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Aquarium Stocking Questions Use this board for aquarium stocking questions. Do NOT follow the 1 inch per 1 gallon of aquarium water recommendation that you will often hear at the local fish store. Stock your freshwater aquarium lightly and sensibly and if you need help with stocking your tank post your questions on this aquarium stocking board.

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Old September 12th, 2008  
Fish Keeper
 
Time to add some new fish....

Well now that I have my tank (30g) back to being good and healthy... I reeeaalllly want some new additions. It has been looking pretty bland to me now. So this is my current setup, along with some possible additions......

Current - 1 Male Flame Gourami, 6 Harlequin Rasboras, 3 Otos, 2 Panda Corys

Possible additions - 6 Cardinals or 6 Black Neons, 4 more Cory Cats, and possibly either 6 Hatchetfish or 6 guppies

I really should know this.... but can you mix different types of Cory Cats together in a school? I'm thinking 2 each of 3 different types.
clinton1621 is offline  
Old September 12th, 2008  
Fish Keeper
 
i have so i ges its ok lol
Steen16 is offline  
Old September 12th, 2008  
Fish Helper
 
Yes, Corys are like Danios and Tetras, they don't much care what color thier friends are, more interest in thier shape and where they swim.

Hmmm, that could be said for some other species I know.

RK
RandomKayos is offline  
Old September 12th, 2008  
Fish Addict
 
If I were you, I'd probably go for 6 Cardinal Tetra's or the Marble Hatchetfish, but really, I think anything you listed would go well with what you currently have. I hope this helps!
SkyCrystal is offline  
Old September 13th, 2008  
Fish Master
 
I think it would be best to add 4 more corys and leave it at that.
Blub is offline  
Old September 13th, 2008  
Fish Keeper
 
Thanks for all the suggestions =)

I ended up getting 2 albino corys, 2 julii leopard corys, and 5 black phantom tetras (2 males and 3 females)

I wasnt really planning on getting the tetras, but I decided I wanted to get something other than plain schooling fish like the neons.
clinton1621 is offline  
Old September 13th, 2008  
Fish Addict
 
Pictures of the new additions? You know how much we love pictures of the fishies....
cognizant is offline  
Old September 13th, 2008  
Fish Keeper
 
I'll get some soon lol, they are acclimating at the moment since I literally just bought them about 30 minutes ago
clinton1621 is offline  
Old September 13th, 2008  
Fish Keeper
 
Well, I tried to get some pics... but the couple I did get were blurry, and then my batteries died lol.
clinton1621 is offline  
Old September 14th, 2008  
Fish Keeper
 
Some good and not so good updates...

My Flame Gourami thought it would be a good idea to kill all the black phantom tetras... fortunately I already had a friend who wanted him, so there was no homicide in my tank lol.

I am actually quite pleased with the outcome though, the tetras and the rasboras seem to be in love with each other... they now school together and the rasboras actually seem much happier without the gourami. I'm still surprised that they are schooling together though considering they are entirely different species, but it definitely makes the tank seem much more active, which is what I wanted so I am definitely happy and not complaining =)

The corys all seem great together, they all pair off with their own breed, but they still hang out with the other ones. The albinos are now my favorite, they are tiny (about as big as my thumbnail including fins) and they stand out very well in the tank. One of the julii leopards had me worried when I first added him, he was staying at the top or hiding... but now he is out and about with his other leopard buddy and acting just fine.

So all in all, I am very pleased with the final setup and improved activity, even though I had to lose my last remaining Gourami in the process.
clinton1621 is offline  
Old September 14th, 2008  
Fish Helper
 
Glad to hear it's going well. I always liked Gourami's but always found them agressive. If I am thinking correctly, your barbs are about the same body shape as the tetra's. If so it's not suprising that they might tend to spend time together. And to add to it, the coloring should be simular.

As for the albino cory's I love them, and I also prefer to keep a couple albino with Julii's if I can get the Julii's. Mostly false Julii's available here. All in all I'd say you have a good mix going and I hope it stays stable for you. From all indications it should.

RK
RandomKayos is offline  
Old September 14th, 2008  
Fish Keeper
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by RandomKayos View Post
Glad to hear it's going well. I always liked Gourami's but always found them agressive. If I am thinking correctly, your barbs are about the same body shape as the tetra's. If so it's not suprising that they might tend to spend time together. And to add to it, the coloring should be simular.

As for the albino cory's I love them, and I also prefer to keep a couple albino with Julii's if I can get the Julii's. Mostly false Julii's available here. All in all I'd say you have a good mix going and I hope it stays stable for you. From all indications it should.

RK

Are rasboras related to barbs? I actually didnt know that if they are lol. The black phantoms are somewhat similar in shape... the rasboras are definitely much fatter and not quite as tall as the tetras though. Oh, and the coloring is way different, the black phantoms are grayish silver with black fins (or red fins depending on sex) while the harlequin rasboras are more of a bright orange-rust color.
clinton1621 is offline  
Old September 14th, 2008  
Fish Helper
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by clinton1621 View Post
Are rasboras related to barbs? I actually didnt know that if they are lol. The black phantoms are somewhat similar in shape... the rasboras are definitely much fatter and not quite as tall as the tetras though. Oh, and the coloring is way different, the black phantoms are grayish silver with black fins (or red fins depending on sex) while the harlequin rasboras are more of a bright orange-rust color.
LOL, I'm tired. Rasboras and barbs are two different critters. For some reason I've always mentaly put harlquins in the barb group. Thought barb was a nick name for Rasboras and just generaly confused myself. But considering the scientific community has the same problem I don't feel to bad. Look what happened with the Galaxy....whatever, First it was a new class, then it was a Rasbora and now it's a Danio.

Anyway, I just took a minute to pull up references on the Harlequin Ras and Black phan and yep, color is very different, body shape is about right though for schooling. At least enough for the small schoos to want to merge. What I have noticed is that size and body shape seems most improtant in a school. The thing with small mixed schools is what fish the rest are keying off. In mixed schools there is usually one domanate from each species and as long as they work off each other the school stays together. It's when the domonates take different courses that the schools split and generally split along the species lines because the less dominates are paying attention to 'their' leader. Arg, again i'm on a kick. Going to be a long night I can tell.

RK
RandomKayos is offline  
Old September 14th, 2008  
Fish Keeper
 
Lol, I dont blame you for the rasbora / barb mix up, they are quite similar in some aspects and I wasnt really sure either. I knew they were related to something though... its in the same class as goldfish and danios, kind of odd lol. I went and looked at them again, and the actual body shape, minus the fins, is almost identical like you said. I also forgot that they both have the black spots on their sides that are lined with a neon stripe. I bet that really confuses the heck out of them!

EDIT: Speaking of mix ups lol... I thought the black phantoms with the red on their fins were males, turns out those are the females! So I actually ended up with 2 females and 3 males

Last edited by clinton1621; September 14th, 2008 at 01:51 AM.
clinton1621 is offline  
Old September 14th, 2008  
Fish Helper
 
hehe, sounds like some lucky girls, in that tank. They get the choice for a change. It's nice to know they mix well too. I've been wanting a new tank with all Tetra's and I've thought about the harliquins being in there, completely not thinking of them as rasbora. But the good thing I guess is that I just don't have the room right now for anymore big tanks. And I'm having a ball with my garden now that I've got fish out there.

As for the male/female issue, I did that back in the day with convicts. Kepts getting the gender mixed up. Fortunatly they tend to pair off so even if wrong you still got one of each.

RK
RandomKayos is offline  
Old September 14th, 2008  
Fish Keeper
 
Yeah, this is really the first time I've tried to keep the larger tetras, I've always had either cardinals, neons, or black neons. So I was a little worried about them getting along with the harlequins, but they seem like a great match.

I only say "really the first time" because I bought some serpae tetras once and they were quickly murdered by my angelfish... another one of those trial and error learning sessions lol!
clinton1621 is offline  
Old September 14th, 2008  
Fish Keeper
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by RandomKayos View Post
As for the albino cory's I love them, and I also prefer to keep a couple albino with Julii's if I can get the Julii's. Mostly false Julii's available here. All in all I'd say you have a good mix going and I hope it stays stable for you. From all indications it should.RK

Thanks for bringing that up, I actually didnt know there were false juliis... another mix up lol. I looked them up and guess what... mine are not the true julii either, they are the false julii. Oh well, from what little difference I saw in the pictures I found, I actually like the false juliis better.
clinton1621 is offline  
Old September 14th, 2008  
Fish Helper
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by clinton1621 View Post
Thanks for bringing that up, I actually didnt know there were false juliis... another mix up lol. I looked them up and guess what... mine are not the true julii either, they are the false julii. Oh well, from what little difference I saw in the pictures I found, I actually like the false juliis better.
Frankly I like all cory's. And it is very different to tell one species from another sometimes because the difference is so slight. And variations within the species can produce almost identical fish to the eye. Most often the differrence is internal anyway. I figure that as long as you like your fish it really don't matter in the long run.
RandomKayos is offline  
Old September 14th, 2008  
Fish Master
 
Rasboras and Barbs are acctualy related - both in the Cyprinid family. They are also realated to koi and siamese algae eaters believe it or not!
Blub is offline  
Old September 14th, 2008  
Fish Keeper
 
I have to say I'm glad that I decided to go with 3 different breeds of corys. They are so entertaining lol, the leopards seem more like loners and just wander around all over the tank... but the funniest part is the little albinos follow the bigger pandas everywhere. Its cute, they follow them around like they are little kids, and the pandas will stop every once in a while and look at them like "who are you and why do you keep following me" lol.
clinton1621 is offline  
Old September 14th, 2008  
Fish Addict
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by clinton1621 View Post
I'll get some soon lol, they are acclimating at the moment since I literally just bought them about 30 minutes ago
Still waiting for the pictures...
cognizant is offline  
Old September 15th, 2008  
Moderator
 
I've been keeping up with this thread.....yes clinton, I have, lol.
I'm waiting for pics!
Lucy is offline  
Old September 15th, 2008  
Fish Keeper
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucy View Post
I've been keeping up with this thread.....yes clinton, I have, lol.
I'm waiting for pics!
-Sigh- I have tried to take about 40 different pics now lol... the corys refuse to stay still for even a second and the pics all come out looking like a long blur Same thing with the phantoms, they constantly flick around and I've yet to get a good pic that wasnt blurry lol.
clinton1621 is offline  
Old September 15th, 2008  
Moderator
 


It really sounds like a great tank.

Last edited by Lucy; September 15th, 2008 at 01:37 AM.
Lucy is offline  
Old September 15th, 2008  
Fish Keeper
 
Ok here are a few pics that I just managed to snap off of the half dead batteries lol... they arent the greatest pics but I tried!
Attached Images
File Type: jpg 100_0377.jpg (264.2 KB, 5 views)
File Type: jpg 100_0378.jpg (303.2 KB, 6 views)
File Type: jpg 100_0376.jpg (117.8 KB, 4 views)
clinton1621 is offline  
Old September 15th, 2008  
Moderator
 
Thanks for posting what you could, they're not bad as you made them out to be.

I know how hard it is to catch them. If you ever saw my tetra tank pics, you'd see my pics aren't good.
Lucy is offline  
Old September 15th, 2008  
Fish Keeper
 
The top pic is two of the male phantoms... one of the leopard corys way in the back lol... and of course the little albino cory had to swim up and say hi when he saw me lol

The second pic is pretty much the same shot, different angle though and this time the other albino was on his way over to his buddy

The last pic is probably the best one... its 1 of the female phantoms checking out one of the swordplants

Lucy and Cognizant .... I promise I'll get some more pics when I get some fresh batteries lol!

Last edited by clinton1621; September 15th, 2008 at 01:48 AM.
clinton1621 is offline  
Old September 15th, 2008  
Moderator
 
We'll hold you to that.
Lucy is offline  
Old September 15th, 2008  
Fish Keeper
 
I'm just hoping I can figure out this whole fish tank photography thing lol... I looked at Slugs post and I realized that I wasnt using the flash before, I think thats why the coloring in some of my other previous pics was weird
clinton1621 is offline  
Old September 15th, 2008  
Fish Keeper
 
Haha I tricked them lol... I fed them some brine shrimp to get them to stay still!
Attached Images
File Type: jpg 100_0380.jpg (326.3 KB, 7 views)
File Type: jpg 100_0382.jpg (347.1 KB, 6 views)
clinton1621 is offline  
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