Yep, ANOTHER stocking question... lol. Input welcomed!

emilyekk

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Apr 28, 2009
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Well tonight I headed to my LFS with the intention of buying diamond tetras because they were supposed to be on sale for .99 a piece. Apparently the sale had ended earlier in the day so I decided to browse around.

I ended up just getting one more neon tetra (bumping my school up to 15) and 4 more julii corys (bumping my school up to 6).

Now my tank consists of:
15 neon tetra
6 julii cory
6 albino cory
5 balloon molly
2 german blue rams




I *PLAN* to add 2 pearl gouramis when and if my LFS ever gets them back in stock.

I was planning on adding the diamonds but then I saw that my LFS also had dwarf rainbow fish in stock and I couldn't decide so I came home to research a bit more before buying (and ask all of you helpful people, lol).

So, what do you suppose would be the best addition to my tank? They don't have to be the rainbow or diamond, those were just two I was interested in. My original goal was to have a TON of color in my tank - but it seems like most of the fish I have gotten aren't that noticable (excluding the neons of course). I don't know if my rams are just little or what but you barely even notice them my tank is so big.

I still kind of want glo fish but I also like the idea of "natural" looking fish and also they are like $8 a pop, lol. A little steep when the regular zebra danios are like $2 a piece... meh. Just don't know that it's worth it.


If I got the diamonds or rainbows, how many would you suggest? Would you suggest anything else to go with them?


Please just keep in mind I do plan to add the 2 pearl gourami's - so add that to my above "already have" list, even though I don't have them yet.


Thank you so so much for any advice or input. I am so thankful for this board and the people on it. I frankly don't know where I'd be without it, lol. :thumbsup:
 
I personally wouldn't recommend gourami's and rams together. I've had a very bad experience that ended up in the gourami torturing the smaller ram to death, and the other ram kicking the crap out of the gourami to the point it couldn't eat properly anymore and it died not too long after.
 
I personally wouldn't recommend gourami's and rams together. I've had a very bad experience that ended up in the gourami torturing the smaller ram to death, and the other ram kicking the crap out of the gourami to the point it couldn't eat properly anymore and it died not too long after.


Woah! Good to know, lol. I have been told they would work great together so I'm glad you shared your experience. lol. Is there another "centerpiece" fish I could get if I didn't do the pearl gourami's?
 
how big is your tank?

i agree that rams are a great centerpiece on their own. plus, they're pretty likely to breed if you have a male/female pair; breeding really adds some activity and interest to your tank because they are fascinating to watch as they care for the fry.
 
okay so I jsut replied to your other post and then found this. I'm glad you uped your julies! Sounds like you ditched the tiger barbs and got the rams instead at some point in the last day. I don't have experience with rams so I don't know about the gourami/ram interaction, Gouramis really are wonderful fish though. Still, I would say get rid of the baloon mollies and add a school of 9 diamond tetras. They're so gorgeous once they're settled into the tank. I miss mine :-( they're dazzling
 
okay so I jsut replied to your other post and then found this. I'm glad you uped your julies! Sounds like you ditched the tiger barbs and got the rams instead at some point in the last day. I don't have experience with rams so I don't know about the gourami/ram interaction, Gouramis really are wonderful fish though. Still, I would say get rid of the baloon mollies and add a school of 9 diamond tetras. They're so gorgeous once they're settled into the tank. I miss mine :-( they're dazzling


Sorry I take so long to respond to everything!

I had written tiger barbs in error... I have no idea what I was thinking - I have never owned tiger barbs! Lol. I meant GBR.

Anyhow, I upped my cory schools but had some issues with my tank and had to black it out and lost my male GBR, 2 julii cories and one albino cory in the process. Everything has since balanced out and the past 3 tests of the water have been perfect in all areas (I use the api freshwater master kit). So anyhow I am down to 4 julii and 5 albino... I personally am pretty okay with these numbers... do I need to get more? I will never get more than 6 of each though, just keep that in mind.

I am not big on trading/or getting rid of fish I already have... just doesn't feel right to me, plus I like the mollies, so they are staying.

My tank is a 55 gallon. I wouldn't mind using the GBR as my centerpiece fish... my lone female is TEENY tiny though (she's the size of my neon tetras, and not the biggest out of all of them lol). I know she'll get larger but I don't know if it will be that noticable. I am definately getting another male now that my tank has gone back to normal, but I wonder how many more I could add? I really do like the look of them but I didn't think I could add more than two without being overstocked?

Just to clarify this is my current tank stock:

5 balloon molly
15 neon tetra
4 julii cory
5 albino cory
1 GBR
 
9 Corys in total is a good amount. You could do more with a 55g tank, but they should be ok as they are. You could also try some Kuhli loaches in there. 6-10 would be good.

As a centerpiece I really think a pair of GBRs are enough. I was going to suggest and Angelfish, but I just looked up Mollys and read they can be nippy.
 
Since you do have 55g I dont see the problem with having more than 1 pair of GBRs. What about getting a different species of ram or a species of apisto?
 
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