New To Fish Keeping- Advice On Stocking A 54 Litre Tank Please!! :)

Hi everyone! (and thanks in advance for any advice you can offer me!)

I am new to fish keeping (and very excited). I have a 54 litre Leddy 60 tank that is not set up yet but I am taking time first to make decisions regarding layout, plants and fish choices. I am planning on doing a fishless cycle (and will likely have questions when that stage is starting!)
It goes without saying that my primary concern is that I keep happy and healthy fish, so deciding which fish I keep is going to influence plants/ substrate etc, so I was hoping to have your opinions/ advice / help as much more experienced fish keepers!
I have searched the water quality in my area and these are the results:

Soft water
CaCo3 50mg/l
Ca 20 mg/l
degrees clarke 3.54
degrees french 5.05
degrees german 2.83

My dad keeps fish and lives just down the road, his pH is 7

Would any of these possible fish choices be advisable?:-

6 x dwarf rainbow
4 x cory

2x ram
4x cory
6-8 tetra/ rasbora

2 or 3 dwarf gourami
4 x cory
6-8 tetra/ rasbora

i have also considered either 1 male betta or a few female bettas with corys

I particularly like panda and false julii corys, but would also like an opinion on these vs pygmy corys

I am open to any advice (or fish pairings I haven't considered!). I am aware of some potential issues (health, territorial) with the rams and some gourami but until now have had no one to discuss if these are realistic or common problems that should stop me from considering these fish or not.
I also know that the tank isn't realistically going to be 54 litres, I have tried to keep this in mind when using the stocking calculator.

Even though very new to the hobby, I do have a science background, and did my final year research project in water quality for shrimp so feel I have got some knowledge to help me through (easy for me to say now eh?!).

Thank you so much for any help, I really want to get it right!

Welcome!

2 German blue rams could work, i keep mine in a 60cm tank too, I'd try to get either 2 females who are of similar size or a mates pair to avoid any conflicts as they can be very territorial.  Rams in my experience need a good stable tank both in terms of having been established for a few months but also in terms of the lighting period, feeding times etc. As as this reduces aggression, so if you can offer this I think you will increase your chances.

I personally prefer to ensure there is always a lot of swimming room for my fish as I feel it is less like being 'in a cage' for them that way.  As a result, I've never considered fish more than 5cm for my tank and never owned fish over 4cm. I am yet to keep corys but they are next on the wishlist.

Dwarf gourami have become somewhat prone to disease I am lead to believe and can also suffer from aggression.  I had 2 honey gourami a while back which are smaller than dwarf gourami and one definitely bullied the other, it became susceptible to disease and didn't live long (that said, neither did the other really  )

I've no experience with rainbows so thats probably the limits of my thoughts/views/experiences, others will have thoughts to offer you too I'm sure 

Welcome to the forum!  I have harder water but I can remember a lot of pretty fishes I ruled out because they like softer water.

A somewhat more rare pairing I would look at is a pair of apistogramma and six pencil fish.  I would go for the cockatoo apisto and red pencilfish but there are plenty of other options in those species to look at.  The german blue rams are pretty too so it's just another option. 

I wouldn't recommend the dwarf rainbowfish.  They look great (and I'm getting some for my project tank) but grow up to 8 cm and you'd need at least six of them.  That'd be overstocking the aquarium.  They also prefer harder water than you have.

I have just closed a tank with the same dimensions as the Leddy 60 (60 x 30 x 30 cm) and it doesn't hold 54 litres of water. A lot of tank manufacturers give the volume as the space occupied by the aquarium, not what it will hold. You have to leave a couple of cm space above the water or the tank would overflow very easily which does reduce the volume quite a bit. I called mine a 50 litre aquarium.
But it is a long tank for 50 litres which means that there are more fish that would be suitable than for a shorter tank of the same volume.


I have had dwarf rainbows in a 107 cm long tank, and they are very active fish. They used the entire length of the tank and were so fast swimming I couldn't stand it so I gave them away.


Nannostomus mortenthaleri are also expensive! I have kept the similar - less colourful but a lot cheaper - Nannostomus marginatus, the dwarf pencilfish, in a 60 cm long tank with no problems. Another species I have kept is golden pencilfish (Nannostomus beckfordi). These are slightly larger pencilfish but they are not  fast swimming fish and are more adaptable than mortenthaleri or dwarfs.


I have to agree with marquismirage, though I would amend it to cockatoo or agassizi's apistogrammas plus dwarf or golden pencilfish.

Bettas have very individual personalities. At one end of the spectrum is the fish that is so laid back it is easily bullied to death. At the other end is the fish which attacks anything that moves - and I've heard of bettas biting the antennae off snails. Most are somewhere between those two extremes but you can't be sure where any fish in a shop is till he's lived in your tank a few weeks. Some fish live happily with tank mates for a few months, then go on a killing spree.

I don't recommend bettas with any other fish unless there is a back up plan, usually in the shape of a small tank he can be moved to at a moment's notice.
And females can be as bad. I wouldn't try the female betta sorority you mentioned until you have more experience.

There is nothing to stop you getting a tank of around 25 litres for just a betta at some time 




Re apistos, I do feel that they would be better in a tank with a bigger footprint. For all bottom dwelling fish, be they cories, loaches or dwarf cichlids, the tank's footprint is more important than the volume.


For a 50 litre tank, you don't actually need a 'centrepiece fish' such as gouramis or dwarf cichlids. A couple of shoals of small fish would look just as good.
An example. 8 to 10 ember tetras and 8 to 10 Microdevario kubotai. The first are orange red, the second are green. I have had both in the same tank and they complement each other well. The microdevarios aren't in the fish profiles though so I just put them in the Community Creator as more ember tetras. You'll find them in shops as neon green rasboras or even green tetras.
10 of each of those would put you about 80% stocked.


Bottom dwellers are bit tricky. I'm one of those that fcmf mentioned as not having much luck at keeping pygmy cories, and also salt & pepper cories (Corydoras habrosus) alive, though I have to admit that since I closed the 50 litre and moved all the fish into my 180 litre the pygmy cories seem to be OK.
Panda cories would be OK size-wise with smaller shoals of upper dwelling fish but they are a rarity in the cory world for liking fast flowing water, which might not suit small shoaling fish.

I know you did a research project in shrimp water quality - how do you feel about keeping them in an aquarium? With small upper level shoaling fish, something like cherry shrimp would fit well once the tank has been running a few months. They don't just come in red, there are also yellow, orange and blue varieties available (don't mix them or you'd end up with a tank of brown shrimps) though you would need to use something like cuttlefish bones to give them some calcium with your soft water.

I keep my male betta in with 10 white cloud mountain minnows, 2 African dwarf frogs, and five amano shrimp.

The size and speed of the shrimp and minnows pretty much keep them safe.  I got the minnows as a hardy fish to keep with small goldfish but after keeping them for a while their colours really came out and their interactions interest me.  The colours are understated in a tasteful way and won't attract attention of the betta.  Six of them with a betta would be good, you could probably get away with ten if it's just them and the betta.  The key for keeping them and the betta happy will be plants (fake or real) in the back corners where they can hide and maybe a decoration they can circle around.  Leave enough open space at the front for the minnows to swim though.  Also they aren't fin nippers as tetras tend to be.  I find them to be very calming now and I'm glad I got them.

The amano shrimp I got as cleaners but got really interesting when they got larger and swam around the room.  The shrimp disappear for days then appear out of nowhere zooming around.    I've grown attached to them too.  They have a strange otherworldly quality.

The frogs are curiosities.  They're not that exciting and, like the shrimp, hide a lot.  I personally love frogs as it brings back childhood memories but they're definitely a personal taste thing.  I wouldn't recommend them for a 50 l tank though as they are territorial but still require company.

Anyway, I've rambled a bit.  If you do decide to get a betta take some time to look around as there are some nice ones around.  My local LFS currently has a light blue one with silver edges to the fins and I would have happily taken it home if I could.  Purebreds can get expensive (between £20 - $50) but can be really stunning.  IMHO it's worth it for a fishy work of art that will live 2-4 years with you, maybe up to 7 with good care.

Following the above comment about "falling for a fish" on a visit to a pet/aquatic shop, it is probably wise to have various combinations/shortlists (maybe 3 different permutations) rather than being too specific about exactly what you're wanting. You may find that you do indeed "fall for" a species of fish, in which case you'll have a ready-made list of compatible options for that fish available. Alternatively, you may find that a particular species of fish is rarely stocked or that recent stocks haven't been faring too well, in which case you may want to look at one of your other permutations.

I find that sometimes I go into the LFS and a particular species unduly catches my attention; if I go in again the following week, sometimes this doesn't happen or another one attracts me, possibly because it was pale the previous week but has coloured-up since settling in. If, however, I go in on two visits, and the same species "has a hold on me", then I know that it would be the species for me. You might find such visits help in that respect - or watching YouTube clips of particular species in action.

Having a betta tank in the future is a good excuse to get another tank if/ when I become addicted!

That's the spirit! You're going to fit in well here at ThinkFish. 

Thank you, and I will take all that into consideration.

After more deliberation and visits to shops with your advice on board i'm drawn to corydora (but will add these later down the line) and harlequin rasbora, they look fantastic swimming around in numbers!.
I am happy in the boat of less species but more numbers, with a bottom dwelling fish and a middle dwelling fish so they each have the majority of their preferred tank area. I was thinking of 8-10 rasbora and 5-6 corydora? This brings a stocking density of a 50 litre tank between the 76-90% mark.

Are these two types of fish a good match? Or should I be looking at tetras rather than rasboras (to keep the biotope amazonian?)

Thanks again.

Me too - good choice. I think that'll look great and be a good environment for the fish.

Of course, it'd have to be everyone's favourite.... the Panda Cory! woot-woot!