What to buy, what to buy. . . .

[Kryten]

I have just started cycling a UK 19 gallon tank and am waiting to start slowly stocking it. Here is a list of what I want to include

10 Neon tetras
6 glowlight tetras
2 Dwarf gouramis
4 albino corys
3 Black tetras

What is a good hardy fish from this list to add first? I want to make sure that I put the fish in first that will have the best chance of surviving.

Also can anyone tell me of any incompatabilities in the list which might cause problems. Thanks

 

[William]

I can't see any problems other than the black (neon??) tetras, in a group of 3 won't shoal, I'd suggest leaving them off the list as you are quite overstocked. The rough guide is 1 inch of adult fish per gallon of water (excluding the tail ), if you calculate yours at that ratio considerably over.

Tetras in particular the neons are far too weak for the cycle and I'm also pretty sure the cories are quite susceptable to changes in the quality of the water, which leaves the gouramis, a fish I've never kept and so can't comment on I'm afraid, but hopefully someone else will be able to tell you if they're hardy enough

 

[CFC]

Gouramis are also a little delicate so not good for cycling,they are susceptable to internal bacteria infections in water of poor quality

 

[Oldman]

maybe you could start with some Zebra Danios, they are perfect for a new tank, I know they are not on your wish list, but if you want something to "pathfind" your tank they might be worth considering

 

[Waterloo Kid]

I cycled my 100g tank with nothing more than 10 Glowlights and 10 Zebra Danios. They all seemed fine during the process although due to the size of the tank in relation to the fish (the glowlights were no more than half an inch at the start and looked rather lost!) the water parameters never got too poor. I never had any trace of ammonia and only a faint trace of nitrite. If you do use glowlights then a good indication of whether they are in good health is if they have white areas on most of their fins. This is a sign of good health and only showed up on my fish after cycling had occured.
If you are going to keep black tetras then I've been told to keep at least 6 of EACH species of tetra.
Be careful if you do get the gouramis. If you get a male and female and they decide to get it on then you could quite easily find that you other fish suffer as the gouramis get terratorial. They can be mean! My dwarf gouramis can quite easily scare off my Rams that are twice their size, and they are not even breeding!
Don't over stock your tank. It just means water quality problems which leads to stressed fish and lots of work for you.

Enjoy your tank!