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I'm moving this weekend, so I'm selling most of my tanks and fish and condensing what I'm keeping into four tanks.
These are the tank I'm not worried about:

2.5 gallon (1)
Female betta.

2.5 gallon (2)
Female betta.

10 gallon
Dwarf Puffer (I'll probably get two more a month or so after I move.)

The 55 gallon tank is the one I'm still thinking about. I've had offers on a few of the fish and I've got friends with room in their tanks, so any fish I don't keep will be going to good homes. It's lightly planted for now, but I'll plant it heavily right after the move. I've got an Aquaclear 70 and a Whisper 30-60 on it at the moment. I'm having a friend come over tomorrow to fix or trash a Penguin 330, and if he fixes it, it'll go on the tank, too. I do twice-weekly 20% waterchanges or weekly 40% waterchanges depending on how lazy I'm feeling.

So, would this work:
14 corydoras (5 albino aneus, 1 delphax (I think),
1 julii, 2 napoensis, 5 paleatus)
4 pencilfish
A pair of cherry barbs
2 sparkling gouramis
1 farlowella
1 clown plec
5 male guppies
2 rainbow cichlids

The pencils, corys, farlowella, guppies, and clown plec have been in the tank for months now. The pencils and albino corys spawn all the time, but I've never seen any fry. The corys seem pretty happy so I'll probably leave them alone, but I'm thinking about giving the delphax, julii, and albino aneus to a LFS in exchange for a paleatus or two and some napoensis, if he can order them. I've heard that rainbow cichlids are pretty non-aggressive, but I've only had them in with fish that are nearly as big as they are (they're about 3" now). What are the chances of them seeing the other fish in the tank as food? Would the guppies and the rainbow cichlids be a bad combination? Would I be overstocked? If I am overstocked, would the extra filtration and waterchanges be enough to keep the tank healthy?
This is all I can think of for now.
Do any of you have suggestions for other combinations of fish?

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Cake or death?

I don't know anything about the rainbow cichlids. How big do they get? Are they in the tank with the others now? If they are and don't seem aggressive, then maybe it will be ok. Someone else will have to answer the question better.

I would try to limit the cories to 2 types. Give the cories that you only have one or two of to the LFS and get a few more. If you want to keep the paleatus and napoensis the build up those schools...if you can. I think they would be much happier with more of their own kind.


*Kristin*

Sorry 'bout the lack of info in the previous post. I was half-asleep when I wrote it. According to the profile, rainbow cichlids get 4.7". They -seem- peaceful, but they're in a tank full of black skirts, dojos, and a angelfish. There's a big difference bettwen a full-grown blackskirt and a full-grown pencilfish, so I'm a little worried. I'm still not sure if I'm going to put them in the tank I'm going to keep or not.

I'll talk to the LFS about the corys today since I'm already going over there anyway. He's been able to get most of the fish I want, but we'll see. Since this tank is my first experience with corys, I don't know how many is too many. If plateus maxes out at 2.7" and napoensis maxes out at 1.9", how many should I get of each? I know it depends on how many other fish I have, but is there a rule of thumb of corys per gallon or square foot of tank space or something?

Last edited by bananacoladafuze at 20-Jan-2006 09:38

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Cake or death?

In my 55g tank I have 8 corydoras sodalis/trilineatus, 6 panda cories, and 3 yoyos as bottom feeders. Not to mention my BN and 3 ottos.

I would say in a 55g with only cories as bottom feeders you could have probably 12-16. My spotted cories (sodalis/trilineatus) don't move around much, except to hide. They usually just sit there. I know the bioload comes into play, but with 4 feet of length you could easily have 16 cories.

That is my opinion and experience and I may be wrong. Most people suggested to me when I was thinking about the stocking for the 55g that I could have 16 cories. I would only get 2 types though.

*Kristin*

Good news and better news!

Turns out I have enough room to keep both of the 55 gallon tanks, so I'll be able to put some of the cories into the second 55 after I move the tanks in a day or two. Annnd.. I found four more napoensis in the 'assorted cory' tank at a LCPS, so that brings my number up to six. The albino aneus corys are going to my friend's tank tomorrow.

And I found a tiiiny (~.75" pencilfish in the hiding in the plants in my tank this morning. I'm trying to figure out whether I bought it and forgot about it or if it's a fry that's survived.

I'll update and bother y'all with stocking questions for the second 55 after I've moved the tanks.


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Cake or death?