Yet Another "stock My Tank" Post

[eduller]

I just found a Fluval Accent on clearance at Petco for $47! It was missing the LED light, but I wouldn't have used the stock light anyway. So I switched out my 20 long for the 25g Fluval Accent.
 
I need some more fish! The 20 long was looking really sparse as it was because I was waiting for my fish guy to get in the scaret badis I wanted to add for some more color. But now it looks really bare.
 
I have:

• 7 microrasbora kubotai
• 6 sparkling gourami
• 10 pygmy corydoras

The tank is medium-heavily planted (in the 20 long it was a jungle, but now the plants just have to grow in to fill the extra 5 gallons). I have the stock integrated filter as well as the Aquaclear 50 I'd been running on the 20 long. According the infamous website for stocking your tank, I'm already 78% stocked, but I feel like with all that filtration and all the little nano fish and plants, I have a decent amount of wiggle room to overstock.
 
The fish I have in there are certainly pretty in their own ways, but they are so small and delicate that it looks like there are no fish in there. The kubotais and sparklers are full of personality and always up at the front of the tank, but the pygmy cories might as well not be there they hide so well. I'd love to have another small school of something flashy as well as a centerpiece fish (still hoping to get the pair of scarlet badis).
 
Fish I already have in other tanks - neon tetras, harlequin rasboras, rummynose tetras, dwarf gourami, peacock gudgeons, peppered cories, a dwarf puffer, and several bettas (the puffer and bettas are in their own tanks or in divided tanks, of course). Ideas I was tossing around in my head are getting a shoal of panda cories or perhaps getting some ember tetras or endlers or mosquito rasboras. Any other ideas?

 

[eduller]

Wanted to add a picture! The Accent is really a sharp looking tank. I would never have paid full price for it, but under $50 even without a light it was a good deal. I do need to upgrade the light though. Thats the homemade T8 I had on the 20 long, which was doing great for the plants, but this tank is so much deeper. This pic is before I added all the microswords and cabomba, but the fish were in there. You can see my problem. It looks like no fish.
 
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[goldfish98]

How about a school of Neon Tetras?

 

[Byron]

I will assume (correct me if this is incorrect) that you have water on the soft side, and slightly acidic to neutral.  This certainly suits what you now have, and the suggestions I will offer require similar, some perhaps demand it to be at their best.
 
First, for some red colour, you have a couple options.  Ember Tetra (Hyphessobrycon amandae) in a group of 9-12.  Or one of the "dwarf" rasbora in the Boraras genus, like Boraras brigittae, B. maculatus, etc.
 
A group of fish often overlooked but that can perform extremely well in smaller tanks are the pencilfishes in the characidae.  Not all of them are suitable, but there are some nice quiet species.  The dwarf pencilfish, Nannostomus marginatus, is ideal and it would inhabit the upper half of the tank.  There is also the Diptail or Rocket, Nannostomus eques, that though not very colourful is interesting with its perpetual oblique swimming angle.  A group of 9-10 of either.  I have both of these, and others, and in with smaller fish with no issues.
 
From the catfish, for some rather unusual interest, a Twig Catfish (Farlowella vitatta) or a Whiptail (Rineloricaria parva).  One of either would be OK, or you could go with a trio.  Just avoid the different and much larger species usually termed "Royal" for both; the small ones I mention do not get more than 5 inches, which may seem large but with their very small girth they are not, and they are extremely peaceful.  There is a red version of the Whiptail called the "Red Lizard" Catfish" or similar that is more brownish-red that red, but still nice.  Neither would pay any attention to the corys.
 
Re what you already have, yo might want to increase the Microrasbora kubotai to say 9-10.  This is by nature a very shy fish, but the more there are the less "shy" most species will be, and with some other upper fish this might really work to bring them out more.
 
Temperature isn't mentioned, but the pygmy corys will be better at lower temperatures than higher, so I would aim for 75/76F at max.  This is OK for the other fish mentioned too.
 
Another suggestion is a background for your new tank, and nothing is simpler than a sheet of black construction paper.  I use this on my smaller (3 feet and less) tanks and the back simply disappears making the space look deeper, and the fish and plant colours really stand out.  This will also help with the shy fish; the more decor (wood) and plants, and the less light, the more such fish will be out and visible.
 
Byron.

 

[eduller]

Thanks so much for the suggestions.
 
Yes, my water is slightly soft and hovers around a neutral pH, ranging to 7.2 at most usually, and I keep this tank at 76 degrees. My "good" fish store is about an hour away, so I have been waiting for them to get in some more of the kubotai rasboras, and I will definitely get at least 3 more, although they are definitely not shy as it is. I bought all of those they had last time I visited as well as all the sparkling gourami and pygmy cories they had, hence the odd numbers of fish. 
 
I really like the look of the dwarf pencilfish. I have never even heard of or looked at this fish before. Are yours happy with dried/prepared foods? I feed this tank a combination of NLS "small fish" pellets, chopped live blackworms, and brine shrimp (live or frozen, depending on what I have on hand). 
 
And right you are about the background! I have a sheet of matte black vinyl that I just haven't gotten around to cutting to size yet. I really need to get that done! 

 

[Byron]

I really like the look of the dwarf pencilfish. I have never even heard of or looked at this fish before. Are yours happy with dried/prepared foods? I feed this tank a combination of NLS "small fish" pellets, chopped live blackworms, and brine shrimp (live or frozen, depending on what I have on hand).
 

 
Yes. my pencils live on prepared foods.  All my seven tanks get the same foods; two flakes (one a veggie) and the NLS .5 mm (small) pellet fed alternate days, and three sinking foods for the substrate fish also alternated for variety.  Once a week a couple hours post-water changes I feed frozen daphnia and bloodworms.
 
I would mention if feeding was a problem for any fish suggested, though you don't know that and it is good that you asked to be certain.  Which reminds me, you mentioned scarlet badis (Dario dario) initially and I should mention that this species can be very fussy and often only eat live foods.  I have had them and all mine would ever eat was frozen bloodworms, and they did not last all that long or do well; worms are not a good staple food, as they are high in fats and protein.  Bloodworms should only be fed once or at most twice a week.  When it is all a fish will eat, can't do much else.  The other thing about this species is that a pair is fine, or one male with 2-3 females.  Males are territorial and can get aggressive.  Active tankmates can cause this shy fish to refuse to eat altogether, but so far we've not mentioned "active" fish so that shouldn't be a problem.
 
Byron.