Yappe

Hey guys so i got a new tank from a friend. It's a 30g. I want to start a community tank and i'd like some help I want zebra and leopard danios, cherry barb, and kuhill. I'm not sure how many of each. Would 6 of each be enough? What should the male to female ratio be. As is it better to get fish from my LFS or online. My LFS recently openned and the fish arent top notch.

I know i need alot of equipment and one of them is a filter. I heard about chemical, bio, and maintence? filters. Which would be best.

Also about decor. I want to add one of those air bubble thing. Not sure what they called. Are those a good idea? And are there low maintence plants that can work well with my set up?

Sorry for so many questions I just want to have a stable fish tank. Thanks

-mike

Chief_waterchanger

The Danio need a bit of swimming room, but they should be alright in a 30g. I think that setup (6 of each fish listed) in a 30g would be fine as long as you add absolutely nothing else.

Online during the winter is bad if you live anywhere that gets cold, or the packages have to ship through anywhere that gets cold (as in 60 degrees and below). You run serious risks as packages can sit for HOURS on a tarmac waiting to be loaded on a plane, even express mailed packages.

I would personally go with a HOB (hang on back filter) and a sponge filter, and probably get an air pump that had 2 air outlets and use one for the sponge filter and the other for a bubble wand or some such, the fish love bubbles and it is a nice visual thing. (Helps live plant growth if you are NOT using injections of CO2.)

Plants such as Anubias (pronounced Ann-eww-by-us), java fern, java moss, most cryptocorne species would work well.

Best of luck.


WELCOME TO FISHLORE!!!

Yappe

What if i remove the danios. Add more barbs. Add some natural rocks with java moss? i guess I'm thinking the kurhill wouldnt work then. What could i get to occupy the bottom and maybe the top.

joannw

what about some sort of catfish or loach?

Butterfly

You will not regret getting the Kuhli loaches. They are very entertaining and will eat the excess flake and food that falls to the bottom (they still need to be fed.)
Danios swim mainly top water, barbs seem to inhabit mainly mid-water and Kuhlis will stay mainly bottom sounds like your plans layer the tank just right.
You notice I said mainly stay... all these will occasionally swim in the other areas of the tank which is ok.
Carol

COBettaCouple

welcome to fishlore! i think i'd go with the kuhli & the danios.. just add up the adult sizes to keep them under 30" total.

Yappe

What if i replace the cherry barbs with tiger barbs? Would the set up of danios and kurhill still work?
Thanks

Coryd55

Tiger barbs get 3 inches at adult size and Cherrys only get 2 inches. Also the Tiger Barbs are fin nippers, they like to nip at the long fins on some fish. So keep that in mind. They also like to be in schools of six or more so it would be a tight tight squeeze. Kuhlis like to be in groups of atleast 3. So with just that your total comes to about 30 with just those fish. Adding the Danios and you would be overstocked. I would keep it just Kuhlis and Danios. I'm guessing you're talking about Zebra Danios which like schools of 6 or more. So you will be good with about 6 of those and 3-4 Kuhlis. Also keep in mind that Kuhlis like to play in the sand. So you might want to consider sand for a substrate.

Yappe

Sigh i spend so much time thinking about the fish i wanted i forgot to measure my tank. i thought it was 30g but its actually 25g. This some what limits my amount of fish. im thinking 8 tiger barbs with some plants. Do you think i could squeeze in something on the bottom? Thanks again for everyones help. When i finally get this going ill post some picks

Wolfgang8810

as good as tigerbarbs look i would avoid them. If you go semi aggressive then you cant really get any peacful fish or the tigers will tear them up and it you go more aggressive with cichlids then they will tear the tigers up.