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I just recently got back into the fish world, my other half bought me a 37 gallon tank for my birthday I have 4 Neons, 4 Cardinals, 3 Glowlights, 3 Rasboras, 1 Bolivian Ram, 1 German Blue Ram, 1 African Dwarf frog, and I just added 1 Angelfish and 1 Juli (or leopard as you guys call it) cory cat. Oh! I also have a Rams Horn snail a little smaller than a dime. I only do live plants in my tanks, I absolutely hate plastic I have two different types of Rotala, Bacopa, Water Westeria, Red Ludwig, and Cardinal (at least that's what the store keeper called it ) So there are tons of hiding places. So I have 3 questions...
1) My German Ram is female and my Bolivian Ram is male. I have had different cichlids breed for me before but this is my first time doing dwarf cichlids (I'm so glad I did they are gorgeous! ) and I'm wondering will they breed? And if so how do I help make it happen?
2) I just got the Juli so I could have some help with the excess food on the bottom of tank, and for a cory that bad boy swims all over the place! He eats a little off the bottom but not as much as I'd like and frog helps to but again not all that much. I'm really not a fan of any other corys so I don't want anymore, so who else would help with the cleaning?
3) I understand that my 37 has the surface area of a 20 so basically I shouldn't go past the limit of a 20 gallon tank, but does anyone think I would be pushing it by getting some hatchet fish?
Hope to hear some answers soon!

Rise and then rise again, until lambs become lions

Welcome back to fishkeeping

1.I don't think a german ram will breed with a bolivian, not 100% sure on that, but it's like trying to get neons to breed with cards. They're both tetras and look similar but they're different.

2. Don't feed so much and you won't have a problem . Seriously though, you shouldn't really end up with food falling to the bottom and just sitting there. If you are seeing a lot settle to the bottom you're feeding more than you should. That said, corys are schooling fish, having one by himself is going to stress him out. Yes corys do often 'swim the glass' but they are mainly bottom dwellers, and will spend most of their time there if they're comfortable. Buy at least 2 or 3 others that look just like him. Last I knew true Juli are still pretty rare in the fish world, many stores will sell "juli" but they're not true juli, so just get whatever it is that they're selling as juli so long as the coloring is the same your cory will school quite happily and should be a lot more comfortable in the tank.


3. Don't go by volume (gallons liters ect) of the tank you really want to go by footprint/surface area since surface area is what actually determines how much of the gas exchange is happening and that is what determines the stocking capacity of the tank. No hatchets. You've got a lot of fish in there that are schooling fish. The neons, cards glowlights and rasboras are all schooling as are the corys that I mentioned before.

First thing to do is add more corys. 2-3 as a minimum.

Also make absolutely certain that you have an African Dwarf Frog and not an African Clawed Frog. Many will sell an ACF as an ADF by mistake. Clawed frogs will grow much larger and have an appetite to match.

After a month or two of everything being ok in the tank (no body eating anyone else) you should expand the schools of tetras and rasboras that you already have. The angelfish may snack on neons and cards (it's their natural food source) in which case I'd expand your school of glowlights before getting anything else.

^_^