tank would be huge for just 4 bettas, so what else would be good tank mates for them?

3. Cory tank. I have thought of this but there isn't a big selection around here. What would other good tank mates be that I could put with the corys?

Also if you have any other suggestions please feel free to let me know. I want to stay away from community tank as that will be later when I get an even bigger one. Thanks in advance for all the help.

Brad

 

[Vip]

Do you like cichlids? cause a pair of Bolivian Rams and a Keyhole cichlid would look the goods in that.

 

[bccromer]

Yes I do like cichlids. That is why my next tank is going to be a 55g african cichlid tank. That is the reason I didn't mention any cichlids this time. Would rather have a variety. Play to eventually get a 75g community tank and that is why I don't want that now either. Just looking for something interesting that will be happy in this tank. BTW I got a Proquatic 120 filter and Proquatic 150 watt heater. Are both of those pretty good?

Brad

 

[willywonka099]

Well ........... There is no way you are going to breed bettas you need ALOT more research for one you will have 100-200 fry .....you have to wait till female is big enough to spawn ....jars for the juvinille males ..... seperate jars for females ....... Upon many other problems ... so that is out of hte question Corys and some live bearers would go grea in there you could fit 10 corys (your chances are great of spawning if you get all of one type) and 15-20 live bearers !! i would sugest guppys and platys I don't know why ... lol or maybe 2m:5f sailfin mollies ...they grow FAST and are born at what most far are at 5 or 6 days

 

[clutterydrawer]

cory tank!!!


say, two shoals of different cories on the bottom, then some gourmais/tetra/peaceful brabs/ other pretty fish for mid/top level?

 

[parker313]

cory tank!!!


say, two shoals of different cories on the bottom, then some gourmais/tetra/peaceful brabs/ other pretty fish for mid/top level?

Love this suggestion! It's kinda what I'm going for in my 46.

If you have livebearers, you might have luck just hooking on a breeding box and putting the female in that before she gives birth. Then, let the fry grow just a little til they'd be safe in the big tank.

That way you could have your cories and breed the livebearers too

 

[bccromer]

I was already thinking of a cory tank, but what should I put in with them? I was thinking some dwarf gouramis. Anything else that would go well in there? Also I have seem people keep a betta with corys, but would the betta fight with the gouramis? So tell me how this sounds on my stocking levels below and tell me if it is overstocked.

10-12 cory cats
3-4 dwarf gouramis
1 betta (maybe)
1 brislenose plec

Also what types of corys would you suggest? They have plenty of albinos at my lfs which I really like, but they are very very small. Do they get as big as say emeralds? I may just try and get 3-4 of each kind and get 3-4 different kind.

Brad

 

[parker313]

Emeralds? Do you mean emerald brochis? If so, they're not exactly cories, they're slightly different. Albinos (assuming they're the albino version of the bronze/aeneus) get to 3-4".

Dwarf gouramis would go very well. I don't know about mixing bettas with gouramies, but I *think* that's a no-no...

For a 30g, I'd probably stick with 10 cories - maybe 5 each of 2 different kinds?

 

[bccromer]

Im not sure exactly what they are, but they just call them emeralds at the lfs. I am going back today and will check them out again. Also was wondering what you guys think about internal filters. I was thinking about getting one for this tank instead of a HOB filter. Would it do a good enough job for a cory tank? Thanks again for all the help so far.

Brad

 

[MXPX4318]

my lfs has the cory aenus labled as "emerald cory" I guess because of the distinct green that they have, so I'm willing to bet that's what you are seeing at your LFS too.

 

[parker313]

Here is a corydoras aeneus...

Here is a brochis splendens...

 

[clutterydrawer]

It varies between lfs. Somethign labelled as an Emerald Cory *could* be a brochis splendens, or could be a bronze cory (corydoras aeneus) try asking the staff, adn if they don't know, you might be able to find some tips on IDing them on planetcatfish.com.

Bettas and gouramis would probably be a bad idea. i expect there are people who have successfully done it, but it would depend on the temperament of the individual fish. You might want to go with honey gouramis rather than dwarfs as the gerneal opinion is that dwarfs have been weakened by poor breeding practises so you seldom find strong healthy specimins.

My albino cories got to a little over 2". Most cories are about the same, except pandas and the pygmy species. IMO trilineatus are very nice looking, as are adolphoi and sterbai.

I don't know much about HOB filters but i think an internal filter would do teh job fine. cories are very low waste producers so tehy don't need vast amounts of filtration. i have the fluval 2+ on my community tank with cories in.

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Could always check out oddball types of fish fro the thirty. Course, livebearers would feed those cichlids your getting...

 

[willywonka099]

one of my franchise lfs has them labled "aenus corys" lol goroumis and corys would be GREAT ! or you could do corys and danios ...... My 29 gal. is a live bearers tank and I have 6 or 7 fry running ar ound b./c of all of the space ... haha

 

[bccromer]

Well I have some news. I had 3 5g tanks, so I took the water and gravel out of there and obviously added more. I got 2 Fluval 2 internal filters, 2 50 watt Rena heaters, and set my tank up. Since I am using already established water I decided I would go ahead and get some fish as they should be ok. I ended up getting 3 skunk corys (arcuatus.....I think??), and 3 albino corys (not sure of their name but I am trying to find it). Turns out the emeralds are the brochis splendens. I think my next ones in a few weeks will probably be what one store called spotted corys, but yet another store had some very similar and called them julie (sp?) corys. Can anyone shed some light on if these are the same or not.I am loving them so far.

Brad