Keeping a community tank: hard or easy?

Right now I don't have any community tanks but I'm thinking about getting one. It seems like keeping a community tank is pretty hard, so I'm going to ask some experienced fish keepers (I just started pretty recently) is keeping a community tank hard? What level of experience should you have? And what should you watch out for? Tips would also be gladly welcomed.

 

I really enjoy my community tanks but they do require research about which fish can be kept together, and the fish need to all require similar temperature in the tank and water parameters. The number if fish is of course very important, overstocking causes problems. In general you might be looking for fish that swim in 3 parts of the tank, top middle area and then some that are using the bottom, like Cory cats or loaches. This forum will give you lots of help. I am fortunate to have a private local fish store that usually will advise me regarding species compatibility and will take fish back if they don't work out. But especially the box stores are not good about giving this advice. Good luck and enjoy!

 

Well if your talking about peaceful fish, then it seems rather easy to me. You've just got it make sure you've got the right number of each, they are temp and ph compatible along with "personality" compatible. I'm not sure on xp, but I think depending on which species you get, it would be beginner. If watch out for aggression, any sickly behaviour, exc. Get a qt before adding any new fish, it'll save everybody a whole lot of stress. Welcome to the forum!
Edit: I was ninja'd...

 

Thank you. I'm not worried about overstocking. I've got it all figured out. But what I am worried about is feeding. I'm not sure how I'm going to feed them all. I'm worried that some of my fish will prefer different things then other. Oh well, research will be done.

 

Thank you. I'm not worried about overstocking. I've got it all figured out. But what I am worried about is feeding. I'm not sure how I'm going to feed them all. I'm worried that some of my fish will prefer different things then other. Oh well, research will be done.

What stocking did you have in mind?

 

A pair of honey gouramis, 7 bloodfin tetras, and 6 panda cories. I think its a nice setup.

 

Well that stpck would need a mix of foods but that's necesarily hard. I would go with a basic tropical flake, sinking shrimp pellets or catfish pellets, and the hikarI micropellets which allow for top middle and bottom feeders all to get a chance to eat.

 

Thanks for the advice! You have no idea how helpful that was...

But now I come to the problem of aggression. I've heard bloodfin tetras will nip at slow moving fish. Are honey gouramis slow moving fish?

 

Not sure how fast they are. But if you have space to increase the tetra school to 8 to 10 that should help keep them occupied nipping each other if they are nippy.

 

Hmm... I'll try and do that. One or two more bloodfin tetras shouldn't hurt.

 

Another resource is aqadvisor. It's a site that estimates your stocking and gives you numbers for pH and temp.

 

Hmm... Heard of it but haven't tried it. Is it accurate?

 

Not terribly accurate. But it's a good check for reasonableness. I'd run your plan through the experts here. But it'll give you a clue as to how full your stocking is bioloads ph etc.

 

Well, I just put in all my fish and I got a pretty good result:

Recommended temperature range: 71.6 - 82.4 F. [Display in Celsius]
Recommended pH range: 6 - 7.5.
Recommended hardness range: 5 - 15 dH.






Recommended water change schedule: 31% per week.
Your aquarium stocking level is 77%. [Generate Image]Help on Generate Image

 

What size tank are you thinking?

 

Looks good! You can probably up the school sizes for the tetras and cories by a fish or two. Maybe add a second female honey if you decide it isn't full enough. Although other then bumping up the tetras I think I would just add 2 or 3 nerite snails to help keep algae down and call it good!

 

Looks good! You can probably up the school sizes for the tetras and cories by a fish or two. Maybe add a second female honey if you decide it isn't full enough. Although other then bumping up the tetras I think I would just add 2 or 3 nerite snails to help keep algae down and call it good!

Welp, that's a lot of fish! I don't think I need the nerite snails with my 6 panda corys. I heard they ate a good amount of algae. Anyways, thanks for all the help! I want to keep the aquarium capacity under 90% for now, so I'll be experimenting with aqadvisor. It really is a great website! And I'm planning to get a 20 gallon long tank.

 

Welcome to fishlore. What size tank are you considering? That is very important in giving you advice on your stock.
Anders247 to the rescue!

 

Corys don't eat algae, they are primarily carnivores and get little to no nutrition from algae. They need a sinking pellet/wafer so the higher water column fish can't steal their food.

 

Welcome to fishlore. What size tank are you considering? That is very important in giving you advice on your stock.
Anders247 to the rescue!

A 20 gallon long.

Corys don't eat algae, they are primarily carnivores and get little to no nutrition from algae. They need a sinking pellet/wafer so the higher water column fish can't steal their food.

Really? I've seen several cases where people found their panda corys nibbling on algea. I think I'll get a nerite snail or two just to be safe. Not sure if my family will welcome them. Probably not.

 

Sorry, that was a little rude. Corys are usually quite underfed because people buy them to get rid of algae or eat whatever falls to the bottom; I get a bit defensive. They might eat a tiny bit every once in a while, but it's not something they would eat much of naturally.

 

Yeah, I understand. The reason I decided on corys in the first place was because I needed some bottom dwellers and they seemed to have a fun personality. I learned that they could eat algae very recently and thought that was a nice plus. Don't worry, I wasn't going to just let them starve.

 

Yea I have a ton of algae. They will nibble but that's just like having some carrot sticks for snacks not enough to live on. Mine don't really make a dent in it. I think they are really searching my plants for fallen fish food bits. They eat sinking pellets or wafers. And I like the hikarI micro pellets because about half of them float and the rest slowly sink. The floating lones start to sink after about 30 seconds so the ones that like to eat at the surface and in the water column get to. A few will be missed and get to the bottom and the cories will eventually find them. My cories don't appear particularly thrilled about any foods I've offered. But if I go back an hour later everything is gone

 

You are right, I think hardest part of having a community tank is making sure everyone eats well. Species only tank is easiest to feed. One with surface eating fish (rasbora, gourami, etc) and bottom dwellers (cory, etc) probably second easiest... I just got a bunch of cardinal tetras that are now in QT, they don't eat from the surface, they eat when the food is sinking down, mid water column, I don't know what I will do when I add them to the main tank... The gourami are really fast they eat anything anywhere, going to have to distract them so that the cardinals get a chance to eat.

Well stocked community tanks (which in my opinion are those with a couple of large schools of fish) are beautiful, so it's worth the extra aggravation to me (for now)

 

My planted community tank has danios, white clouds, neon tetra, rummy nose tetras, ottos and salt and pepper corys.

Feeding regime I use

1) Own mix of crushed flake, HakirI micro-pellets and freeze-dried bloodworm sprinkled on surface and which falls through the water-column
2) A Tetra TabiMin for the bottom feeders, sometimes replaced by half an algae wafer; the rummy nose also go for these.
3) Tetra Funtip tablet split into two, one half high-up and one half low-down on the glass; these are nibbled away while I'm @ work

I fed a bit too much a few weeks back and got an algae bloom, so am addressing that with a UV light (greenkilling machine)

 

A 20L is a great size to start with, you will have lots of options for stock. But as always, go with the biggest, and longest that you can afford an accommodate.

 

A 20L is a great size to start with, you will have lots of options for stock. But as always, go with the biggest, and longest that you can afford an accommodate.

I do home he means 20g. A 20L is approx 5g, and less than a sq. ft.

 

Whew! Keeping a community tank sounds like a lot of work! Especially feeding them! And yes, I did say a 20 gallon long.

 

I do home he means 20g. A 20L is approx 5g, and less than a sq. ft.

I know he meant 20Long. When he answered me, he mentioned 20 Long. Or I would never had mentioned that size was a good start. I didn't spell the whole word out.
Sorry for the confusion.

 

Thought litres! Lol.

 

Well, never hurts to make sure everyone understands.

 

I'd do rams rather than honey gouramis in a 20g, but that' your choice.

 

Rams and a bottom feeder might not be great together in that footprint. Especially a pair of rams.

 

I'd be the last person to encourage you to overstock, but honey gourami do better in a harem situation. With a male and female the male will be going after the female most of the time. If you could manage 1 or 2 more females that would be nice and disperse the attention. Either way, honeys like hiding places and floating plants to sleep in and the male will build bubble nests in them. They are great fish to have.

 

I don't know if it'll help you, but here is what I have.
8 tiger barbs
6 albino corys
1 dwarf gourami

I might get 2 kribensis as well, but I'm not sure yet. I will also be getting some Amano shrimp and snails.

 

Okay! Community tanks are very fun and easy to have. For fish that like different things, mix the different foods together and put the food in. I have a 2 community tanks. My 60gal community has 15 gold barbs, 9 sciccor tail rasboras, 1 beta, 12 albino Cory, 1 bn pleco, 2 platies, and 1 guppy. My 40gal breeder has 7 betta females(sorority), 12 black neon tetra's, 6 ghost shrimp, and 9 albino cories. I don't think my other 40gal breeder counts as a community, but it just has RCS, so no it isn't a community tank lol.

 

A pair of honey gouramis, 7 bloodfin tetras, and 6 panda cories. I think its a nice setup.

Imo that stock is fine.

 

Thanks for all your advice and input guys! I guess the only real changes I'm going to make is to add another female. If my algae problem goes out of control, I'll add a nerite snail or two.