Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => New Fishkeepers => Topic started by: Wilwa on October 31, 2016, 06:58:58 PM
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Hi all!
I've got a Rio 125 litres (81x36x123), which is my first aquarium ever, with a internal filter Bioflow 3.0 Filter 500 l/h. Temperature about 23-25C. It's going through it's 5th day of fishless cycling and I'm pondering over what fish to eventually put in there. Water hardness is soft, in the summer it borders on medium hard.
There's so many fishes that I would like to have so narrowing it down is quite though (I feel like I will end up with countless tanks in the end, eh...).
The only fish I know I will have is the neon tetra as I will be gifted those from a cousin of mine. She estimates the number to be maximum 10 along with a species she can't name (it's not her own fish but her father's that recently passed away.
I'm interested in getting a fun, interesting tank to watch but also something that is calming and gives lot to do but still be manageable. I'm interested in having shrimp and snails as well eventually.
I'm looking for help, ideas and thought on how to stock my tank. I'm looking for tips for fish so that all areas of the aquarium is used as best as possible. I'm looking for guidance and ideas of the amount of each species I should get to maximise what I get out of each species (I of course know about the fish community creator and the absolute minimum, but fish might tend to do more well with higher numbers than what listed, I've read) and what fish works the best together and creates a good environment for the fish and my own amusement. Below I will list what I know I'll will get and those fish I've looked at and are considering amongst.
So at the moment the stocking looks like:
*10 neon tetra (+- unknown species)
Fish I've looked up at took a liking too:
Panda Cory
Black Neon Tetra
Honey Gourami
Guppy
Golden Barb
Fiveband Barb
Glowlight Danio
Rosy Tetra
Red Phantom Tetra
Black Molly
Swordtail
Peacock Goby
Platy
Neocaridina davidi, var. red fire sakura (shrimp)
Japonica Shrimp
Ruby Barb
Pearl Danio
Zebra Danio
Harlequin Rasbora
Penguin Tetra
Agassiz's Dwarf Cichlid
Coolie Loach
Thank you for your time, ideas, guidance and thoughts.
Best wishes,
Emelie
Edit: Edited to add water hardness (soft, in summer bordering on medium hard).
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Hi Emelie,
It sounds like you are doing a great deal of research which us great to see. One item I recommend you look into in the hardness of your water. In the UK this information is readily available on the local water companies website so I presume it will be the same for you. Water hardness is an important parameter for fish so this should be the first way to guide your selection. Further to this, some of the fish you have selected will be incompatible with shrimp (if you want to see them that is) like the cichlids also fish like the zebra danios prefer cooler water. Have a look at temperature and hardness to reduce your selection a little then I'm sure we will be able to help your refine things further :D
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I've replied to your other thread about cycling.
I'm going to remove a few fish from your list.
Guppies, platies and mollies prefer hard water. Mollies in particular do badly with soft water, even moderately hard water.
Danios, both zebra and pearl, prefer cooler water than the other fish on your list, and neon tetras.
Cories and coolie (kuhli) loaches need sand, or small smooth gravel. If you have coarse gravel you'd either need to think again or change the substrate.
As for the rest, it is down to personal preference - and which ones are stocked locally. It is frustrating deciding on a species then discovering that no-one stocks it :)
There are two schools of thought when it comes to stocking - the minimum number of lots of species or lots of just a few species. I used to be in the first group but now I'm in the second. I have just 2 shoaling species in my 180 litre tank - 15 Hengels rasboras and 18 Daisy's rice fish.
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A couple of additional suggestions:
* have a look round your local fish/aquatic shops - you might find that the behaviour of some fish is very appealing [for example, I found the shoaling behaviour of harlequin rasboras fascinating, and it was this that attracted me to them]
* work out what the distance is between where your tank is positioned and where you normally sit - this may help determine whether you want/need fish with bolder patterns or colours in order to be able to see them [for example, at a distance of 2 metres, I find my harlequin rasboras easier to see than my x-ray tetras, but found my tiny pygmy corydoras very difficult to see, especially on substrate of the same colour]
* it's also worth trying to decide whether you want to see individual fish and their features or whether you prefer to see them as a group [for example: if you prefer to see individual fish, then you might be better with larger fish; if you don't mind whether you can see each fish individually and just like watching their movement as a group, then smaller size is fine]
Hope this helps.