Stocking 37G

[SSlayton10]

I've recently got a 37G, and just purchased eco-complete substrate and a new lighting fixture to allow me 2WPG for my planted tank. Just starting cycling, but I'm wanting to get my stocking all planned out ahead of time.

I absolutely love Cardinal Tetra schools in a planted tank, so am planning to have a school of Cardinals definetly. Another fish that I am interested in is the German Blue Rams. I will have to buy those offline somewhere though, the LFS doesn't have any around here. Plan to spread the bottom out with a selection of Cories and Red Cherry Shrimp, maybe adding a few Mystery Snails in as well.

So my questions, what would be a good number of each fish and will all of these go well with each other in a planted tank? Also, is there any other fish that you think would go well with this combination?

[Lab_Rat]

That sounds like a nice tank. You may want to contact Algenco about GBR as he breeds them and I know several people here have gotten rams from him. What is the footprint of your tank? That will influence the stocking.

What I would do:
2 GBR (1m/1f)
14 cardinals
10 smaller cories (pygmy, panda, skunk)
1 bristlenose plec
Cherry shrimp (though the rams will likely eat some, make sure you have plenty of java moss for cover)

I would not add mystery snails as they tend to be dirty.

[SSlayton10]

36X12 footprint.

Do the Bristlenose Pleco's not get as big? I was always under the impression that Pleco's get huge and aren't good for planted tanks...but I'm a newbie so I'm definetly not sure lol.

Also, would it be beneficial to get 3 GBR's (1M/2F) if I want to try breeding at a later point?

[Lab_Rat]

Bristlenose stay small. I have the Ancistrus cirrhosus species, which max out between 3.5-4.7", depending on what profile you read. Ancistrus claro is another very nice species of bristlenose. Bristlenose are awesome for planted tanks. Other small plecos are the clown pleco and the rubberlip pleco. Avoid common plecos like the plague. Rams are pairing fish so a m/f pair is what you want, not a trio. With a trio, there will be a female left out.

[Twe3k]

not to discourage you, but as most people here would say.. GBR are very sensitive to new tank.. water has to be impeccable. Common Pleco gets big, as i learn the hard way, but BN is perfect for your tank size:)

[SSlayton10]

not to discourage you, but as most people here would say.. GBR are very sensitive to new tank.. water has to be impeccable. Common Pleco gets big, as i learn the hard way, but BN is perfect for your tank size:)

Yea. I plan on taking my time with my fishless cycle, then adding a school of Tetra along with a few plants and waiting another month or so after that (maybe longer) before adding GBR's. My tank will be about 3 months running by then, and should be ready for the GBR's right?

[SSlayton10]

Bristlenose stay small. I have the Ancistrus cirrhosus species, which max out between 3.5-4.7", depending on what profile you read. Ancistrus claro is another very nice species of bristlenose. Bristlenose are awesome for planted tanks. Other small plecos are the clown pleco and the rubberlip pleco. Avoid common plecos like the plague. Rams are pairing fish so a m/f pair is what you want, not a trio. With a trio, there will be a female left out.

Alright, thanks. I did go and look at the profile after you mentioned it with your first post and the Bristlenose does look like an interesting fish to add. I'm not sure my LFS has anything other than the common Pleco's though, but I will keep my eye out.

Knowing that I need to keep the Rams in pairs, would it be OK to have 4 Rams in my tank size? Something like:

4 GBR (2M/2F)
14 Cardinals
6 Cories
1 Bristlenose
10 Cherry Shrimp

I'm not sure what a good amount of Cherry Shrimp would be honestly.

[Lab_Rat]

With a 36" length you should be ok with two pairs. I would make sure you heavily plant to break up the lines of sight as much as possible. The shrimp have such a low bioload and are likely to get eaten anyway you really don't have to worry about having too many.

[Garrett]

You could probably easily have 25 or 30 cherries in a decent size tank without anything happening-some of them are *going* to be eaten, and most of the eggs they'll lay won't make it either.

[lahlumdi]

Folks this is new news to me. I had always been under the impression that if you have corys (which I love to have), shrimp and plecos are incompatible. So I have always avoided them and stuck with corys. So they play together well on the bottom? Cool. I'll have to look into that. And I had no idea the bristlenose didn't get so big. I avoided plecos also for that very reason.

Hmmmm.

And I only have one tank.

[Lab_Rat]

Folks this is new news to me. I had always been under the impression that if you have corys (which I love to have), shrimp and plecos are incompatible. So I have always avoided them and stuck with corys. So they play together well on the bottom? Cool. I'll have to look into that. And I had no idea the bristlenose didn't get so big. I avoided plecos also for that very reason.

Hmmmm.

And I only have one tank.

I am very confused as to why cories, shrimp, and plecos would be incompatible...what is the reasoning behind this? I've kept all 3 before and will soon be adding ghosties into my tank that already has cories and a bristlenose pleco.

[Garrett]

I've had all three in a tank as well. The shrimp didn't last, but that had nothing to do with the neighbors, I think there was some copper in our water. My cories and BN get together just fine.

If you think about it, they're not all really on the bottom all the time. The shrimp get on every surface in your tank, the corys are really bottom dwellers, and if your plec is anything like mine, they're generally hanging on a plant, the side of the tank, or the driftwood. Mine hasn't been down in the substrate since the first week he was in the tank.

[Lab_Rat]

I've had all three in a tank as well. The shrimp didn't last, but that had nothing to do with the neighbors, I think there was some copper in our water. My cories and BN get together just fine.

If you think about it, they're not all really on the bottom all the time. The shrimp get on every surface in your tank, the corys are really bottom dwellers, and if your plec is anything like mine, they're generally hanging on a plant, the side of the tank, or the driftwood. Mine hasn't been down in the substrate since the first week he was in the tank.

That's been my experience too, though my shrimp didn't last because they were eaten. I just added a dozen or so whenever I didn't see any.

[SSlayton10]

So my shrimp will for sure get eaten? I haven't looked around for the best price, but everywhere so far is 3-4 dollars apiece. I don't want to spend 30 bucks on 10 pieces of live food for my Rams.

[hari-goshi]

So my shrimp will for sure get eaten? I haven't looked around for the best price, but everywhere so far is 3-4 dollars apiece. I don't want to spend 30 bucks on 10 pieces of live food for my Rams.
They are much cheaper online. Check aquabid.

[Lab_Rat]

Another shrimp option would be ghost shrimp. They're super cheap (I can get 12 for $0.99 from my LFS) and they're still cool to watch.