shutterbug

I am starting a 30 gallon tetra tank for my girlfriend ( she loves the little fish)......This tank housed a Jack Dempsey for a 1 1/2 years.....( He now resides in a 75 with a female convict)....The tank is fully cycled , and planted heavily and has a piece of driftwood for decor....I started putting fish in 3 weeks ago.....So far i have 5 Cardinal Tetras and 5 Harlequin Raspboras......Everyone is doing well and all 10 fish are inseperable ...(Schooling all the time together)......I would like to add another species or 2of fish that will get along and school with the current occupants.......I was thinking about some gold tetras, maybe silver tipped tetras, maybe a trio of cherry barbs................How does this sound to everyone?...........How many of these "small" fish can i put in her tank?.......What does everyone think of NOT putting any bottom feeders in this tank?............Dont really want to use "fish" space on corys or otos.......With all the plants in there i havent had an algae bloom yet and the lights are on 11 hours a day........Water Temp is 79 and pH is 6.7.........(cant get it any lower for the tetras).....All other numbers are within parameters of safe levels.........Just looking for some advice on the "little" fish..........I'm a cichlid keeper.....

Lucy

Hi shutterbug welcome to Fish Lore

I'm not very good at stocking suggestions but how about a larger centerpiece fish like an Angel or Blue Gourami. You could still have the trio of cherry barbs.

Good luck! The tank sounds really nice, I hope you post some pics soon.

URFisher35

id say 15 max "small" fish max.if you had an undergravel filter w/ powerhead along with a 200gph filter, id say maybe 20, but that would be pushing it. too many will just strain the bioload. you don't have to put in corys or otos, but it might be helpful to eat up uneaten food. also another consideration is that the tetras will be very active in swimming in the middle and top regions....nothing will be down below where a cory or oto would have been

hihi100202

I say put a pleco in, there r some really cool lookin 1s like the zebra pleco that only get 2 around 4 inches give or take a few.