Small Tank Ideas

[armadeus95]

Hey guys,
At the start of the year I moved to Melbourne for university and just recently decided to get back into the hobby (I use to keep a bunch of plecos and corydoras) and due to space constraints I figured a small tank would be great to get back into the groove of things before I find my own place next year.
Like any university student, I impulse bought a small fish tank. It's about 8-10 gallons and I was wondering what I could do with it?
It's an AR-380 (38cmx25cmx45cm) and I've never really dealt with tanks this small before so I'm a little unsure what to do.
The tank is cycling at the moment and I plant to let it do so for another month before I get anything so I have heaps of time to figure out what to get!
I'm not too keen on a Betta set up but if I can, want to develop a really vibrant community tank but space constraints being an issue, I have no idea what I can really do with this

So far the fish I definitely want to get are Corydoras Pygmaeus. From what I can tell, they are the only bottom dwelling fish or catfish I can keep in the tank.
I have also gotten suggestions for Boraras Brigattae and Rasbora Maculata's to fill in the upper and middle collumn. Celestial Danios I hear are also are an option as well.
Shrimp is a definite as well

But any suggestions for stocking, plants or set up would be much appreciated!!

[Mol_PMB]

An alternative small catfish genus might be Otocinclus.

What's your water like - hard or soft?

I like the inference that all students impulse-buy fish tanks!

[rupertoooo]

Nice write up over at Wetspot Tropical Fish this past week.

http://www.wetspottropicalfish.com/index.php/spotlight

[catfishchaos]

Personally I would go for

Otocinclus cocama

and never look back!

You could also try

Corydoras hastatus

(a small breeding group is what I would do)


Regards
James

[bekateen]

I know a lot of people keep otos, but I've never had good luck with them. They are the only type of fish I've ever tried to keep but couldn't. Over the last 3-4 years, I've bought and lost 15-20 of those little guys; not in one big group, but bought and lost 2-4 here, another 3-5 another time, three more a few months later, etc. I don't know why, but I just find them difficult to care for. One day I'll learn the secret as to why mine die, but until I do, I can't recommend otos to anyone.

That said, I think cocama is a beautiful little fish.

[armadeus95]

So heres the photo of the tank if that helps - i got the rocks and a small anubias plant yesterday because I figured the plant would introduce some bacteria into the tank.
The tank is soft water - the tap water in melbourne is pretty soft as well and I plan to put in some grapevine in there as well after I've let it soak for a bit because I figured the tannins it would leach in the tank would be too heavy
I've read up on some sites that Corydoras Hastatus need larger tanks in comparison to the Pygmaeus? Unfortunately they're also twice the price of Pygmaeus as well
On top of that the Oto Cocama's are twice the price of Hastatus! Fish just don't come cheaply in Australia

So hypothetically, if i was to keep a small schooling fish such as the Boraras' and a school of oto's or small cory's (or both)
stocking wise, what would be the limit? (38cm-widthx25cm-lengthx45cm)

Nice write up over at Wetspot Tropical Fish this past week.

Great article! so many fish so little space

[Marine590622]

Melbourne, any of the smaller blue eyes. And to make it even cooler you can collect them yourself...

https://www.google.com/search?q=blue+ey ... iAodI1UOGQ

[Marine590622]

.....
So hypothetically, if i was to keep a small schooling fish such as the Boraras' and a school of oto's or small cory's (or both)
stocking wise, what would be the limit? (38cm-widthx25cm-lengthx45cm)

Nice write up over at Wetspot Tropical Fish this past week.

Great article! so many fish so little space

Totally depends on filtration and how frequently you are willing to do water changes. 90% every other day gives you a higher stocking level then 10% once per month...

[Marine590622]

I know a lot of people keep otos, but I've never had good luck with them. They are the only type of fish I've ever tried to keep but couldn't. Over the last 3-4 years, I've bought and lost 15-20 of those little guys; not in one big group, but bought and lost 2-4 here, another 3-5 another time, three more a few months later, etc. I don't know why, but I just find them difficult to care for. One day I'll learn the secret as to why mine die, but until I do, I can't recommend otos to anyone.

That said, I think cocama is a beautiful little fish.

Where were you getting them, I have had terrible luck with ottos from chain stores, great luck with ottos I ordered through importers, who brought the fish in, and conditioned them in their tanks before selling them.

[bekateen]

Where were you getting them, I have had terrible luck with ottos from chain stores, great luck with ottos I ordered through importers, who brought the fish in, and conditioned them in their tanks before selling them.

Mostly from chain stores (PetSMART), but some from a LFS I trust and trade my home-bred fish with. But even then, I don't know the prior conditioning of the stock my LFS gets. I've never had a chance to buy wild-caught from an alternative source like you're describing.

[armadeus95]

Totally depends on filtration and how frequently you are willing to do water changes. 90% every other day gives you a higher stocking level then 10% once per month...

well considering its a small tank, taking 30 minutes out of my weekend to change about a bucket full of water I would think wouldn't be too difficult - say about 20-30% a week?

[catfishchaos]

If you got some more plants in there for the otos (like amazon swords and what not) then I personally would do a Trio of the

Otocinclus cocama

, 4

Corydoras hastatus

and then some green neon tetras (if you are ok with fish from different continents in the same tank then for sure go for the Celestial Danios but for some reason that drives me crazy). At that stocking level I would probably do 50% weekly.

[racoll]

I had a small aquarium for a several years with Boraras and Pangio (kuhli loaches), and it worked very well indeed. Kuhli loaches are criminally underrated fish that are dirt cheap and loads of fun. You can also pick up some rare species if you keep an eye on the large batches of them that appear in shops, as they are often shipped mixed.

Having said that, I would have serious reservations about keeping them in a tank with gravel and no plants. Even if they survived, you would probably never see them.

Remember also that the Boraras will need soft water, but that's usually not too much of a problem for a small tank.

[armadeus95]

At that stocking level I would probably do 50% weekly.

I was thinking about stocking about that many fish in the tank as well but definitely didnt think I would need to do 50% WCs, thanks for the tip!

The tank is a little bare at the moment but I only just got it 4-5 days ago. I do plan to add in more plants and driftwood once I have a general idea of what I would be stocking. I'm considering to some baby tears for ground cover and maybe an amazon sword for a centre piece. Ive got a grape vine branch i got from the LFS as well. I'd figure I would need a lot of plants to help maintain water quality within the tank

Also would panda corydoras be too large for the tank? I've heard suggestions that they may be small enough

[catfishchaos]

Like I said thats just how I personally would do it, I have a 55 gallon of my own and its pretty well stock, I have 7

Peckoltia compta

, 4

Panaqolus maccus

, 7 lemon tetras, 10 or so penguin tetras and 3-4 glass bloodfins. Mainly because of the little wood chippers in the tank I do about a 50-75% water change weekly and clean half my sponges bimonthly on a rotation so I don't kill all the bacteria at once. I should also mention the Otos will fair much better in a stable environment and I would be sure to add them to the tank last so that some natural algae can build up on the wood, glass and leaves.

I don't know much about panda Corydoras but the ones I have seen are much larger than

Corydoras pygmaeus

. Plus if you really want to make a nice nano tank using fish of the smallest size possible will create a better sense of scale.

[Marine590622]

Where were you getting them, I have had terrible luck with ottos from chain stores, great luck with ottos I ordered through importers, who brought the fish in, and conditioned them in their tanks before selling them.

Mostly from chain stores (PetSMART), but some from a LFS I trust and trade my home-bred fish with. But even then, I don't know the prior conditioning of the stock my LFS gets. I've never had a chance to buy wild-caught from an alternative source like you're describing.

First off you need to find a local aquarium club. Club folks can give you leads on importers you can trust.

Coast Club (Freshwater)
Southern California Marine Aquarium Society
Pacific Coast Cichlid Association (Freshwater)
Bay Area Reefers
Central Valley Reefers
Marine Aquarist Roundtable of Sacramento (MARS)
Marine Aquarium Society of Ventura County (MASVC)
Northern California Reef Club
San Diego Marine Aquarium Society (SDMAS)
San Francisco Aquarium Society
Southern California Nano-Reef Society
Southern California Reef Keepers (SCRK) Google found these in California.

I would recommend Tedsfishroom.com

The ottos in this price list have been in his stock for at least three weeks and they looked great last night. Ihttp://tedsfishroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/TFR_PRICE_LIST.pdf If you order some tell him I sent you.

Sorry to hi-jack the thread.

[Marine590622]

2 pair of the peacock gudgeon.

[bekateen]

Sorry to hi-jack the thread.

In the interest of not further hijacking a thread, I'll just send you (Marine590622) a PM.

[Stuartbolton1]

Pygmaeus don't tend to stay in the bottom part of the tank IME I would go for a shoal of those though as they are a great little fish for the Middle to lower layer and then maybe shrimps? With a shoal of neon green rasbora or my favourite Sundadanio axelrodi, alternatively you could go for a small tetra shoal such as ember tetra to give colour in the upper layer? There is always the possibility of small rainbows there too!

It could look really effective with a well planted tank and a range of smaller happier inhabitants than cramming larger inhabitants into a smaller tank.

In a tank of your size you could have:

Breeding colony of shrimp cardina sp and neocardina sp.
6-8 pygmaeus
10 Sundadanio axelrodi
8-10 Ember tetra
Small group of threadfin rainbows

It all depends on what you want as your centrepiece in your tank, I had a very similar set up and the axelrodi were the showstoppers as they flash constantly a pearlescent green hue. You may prefer a different type of look.

[armadeus95]

OK say after about 6 weeks of allowing the tank to cycle I've added 5 Maculata rasboras and 5 pygmy cory's.
I totally underestimated how small these fish actually are. I'd figure i can get 10 of each and a small colony of shrimp.
I was wondering with the tank parameters i have 38cmx25cmx45cm, if its possible to get a small colony of otocinclus as well???