purdyspatch

Hi

I am new to fish keeping and have a 80 litre (20 gallon) tank. I cycled it with 3 platy's and now after 5 weeks I'm begining to build the stock of fish. I'm hoping to stock it with 4 platy's, 2 cory's, 2 Dwarf gouramis, 2 oto's, and 7 harlequin rasbora.
My question is will my tank be under stocked, overstocked or about right.

Thanks, Steve.

jsalemi

The general principle is 1" adult size per gallon, so that would overstock it a bit (the corys and otos carry less of a bioload than their size indicates). The platys and dwarf gouramis all grow to 2-2.5", so that would be about 15" worth right there. The harlequins get to about 1.5", so that would add another 10". Add maybe the equivalent of an inch each for the corys and otos, and you'd be at close to 30" worth of fish, 1/2 again more than the tank could support.

Also, corys and otos are really happiest in groups of 3 or more, so maybe you could eliminate the harlequins and up the corys and otos. Maybe add another platy to round it out.

COBettaCouple

welcome to fishlore!

yea, that would be overstocked unfortunately.. if you end up going with platys, i'd recommend all males - you won't end up with fry and the males tend to be smaller than females. otos & cories do like to be in groups of 3 or more, but can be happy in a pair. platys also could go to 3 for a little shoal and i think a dwarf gourami could be kept by itself.

Tayful

Like suggested I'd eliminate the harlequin rasboras and you'd have a lot more to work with. You should include more corys in your setup to keep them happier, and then maybe you could have a couple more platys or such. The more fish you have, the more you have to perform maintenance. If you're committed, shouldn't be too much of a problem. Best of luck!

purdyspatch

Ok Thanks for your advise I may get more cory's and drop the harlequins.
Steve.

Howeyg

i would stick with 3 platy's = 6inch
3 corys = 6 inch
2 dwar gourami = 4 inch

and look into another type of fish who like to be in a pair or small group

purdyspatch

Ok Thanks. What pair of fish would you recommend?

COBettaCouple

3" should be allowed for each Dwarf Gourami. Combined with 3 platys & 3 corys, 2 dwarf gourami would bring the total to 18". Either 1 more platy or 1 more cory would round out the 20".