Nano cube 6g planted - fish ideas?

[pthalobluebetta]

hello,

i recently got a 6g nano cube and have been researching possible fish for it.
currently I'm just cycling the tank and doing a little aquascaping as I pick up more plants. I can't remember the type of substrate I got, it's one of those Amano Japanese brands, black amazonia, medium grain variety. So far I've got some HC in the foreground, a piece of driftwood, some dwarf grass, some rotara indica, and 2 other varieties of unknown tallish plants. And a bunch of java moss floating in a filter bag that I haven't decided where to attach yet.

I plan on adding some algae eating shrimp and/or cherry shrimp.
Fishwise, I'm looking for fish that will stay small. I 'd like to get some panda corys (2") for cleaning, but my LFS says you gotta have to get at least 3 of them. I'd like to get a tiny school of tetras, either cardinal or neon. It seems like neons are smaller at 1.5-1.75" compared to cardinals at 2"

Or instead of the cory or neons I was thinking of dwarf gourami (2") or a single betta (2.5").
But in keeping w/ the miniatured look I'd probably be more intersted in tiny schooling fish that would show off well against the green of the plants. A shop near me has some headlight, head-taillight, flame, ember, etc tetras also, but wow, some of them get up to 2.5"

Any suggestions?

I'm intending the tank to be medium to smei-heavily planted. Would that help w/ the bioload? And how much load do shrimp add to a tank? Or corys? Is there a better gravel cleaning fish out there? And do plants allow more or fewer fish ?

I was at a local store last week and they were running a 12g nano cube with a few plants. Theer were about 20 fish in there, mostly fully mature, all measuring 2-2.5", including cardinal tetras, gouramis, and corys. They also told me that yeah, there's no problem w/ keeping that many fish in there.. it was their main display tank next to the register. I didn't know cardinals got so big and fat! But this store is also one that quaratines all their fish before selling them, provide plenty of informative plaques about behavior of fish, and recommendations on how many of what sex to get, etc. All around consciencious fish store.. so I was confused..


Anyway, according to inches per gallon guidelines, I should have no more than 6" of fish. According to surface area guidelines, at 12x12" of surface water and 12 sq in per fish, I have a capacity of 12"' of fish.

 

[jm1212]

corydoras do like the company of a school, but you can do ok with a air in your size of tank.
plants do not generally help with the bio-load except consume nitrates, which can build up quickly in the size of tank.
dont listen to the guy at the store, for 20 fish is way to many for this size of tank, no matter if they are 1" or not
if you are keeping peacfull fish such as neons, i would go with the surface area rule.
you could have
1. 6 neons and a pair of panda corydoras (along with the shrimp)
2. a m/f pair of dwarf gouramis (if you can find a female) and a pair of pandas (again with the shrimp)
3.6-8 cardinals and the shrimp as cleaners

 

[boofish2]

Just wanted to let you know, even though panda corys are just about the smallest cory there is, they are (IMO) a bit difficult to keep. They are much happier with at least three but unless the water perameters are very good, they tend to die quite easily. If I were you, I'd probably go with the neons (they do look cool in a school) and as for an algae eater -- is it really necessary for only a 6 gallon? Algae eaters are not a replacement for regular water changes and gravel vacs and in a tank that small, regular WC would probably be enough! I'm only telling you about the pandas b/c I have watched many meet there demise unfortunately HTH.

 

[phanmc]

You have HC so I wouldn't recommend any active bottom feeders unless you like your HC floating.

IMO, 6g tanks are too small for schooling fishes, even the small ones like neons. The tetras are rather boring to look at when they don't have alot of swimming space. I'd opt for guppies/endlers instead.

A betta will work (though not with fancy guppies), and I'm going to find out how well they work with cherry shrimps in a heavily planted tank. Bettas will eat the smaller ones if they can catch them.

otos is good for a planted tank, mainly to keep algae on plants at bay. Your cherry shrimps should be good enough as a cleaning crew and they add very little to the bio-load.

Plants will help the water quality and give you a little leeway in stocking but it's not an excuse to overstock, you'll be trading poor water quality with algae problems. I doubt your fishes would like the lack of space either. The fish store sounds like a good place, but they ultimately must sell fish and their products so they need to wow customers with their displays sometimes.

Something like:

1 betta/honey gourami
4-6 guppies/endlers/small school
1-3 otos

would be fully stocked.

 

[pthalobluebetta]

bleh, floating HC, that would be annoying =)
after I spent more than an hour planting those **** things.. guess no corys for me then =(

I was also entertaining the though of 3 female bettas, they have these really lovely red half moon ones w/ cream colored fins at my local store.

thanks for suggestions.. it'll be a while before i actually get any fishies and shrimps =)

i was considering some algae eating fish because i had read about algae problems in planted tanks. I assumed my tank will be pretty brightly lit since the manual states that it uses a 18 watt CFL rated at 5half 10K and half 7K

we'll see how my plants grow out first though!

 

[twig]

get your plants going nicely and you won't get algae.