15 Gallon restocking

[paperdog9]

The time has come! I am resetting up my 15! I'm pretty open to suggestions, but I have a few ideas and I want to see if anyone likes them. For the second one I was just trying to think of something you wouldn't normally see in an aquarium.

First option: 1 male betta, a shoal of harlequin rasboras, and a shoal of dwarf cories

Second option: shoal of Least killifish (mosquito fish) something else to go along with them.

Any suggestions?

 

[kenny1tothe6]

#1 IMHO...I'm always for giving bettas a better life when possible[I have 11 males & 3 females ATM and even going to add more] and I think that'd be a nice tank...

I've had least killifish before and they are *TINY*, even full grown and get eaten way too easily by fish you wouldn't expect...the dwarf cories would be ok but I don't know of anything besides micro fish[and only some out of those] that'd work with them...

 

[Newman]

if you do the first option which is my favorite, you will want to add the betta last, after the other shoals of fish have had many months to grow up into adult size. that way the betta wont want to snack on them as much.(its very rare but it does happen)

 

[paperdog9]

#1 IMHO...I'm always for giving bettas a better life when possible[I have 11 males & 3 females ATM and even going to add more] and I think that'd be a nice tank...

I've had least killifish before and they are *TINY*, even full grown and get eaten way too easily by fish you wouldn't expect...the dwarf cories would be ok but I don't know of anything besides micro fish[and only some out of those] that'd work with them...

if you do the first option which is my favorite, you will want to add the betta last, after the other shoals of fish have had many months to grow up into adult size. that way the betta wont want to snack on them as much.(its very rare but it does happen)

Yeah that was my favorite as well, but aqadvisor tells me I'm only like 65% stocked, so any suggestions for something else small I could add? Or should I just make bigger shoals of harlys and corys?

I might go with kuhli loaches instead of corys too, but I'm not sure if they will be ok on gravel. Has anyone had experience with them on gravel? I'm assuming I will just have to make sure my gravel is not too rough, but I'm not sure.

Thanks for the replies so far!

 

[HappyFish]

Khulis are one the cutest and interesting fish. However, they seem to be very shy fish/nocturnal. They seem to come out only at night when food is present. I've had them for 4-5 years and see that this is the case.

 

[Thyra]

I have some strawberry platies that are very pretty - why Petsmart called them "strawberry" I don't know, but they are very active and all over the tank. They are kind of blue gray with bright burnt orange tails.

 

[paperdog9]

Khulis are one the cutest and interesting fish. However, they seem to be very shy fish/nocturnal. They seem to come out only at night when food is present. I've had them for 4-5 years and see that this is the case.

Ok, thanks for the info. I guess I'll just stick with dwarf cories then!

 

[paperdog9]

I have some strawberry platies that are very pretty - why Petsmart called them "strawberry" I don't know, but they are very active and all over the tank. They are kind of blue gray with bright burnt orange tails.

I love platies! But, I think I'm livebearered out if you know what I mean. I'm gonna just devote the 30 for them Thanks for the suggestion though, I'll probably get some for the 30 they sound awesome looking! I googled strawberry platy and couldn't find anything, but I found a type of platy called the blue red tail variatus platy, is this kinda what they look like?

 

[Thyra]

Yes, they probably go by different names. "strawberry" certainly doesn't suit them. One thing I have noticed - I have a betta in two of my community tanks and they actually seem to stalk the fry. I have had no fry survive since I have had the bettas in the two tanks. I have grass mats in both tanks and I have watched how the betta will stay right down on the circumference of the mat. I am just letting nature take its course.

 

[Kiara1125]

All bettas are different. I have my female betta in with my Platy fry and she doesn't mind being with them. If I didn't know better I'd call it mothering, but when I feed them my betta darts under the java moss and everyone swims up and she pushes them to the top then goes off to eat. It's like "Ah!! Betta!! Swim away!!! Swim a- OH FOOD!!!!" lol they react just like that too. I've never had a fry die on me and I've never had my Betta eat any of the fry. She's a sweetheart and loves to lay in my hand when it's in the water. Even with my Guppies too!! I added my 2 new guppies into the tank when she was in it (so really she was there first and the guppies are coming into her territory) and she followed them around a bit, all the while never showing any signs of aggression or chasing them (I don't even think they realized that she was following them, lol), and after 3 days she stopped following them and now they kinda follow her. My smaller female guppy (Red Variegated) likes the food that my betta eats (not specificially betta food, lol) and she will follow my betta around, wait until she's done eating, and then eat my bettas leftovers. She's so cute and now I think that their friends too, lol.

 

[paperdog9]

I don't think fry will be a problem, I'm pretty flexible either way if they get eaten or not. Thanks for the info and experience! I'll post updates and such when things start moving along.