Cherry Barbs, Cardinals, or Glolights

[Sir Tristen]

Hey all,

I'm just throwing out yet another idea for the stocking of my 20 long. Should finish a fishless cycle within a couple weeks.

I want a small school of corys, probably 6 peppers unless I can find pandas or pygmys somewhere. I'm also thinking of a dwarf gourami. Now the question is weather to put cardinals, glolights, or cherry barbs with the previously mentioned fish. Which and how many?

I'm running an Aquaclear 70, so I should have more than adequate filteration. I have a medium amount of live plants: hornwort, anachris, java fern, and a struggling wisteria that may not make it. Substrate is silica sand.

[Sir Tristen]

Here's a pic

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[travie]

I say cherry barbs, and at least of school of 6 or 8.

[Northernguy]

You can go with some sword tails or even a few guppys!
2 females and one male or all the same sex.

[terrapin24h]

You can go with some sword tails or even a few guppys!
2 females and one male or all the same sex.

Orgy alert!!!!!
If you get opposing sexes with livebearers you will always have a ready supply of new fishes :) I think a nice sized school of glofish would look sweet in your tank, along with a dwarf gourami. Throw in some shrimp and a few otos too.

--chris

[Sir Tristen]

If I were to get a school of glolights or cherry barbs, say 9 and a male dwarf gourami, could I get some corys too, or am I overloading things? I'd almost prefer the corys to anything else.:c2:

Also, would a dwarf and cherrys get along? I don't think the corys or glolights would be a problem.

[NickFish]

It all depends on your personal preference.

I would suggest cherries, because they are the hardiest of the three and are fun to watch. Make sure you get a couple females in the school too, the males colors intensify with females in the tank, and breeding could be a bonus if you're lucky.

Cherries will get along fine with a dwarf gourami. The male cherries fight like crazy over the females, or at least mine do, but never doing any real damage. They don't go near any other fish though. If you overlook the mild pecking order issue with the other males, they are probably one of the most peaceful fish out there.

I don't think thats overloading things. Cherries do have a slightly larger bio-load than the glo-lights I think. An adult female cherry eats quite a bit. I would only get 6 or 7 if you go for cherries.

[Tolley]

Cherry Barbs are awesome I would go with them. I have a school of 16 in my 50g.

[Sir Tristen]

So, with the cherrys, the males are the only ones with the red color? Cuz there's only one with red coloring at the lfs, and the rest are brown. Are they just miserable there and in need of a good home to show better color?

[Demi ^_^]

Well I have a school of Glwlights and they are pretty awsome fish! They are very bright and alert. Mine seem to be very comfortable in my tank though for they don't school (Only when a W/C is in motion!)

[Northernguy]

If your concerned about the look of a fish,don't buy it.
Have the lfs test their tank water in front of you.

[travie]

So, with the cherrys, the males are the only ones with the red color? Cuz there's only one with red coloring at the lfs, and the rest are brown. Are they just miserable there and in need of a good home to show better color?

Assuming they are healthy fish, the bright red ones are the males, and the brown ones are females.

[Sir Tristen]

So the females will always be brown. Will a school of mostly males be okay? Or do I need more females than males? If so, I might me more interested in glowlights.

Cardinals would be my preference, but they sell for $4 a piece here and I worry that they will struggle with the high ph (8) and in a smaller aquarium where chemistry changes are more pronounced. Too bad CPD's are so hard to come by. . .

My wife really likes the sunburst wags, and fry would be fun, but I'd have to set up another tank for them. How soon would a couple pairs of sunburst wags put me out of business?

Sorry, lots of musing and questions here, :14: but I don't have room/money for multiple tanks, so I need to find something that works. I appreciate all the advice I can get.

[Lady Hobbs]

I love your tank. The more I'm into this, the less I like in the tank. I like the openness and neatness as you have it.

[Sir Tristen]

Thanks Lady Hobbs!!! Nice to know somebody appreciates my hard work. Didn't know it would be quite this demanding.

[travie]

With cherry barbs its okay to go with a 1 to 1 ratio of males to females. If you give away the fry as soon as an LFS or someone else will take them, livebearers will be fine too.

[Taurus]

I'm very fond of glowlight tetras. They're pretty tough, easy to care for fish. And if you what to see something striking, look at a shoal of about 10 - 15 healthy, happy glowlights in there own tank. My $0.02 worth.

[NickFish]

The male to female ratio doesn't really matter, but you should put some females in with the males, even if you don't like the color.

The males are only brightly colored to attract females. With no females in the tank they become very dull very quickly.

I like to keep 1 or 2 less females than there are males, this way the males will be even more competitive for a mate and will show even more color.

In my school of a dozen I have 7 males and 5 females.

[Sir Tristen]

Thanks guys! I appreaciate the feedback! It seems that I'll do fine with either, both are the same price, and both can be stunning fish. Maybe I just need another tank. (Oh boy, MTS already, and my wife is not helping any. She's not interested in the technical aspect, but she's beginning to talk about other tanks.)

Now, to throw things off a bit. How about neons. My little girls favorite color is blue, and my wife likes the neons as well, though she likes the others too. Are they going to be a lot more fragile? (I'm still leaning toward cherrys)

[NickFish]

Neons are slightly more fragile that cherries, but not overly so. You can keep them no problem, just perform regular water changes like always.

Just watch out for Neon Tetra Disease.

[Sir Tristen]

Yeah, neon tetra disease does have me a little concerned. Also, hearing about all the neons that people seem to lose when buying a group. Seems like a couple always die.

Okay, so I don't want to overload my tank, but here's what I'm thinking:

1 school of 6-9 of the fish we've been discussing in this thread.
1 school of 6 corys, peppers unless I can find some of the smaller species
Either a small pleco or a couple ottos, unless shrimp and snails do the trick as well as these fish.
1 dwarf gourami.

That sounds overstocked to me, but I know that the schooling fish do well with at least 6. I could go without the dwarf, but I do want something to control the algae, especailly diatoms if anything eats them, because I have an outbreak in my tank, nasty strings clinging to my wisteria and anachris.

How overstocked am I with an AC 70 and 20% weekly water changes? How would you guys recommend stocking the above list?

(Stocking is a lot harder than I thought.)

[Northernguy]

Which of these fish you are suggesting is your favorite? Start there.
Which are available?
You are not going to get them all at once,I hope.Start with you small schooling fish wait a week or more and get your corys.Wait some more until you get some algae growth and get your otos or a pleco that stays small.
We are all throwing suggestions your way ,now you pick which species is your favorite for color ,size or character.That way you will be more pleased with you picked.:19:
When you have all your fish,50% water changes once a week or more will keep everyone happy.