Help me that I can help my friend

[DragonGoby]

Hi to all of you,
A friend of me want an aquarium to show to her children....
I feel like to help her, because the one who sold her the tank only told her : "wait a week and you can put fish in there, no prob!"...
So I advice her to go fishless for begining her cycle, and I'm going to give her ammonia, and advice her to buy the test kit (and to come here :hmm3grin2orange: ).

Now for the advice:
She has now a 6 gallon tank Marineland eclipse and her filter his with activated carbon.
She would like to have a school of colorful and active fish, some bottom fish and shrimps... And some plants...

I think about endler's : around 8, cherry shrimp : a lot:hmm3grin2orange: , but for the bottom, I'm not sure...

What do you suggest? for all the tank? For stocking the tank? Any other thing that I can tell her?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Devon Greatwolf]

It would probably be best to keep it simple and use hardy fish (or at least cheap easy to find fish). Maybe 7-9 Harlequin Rasboras, Neon tetras, or the genectically engineered "Glow" fish, just dont buy the dye injected ones (added three at a time until full development of the school). As for the bottom maybe add some Panda Cories after the tank is established with the rasbora (they have great character and stay smaller than most other cories). Or maybe Oto's for the bottom. I am not well versed on my inverts so I am no help there. Hope this helps, its just my $0.02 worth.

Peace

[Lady Hobbs]

Why not give her a link to this site so she can join as she will have many questions along the way. But you are great to help her along with getting started. Good for you.

You will have a problem keeping shrimp with any fish, I believe, unless the fish are very small. Shrimp is food for most.

Her tank is small so she should procede very cautiously. I think several neons and a few corys is more than enough for a tank like that or shrimp instead of the corys.

[DragonGoby]

@Lady Hobbs:
I already give her the link to this site :ezpi_wink1: , I can't miss an occasion like that!!!!
As for the shrimp, you can put cherry shrimps with fish like Guppys or Endler's or even sparkling gouramis... So, I'm not too concern, because it will be small fish anyway with her tank so small :thumb: ...

@Devon Greatwolf:
Thanks for the advice, I was thinking about something like that, so you gave me some confirmation!thumbs2: Do you know the size of Harlequin rasbora? And for the Panda cories? Do you know if they need to be in group of 6 or can you put them in group of three?
I forgot Oto, how many of them can you put in there if you have rasboras? or guppies?

Thanks a lot for you help, and don't hesitate to give me lot of advice!!!!:hmm3grin2orange: .... I don't want to screw her tank....

[Devon Greatwolf]

My Rasboras are app. 2 inches

My cories are around 2 inches also and I keep them in a group of three (except I have a few hatchlings hiding in there tank right now).

I currently Keep two Oto's in my thirty gallon with 11 Rummy Nose Tetras and two GBR's. In a tank as small as the one in question if you go with 7ish rasbora or guppies I would not put more than three oto's (or Cories)

I also have just two Albino cories in a thirty with 7 Marbeled Hatchets and 9 Tiger Barbs of various coloration (greens, albino, platinum green and standard)

[Tolley]

Guppies, endlers and harlequins all get 2inches.

If you can find them Why not go for something smaller, like boraras maculatus or celestichthys margaritatus.

[Kayla-Bug]

What about some Dwarf Rasboras? They could get a school of those to put in there and they only get like an eighth of an inch long! They are cute, too!

[Drumachine09]

6-8 fish is far to much for a mere six gallon tank. That is a large bioload for such a small tank, and since she is a beginner, it is prone to crashing. The smaller the tank volume, the faster it will go down hill.


Your best bet would be maybe 2-3 guppies (All male or all female, because she doesn't have the room for fry), and 7 or so shrimp.