67 Gallon - The Plan... advice?

[Xabbusan]

Hi all (first post!!)

I recently picked up a 67 gallon tank and have been trying to come up with a good community tank stock. I have gone through a few different ideas but this is what I have landed on right now. I am now looking for some advice from people who have kept some of these fish to see if this will work out ok or not.

• 10x Neon Tetra
• 10x Diamond Head Neon Tetra
• 10x Black Harlequin Rasbora
• 10x Celestial Pearl Danio
• 6x Pygmy Cory
• 6x Oto Cat
• 6x Dwarf Rainbowfish
• 4x Ghost Shrimp
• 3x Snail
• 1x Clam

I feel like this is a lot lol but I am not sure. The only other tank I have kept was a large 150 gallon with 2x Oscars so I am not very well versed in the community tanks or in smaller tanks in general.

I also have a 16 gallon panoramic, bowfront that I am going to setup for 3-4 Dwarf Puffers. Are there any good tankmates for them at all? or should I just keep them all alone?

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[evil wizard]

10 neon tetras, they aren't the hardiest of fish so I would add them towards the end if you get them.
The harlequin rasboras are an excellent fish, quite beautiful and easy to keep.
Celestial pearl danios, goes under a few names, they are tiny little fish.
Otto fish, they are a rather fragile and delicate fish in the first few weeks/days of coming to your tank. They absolutely require an established tank before they are introduced.
The shrimp just may get torn up by the rainbows but I don't have experience with rainbows. (Soon I will)
What type of snails? I wouldnt go for something too small like a nerite, maybe go for a mystery snail?
I highly do not reccomend a clam unless you happen to be an expert. They can be hard to feed and if they die, you might not notice and they can pollute the water quickly.

 

[OrionGirl]

I'd limit it to one or 2 schooling species where the adult fish is different in size. Otherwise you end up a with a muddle of fish, without true schooling behavior.

Get more pygmy cories, they will be happier and more active in a bigger group (really, that's true for all schooling/shoaling species).

Ditto on picking a snail species. Is this going to be a planted tank? I'd ditch the ghost shrimp, personally, and go for something like amanos. And ditch the clam--they're very difficult to feed, and if you want to keep them, will do best in a tank specific for them.

 

[dougall]

If you're going to plan to add that many types of fish, potentially form many sources, my biggest suggestion would be to quarantine, and quarantine well.

To go along with OG, I'd ditch the Ghost shrimp, as they can be a number of different species, and are known to eat eggs and fry. Maybe try a bunch of Neocaradina shrimp, they are interesting, easy to breed, and can be sold with relative ease.

If you're planning to go with plants, I wouldn't consider an apple snail,.

And I'd also go with large schools of a smaller number of fish, for example I have 30g tank with 2 types of shrimp, oto catfish, corydorus hastatus and a type of unidentified tetra... and I'm perfectly happy with it like that. shrimp breed, catfish look like they might, and there's enough activity for me.

 

[fishorama]

Maybe use your 16g as a quarantine tank until your bigger tank is stocked?

 

[Xabbusan]

Thanks for the replies! I have posted at a few fish forums and it looks like AquariaCentral will be my new home

What type of snails? I wouldnt go for something too small like a nerite, maybe go for a mystery snail?

Yeah, I was thinking mystery snails. I like the nerite, but haven't seen one in person so I didn't realize they were so small, Thanks!! I also appreciate the help on stocking order. That was a big concern of mine.

Ditto on picking a snail species. Is this going to be a planted tank?

Yes, I plan on doing at least a partially planted tank. I am still considering my options on the aquascaping so I am currently thinking of doing something where one end of the tank has a lot of green/live plants/wood, etc and the other end is more barren, maybe some carpeting plant or moss, and mainly rocks/caves.

Everyone has given great advice! I have adjusted my stock below. What do you think?

• 10x Red Eye Tetra (because.. larger and hardier/color match with Rainbowfish)
• 20x Celestial Pearl Danio (because... smaller so as to differentiate better from tetras)
• 10x Pygmy Cory (larger group)
• 6x Oto Cat
• 6x Dwarf Rainbowfish
• 2x Mystery Snail

*I wasn't sure if I should add any shrimp at all based on the advice. Are the cory's and oto's enough "cleaners"? Or should I add shrimp, just not ghost shrimp?
**I did not include the clam lol I just saw one as I was doing research and didn't realize you could even keep a clam haha. I hadn't actually done the research on them yet, just thought it was interesting and figured I might get some comments on if they are good to keep or not.

Maybe use your 16g as a quarantine tank until your bigger tank is stocked?

I didn't mention it, but I also have a 20 gallon tank that I plan to use as quarantine. It was originally going to be used as a sump filter (isn't in the nicest of condition for a show tank, used to be a hamster cage, free off craigslist), but it doesn't fit inside the stand I have. So, I have to come up with a new plan there. Thinking of still doing a cheap diy sump out of plastic tubs/storage drawers, or I may just go with a canister filter.

 

[evil wizard]

Well, if you really want shrimp you could set the tank up and put in some shrimp after it's done cycling and wait until they have established themselves into a healthy colony to make sure they have a good chance at not being potenntially wiped out by the fish

 

[Xabbusan]

Well I could honestly go either way on the shrimp. I mean they are kinda cool, but I mainly included them just because it seems like every community tank/planted tank that I see seems to have them. Same reason I chose Ghost Shrimp, just seems like they are the most common.

Are shrimp worth it to have? like for their cleaning behaviors? Or are they more trouble than they are worth?

If I did want to include shrimp, what kind would you recommend/how many?

 

[fishorama]

Yeah for QT! This is an important step in the right direction of a long-term fish keeper! Do it!!

I haven't kept red-eye tetras (I'd go with smaller fish) but I have kept red cherry shrimp successfully with your all other fish. Shrimp are very interesting! You won't be sorry, they're fun!

I'm not really sure of a "67g" tank's dimensions...sometimes I don't speak metric well. So, in inches (or metric if you say!) what size is this tank? Footprint is oh so important for filtration, aeration, stocking etc.

 

[Xabbusan]

Yeah lol back in the day I didn't even know about quarantines when I had my oscars. Probably explains a lot haha.

My tank is a long, tall, skinny one. It's approx 48L x 12.5W x 25xH

Any suggestions on filtration are very welcome. Also plants because I haven't really started my research on that yet.

I was thinking of the red eye tetra because I want some slightly larger fish to go along with my little ones. I was researching that they are pretty hardy and I think they would compliment rainbow fish with their color. The red eye matching the red fins.

I think shrimp could be fun too, just not sure what the right kind would be or how many would be appropriate for my stock/tank size.