first time fish owner

[jatt13]

Hi all, i am a first time fish owner and about a month ago purchased a 26 gallon bow front tank. i did some readings about different levels that fish prefer and have so far 5 zebra danios and 4 corydora fish.
My question is that i dont know what the healthy number of fish is to have with this tank. I was thinking of picking up 5 black neon tetras to fill out lower middle levels.

Is this too many fish? or can i comfortably add more?

what are my other options instead of the neon tetras?

ps. for the past month i have been changing 10-15 percent of the water everyweek and vacuuming at the same time.

Your help is greatly appreciated!

 

[bassbonediva]

That's not too many fish at all. Try out the site aqadvisor.com . You plug in your tank size, filtration and what fish you have/want and it tells you whether you're overstocked or understocked and what your filtration levels look like.

I would say if you wanted a school of 5 black neons, you could add another school of small tetras (like Von Rio/flame tetras) and one centerpiece fish, like a dwarf gourami. I have a really pretty flame dwarf gourami as the centerpiece upper-level fish in my 18gal and a female German blue ram as the centerpiece bottom-level fish.

 

[lauraf]

Hi Jatt13, welcome!
Here is a good link about your stocking levels:
AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor
But first I'd be concerned about whether your tank was ever 'cycled'. Do you know about cycling your tank? If not, no worries, we'll help you you through it, but this should be your first priority before you even think of adding for more fish. Do you have liquid test kits for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?
Let us know where you are at with your cycling and water parameters, and we'll get your 26g healthy and happy for more fish!
Cheers,
Laura

 

[ZackLanduyt]

As lauraf said be sure your tank is cycled and welcome to mft we are all happy to see you here and are more than willing to answer any questions!!

 

[jatt13]

Thanks for the feedback. I actually cycled the tank with the zebra danios ( i heard about fishless cycling after but whats done is done), then i had my water tested at the pet store and i was good to go. I just recently added the four cory fish.


Im waiting a bit to add the five neon tetras as i dont want to add too many at once. so i will have 5 danios, 5 neon tetra and four albino cory. I read about the 1 inch per gallon rule and by these standards i think id be close to the limit. But these fish are small and i was told have a small bioload.

Having said that, it appears you guys agree i can add more fish in the future. What do you recommend? I would like to have one fish of decent size if i could as my biggest fish is the albino cory.

 

[lauraf]

Something like a gourami would be a lovely addition.
You should buy your own liquid test kit at some point soon so you can test your water yourself if problems arise. It will also let you know if you are changing water in sufficient volume and frequency to prevent problems from arising! It's a pain to go to your lfs for them to test the water, and unfortunately sometimes even those 'experts' don't know what they are doing!
Good call on introducing the fish gradually. If you stock your tank in one fell swoop, you can overload the tank with too much ammonia and the good bacteria can't keep up.

 

[jatt13]

would the gourami bother the tetras? or if as long its a dwarf it will be fine?

 

[blue_ram]

would the gourami bother the tetras? or if as long its a dwarf it will be fine?

The Gourami will be fine, may be shy from the hyperactive Danios. Black Neons are among the most peaceful fish. I have 5 black neons with 5 Danios a bunch of cories, otos and an Opaline Gourami in a 40g planted tank and they all get along nicely. The Black Neons sometimes mingle with the Zebras and play chasing games with them in the currents. Even the Otos sometimes join in on the fun.

If you overstock with small tetra like fish, you can add more filtration.

Cories keep the bottom clean of food which would normally decay, their bioload is partially ofset by the reduction in decaying uneaten food.

 

[blue_ram]

Thanks for the feedback. I actually cycled the tank with the zebra danios ( i heard about fishless cycling after but whats done is done), then i had my water tested at the pet store and i was good to go. I just recently added the four cory fish.


Im waiting a bit to add the five neon tetras as i dont want to add too many at once. so i will have 5 danios, 5 neon tetra and four albino cory. I read about the 1 inch per gallon rule and by these standards i think id be close to the limit. But these fish are small and i was told have a small bioload.

Having said that, it appears you guys agree i can add more fish in the future. What do you recommend? I would like to have one fish of decent size if i could as my biggest fish is the albino cory.

The Zebra Danios are one of the few fish that can recover from and regenerate gill damage. If they have red gills from the cycle, you can bath them in diluted methylene blue (in a seperate container will stain the tank)to help repair the gill damage.

 

[jatt13]

thanks that website is awesome!
however it is contradicting some of the advice you guys gave me.
It said that the blue gourami or opaline gourami is to aggressive for the tetras.
So i went with the suggestion by bassbonediva, the dwarf gourami was fine but then the blue ram was not compatible with the danios because of temp. Are they overreacting?

 

[lauraf]

Aqadvisor really 'goes by the book' in terms of fish compatibility. Fish, like other living things, have 'ranges' of environmental conditions that they tolerate. And fish also have their own individual tolerances, preferences and personalities. If you are keeping your water well maintained in terms of the crucial ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels (hey, have you confirmed that your tank is properly cycled? Did you buy a liquid test kit yet?) then temperature and pH levels are not quite as important for most kinds of community fish. Rams can be tricky - I had terrible luck with rams that were bred overseas - the three that are thriving in my tank now were from a local breeder. Not sure if others have had that experience.
So, Aqadvisor is a great tool - and to start, I'd follow its advice, but feel free to ask us too for our feedback. As you get more experienced and learn more about fish in general and observe yours in particular, you can consider branching out a little.

 

[blue_ram]

thanks that website is awesome!
however it is contradicting some of the advice you guys gave me.
It said that the blue gourami or opaline gourami is to aggressive for the tetras.
So i went with the suggestion by bassbonediva, the dwarf gourami was fine but then the blue ram was not compatible with the danios because of temp. Are they overreacting?

They match compatibility based upon their agressiveness of a typical specimen. Opaline Gouramis are considered semi-aggressive because they will stake out a territory and are greedy feeders. Oddly enough, some places list the danios as semi aggressive because of their hyper active nature. From my experience, the Opaline Gourami is just too slow to to anythign but get tired chasing the tetras and danios. But the Dwarf Gourami would be a better choice and are prettier fish.

Do not put Blue Rams in a tank with cories. I would suggest you only get Blue Rams when you are ready to set up what is known as a "biotype aquarium" designed around the Blue Rams specific needs, eg... low PH and high temps and lots of plants to hide in. The Blue Ram has a closely related cousin known as the Bolivian Ram. While not as colorful as the Blue Ram, the Bolivians are much hardier and more fit for a community tank. Bolivians have wonderful personalities and with time will interact with you and IMO are the only smallish aquarium fish that would qualify as a "wet pet."

 

[blue_ram]

Aqadvisor really 'goes by the book' in terms of fish compatibility. Fish, like other living things, have 'ranges' of environmental conditions that they tolerate. And fish also have their own individual tolerances, preferences and personalities. If you are keeping your water well maintained in terms of the crucial ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels (hey, have you confirmed that your tank is properly cycled? Did you buy a liquid test kit yet?) then temperature and pH levels are not quite as important for most kinds of community fish. Rams can be tricky - I had terrible luck with rams that were bred overseas - the three that are thriving in my tank now were from a local breeder. Not sure if others have had that experience.
So, Aqadvisor is a great tool - and to start, I'd follow its advice, but feel free to ask us too for our feedback. As you get more experienced and learn more about fish in general and observe yours in particular, you can consider branching out a little.

I have given up on the Blue Rams for now because of the same issues.

 

[bassbonediva]

Do not put Blue Rams in a tank with cories.

Curious about this statement. Why not? I asked several different places if GBRs would be okay with cories and everyone said yes, that they do great with cories. I just added a pair to my 29gal and so far they haven't been anywhere near the bottom of the tank.