Beginning fish stocking

K

Kruse

Medium Fish
#1
Sep 23, 2010
64
0
0
Minnesota
#1
Now that my tank appears to be ready for fish, I'm curious what you guys suggest to get things started. The plan has been to keep it a peaceful community tank, so I'll try to stay away from semi-aggresive species unless there is an appropriate exception.

I've been thinking about starting with a school of 8 neon tetra...thoughts?
 

achase

achase

Large Fish
#4
Feb 1, 2010
765
0
0
British Columbia, Canada
#4
Starting with neon tetra's sounds good. You could do something similar to what I did in my 16 gallon. 3 different types of tetra's and a centerpiece fish.

What types of other fish were you thinking of getting eventually?
 

K

Kruse

Medium Fish
#5
Sep 23, 2010
64
0
0
Minnesota
#5
I hadn't really decided completely yet, but that similar to what I was thinking. I figured a couple smaller schools to go with the tetras and maybe a centerpiece fish of some sort.
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#7
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#7
Best thing to do is go to your LFS and if you have Petco/Petsmart near you, them too, and pick out what fish you like. Then go home, research them and present a potential stocking plan on here.

I would steer away from the GBR (German blue ram) and dwarf gourami, if I were you. German blue rams are notoriously sensitive to water conditions and bad stock is rampant in the hobby (I went through SIX of them from ONE LFS before I gave up and went somewhere else...I've had Tyr, my male GBR from a different LFS, for over two months now and he's doing great).
Dwarf gouramis can be mean (ask aakaakaak) and sometimes carry dwarf gourami disease, which is fatal.
 

K

Kruse

Medium Fish
#8
Sep 23, 2010
64
0
0
Minnesota
#8
That is pretty much what I have been doing for the past month while the tank cycled.

I just got back from Petco with 10 neons. They were on sale for 99 cents each, so what did the girl at the checkout charge me? 99 cents...total. I almost said something, but decided to bite my tongue.

So, now I'm just starting the acclimation process. I hope they like their new home.
 

F

fishwish34

Medium Fish
#10
Jun 27, 2010
84
0
0
#10
Not to hijack this thread or anything, but if GBR's and dwarf gouramis AREN'T good centerpiece fish for this particular situtation, what are? Is there anything you're looking at in particular, Kruse?
 

Newman

Newman

Elite Fish
#13
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
#13
male betta? that what i use in my 40 gal. i hear theyre not compatible with some of the smaller fish. they certainly dont like colorful fish like platies, but platies are faster that them anyway and i havent had any issues. betta just gets a workout from chasing the fish lol. platies dont really mind the betta much.

generally if you have a bunch of fish in your tank, a male version of w/e fish you have is very colorful and can be a good centerpiece.
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#14
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#14
You could do a honey gourami. They don't get quite as big as the dwarf gouramis, but have a nice orange coloring.

I have a dwarf gourami and he's an absolute jerk.

I'm not a fan of the male betta in a community tank (sorry, Newman!). I had one in my son's 29gal with five platies, four male guppies, an upside down catfish and a few otos. He ignored everyone and everyone else ignored him. He was fine at first, but after a couple of weeks he started hiding all the time and his colors washed out terribly (he went from a gorgeous royal blue to looking like my 6-year-old colored him with a blue crayon and did a sloppy job of it). I took him out of the 29gal and put him into a divided 10gal (heated/filtered/cycled) and he died within a week or so. He never had any nipped fins or anything and I never saw any of the other fish even going anywhere near him.
 

K

Kruse

Medium Fish
#17
Sep 23, 2010
64
0
0
Minnesota
#17
Well, one of the little buggers didn't make it through the night. Despite my best effort at trying to acclimate them for an hour and a half and keeping the lights off, etc.

I suppose it is inevitable that'll happen though.
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#18
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#18
Neons have become notoriously difficult to keep due to their mass commercial breeding and neon tetra disease. I wouldn't beat yourself up too badly about it. For the future, a better (hardier) alternative to neons that have the same coloring are cardinal tetras. Biggest difference is that they have more red. However, because they are still all wild-caught, they tend to be a little hardier than your average neon.
 

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