Stocking suggestions??

[Zante]

If it was my tank I'd go for larger shoals of fewer species. It looks a lot more natural.

As for the rasboras, have a look at Trigonostigma espei. They are very similar to harlequins, but a little bit smaller, so you can have more, and personally I do like the copper sheen they have.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

I do like your suggestion Zante but unfortunately petsolutions doesn't seem to have those. That's where I had planned on getting the fish from because the prices and shipping were good.

So...If I was to only stick with the glowlights and the harlequins...How many for the schools would be good? And remember, I will have one bristlenose and 6 black neons too. If the plants do really well do you think 25 a piece would work or would that be too many? 20 each? More? Less? Lol.

Sorry, my mind is a bit off...Found out my ear is fine and dandy..But the pain could be in my spine in my neck and shoulder area that has been bothering me for years now!!! Go figure.. Ear pain finally leads doctors to look correctly at a problem I've been having for years!!

 

[Zante]

Ok, let's see... 50 US gallons will be approximately 190 litres, I think you wouldn't have a problem with 25 each.
I'd go with 20 to start off and add them in batches of 5 until I'm happy with the tank, but you mention shipping, so I'm guessing you don't have a LFS to buy from.

Do you think you might be tempted to add a centrepiece fish, such as a gourami, for example?

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Yeah I just have chain pet stores to buy from here which is where I've had some problems from(diseases mostly which is where I lost some previous glowlights from). I was thinking of getting the fish in a couple of different batches though. And I plan on getting about 15 regular neons for my 20 gallon the current fish are in now.

However....I have always seen glowlights, harlequins, and neons in the store....Just not real sure I want to go that route due to their care. Petsolutions, while it doesn't have many reviews, the ones I have seen have been pretty good(and pricing them against petsmart...Have still been less expensive even with shipping included!)

Anyway...As for centerpiece fish...Not exactly. That's sort of why I bought the super red calico bristlenose, though she doesn't seem very calico...Lol. she(if it's a she) has a black spot by her tail and so far that's all I can see. I do like the blue 3 spot gourami(I think that's what it's called) and I love some of the colors of the dwarf gouramis but haven't really wanted them due to the dwarf gourami disease that I've read about on here. I think the only other fish I was semi interested in was the German blue ram but it wouldn't quite fit my parameters as well so the Bolivian was recommended.

But...I don't really need a centerpiece...I love the little fish for themselves!! I want them to be as happy as I can make them!! If you think it best to do smaller numbers at first I can do the petsmart route...But they would be in quarantine a long long time before going into that tank. But I have the tanks to do like 5 at a time. (10 and 20 gallon. If anything just use the 20 if I get 5 each at a time.)

 

[Zante]

Fair enough, I was asking about the centrepiece fish so that room may be reserved for it, but if you don't plan on having one two shoals of 25 shoul be just fine (35 if you go for espei instead of harlequins)

 

[cowgirluntamed]

I see. I don't believe I've ever seen that at petsmart so it would just be the regular harly. But thank you so much for the suggestions!! I think this tank will look amazing when I get I just right for them!

 

[BeckyCats]

Hi! Feeling ya on the migraines. Horrible things, aren't they? Ugh. Best wishes on the new medication being successful!

Regarding the fishies, my opinion is to go for the larger group of glolights. I have glolight tetras and flame tetras and I far prefer the glolights. They are spunkier and interact with each other more than the flames do. The flame tetras mostly hang out in separate areas of the tank looking at what the other species are doing. Other than that, they aren't especially active. At least mine aren't. The glolights, however, are more entertaining to watch.

I'm not sure whether to say cories or no cories. My cories are among my favorites BUT they do kick up the sand, which then gets into the filter. I'm on my third filter because the first 2 were ruined by the sand getting into the motor. I've since read that this has happened to others as well. I think it depends on the sand you end up getting. The play-sand I got has extremely fine particles with a fair amount of mica, but since some people are so happy with their sand, I have to assume that this is not the case for everyone. The particles are super light and gets kicked up easily by the cories. It is better now that I have put a sponge around the filter intake though, so there is a work-around if you do want the cories and end up with floating sand like mine.

Let us know what you end up picking!

 

[BeckyCats]

Oh, also, I do NOT have dirt under my sand and my plants are growing extremely well. I considered dirt but decided against it for the same reasons you mentioned. I use the fertilizer tabs every 3 months (as per the instructions); that combined with the fish poop, seem to be sufficient for the plants' needs. I do not use co2 or anything like that either. Just the sand, fertilizer, and fish poop! LOL!