44 gal stocking help

[jm1212]

Thanks for all the help! Ok so I'm thinking: 3 peppered or panda cory cats, 5 rummynose tetras, neons, 5 zebra danios, and +/- 1 male betta. I would like the school of neons as the focus, so the question that remains is:

how many neons can I have with the above listed fish in a 44 gallon?

if yuo want lots of neons, go with 20
then, get 6 peppered or panda corydoras
then 6 rummynozes
and 6 zebras.
skip the betta, as the zebras could be to much for him and they have been known to be nippy.

 

[plah831]

I'm thinking: 3 peppered or panda cory cats, 5 rummynose tetras, neons, 5 zebra danios, and +/- 1 male betta. I would like the school of neons as the focus, so the question that remains is:

how many neons can I have with the above listed fish in a 44 gallon?

I think that stocking regime sounds great! Just beware that some male bettas don't play nice with others, while others are sweet as can be. So if it doesn't work out with your betta, maybe be prepared to put him in his own tank (or take him back to the store ). Also, I've noticed that tetras can also sometimes be aggressive. Even in numbers as high as 5 or 6, I think the sex ratio may not play out right. So if you end up with just as many boys as girls, the boys will fight. It's kinda luck of the draw, I think.

It's great that you know cories prefer to be in groups. I'd suggest getting all the same species so either peppered or pandas. I don't think the different cory species will hang out, but I might be wrong.

Neons, I think you could go with 10-12. Your tank is pretty lightly stocked (which is a good thing) without the neons. Neons are so small that they don't add much bioload. Plus, with larger numbers their schooling behavior really comes out. It's awesome to see.

Good job, and I hope it works out for you! Congrats on doing the research FIRST. I wish everyone were like you

 

[jm1212]

I would get some african butterly fish for the top, corys or clown loaches for the bottom, and tetra' for the mid?

clown loaches grow fat to large for a 44 gallon tank, and they need a group of at least 5 to be happy, so then for 5 fully grown clown loaches you'll need at least a 180 gallon tank. they also stunt easily so its best to give them what they need from the start