7 gallon ideas

[rondrin]

Looking for a few stocking ideas for a 7 gallon office tank. I'm running an Aquaclear mini with two sponges and carbon. It's a freshwater tank with plastic plants. I was thinking of a few cories with some whiteclouds, but I was looking for an alternative to the whiteclouds. I've never kept either.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[NJ Devils Fan]

Maybe a small school of neons with those cories.

[NJ Devils Fan]

BTW: Welcome to AC! :)

[OrionGirl]

I'd go with kuhli loaches instead of cories--they'll contribute less to the bio-load, so you can have 3-4 of them. Or, look into the dwarf cories. These little guys are a mid-water fish, that school better than many tetras. Very neat fish. Have 5-6 of them and nothing else.

White clouds are a good top level fish, but they don't do much. If you're looking for some activity, try getting a single, slightly larger fish. Paradise fish would be good (they won't need a heated tank, either) and are pretty with good colors. A betta is a classic standby, but will do better if the tank is kept a bit warmer (74 is the lowest I'd go with). You could have 2 female bettas instead--they're usually peaceful, and have the same colors, just not the long fins, of the males.

If you are willing to devote a bit more time to finding the fish, licorice gouramies or a pair of golden killies would do well in the smaller tank as well. Might be hard to find, though.

[rondrin]

Not to put down your suggestion but I thought neons needed a bit more swimming space than the 7 gallon can provide?

[NJ Devils Fan]

Not for a small school. If you got like 4, that would be fine. Don't get me wrong, it is good when there is a ton of space for them to swim, but they will be fine.

[OrionGirl]

A 7 gallon tank won't allow neons to really display schooling behavior. In small numbers and spaces, they can't really school properly. They will be okay in the tank as long as the water is maintained. I don't really like neons in small groups, and since I don't have a tank big enough for a 100+, I tend to avoid them.

[NJ Devils Fan]

I had 4 neons in my 10g tank about a year ago and they were always together swimming all aroung the tank. They seemed happy to me.

[TKOS]

I love White Cloud Minnows. They are super hardy little fish and are really friendly too! Plus they don't need a heater. They make a nice school.

[O-man21]

I would get some red-eyed-tetras, they stay about 1-1 1/2" long and school well.

[rondrin]

Thanks to everyone for their replies. I finally decided to go with something simple and hardy. I bought two fancy guppies yesterday. They are small, colorful and easy to take care of, thus limiting the amount of work I have to do in the office.

[NJ Devils Fan]

Now you can spend a little more time moving papers from one side of the desk to the other. ;)

[chaynes]

I'd get a few ShellDweller Cichlids like Neolamprologus Multifiactus. That would be pretty darn interesting.

[delmore]

Originally posted by rondrin
Looking for a few stocking ideas for a 7 gallon office tank. I'm running an Aquaclear mini with two sponges and carbon.

You only need the carbon to remove meds from the tank, or some other special requirement. My 3 tanks use aquaclear's, with sponge only.