Finalizing tank stocking

[joylynn]

I am trying to put the finishing touches on my tank stocking plan and start buying and just want to make sure none of my tanks are going to be overstocked or that I am not making some gross error in compatibility. I think I did my homework pretty well, but second opinions are welcome (and third, fourth, fifth.... :) ) Also, if there are any tanks I still have some extra room in would like to know so I can maybe adjust school sizes.

1G -
2-3 small shrimp
small plants

5G -
1 male betta
2 bamboo shrimp or other medium sized shrimp that the betta won't kill

10G - moderately planted
6-8 rummy nosed tetras
4-5 dwarf cory catfish (corydorus habrosus)

35 G - moderately planted
15 tiger barbs
1 peacock eel
1 gold algae eater

75 G - moderately planted
3 male opaline gouramis
6 female opaline gouramis
8-10 bosemani rainbows
3 pictus catfish
1 spotted pleco
maybe 2 more peacock eels

Thanks!

[dorkfish]

10g: 6 rummy noses and 4 corys is all I would put in there.

35g: I would get a siammese algae eater, 5-8 ottos or a bristlenose pleco instead of a "golden algae eater" (chinnese algae eaters) get huge and will end up being aggressive once they start to get large. Can't comment on stocking, as I know nothing about peackock eels and couldn't find anything about them.

[joylynn]

Thanks for the input, I was also looking at some of the more exotic small plecos for the 35G. Maybe a tiger pleco or snowball pleco? I don't like the aesthetics of the bristlenose too much :)

[Roan Art]

Hrm, frankly I think you are going to run into trouble with the 75g if you stock it like that.

9 gouramis and 8-10 boes is a lot of traffic in the middle of the water column -- too much. The gouramis are not going to stay at the top of the tank and rainbowfish use the whole tank -- but mostly mid and bottom.

You might want to consider just stocking boes OR gouramis and not both. I've seen some nasty behavior between Boesemani and three spot gouramis that resulted in deaths.

Consider this a HUGE caution flag.

Roan

[fishcatch22]

I second that! gouramis and rainbowfish do not mix well, and you will definetly have too much mid-level traffic.

[Roan Art]

Looking at the rest of your stocking list . . .

Rummy's aren't small tetras and get to 2.5", that's an awful lot for a 10g and, personally, I think a 10g is way too small for them. They are incessant schoolers, one of the few fish in the hobby that are, and they need space.

I have a school of 7 rummy nose in my 65g and when I try to visualize those fish in a 10g, I get the heebie jeebies. You need a bigger thank for those fish and I'd say a min of a 30g.

I also think that 35g is too small for that many tiger barbs. I'd cut the school down to 10 if you have to put them in there. The min for tigers is 30, but that's not for a big school.

Just my 2 cents.

Roan

[joylynn]

OK, thanks for the input, I currently have a school of 9 tiger barbs and may just keep it at that or add 1 more to get a nice round number. I also have 3 male opalines in the tank with the barbs right now (currently that tank is way overstocked) so I was going to add 2 females for each male to get a good ratio. Is that going to leave my 75 with some room to grow as long as I don't add the rainbows?

I will also look at a smaller tetra for the 10G. There is so much conflicting information out there about who will play nicely with who! Most sites didn't mention anything about the bows and 3 spots, just said gouramis and rainbows do ok!!!! I really appreciate input from those that have the first hand experience as I don't want any deaths to occur and I don't want to battle water parameters constantly because I am overstocked. I am doing daily water changes on by 35 G right now because of it being over stocked and I would rather have some time to enjoy the fish! I need to get that 75 up soon! :)

[DaisyTattoo]

Some smaller tetras you could put into your 10g are neons, cardinals, or pristellas. They would all probably do just fine.

[joylynn]

Are there any other interesting fish that could go in the 10G? I really like the dwarf corys and would like 3-4 of them for the bottom, so what else could I put in the tank? This is my tank that sits right by my desk (I work from home) and I tend to like to watch it when work is driving me nuts or I am on conference calls, so I don't care if there are only 1-2 fish as long as they are swimmers. A school of small fish would be cool too, I just like to watch the fish move to help find my happy place when dealing with my job :)

[dorkfish]

If you can find some of these, pygmy gouramies (http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_sparkling.php) would look great. They grow to a mere 3cm, and you should be able to keep about 6 of them as well as the corries in a 10g.

[twig]

Cardinals can get up to 2 inches :o I think they're best in min 20 gallon .. neons only get to like 1.5 inches max

[joylynn]

I like the pygmy gouramis alot. I found them on liveaquaria.com for sale. Anyone have anyexperience buying form liveaquaria.com? They have several of the fish I would like to get but I am nervous aobut ordering live animals on line.

[Roan Art]

When I first started I ordered the majority of my fish from them. Quite a few, now that I think of it. I had 1 DOA cherry shrimp and one "damaged" guppy. I was given a credit for the shrimp and the guppy recovered, only to be killed by the Outrageous Orange Guppy Gang.

I highly recommend them for online ordering. Customer service is above par, shipping methods are also above par.

Roan