Suggest fish for my 38 gal please!

[Beckett]

Hi there,

I have a 38 gallon tank. It is 36 inches long and 12.5 inches wide. I have somewhat soft, acidic water. The tank is planted and has driftwood.

I am looking for some suggestions of colorful or unique/oddball fish that could go in this setup.

My current stocking is 12 diamond tetra, 5 bronze corys, 1 BN pleco.

Any fun additions I can do without overstocking?

 

[Colin_T]

Different Betta species (Betta imbellis, B. pugnax, etc).
Rhadinocentrus ornatus or Iriatherina werneri.

 

[Fish4dawin]

Increase the corys to about 6-8, and as a centrepiece fish with a lot of colour, you could do a pair of electric blue or bolivian rams maybe. If you were wondering about getting an angelfish, then you need a 55 gallon minimum. You could also do a shoal of dwarf neon rainbows. Or a pair of pearl gouramis or some honey gouramis. Just a few options there for you although I suggest you increase your cory count ?

 

[Mick85]

German Blue Ram makes a beautiful centerpiece fish!

 

[Beckett]

Thanks all! I am thinking Honey Gourami might be a good fit. Maybe a male and female. Are honeys susceptible to the iridovirus? Or is that only dwarf gouramis?

Also for the corys do I need to add more of the same exact species? Or would adding 3 of a different cory species be okay?

Would albino bronze corys be okay to add if same species is a must?

 

[Fish4dawin]

Thanks all! I am thinking Honey Gourami might be a good fit. Maybe a male and female. Are honeys susceptible to the iridovirus? Or is that only dwarf gouramis?

Also for the corys do I need to add more of the same exact species? Or would adding 3 of a different cory species be okay?

Would albino bronze corys be okay to add if same species is a must?

So go with a trio of honey gouramis (1 male, 2 females) they aren't susceptible to iridovirus. As for the corys, considering that they are hybrids of the same species, yes you can have albino bronze corys. Pick up 1 more bronze and 6 albino and that should be adequate. That would nearly be fully stocked. I've done the calculations roughly in my head and you can have around 145 cm of fish. Currently you are sitting on 102cm. You can go a bit further than that. Bronze cory will get to 6cm and if you plan on getting what I said above your tally cm wise will go to 158cm. You can probably go with 200cm of fish if you do water changes every nine days if you go with around 200cm. You could add in a school of neon or cardinal tetras. You'd have roughly 40cm left so could do around 12 neons or 10 cardinals. My thoughts, you don't have to do what I say, I'm sharing my thoughts.

 

[Beckett]

Okay cool thank you. I change 50% of my water once a week.

So I could do 3 honey gouramis, add some more corys and still do a nano tetra school and not be overstocked?

 

[Fish4dawin]

Okay cool thank you. I change 50% of my water once a week.

So I could do 3 honey gouramis, add some more corys and still do a nano tetra school and not be overstocked?

Probably, go with 6 more corys and a school of 8-12 tetras depending on size.

 

[CassCats]

Id skip a second school of tetras since you've already got the diamonds.

Id call it stocked at:
3 honey gourami
12 diamond tetras
1 BN pleco
10 corydoras

Wouldn't go above this as BN plecos have a high bioload already as well, and diamond tetras get pretty big

 

[Beckett]

Id skip a second school of tetras since you've already got the diamonds.

Id call it stocked at:
3 honey gourami
12 diamond tetras
1 BN pleco
10 corydoras

Wouldn't go above this as BN plecos have a high bioload already as well, and diamond tetras get pretty big

Thanks all! I think I am going to go with the above stocking. I definitely don't want to risk overstocking the tank and having any of the fish feel crowded or the water quality to be reduced. I am definitely excited to get the honey gourami, they look so colorful and will be a great addition if I can get them at my LFS.

 

[Colin_T]

Thanks all! I am thinking Honey Gourami might be a good fit. Maybe a male and female. Are honeys susceptible to the iridovirus? Or is that only dwarf gouramis?

All labyrinth fishes (Bettas & gouramis) can catch the Iridovirus, however dwarf gouramis (Colisa lalius) are the most commonly infected due to the main suppliers in Asia having the virus in their ponds.

Most other gouramis don't have the Iridovirus but can catch it if they are put in tanks with the virus or with infected fish. The virus can last for months in an aquarium so if a shop has dwarf gouramis with the virus, any gourami put in that tank could catch it. Fortunately most shops keep their gouramis in separate tanks.

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Don't get 3 gouramis, just get a pair (1 male & 1 female). Two is company, three's a crowd.

 

[Fish4dawin]

All labyrinth fishes (Bettas & gouramis) can catch the Iridovirus, however dwarf gouramis (Colisa lalius) are the most commonly infected due to the main suppliers in Asia having the virus in their ponds.

Most other gouramis don't have the Iridovirus but can catch it if they are put in tanks with the virus or with infected fish. The virus can last for months in an aquarium so if a shop has dwarf gouramis with the virus, any gourami put in that tank could catch it. Fortunately most shops keep their gouramis in separate tanks.

---------------------
Don't get 3 gouramis, just get a pair (1 male & 1 female). Two is company, three's a crowd.

@Colin_T do you own a fish shop or something? You have one of the biggest amounts of knowledge I've seen

 

[Beckett]

All labyrinth fishes (Bettas & gouramis) can catch the Iridovirus, however dwarf gouramis (Colisa lalius) are the most commonly infected due to the main suppliers in Asia having the virus in their ponds.

Most other gouramis don't have the Iridovirus but can catch it if they are put in tanks with the virus or with infected fish. The virus can last for months in an aquarium so if a shop has dwarf gouramis with the virus, any gourami put in that tank could catch it. Fortunately most shops keep their gouramis in separate tanks.

---------------------
Don't get 3 gouramis, just get a pair (1 male & 1 female). Two is company, three's a crowd.

thank you for the info! If I do get a pair of honey gourami, if they did have the virus would it kill my tetras and corys?

 

[Fish4dawin]

thank you for the info! If I do get a pair of honey gourami, if they did have the virus would it kill my tetras and corys?

I don't believe they can get it. as Colin said above it's mainly in labyrinth fishes

 

[Beckett]

Thanks for all the info folks. Of course my LFS informed they have not had Honeys in about 8 months and rarely see them gah!

Any other idea on brightly colored, peaceful centerpiece fish?

They did have Bolivian Rams which looked pretty cool in the store. However I am kind of hoping to get a fish that is more of a mid to top level swimmer. The top of my tank looks rather empty, while mid and bottom is quite busy with my current stock.