Need an additional species....

[homersdaman]

25 gallon tank (long)

WILL HAVE: 1 BN pleco, 6-8 tetras (neon or cardinal), 6-8 harlequin rasboras

Thinking of adding either platys, one male or 3 female bettas, dwarf gourami or dwarf corys...

Want a peaceful community tank with at least four species in it, so advice as to which of the previous would make a good fourth or suggestions as to a better fourth...

Thanks in advance for any help...

C

 

[paperdog9]

I personally think dwarf corys are awesome, but get at least 3. You could do 6 or 7 neons, 6 or 7 harlequin rasbora, 3 or 4 dwarf corys, AND 2 or 3 dwarf gouramis, but make sure only there are two or three female gouramis per male! Good luck!

 

[bassbonediva]

Being that it's a long tank, I would recommend the bettas (either the one male as a centerpiece fish or at least four females...if you only have three, you'll have one that gets ganged up on by the other two...with four, the bullying is more evenly distributed). However, as you can tell from my signature, I'm more than a little partial to the bettas.

 

[misterking]

I'd go for a single male betta, and still have a few cories buzzing about the bottom.

 

[ValRasbora]

corys are awesome. gotta love those sweet little whiskers they add some activity where other fish don't generally go

 

[Doomhed]

this is where I am going to buck the trend and say that you have 2 sets of mid dwellers and no top dwellers or bottom dwellers other than the pleco. You also can't mix bettas with gouramis, they are closely related.

So I am going to suggest 5 dwarf cories (pygmy pandas or dwarf spotted) and 5 male guppies. If you want a male betta you could prolly still have him (most bettas I have had ignore male guppies when there are enough of them).

 

[misterking]

You also can't mix bettas with gouramis, they are closely related.

That depends on what species of gourami you keep. I've kept blues and golds with bettas and never had any problems.

 

[jamiejay09]

get gouramis,, dwarf gouramis !! they are awsome

 

[Newman]

also is there even such a thing as dwarf PANDA corydoras? most small panda cories that i see at the fish stores are just pnda fry that will grow to around 2 inches... i have never come across something as small as a true pygmy cory and something that has the same coloration of a panda...
Can anyone provide a link if they have indeed heard of these? becuase i coudl use some in one of my tanks..

 

[littletankbigworld]

this is where I am going to buck the trend and say that you have 2 sets of mid dwellers and no top dwellers or bottom dwellers other than the pleco. You also can't mix bettas with gouramis, they are closely related.

So I am going to suggest 5 dwarf cories (pygmy pandas or dwarf spotted) and 5 male guppies. If you want a male betta you could prolly still have him (most bettas I have had ignore male guppies when there are enough of them).

I disagree. I wouldn't chance placing bettas and guppies together, as they become jealous of each other and will kill each other.

I do agree with the part about adding cories. They are great little fish and there are many different-colored cories.

 

[misterking]

I disagree. I wouldn't chance placing bettas and guppies together, as they become jealous of each other and will kill each other.

Again, I've never had this problem and I kept guppies and male bettas together for years, in different tanks while I went through population booms and tried to control it. The guppies and bettas always left each other alone, the bettas were more interested in flaring up at their own reflection in the glass than anything. They certainly never became "jealous" of each other, I mean, I can imagine a young male becoming aggressive if he saw something similarly sized with long fins, but most bettas in shops are adults, by which point they're far bigger than guppies. My LFS used to keep bettas in every tank he could, including guppy tanks (of which he had a lot) and gourami tanks, and again, the same problem was never seen.

Sorry if I sound like I'm having a pop I have a habit of ranting *crazysmil but I think a lot of information is "passed down" through generations of new keepers and exaggerated, causing newer aquarists to almost fear certain fish combinations. Sorry again