The stocking puzzle

I'm still puzzled as to how to stock my tank... I'd really like 5 or 6 of one fish and then a nice center piece fish like a male betta or a male dwarf gourami, but I'm not sure what to put with them... any help would be great!

hana

BTW, I have a 15 gallon tank

 

Any small rasbora or tetra would work nicely. What about a single pearl gourami (beautiful and generally healthier than the dwarfs) and maybe 6 copper or harlequin rasboras. This would also leave you some room in the tank for a few small cory cats. Would make a nice tank IMO.

 

As a general guideline, I would avoid any fish that gets larger than 4" or 5" (15 gallons really isn't a large tank). And from there, pretty much any fish you get would fall under the 1" of adult fish / gallon rule.

-Chelle

 

...

what about say six tiger barbs and a dwarf gourami? I really like the albino barbs... And a flame or blue dwarf would go nicely... I also like the emporer tetras... One of my comcerns is that my ph stays within the 7.4 range, so I don't want to do them any damage with a wrong ph level...

Hana

 

Your pH is fine. A stable pH is MUCH more important than pH that is slightly off. In most cases if it's between 6 & 8 and stable, you're better off leaving it alone.

I think 4 tiger barbs and a dwarf gourami would be okay.
tiger barbs = 3" x 4 = 12 gallons
gourami = 2" x 1 = 2 gallons
total = 14 gallons

If you keep up with water changes you might be able to squeeze in another tiger barb.

Or 6, maybe 7 emperor tetras (2") & a dwarf gourami.

-Chelle

 

....

ah, ok... I thought tiger barbs only got to be 2 inches, but that's ok. I also like the serpa (spelling?) tetras... So I'm not sure... Should I make a list of good combinations and just see when I go to the store who says "please take me home"? But I think I really like the idea of 4 tiger barbs, and one gourami. Do you think he will get picked on a lot since the barbs get a bit bigger?

Hana

 

The main think I'd worry about would be his fins getting nipped.

-Chelle

 

So how would you find how much space a fish that is over 4'' or 5'' requires then?

 

Stocking tanks is actually pretty complicated and you have to consider the physical size of the fish, bioload, aggressiveness, activity level, and region or the tank occupied.

Some fish (ie the ones that are relatively small, peaceful, and not so messy - like tetras, barbs, danios, etc) can be covered fairly well by the 1" rule. Others like cichlids, goldfish, really large fish, and really active fish, don't.

Your best bet would be to do a google search and check about 5 or 6 different sites and take the average. Sometimes (like with some of the larger gouramis) you can use the 1" rule, but you have to work with a minimum tank size if anything, for the amount of swimming space. Two 5" fish aren't going to be able to move around in a 10 gallon very well w/o bumping into eachother.

A lot of times, you just have to try to picture the fish at it's adult size in your tank and ask yourself "Would it have plenty of swimming space?". A suggestion I heard someone mention once is cut out pieces of paper to the shape & size of the adult fish you plan on putting in your tank and tape them to the outside. That will give you a much better idea of how full your tank really is.

With aggressive fish like the larger cichlids, you have to allot more & more space/fish with each fis you add. The more you have, the less likely it is that they will all get along so you have to give them plenty of room to establish their own territories.

Similarly, you can't stock a tank full of bottom dwellers or full of top dwellers or everyone is going to be bumping into eachother. It's good to have a mix of bottom, middle, & top.

-Chelle