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Hey, Well i'm thinking of upgrading my overstocked 5 gallon to a 30 gallon tank. (if my parents let me, that is) Currently i have 3 zebra danios, 2 albino corys, 3 male guppies and an algae eating shrimp in my 5 gallon. I was thinking of moving the zebras and corys to the 30 gallon ...plus making their numbers 5 each. I was also thinking maybe adding 2 or 3 more guppies to the 5 gallon making them 5 or 6...does this sound alright?

Would i still have room in the 30 gallon? If yes, what else would you suggest adding...my boyfriend really wants a redtailed shark, i've heard that they are very teritorial and like a lot of room...what are your suggestions?

My 5 gallon is long so i don't know if that makes any difference...16 inches across the top...and 10 inches high, 8 inches wide (on the sides) lol i don't know how to do dimensions so hopefully that makes sense.

[span class="edited"][Edited by kelso 2004-09-03 10:13][/span]

I would not add the shark, as they can be hostile fish, especially towards smaller tankmates. Instead of having 5 of each fish, I would suggest having 6 danios, and 6 albino cories, as each of these fish needs a school. Keep the number of guppies at 3, and maybe add a dwarf gourami. They add color, are peaceful, and stay small. The 30 would be 'stocked' with all these fish, but not overstocked.

---

And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

hey kelso, I only have a 10 gallon and a 20 gallon, so I'm limited in some ways to what advice I can give you, although, a few things stuck out to me that I had problems with, and I thought you might benefit from this knowledge as well.
First of all, sirbooks is right about the schooling thing. Those fish do well in schools, and with a 30 gallon tank you wont have a problem with keeping that number of fish. Do however keep in mind guppies breed like rabbits, and I don't know enough about the others to say anything, but I'd do some research on that to find anything helpful out.
The shark....wont happen. It's a neat fish, I agree, however, though it's small, you'll wind up with a 30 gallon tank that has a shark in it...and not much else. They're very aggressive towards weaker fish, which is a bill all of yours seem to fit.
I also agree about the dwarf gourami. I have several in my 20 gallon, and they're hardy and beautiful fish. Do however, keep them in small groups as well, although, mine seem to do fine without a school so far.
There are, however, other matters to concern yourself with. Food needs, herb/carn/omni-vore issues can be a real problem in a community tank. Also keep an eye of your bio-load, and make sure you have a powerful enough filter. These are all important, yet easily overlooked things, I know...as I've made those mistakes myself. Keep the basics in mind, though, and it sounds like you'll do fine.
I hope I helped at least a little!

- Tankster

1)The Redtailed Shark is gonna have to wait for a bigger tank. They are very hostile towards smaller tankmates, but most importantly, they get to 6-7" in length and need a minimum tank size of 40 gallons. Sorry, but look at it as incentive to work on getting an even larger tank...

2)The guppies will breed (if they're opposite sexes) and some of the fry may survive until adulthood. If this occurs, those will breed continuously and you need to prepare to be up to your knees in baby guppies. I recommend keeping them, but I recommend they all be males or all females...

3)Dwarf Gourami do make a wonderful addition to a tank of that size as they do stay small, but they should not be kept in small groups. Keep Dwarf Gourami by themselves if you can. When kept with other Dwarf Gourami, they have this nasty habit of becoming mean towards each other after a period of time and can begin fighting amongst themselves...

4)The cories and danios are schooling fish and should be in schools of 6-8 if possible. They'll be more interactive, playful, and comfortable in your tank once this happens. Also, make sure they're all the same species (get more albino cories and zebra danios) as most of the time they will not school with other variations of the same species (like julii cories or leopard danios)...

PM/email/msg me if you have any questions/comments regarding me or my knowledge or if you want me to read a thread.

Wow guys thanks for your replies! Its all helping me out a lot...about the whole guppie fry thing, i plan on only buying male guppies...i already have 3 males and if i do decide to add more they will be male.
But whether i do add 2 more guppies or one of these guorami's? is the other question! I'll have to read up on them and find out about them, i've never actually heard anyhting about them!

I kind of knew that the shark wouldn't work out, but the boyfriend really wanted one so i thought i'd mention it and see what you all had to say about it I also didn't realize that they would grow to 6 or 7 inches Are there any variations that would be smaller? My boyfriend was saying that his mom (who was really into keeping fish for years) had a type of shark (can't really remember what) it didn't grow to be 7 inches thats for sure but he was saying that it left the other fish alone and just kind of stayed in its own territory...supposedly it was a redtailed shark (unless there are smaller variations of it :%) )Whats the difference between a redtailed shark...and a redtailed black shark? or anre they the same thing?

I plan on starting by transfering the zebra's to the 30 gallon first...and maybe waiting a bit for the cories (not sure how hardy they are). Anyways thanks once again for all the great replies

But like i said before i do have to work on the aprents first , my dad thinks its a good idea...but the most important person i still have to talk to and see if she'll go along with it ]:|



[span class="edited"][Edited by kelso 2004-09-03 13:49][/span]

Kelso, do you have the 30g yet? I've noticed that no one has said anything about cycling it. I don't mean to offend you by assuming that you don't know about cycling, but I just want to be sure. I won't waste your time by making a post about it now, just in case you do know the proper method. However, if you don't know about cycling, please let us know and someone will be along to inform you

]<]Dani<]<

Oh yeah...i forgot about cycling it...i didn't cycle the 5 gallon that i have right now...anyways once i talk to my mom tonight and she says its alright then i'm gonna get the 30 gallon from my boyfriends mom...anyways...inform me about cycling please

Glad to see you're upgrading kelso, your fishies will appreciate it. here! is a great article on the nitrogen cycle. Please post if you have more questions on it.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

To cycle your tank with fish:
As you said you were going to do anyway, start with the zebra danios. Daily test your water's ph, ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte levels. When the ammonia spikes, the nitrItes will soon follow. when the nitrites and ammonia both return to 0ppm, the tank is cycled and you can add a few fish a week.

To cycle your fish without fish (faster):
You will need some gravel in a mesh bag (like pany hose) to culture bacteria). Add PURE ammonia (without any agents added) at a rate of 5 drops/10 gallons/day. When the nitrites spike, decrease the ammonia dosage to 2 drops/10g/day. When the nitrites fall back to 0ppm, it's finished cycling. Then you can add all your fish at once, like I did

]<]Dani<]<

About the stuff with the shark, I call it a Redtailed Shark (or RTS) while some people call it a Redtailed Black Shark (RTBS). It's the same animal, no worries...

As for the size, RTS can get even larger than that. Mine's bordering 7 inches now and I've only had him 2 years. If they stay smaller, it's because they were kept in a tank too small for them and they were stunted...

The smallest species of freshwater shark is probably the Rainbow Shark, but those can still reach 6 inches in length and need 40 gallons too. As far as the personality traits go, I can only describe the PROBABLE personality of the fish. It's always possible that you may get the calmest RTS ever and he wouldn't hurt a fly if it flicked him in the nose. Just the most common personality is rather aggressive and territorial with a liking for chasing smaller fish all the time...

PM/email/msg me if you have any questions/comments regarding me or my knowledge or if you want me to read a thread.