Stocking a 65L (17g)!

[targetfish]

Stocking Ideas for a 65L (17g) — Need Opinions Fast!

Hey Fishlore!
Just set up a new 65L tank and I’d love some stocking advice. I’ve mostly kept Bettas before, so this is my biggest project yet.
Here’s what I’m thinking:

• 8–10 Harlequin Rasboras
• 5–6 Panda Cories
• 1–2 Honey Gouramis

Couple questions:

• Is this overstocked?
• Would you adjust the numbers?
• Any must-know tips/quirks about these fish that don’t show up in the basic care guides?
• And if you think I should swap/add something, what would you put in a peaceful 65L?

The tank will be fully cycled, planted, filtered, heated, etc. Just looking for some real-world input before I commit.
Excited to hear your ideas — hit me with your best stocking combos!

 

[targetfish]

Small update - decided to drop the Panda Corys as the tank floor space is a little cramped for them. Still wondering everyone's thoughts.

 

[RayClem]

If you can find some pygmy cories, you might find them better suited to your tank. While having a small group of 5-6 cories is ideal, you can get by with fewer.

 

[bgarthe]

8-10 is a good number for a shoal, but I would suggest Espei Rasboras bc they stay a bit smaller and you could even go with 12. With HGs, do be sure they are indeed Honeys and not Thicklipped Gouramis. Avoid two male HGs…..I’d just do one HG. HGs like floating plants to hang in. Mine did anyway.

 

[RayClem]

Another great fish for a small tank is ember tetras. Although they are relatively uniform in color, a shoal of them is a beautiful sight.

 

[tinylostwine]

What are the dimensions - gallon wise the tank is very close to a 20 long in USA; but if the tank is tall and narrow the stocking would be a bit differen than if it is long/wide and narrow. Also you might check if you have soft or hard water as that might guide your choices. There are many small tetra like hummingbird, morse code, ember, ... but some are very stationary just moving a little to eat or fright other are very active - ember are not a bad commonly available fish and stationary. more code tetra are similar maybe a tad smaller. hummingbird are smaller still but very active.

I'm a fan of hastatus and pymgy cory but they will spend a lot of time mid level and if the tank is very shallow i would pick a tetra or cory but they might be more of an issue with both though they are both very peaceful fishes that get along together.

If your water is harder you might look at endler which are a small guppy like fish.

 

[_Fried_Bettas_]

I have a 15-gallon tank with ember tetras, albino pygmy cories, and a pair of honey gouramis. It makes for a peaceful community tank. Pygmy corys are really small; you can easily have 10 of them in there.

 

[Noroomforshoe]

For your tank size, I would look for lambchop rasbora instead of halequins, because lamb chops are slightly smaller.

And One shool of bottom dweller, pygmy cories would do better them pandas because of their small size, you could keep more of them.

So what is your ph?

 

[targetfish]

8-10 is a good number for a shoal, but I would suggest Espei Rasboras bc they stay a bit smaller and you could even go with 12. With HGs, do be sure they are indeed Honeys and not Thicklipped Gouramis. Avoid two male HGs…..I’d just do one HG. HGs like floating plants to hang in. Mine did anyway.

Oooh, thank you!! The Espei Rasboras is such a great suggestion. I was considering two female HGs. Could that work?

For your tank size, I would look for lambchop rasbora instead of halequins, because lamb chops are slightly smaller.

And One shool of bottom dweller, pygmy cories would do better them pandas because of their small size, you could keep more of them.

So what is your ph?

Thanks so much, I will!

My pH is roughly 7 in my mature tanks, or 7.8 from the source.

I have a 15-gallon tank with ember tetras, albino pygmy cories, and a pair of honey gouramis. It makes for a peaceful community tank. Pygmy corys are really small; you can easily have 10 of them in there.

Ooh, awesome thank you so much!!

What are the dimensions - gallon wise the tank is very close to a 20 long in USA; but if the tank is tall and narrow the stocking would be a bit differen than if it is long/wide and narrow. Also you might check if you have soft or hard water as that might guide your choices. There are many small tetra like hummingbird, morse code, ember, ... but some are very stationary just moving a little to eat or fright other are very active - ember are not a bad commonly available fish and stationary. more code tetra are similar maybe a tad smaller. hummingbird are smaller still but very active.

I'm a fan of hastatus and pymgy cory but they will spend a lot of time mid level and if the tank is very shallow i would pick a tetra or cory but they might be more of an issue with both though they are both very peaceful fishes that get along together.

If your water is harder you might look at endler which are a small guppy like fish.

Thanks so much for the info!!

My tank's dimensions are (length x width x height) 61cm x 30cm x 38cm
Hardness is 100mg/L or ~ 5.6dGH

 

[bgarthe]

Yes….two females could work fine…..hopefully you’ll get correctly sexed fish.

 

[tinylostwine]

With those dimensions you could get away with 6 or so pymgy cory and 6 or so ember tetra.

Also i would get away from measuring ph it indicates the kh level of your aquarium but does not indicate anything about the value of gh which can have an impact on fishes as some require hard water and other soft water though most commonly available species will have some tolerance for a wide range even if it is not optimal. I'm not sure why people constantly bring up ph as an indicator of what type of water is suitable for a fish - but it really is a false indicator.

After all if my water had kh 15 and gh 15 and i injected enough co2 to bring the ph down to 4 that does not suddenly make it suitable for softwater fishes.

 

[Mudminnow]

Harlequin rasboras are awesome, but they may not be as small as you think. I have 24 in a 150 gallon (568 liter). Some of mine are about 2" (5 cm) long and fairly deep bodied and stocky. As others have said, I'd recommend a smaller species of schooling fish for your aquarium. It's not that the harlequins wouldn't work, it's just that you could get more of a smaller fish. And, increasing the number of fish in a school, even by just 6 or so, can really change the dynamic for the better.

A couple other species of smaller schooling fish I've kept and would recommend are choprae danios and neon green rasboras.

 

[MagnifcentBett]

If you can find some pygmy cories, you might find them better suited to your tank. While having a small group of 5-6 cories is ideal, you can get by with fewer.

I second pygmy cories. they are adorable but do like to be in a group

 

[tinylostwine]

A couple other species of smaller schooling fish I've kept and would recommend are choprae danios and neon green rasboras.

Microdevario kubotai (neon green rasbora) are not the best choice for a small surface area due to activity level. They are quite active loving to swim all day long back and forth and all around ziping around.

 

[kansas]

Honey gouramis like to be in groups.
www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/honey-gourami-care-guide.473167/

 

[Mudminnow]

Microdevario kubotai (neon green rasbora) are not the best choice for a small surface area due to activity level. They are quite active loving to swim all day long back and forth and all around ziping around.

Fair point. I believe the same could be said of the choprae danios. Still, given how small these fishes are, I think they could work.

 

[RayClem]

The rasbora and danio families are closely related. Some species like the celestial pearl danio are also called galaxy rasbora. Thus, the behavior of fish from these two families is going to be similar. Both are very active and spawn easily.