Stocking A 48 Gallon

[chilli-spice]

Help stocking a 48 gallon tank

So far I have
6 guppies - 5f 1m
9 platies - no idea what sex they all are
3 opaline gouramies - 2f 1m

I would like to add:

6 pygmy cory 3f 3m
4 swordtail - 3f 1m

10 of some sort of tetra or something - the neon has been recommended to me, but my tank isn't 6 months old yet, so i've gone off that idea
would like something that stays small, schools and is colourful.
or maybe small galaxy rasbora

what does everyone think of the stocking list so far?

would love to have a sand substrate and a group of kuhli loaches, but i think im pushing it stock wise already lol

 

[Wills]

Hi, first thing I would get more than 6 pygmy cories they do much better in larger schools a better figure would be 10 or 12. Also their genders are not really important for cories in the same way as some other fish.

With that many livebearers of mixed gender though, I would hope you have plans for the fry. Just remember the easy equation for live bearers which is roughly 12 babies per female - each baby will become sexually active at about 12-15 weeks at that point any females will breed in the same way. So think of it this way in your tank you have at least 5 females if not more with your platties - so you have potential to have 60 babies quite quickly.

For that reason I would not get the sword tails and usually why I would only keep one species of livebearer in any tank to be honest unless you have a specific breeding plan with intention to pass the fry to a shop or sell them on etc.

If it were me I would start to add some fish to the tank that would be predatory to the fry maybe some golden panchax for the surface and some South American Bumblebee catfish for the bottom - perhaps instead of the cories? At the end of the day, these fish species breed so rapidly and give birth to live young because they are naturally prey for larger fish so to avoid extinction they adapted to breed and thrive is massive numbers and if this isnt replicated or a regieme in the tank where you move the fry on regularly you end up massivly over stocked.

Wills

 

[KittyKat]

Cardinals are a much better choice than Neons, I think. Provided the water is suitable, they would go with the rest ok.

I would suggest a larger species of Cory, but assuming you have sand, almost any species should be fine. The reason I suggest larger is because then they will be able to hold their own if any of the other fish try to bother them.

Swordtails are fine.

You are right to make sure you have schools of everything Remember to increase your stocking and feeding gradually, not all in one go!

p.s. I did not disagree with getting more Livebearers because most of the babies will probably be eaten.

 

[chilli-spice]

Thanks for the advice guys, I will take both sets of comments on board before I make any decisions.

I thought that the majority fry would get eaten, so I thought the swordtails would be ok, but what I will do, I will wait and make the swordtails the last of the fish that I add and if I find that there are too many fry surviving, I will avoid them if i find there is a fry problem, i will look into the other fish that you suggested

I have a LFS that is a small family run store who would be quite happy to take on some fry if I end up with too many

Do you think that the gouramie would bother the pygmy cories? I wouldn't want any of them to be stressed, so I will have a look and see what other cories there are in my area!

i don't have sand just yet, but i will be changing to sand from gravel before I add any more fish.
I am at least another month before I can add any more fish, just wanted to get my stock plan sorted

 

[GrayScale]

Since the Pygmy corys are Bottom dwellers and the gouramis hang out around the middle they should be okay. Be sure to add plenty of hiding places for them as well. I'm only making an assumption though so a second opinion should be considered.

 

[chilli-spice]

thanks grayscale all of the things i have read say that they are ok together, but after hearing that there may be an issue, im wondering whether i am misinformed.

the gouramies have been fine with my guppies and platies. is this any use as an indicator to whether they will be ok with the cories or not?

 

[KittyKat]

They should be fine I was only pointing out that they are small fish and some of your other fish are quite big in comparison.. and one can sometimes get really mean individuals. So not trying to put you off completely!

 

[chilli-spice]

thanks kitty kat.
i am a long way from adding more fish yet, so i will see what the natures of the gouramie are before i decide on what type of bottom dweller to add.

what i think i will do is add the cardinal tetras first (i do really like them ) and it's not going to be for at least a few weeks that i add them anyway.
then after that, it's going to be another month before i add any more fish.
so i think that that 2 months should give me enough time to figure out the gouramie and find out if they need a bigger tank mate than the pygmy cories
i will probably ask for more advice nearer the time when it comes to the cories

(going slow. one type of fish every month. never doubling the amount of fish that is already in the tank. i hope that's right)

 

[KittyKat]

So what are your water parameters? pH, hardness..

When adding a school, I would stock along the lines of..
Week 1: +6 fish
Week 3: +3 fish
Week 5: +3 fish
..to spread it out more evenly, if I'm not in a rush.

 

[Wills]

To be honest if it were me I would just add 12 Cardinal Tetras all at once. They are not going to damage the parameters at all especially at a young age its just not something to worry about.

Wills

 

[chilli-spice]

hmm, now i dont know what to do. add the cardinals a few at a time or add them all at once LOL.
im not in any rush to get all the fish in slow and steady wins the race

oh dear, i hate it when i get asked that question.
because i dont test my water.
i know, everyone says its really important to do it
but i've just never found it necessary.

i didn't know anything about fishless cycling until it was already too late and i was already in a fish in cycle.
for a few weeks after i had the fish i changed 30 - 50% of the water every day.
after that i went down to changing 30% every couple of days.
and that habit has stuck.
i change 20 - 30% of the water every 3 days.

 

[Wills]

To be honest as far as I am concerned the adding 2 or 3 fish per 2 weeks is the way pet shops get around ignoring the cycling info they should give out.

In a mature tank - by which I mean a tank older than say 2 months adding fish is not an issue so far as parameters go. A bacteria colony will rapidly grow as more ammonia is available from the new fish. Its upto you how you do it - as with most parts of the hobby its down to personal preference on how you do it.

Wills

 

[KittyKat]

The pH and hardness are important because not all fish do well in all types of water. I suspect that yours is around 7.0-7.2, but it would be quite good if you were to check with the LFS before adding more fish, just to be sure..

In a mature tank - by which I mean a tank older than say 2 months adding fish is not an issue so far as parameters go. A bacteria colony will rapidly grow as more ammonia is available from the new fish. Its upto you how you do it - as with most parts of the hobby its down to personal preference on how you do it.

Agreed.

 

[chilli-spice]

okies,
when it comes to the time when i am ready to add more fish, i will come back and just check to make sure i am doing everything right.
kitty kat i will go at the weekend and get my water checked. the store near me i know wont do that, but theres one a bit further away that will, i just can't get there til then because of uni. grrr!

thanks for all of the great advice everyone