15 Gallon Tank stocking advice

[Drummerman]

HI Guys,

in the process of buying a 60 litre Juwel tank. It will be planted bogwooded and cycled in due course. As its my first proper freshwater tropical tank I could do with some advice on stocking it.
My thoughts are:

lemon tetras
dwarf platties
cherry barbs
cory cats
otos

obviously I couldn't house all of those in the same tank so from that list would be a good mix in terms of numbers and species to keep the fish happy and healthy? if you had a choice of those fish in that space what would you choose?
Thanks in advance
Dave

 

[BennyB]

Each of those species need to be kept in groups. Some more than others, such as the tetras and barbs who need to be in large schools to be as healthy and active as possible. Usually about 6-10. The others can survive in smaller groups. 4 maybe.

How you want to arrange that is your business, but all I can say is you have some fine choices there, and it will be hard to decide.

This is a site that helps me a lot when deciding on how to stock a tank. Fiddle with it all you want, it is always helpful.
aqadvisor

 

[jerilovesfrogs]

welcome to fl! i'm not exactly sure what lemon tetras are, they sound nice! cherry barbs can become aggressive and get in trouble if not kept in a large enough school. i'm not thinking a 15 gallon is big enough for them.

otos need to be in a well established tank...like 3-4 months. and they should be in large numbers to keep them from dying off due to stress. like 10 of them or so. which probably would be too much for your tank too.

corys.....a lot of ppl say 20 gallon is minimum for them. but there are those who do keep corys in smaller than that. it's up to you....but they should be in a group of 3 minimum.

platys: i'm not sure what dwarf platys are.....but a few regular platys should be fine in the 15g. but since they are livebearers, you need to think about a plan for the fry, if you get mixed sexes. and if you do, 1 male to 3 females is the ratio. you could try 3 or so males and see how that goes.

 

[BennyB]

3 male platies could end up in fighting. 3 females would work out just as good if not better. In my experience, platies are some what more peaceful than other livebearers such as mollies, who are the biggest, and meanest members of the livebearer family.

JerI is right about the cories and otos though. Otos do need to go in well established tanks. Cories can get huge...they are catfish, after all.

 

[Kunsthure]

Only a few corys get to be big, like emeralds. Most corys are small, about 2" and need to be kept in groups of at least 4. There are Pygmy corys that top out at about 1" but need to be kept in larger groups, at least 8 I'd say.

I think the cherry barbs will get too big for the tank. The profiles I've read say 2" but I've seen ones easily up to 3". And since they need to be in groups (6 or more is better), I wouldn't do it.

Out of your list, I'd pick the lemon tetras. You could do 6-8 of them and 8-10 Pygmy corys, but that's kinda pushing the limit. You could choose a smaller tetra, like a flame or ember, and have a little more breathing room. Or do the tetras and a group of 12 dwarf shrimp.

-Lisa

 

[Shawnie]

WELCOME to fishlore Drummerman
Out of that choice of fish, id go with lemmon tetras, cherry barbs and ottos
Hope you enjoy our site!

 

[harpua2002]

Lemon tetras get a little big for a 15 gallon IMO. I'm just saying this because I have some JUMBO sized ones in a 75 in the fishroom, lol! They're really active and IME they get nippy in a small tank.

I like the suggestion for flame (von rio) tetras. There is also an "orange" variety that is sometimes available- it's a strain that has been selectively bred to show bright orange instead of the red that you normally see. You could keep 6 flames in your tank along with a school of 4-5 small cories (paleatus, panda, etc.) and you'd be well stocked at that point.

 

[peacemaker92]

Welcome to Fishlore!

Great advice and suggestions above. IMO, I would suggest maybe a pair or 4 dwarf platties and a school of albino cories (they're cute). Hope you enjoy the board. Do keep us updated on your choice and your tank Best of luck!

 

[Drummerman]

Thanks for all your advice ;D this is a really great site for novices such as myself

I suspected cherry barbs would be on the big side for a 60litre so will leave them for another time/tank. I'm torn between 4 platies ( 1 male 3 female) and 4-5 small corys, leaves a bit of room for any potential fry, or, 4 platies a group of small tetras and something that would be happy on its own at the bottom of the tank, the aqadvice (great link thanks x) suggested I could have room but towards the limit. Do you have any suggestions of something that wouldn't mind being on its own among the gravel?

obviously these won't be put in all in one go

Thanks again

 

[Kunsthure]

Be very wary of stocking tools like AqAdvisor. It's just one tool to check but it can't be relied upon. It's always being improved but nothing can improve upon the collected knowledge and experience of the group of people here.

I'm a dwarf shrimp pusher so I recommend then for the bottom of the tank instead of corys if you want a non-fish option. Dwarf crayfish are also supposed to be nice but I'm still learning about them.

-Lisa

 

[jerilovesfrogs]

i'm a snail lover myself. though I do have some shrimp in a small species only tank. but, I have nerite snails and they are very good at eating algae, among other uneaten things. and they cannot breed in freshwater. (they need brackish for that). they're always up to something. so cute. you could probably put two in there.....they don't get as big as mystery snails either. I have two in a ten g divided betta tank, and two in a 20g. go snails!

 

[Kunsthure]

You could do shrimp *and* snails!

-Lisa

 

[jerilovesfrogs]

yeah do both! I don't have shrimp in my main tank.....but if I did, i'd worry about them getting sucked up in the gravel vac. how do you avoid this?

 

[Kunsthure]

I make sure to be as disruptive as possible (stirring up gravel, moving decorations, etc) so they know to swim and hide. I also very carefully watch the vacuum tube because sometimes they do get in there. I've never had one go all the way through because I stop in time. Since they're relatively heavy compared to poop and leftover food, they are slow going up so you can see them and have time to react.

-Lisa

 

[Drummerman]

"A dwarf shrimp pusher" you should really push shrimp your own size Lisa

Cheers for all the advice guys, Platties will be the first in then its the decision of school of little corys or tetras and a bottom dweller happy on its own. It will probably be a fish option but the snail shrimp idea could be the way to go

Dave