good feature fish for my community tank??

**pckroeger** · 02-28-2013, 01:42 AM

I have a 100L tropical community tank that I have not stocked at all yet as I am still in the middle of a fishless cycle. I want to put a school of 8-10 neon tetra in there, 6-8 corys on the bottom, a few endler's livebearers and maybe about 10 red cherry shrimp. But it seems like something is missing. I feel like a good feature fish is needed, however I am a bit limited with my tank size and other inhabitants...
Can anyone please recommend a good feature fish for me?? I am open to some changes to the tankmates if I need to
thanks! :)
ps. this is my tank:
I am going to be putting sand in for the corys to rummage as well as another cave; and java moss for the shrimp in the next few days

**steeler1** · 02-28-2013, 01:48 AM

You could go with a Pearl gourami, They are one of the more peaceful Gourami's.

**Jayoneseven** · 02-28-2013, 01:21 PM

+1 to that, I have a similar sized tank with tetras and rosy barbs. My feature is my Opaline Gourami, very peaceful, never had an incident, and very beautiful! He's not almost 4-5 inches, tip to tail, and really sets the aquarium off. (very hardy too)
Good luck!

**ScottishFish** · 02-28-2013, 02:46 PM

If you are going with neons then I would not recommend a 4-5 inch gourami.

Have a look at bolivian rams, appistogramas, kribensis. They are all dwarf species of cichlid and will happily live alone.

pH is important with some of these species though so i would ask what is your pH sitting at?

Also feel free to up that neon school to at least 20 to get the best out of the shy little guys.

**Sandz** · 02-28-2013, 04:12 PM

Gourami would be ok. What about a few red sword tails?

**~firefly~** · 02-28-2013, 07:29 PM

Swordtails get really quite big, not sure about those. I think a single dwarf cichlid might work.

Be aware that if you're adding another cave you'll be using up a lot more floorspace/footprint in that tank. It's already quite crowded so might be a bit tight for 8 cories. Perhaps consider pygmy cories, or some of the smaller varieties like pandas.

**ameliaaahx** · 03-01-2013, 03:26 AM

I wouldn't go with Pearl Gourami, too big for that tank. And I wouldn't recommend a dwarf cichlid when there are already going to be cories in there -- that's not a lot of footprint for those bottom-dwellers.

What about --
- 15 Neon Tetras
- 6 Panda Cories (as these are the smallest without getting into pygmies, which are expensive and hide alot IME)
- 1 Dwarf Gourami OR Golden Honey Gourami (make nice "feature fish" but won't frighten the neons and won't take up too much space)

**KevinVA** · 03-01-2013, 03:11 PM

+1 to Amelia. I would suggest a dwarf or honey gourami, as well. It's funny... once you've had a decent sized tank and placed some fish in there, you begin to see for yourself, what size a tank is really adequate for these species.

There are some catfish that would do better with dwarf cichlids. They're extremely territorial though, and they'll be even more so in that tank. I have two Raphael Cats with two GBRs and while the GBRs stare and threaten, the Raphs ignore and pummel through their defensive line to get to their pellets. ;P

**moghedan** · 03-01-2013, 04:54 PM

I have tried Neons and Swordtails a few times... the Neons are always tightly balled at the bottom of the tank. I have since learned that means they are unhappy.

Once you decide you want the Neons, you really lock yourself down on other choices. If you are going to have any fish larger than 1.5", your Neon school has to be big... at least 15 to 20 individuals. The larger, the better. And that eats up a lot of fish real estate.

Add the Neons first, once the tank is cycled. Let them get at home... then you can bring in the larger fish like a dwarf G in a month or so.

Looking at your picture, I just don't see corys. They prefer sand, and you already have the shrimp listed.

A neon school, shrimp, and a dwarf G is pretty close to your stocking limit... 100L is about 29gallons, right?

**ameliaaahx** · 03-01-2013, 11:52 PM

I disagree -- I kept a "Neon Tank" with around 30 neons and during that time I kept a betta, a dwarf gourami, honey gourami, adult swordtails among other fish at different stages during that tanks evolution. The Neons were always happy and spread out all over the tank. I think my success lay in the fact that I had such a large school -- if they are kept in a large enough school that they feel secure you should have no problem mixing them with larger feature fish IME.

Here's a crappy cellphone picture from when I had STs in it. I did eventually have to move the swordtails out because they outgrew the tank and that was when a Dwarf Gourami took their place. The other inhabitants of the tank were 8 Kuhli Loaches and 1 GBA.

The only fish I tried which I wouldn't recommend was a betta. He was perfectly docile to the neons but they nipped his tail.