Small school suggestions

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#1
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#1
Alright. I have come to the decision that my son's platies and the male guppies are going to stay in the 20gH tank they're in right now (it was supposed to be a 20gL, but the bottom fell out of that one when I picked it up, so I grabbed the only large undamaged tank the people had...and it was supposed to be a temporary tank, but I like where the tank is and I like the platies and guppies in it, so...). Since I won't be putting the platies in the 40gL now, that frees up space in the 40gL for a small school of cool fish. This is what I have for stocking so far...

8x female bettas
6x neon tetras
5x otos
10x pygmy cories
3x upside down catfish
1x angelfish
1x rubberlip pleco

AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor

Two things...yes, I know it only says one oto, but for some reason AqAdvisor doesn't quite calculate the bio-load correctly for otos (or so I've been told by other members of this site). And I will eventually be putting a better filter than the AquaTech 5-15 as the supplimental filter on there...it's just temporary, so I'll have plenty of filtration capacity.

So, bring on the suggestions!
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#3
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#3
That could be why my poor little Aro (the angel I have now) tries to school with the platies and guppies he's in with at the moment. They generally ignore him. :p

Thanks for the suggestion! I will definitely consider it. (I am eventually going to turn my 46gal bowfront into an angelfish community with a pair of angels, congo tetras, cardinal tetras, a pair of GBRs and a gypsy king tiger pleco...it'd be cool if I could move the pair from the 40gL into the 46gal when that gets set up).
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#4
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#4
Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention (don't know if it matters much, but here it is)...the set up of the 40gL...

It's going to have sand for the substrate (hence the cories to help stir up the sand), two pieces of DW and will be moderately planted (at least for now...if I get a better fixture, it'll be fairly heavily planted).
 

L

littletankbigworld

Superstar Fish
#5
Aug 16, 2009
1,318
0
0
SW Pennsylvania
#5
That sounds like an awesome setup. I love the sand idea. I just changed from gravel to sand and it's great. I recommend desert sand, as cleaning it is much easier than play or pool sand. Just make sure it doesn't drastically raise the pH. I use Mosser Lee desert sand and the water parameters are fine. Plus the driftwood will lower the pH if the sand makes it higher by some mishap.
 

L

littletankbigworld

Superstar Fish
#7
Aug 16, 2009
1,318
0
0
SW Pennsylvania
#7
I use Mosser Lee desert sand. It comes in small, 5 lb bags and 3-4 are good for a 30 gallon long. I found it at Lowes in a random part of the store. It is about 3 bucks a bag but it is colorful compared to play sand. It is also much easier to clean since it has small rocks in it.
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#8
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#8
I have a 40gL (48" long by 12" deep). How deep of a sand bed are you talking? I'm doing about 2" (yes, I'll have MTS to keep down the anaerobic bacteria). I got two .5 cubic foot bags of play sand for $2.48 each at Walmart that should be sufficient. I wanted pool sand because it's light-colored and I thought it'd be a cood contrast to my driftwood and plants. The play sand I have is kind of rust-colored.
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#11
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#11
Malaysian Trumpet Snails. They're recommended if you use play sand so that you don't get anaerobic bacteria growing in your sand.

For your tank you said you used 3-4? So, for my 40gL, I'd have to use at least 5-7...that'd be anywhere from $15-21...I can get pool sand for the same price (it's about $17 for a 50# bag).
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#13
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#13
Cories stir up the sand so you don't get gas pockets that can harm your fish. MTS are only for play sand because of its penchant for developing anaerobic bacteria (toxic) under the sand bed. That's why I'm going to have both the cories and the MTS. :)

Yeah, I'll just stick with the play sand for right now. Thanks for the suggestion on the sand, though!
 

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