School of Neon Tetras - FINALLY!

I'm back.

Since my last post, I've started up a 5 gallon Cherry Shrimp breeding tank with java moss and a small internal heater. I've bleached and re-setup my 29 gallon. It is in the process of cycling right now and my water is very cloudy (bacteria bloom?). I put a clump of bacopa and a giant anubias in the tank for now along with driftwood and a few rocks. I'm not sure what fish to add to my 29 gallon now. I wanted to give guppies another shot but it hurts to see them.

My 55 gallon looks fabulous now. The plants are all established and THRIVING! I doubled my dose of DIY CO2 (1 tsp. yeast + 2 cups sugar + 1.75 L water = miracle). I use an AquaClear 70 powerhead as a CO2 diffuser as well as water circulator and mini internal filter.

Current stocking level:

16 x neon tetras
5 x kuhli loaches

>>Algae cleanup crew <<

3 x (Giant) Amano shrimp
1 x Otocinclus (will be adding more soon)
2 x Siamese Flying Foxes (will be adding more soon)
2 x (Giant) Zebra Nerite snails
3 (or more) Red Ramshorn snails


My algae cleanup crew is awesome. Together they make my tank virtually spotless. The only thing they are not eating is green spot algae, but that's been diminishing since I added more CO2.

What they do eat: hair/thread algae, brown/red algae, green fuzz/beard algae, microorganisms...hydra???

My dream of keeping a large school of neon tetras has finally come true. And boy does it look magnificient. I love it when they are schooling together and swish back and forth across the tank. It's so peaceful watching them....

PS. Turns out my 10 gallon was NOT infested with velvet. Corydoras catfish NATURALLY have a golden "glimmer" around their fins/gills/body. I bought another False Julii Cory cat today. He seems healthy and energetic. Hopefully he'll stay that way!! :)


PPS. I FIGURED OUT HOW TO FEED BOTTOM FEEDERS WITHOUT OTHER FISH STEALING ALL THE FOOD FIRST!


The solution is simple really: tie the algae wafer or shrimp pellet or other "sinking" food onto a flat rock with a small elastic band. Make sure it's secure and there's no "wiggle room". Works like a charm. My betta is so angry he can't steal any food!!

*Remove any uneaten food*

List of Freshwater Tropical Community Fish Part I

This will be a brief list of Freshwater Tropical Fish + Compatibility Level (0-5 (5 = gets along with all fish)) + Difficulty Level (Easy, Medium, Difficult). Hopefully this list will help me decide how to stock your tank. The following info is not 100% guaranteed accurate. Just based on some of my readings.

Format: Name - Compatibility Rating - Difficulty Level

1. Common Betta Fish (Male)

Compatibility: ** (depends on individual fish's aggressiveness, aggressiveness of tank mates, tank mate's colors, swimming speed, size of tank etc.) Given the right conditions, Betta fish make excellent community fish. Keep only one Labyrinth fish per tank or else they'll fight. Especially avoid keeping another male Betta - they will fight until one of them dies!

Difficulty Level: Easy



2. Fancy Guppies

Compatibility: **** (Make sure tank mates won't nip their colorful tails! Also, if kept in schools of less than 6, Guppies MAY get jittery and harass other fish. He won't fight them though, as guppies are peaceful fish.)

Difficulty Level: Extremely Easy

3. Platies

Compatibility: ***** (EXTREMELY peaceful, docile fish, but they don't like overly rowdy fish. Like to be kept in small groups - at least a pair)

Difficulty Level: Extremely Easy

4. Mollies

Compatibility: *** (May be incompatible with some fish as Mollies often need aquarium salt to thrive.)
Difficulty Level: Easy


5. Swordtails

Compatibility: *** (Needs to be kept in groups in a large aquarium in order to maintain their long sword-like tails. Gets along great with other fish.)

Difficulty Level: Easy


6. Neon Tetras, Cardinal Tetras, MOST of the other Tetras (some exceptions)

Compatibility: ** (Needs to be in large schools of 6+ or they'll nip fins. Cannot be tanks with large fish that might eat them. Prone to Neon Tetra Disease. Sensitive to poor water conditions.
Peaceful if kept with similar sized fish and lots of cover)

Difficulty Level: Medium


7. Otocinclus Catfish

Compatibility: ***** (Gets along with absolutely everybody. Quiet, peaceful, slow swimming and inconspicuous)

Difficulty Level: Hard (They're almost always starving because they pretty much only eat soft green algae, which is rare in a clean aquarium. You could wean them off algae and train them to eat veggies, but it's tough. Most ignore algae wafers (which contain fish meal that other fish will eat) They suffer from poor immune systems due to suspected poisoning methods during capture from the wild. Very sensitive to changing water parameters, poor water conditions. Thrives only in groups of 6+. I had two and both of them died within a month. =(

8. Corydoras Catfish (Panda, Dwarf, Spotted, Julii, Bronze)

Compatibility:***** (Very shy, peaceful species. Gets along with all fish and never gets in anybody's way. Excellent bottom cleaner.)


Difficulty Level: Easy (a sensible alternative to the Oto Catfish if you want to keep healthy catfish)


9. Zebra Danios, Pearl Danios

Compatibility: *** (Needs large tank (20g +) to dither around in...AND must be kept in groups 6+ (EMPHASIS ON THE MUST) or they will be AGGRESSIVE FIN NIPPERS. Very hardy but will be virtually impossible to catch once you introduce them to a tank as they swim impossibly fast. (I once spent a whole hour trying to catch a SINGLE Zebra Danio from my 10 G tank. Literally)

Difficulty Level: Extremely Easy


10. Dwarf Gouramis

Compatibility: *** (Avoid overly boisterous tank mates, fin nippers, other Labyrinth fish (i.e. Betta fish), aggressive fish, extremely large fish. Friendly fish.)

Difficulty Level: Easy

Stocking Ideas

......I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up setting up more tanks. It's quite rewarding and really addictive! My poor parents would have a fit over the electricity bill though...But in my imagination, if I could buy more tanks, these might be some of the setups I'd choose:

*The larger the tank, the easier it is to maintain. Remember that! Try cleaning the gravel in a small 10G tank and you'll know what I mean. Before you even clean half the tank, 50% of the water is already gone!! Water chemistry changes, temperature changes....etc. stress your fish!*

Anyways. My dream setups, given that I could have unlimited space, energy, resources, power, money etc...*ahhhhhh* Don't laugh at my naive compilations. I'm a beginner, remember that! My stocking ideas are probably amateur-ish...but the whole point of this exercise is to have fun - so here goes!

1. 40G Long.
- 12 harlequin rasboras (~12 inches)
-12 neon tetras (~12 inches)
- 6 rummynose tetras (~6 inches)
- 6 spotted cory cats (~12 inches)
- 10 Ghost shrimp
- 4 Honey Gouramis (~10 inches)


2. 40G: Cichlid Tank

- 2 Rams (breeding pair) (~8inches)
- 6 Kribensis (24 inches)
- 2 Clown loaches (~12 inches)


3: 40 G tall
- 2 Angelfish (~14 inches)
- 1 Golden Nugget Pleco (~4 inches)
- 6 Steel Blue Killifish (~18inches)
- 6 Pygmy cory cats (~9 inches?)


4. 29 G Betta Tank + Planted

- 1 Blue Half-Moon male Betta (~3 inches)
- 6 Oto catfish (~12inches)
-10 cardinal tetras (~15 inches)
- 15 Cherry shrimps

5. 50G: Planted + Tetra Tank

-6 Bleeding Heart Tetras (18inches)
-10 Serpae Tetras (15 inches)
-6 Lemon Tetras (9 inches)
-6 Neon Tetras (9 inches)
-10 Amano shrimp

6. 10 G

- 3 African Dwarf Frogs (6 inches)
- 5 Cherry Shrimp
- 1 Male Betta fish (3 inches)


7. 10 G

- 5 female betta fish (15 inches)
- 7 cherry shrimp

8. 60 G: Dither Fish Tank

- 4 Silver Dollars (24 inches)
- 10 Pearl Danios (20inches)
- 5 Coolie Loaches (~20inches)
- 1 Red-tailed Black Shark (~6 inches)


9. 40 G - Barbs Tank - Planted

- 6 Rosy Barbs (12 inches)
- 4 Black Ruby Barbs (10 inches)
- 4 Cherry Barbs (10 inches)
- 2 Siamese Algae Eaters (8 inches)
- 10 Amano Shrimp


10. 80 G

- 3 Rosy-Line Sharks (~18 inches)
- 6 Silver Hatchetfish (15inches)
- 10 Neon Dwarf Rainbowfish (25 inches)
- 2 Kissing Gourami (12 inches)
- 2 Bristlenose Plecos (12 inches)
- 3 Pictus Catfish (15 inches)


11. 29 G

5 Glass Catfish (~15 inches)
5 Lyretail Mollies (~15 inches)
10 Ghost Shrimp
2 Oto catfish


12. 60 G

12 Adolf's Cory Cats (24 inches)
10 Black Phantom Tetras ( 2o inches)
10 Red-Eye Tetras (2o inches)
2 Dwarf Cichlids (4 inches)


13. 45 G

6 Paradise Fish (28 inches)
2 Three Spot Gourami (10 inches)
6 Tiger Barbs (15 inches)
6 Bumblebee Goby (6 inches)

14. 50 G Livebearers

6 Sailfin Mollies (18 inches)
6 Dalmation Mollies (18 inches)
6 Swordtails (24 inches)
4 Upside-Down catfish (12 inches)

15. 45 G Livebearers

15 Fancy Guppies (30 inches)
7 Peach Platys (14 inches)
6 Panda Cory Cats ( 12 inches)

16. 90 G Oscars

4 Red Oscars (56 inches)
1 Sailfin Pleco (15 inches)
4 Tinfoil Barbs (40 inches)


17. 80 G Discus Tank

5 Discus (40 inches)
12 Peppered Cory Cats (36 inches)
20 Neon Tetras (30 inches)



18. 70 G

3 Albino Severums (30 inches)
6 Jewel Cichlids (25 inches)
1 Bristlenose Pleco (6 inches)


19. 15 G

2 Dwarf Gourami (5 inches)
15 Endler's Livebearers (15 inches)
7 Cherry Shrimp


20. 1 G (Last one!)

NOTHING. Nothing will thrive in a 1 gallon tank other than algae, dust, and bacteria. Especially if it's unfiltered and unheated. Don't even bother trying.



Hope you enjoyed this ridiculously long post! More to come! Hopefully I'll update on a weekly basis. =)