Time To Stock! Need Help And Advice

[Autonerd]

Hi again --

Looks like my 15g tank is fully cycled and it's time to start adding fish!

Man of Fish suggested 6 corys, 6 cardinals, and 6 harlequin rasboras, plus some ghost shrimp, which sounds like an interesting setup.

My question is, which fish should I add first? In what quantity should I add fish -- 3 at a time, then 3 more, or 1 more, or...? And how long should I wait between adding fish? What am I looking for in my water tests?

Thanks!
Aaron

 

[Fishy friend2]

if i were you i would go more like,

1 dwarf gourami
3-4 male guppies
10-12 neons or 8-10 cardinals
6 pygmie cories

and add the dwarf gourami first, and the guppies, and add 3 at a time for the larger fish like guppies and dwarf gourami. and then add 4-5 at a time for the smaller fish like neons and pygmies

 

[Autonerd]

She Who Must Be Obeyed is in favor of a gourami, she had one and considers them indestructible. I was worried about guppies because I don't want babies, but I suppose male guppies won't have that problem.

I'm curious -- why the guppies over the rasboras?

Thanks --
Aaron

 

[Fishy friend2]

In My Opinion guppies are much more attractive and dont necessarily need to be in schools so are fine in groups of 4-5, while you would need 6 rasboras at the least but are much more happier in groups of like 8-10, so honestly i dont like the idea of keeping schooling fish in the minimum amount of them

 

[Autonerd]

Thanks, that makes sense. I hadn't really thought about guppies because I don't want baby fish, but I guess if I have all males, that shouldn't be an issue.

I have been leaning towards cardinals over neons, but from your logic, since I could do more neons than cardinals, they might be worth a try.

Aaron

 

[Fishy friend2]

the only downfall about neins is that they are more fragile, and do not do very well in newly setup tanks

 

[Autonerd]

the only downfall about neins is that they are more fragile, and do not do very well in newly setup tanks

And mine is newly set up...

Which reminds me, how long should I wait before adding the next group of fish? Am I looking for specific results in my water tests?

 

[Fishy friend2]

i would wait for 1-2 weeks before adding groups and monitor ammonia/nitrites, and if there is any difference in the ammonia or nitrites then do a water change, and you might want to make sure that that stocking is okay, with another more experienced member, as I wouldnt think about myself as someone knowledgeable about fishkeeping,. some experienced members that would know good things about this stocking are fluttermoth, soybean, MBOU, kitty kat, this old spouse and three fingers

 

[Autonerd]

Thanks... hopefully they will chime in!!

I do like the dwarf gourami idea, that's one I've been tossing around for a while, knowing the potential problems. And it lets me start with one fish.

 

[Fishy friend2]

dwarf gouramis are awesome, thats why i recommended them, and soybean is active right now so she probably will find this thread

flutter moth is also online

 

[Ruskull]

Dwarf Gouramis are awesome!

They get along very well in mixed community tanks.

 

[Autonerd]

We added a dwarf gourami this evening. Everything I read made him seem like a good choice with other community fish, plus I think starting with just a single fish is a good idea.

My wife came along (her first trip to the fish store with me) and we looked at some of the other fish I'm considering. She *loves* the dwarf corys (and so do I).

Aaron

 

[moochy13]

techinically, if youve cycled your tank properly you can go straight to full stocking. however it always pays to be on the cautious side. on the other hand, youve put all this effort into building up your bacteria to full potential, if you spend too long with not many fish in your tank, they will die off to a level comparable with your stocking. i would put a full group in every 2 or 3 days, testing inbetween and doing a water change just before you go and buy your new fish. obviously if while testing you get any dodgy results, wait until everything has settled again.

 

[Autonerd]

youve put all this effort into building up your bacteria to full potential, if you spend too long with not many fish in your tank, they will die off to a level comparable with your stocking. i would put a full group in every 2 or 3 days

Thanks, Moochy! I didn't think about that possibility.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I'm always wary when people give their tank size in gallons, is this 15 US gallons (~57 litres) or 15 imperial gallons (~68 litres)?

"Man of Fish suggested 6 corys, 6 cardinals, and 6 harlequin rasboras, plus some ghost shrimp, which sounds like an interesting setup." That's a lot of fish for a tank this size, especially if your tank is 57l, but is still overdoing it for for 68l. Having three social groups (Corydoras, Cardinal Tetra, Harlequin Rasbora) plus an odd critter or two is more in line with a stocking for a tank of at least 90l. To put this into context, I have a 60x30x30cm (54l) tank with seven adult ~4cm Persian Killifish.

What are the dimensions of this tank? I suspect you are realistically limited to either one of the miniture Corydoras (pygmeus, hastatus[sup]*[/sup], habrosus... which all spend an unusually large amount of time midwater) or panda. Then choose one proper mid/upper water schooling group, I personally would not choose Cardinals if you went with Panda Corydoras, as Pandas prefer cooler water than the minimum of 24C that Cardinals need (Cardinals are often selected over Neon Tetras for warmer tank setups).


[sup]*[/sup]You could do an intresting combination of C. hastatus with Paraguay Tetra, which because of the similar black/white patterning just before the tail they both have, these fiesty tetra leave alone because they think the catfish are chunkier versions of themselves.