gcity02

Hello These are the details of my tank:

12 Gallon
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
76 degrees farenheit

Fish:
2 zebra danios
2 fancy guppies
2 otocinclus

Plants:
few amazon swords spread out and pruned

My question is what plants would be good to add to this setup (low light, no CO2) and what additional fish would give the tank a little more? I was thinking about 1 dwarf gourami. How do you think the dwarf gourami would fair with the other tank mates?

MissMTS

I like the idea of a dwarf gourami; however, I would return the two danios and get two more guppies. Danios are happier in a large school. As far as plants go, annubias are great low light plants. So is java fern

gcity02

thanks for the help, I think I am going to return the two zebra danios, I feel like their frantic pacing stresses out the guppies a bit, and might do the same for the gourami...All I need to do now is get a fish net! Any ideas for transporting the 2 danios back to the LFS?

agabr123

i'm with MissMTS, personally i think that 6 zebra danios plus 3 otos (they prefer odd numbered groups for some reason) plus a dwarf gourami would be great! but IMO that would overstock your tank a bit. a better choice would probably be 3 guppies, 3 otos, and the DG

as far as getting the danios out, what you can do is take a clean never-seen-soap plastic cup, and hold it completely horizontal over the water, take a little bit of food and hold it right at the top of the tank, and when the danios come up for the food and are close to the cup, push the cup down into the water. the water should force them into the cup. it takes a little practice but that's how i get my bettas out of the tank, it's WAY easier than using a net once you get the hang of it

anacharis is an easy plant as well, and also java moss

gcity02

Thanks for the help, I think I am going to return the 2 zebra danios, get 2 more fancy guppies and 1 dwarf gourami. I am hesitant in getting another otto because it is only a 12 gallon tank, do you think that will be an issue? Also, on another note, I want to put some more plants in this setup, such as the ones you have suggested (anubias, fern, maybe dwarf hairgrass). Since I do not have any CO2 injection, I figured that the fish in the setup will be providing the CO2, if that is the case I may slightly overstock by getting 2 additional guppies or similar sized fish to provide some extra CO2, let me know what you think... Thanks for all the help!

agabr123

you will be a little overstocked but as long as you stay on top of water changes and test your water every so often to make sure that the levels are still good (0ppm ammonia, 0 PPM nitrIte, 5-20ppm nitrate) then it should be fine . the plants that you're keeping are very hardy and don't really need the extra CO2, i keep java fern, anubias, and java moss in a 10 gallon with just a betta and no CO2 or anything extra except for some Flourish every once in a while, and they do pretty well

gcity02

gahh!! I keep changing my mind ever 10 minutes as to what stocking I want for my tank. Here is what I've narrowed it down to including the already 2 otocinclus and 2 fancy guppies in the tank.

1) 5 harlequin rasboras and 1 more oto
2) 2 fancy guppies and Dwarf Gourami and 1 more oto

My only hesitation for getting schooling fish such as rasboras is that it is only a 12 gallon tank, and I do not know if that is sufficient space for them to swim, but I do enjoy watching the schooling patterns of fish...

As far as water changes I do weekly changes at 20%.

crispy0

i would go with he gourami set up. if you were going to do a school i would probably get rid of the guppies and stick with 6 or 7 rasboras and 3 otos. some other great plants are ctypts. have you tried plantgeek.com's plant guide. you can search by low light plants and it will give you 2-3 pages of them.