Start over from scratch

Rube Goldberg is my inspiration for most things.

 

Called 4 LFS and none have chilI rasboras in stock. One *might* have them Sunday, one *might* have them Monday.

Not sure I'm going to go with the loaches--still debating the sand vs gravel issue. Any suggestions for other colorful schooling fish for a 23 gallon tank?

 

That would probably be a good idea to take out the snail, marimo and anubia. and also, if you got a 20G you could have a small community tank like I'm getting! their awesome! You could fit some pretty cool fish in a 10 Gallon too!

 

You could try the gravel with loaches but honestly sand is probably going to be better for any bottom dweller

If you like the chilI rasboras and want something similar looking, you could go with cardinal tetras, ember tetras, or cherry barbs. You may not be able to do 15 cherry barbs and would probably want to keep it to about 8-10 but I would think you could do a similar number of ember tetra or cardinal tetra as you could chilI rasbora.

 

Great! The LFS has a dozen Cardinal Tetras in stock. Start with about a half dozen and double that in a week?

 

I think that would be fine. I don't have any first hand experience with cardinals as I've never kept them so you may want to hold on for more opinions about them. Just make sure your tank is fully cycled before adding them as they are not a fish that can withstand the cycling process

 

Looking up more about them, I think I should hold off on cardinals... what I've read says not to add them to new tanks.

 

Despite my concerns, 6 cardinals are now in the tank.

 

Have you cycled your tank?

 

Yep

 

Keep a close eye on your levels because Cardinals aren't hardy enough to handle fluctuations in ammonia and nitrites

 

I bought one of those Seachem ammonia alerts. I know they're not a substitute for droplet tests, but at least it'll enable me to limit my paranoia to testing once... maybe twice a day. Also bought Seachem Prime, though from what I understand it binds the ammonia in a form that isn't toxic but will still register in the droplet test..

 

I've never tried the alerts before so I'll be interested to see your opinion on them.

Don't over use prime. But if you have an ammonia spike it can get you by for 24 hours until you get it under control.