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That should be fine. I would go ahead and even increase the otto school. Try different pet stores about returning your fish. Im my experience the large "chain stores" such as petsmart they dont appeciate taking fish. They may for free but not for cash or store credit. Anyhow if you go to a small non-chain store. THey usally take all the fish they can get. Smaller nonchain store in my experience also have a more variaty of fish. So you may want to check there for fish you havent found. GOod luck with your tank.

The new fish I added are doing great. But my next decision is what to get to replace the danios. I have in the tank right now...
6 cories
6 black neons
5 danios
5 ottos
1 small angel fish

Should i fill out the school of black neons to 12? Or should i get another school of tetras? I think cardinals would look nice.

The cories and the angel are now in the tank and I gave the angel about 3 hours to acclimate and every 15 minutes I would add in 1/4 of a cup of water and remove excess water from the bag. As for the ottos, they are still acclimating and it has been 4 hours now.

Well technically they didn't get the cories wrong since the sign said assorted cories, and the other cories i got aren't blue cories. They are bronze cories I think. The peppered corey seems to be very playful with the other cories in the bag. And I am still acclimating, I finished floating them and I added a bit of water a few minutes ago? What is the drip system?

Last edited by ericm at 19-Dec-2004 14:11

EDIT: Oh and would 4-6 hours be reasonable for acclimating the ottos?

Last edited by ericm at 19-Dec-2004 14:20

Last edited by ericm at 19-Dec-2004 14:22

Take the peppered cory back to as they should take it back if they got it wrong. I highly doubt he wont school with the blue cories. The new angel should do great in your tank if your still aclimating you may want to use the drip method as angels can be sensative to new water parameters.

I just went out and bought a baby angel, 5 ottos and 3 more blue cories, although a peppered cory got in there. So 2 blue cories and a peppered one. It turns out the lfs will take the danios back, so I am going to bring them back and get more tetras.

As its been said before, as long as the cardnals cannot fit into the angels mouth you shouldn't have a problem. Some people have raised both of them up together and have had no problems. I would suggest trying to get the biggest cardnals you can find, and the smallest angel.

I really like angels as ceterpiece fish - not sure how they go with cardinals?! - yummy?

There are loads of varients i like the veil angels...

I've had panda cory's recommended to me and will be getting six somewhen over the xmas break with hopefully 6 ottos too

Just thought id share that with you

just a little info to help with your decision on fish. black neons dont school very tight at all. once comfertable they are all over the place. cards are prolly the tighest and long lasting schoolers out of the 3. Neons-black neons-cards

as far as overstocking goes the tiny fish bairly count. Ottos,neons and such are like a flea on your 12'x12' rug. of course it can be taken to a point where they will overstock a tank but you would have to get pretty crazy.

the otto idea is ok but i think a couple other mid/top fish would do it some good. one school with a centerpeice will look empty.the black neons could prolly help with that after being comfortable. they can fill in the gaps where the other school isnt.

best way to come up with a tank that makes YOU happy is to decide on a centerpeice and work from there. use the other fish as fillers to bring life to the tank while your centerpeice steals the show.

Sin

It's been about 4 months and my tank still isn't complete. I really need help with it. I can't decide on what to put in it. It's a 32 gallon and i have 5 danios, 6 black neons, and 3 cories. I would like to add a few ottos and maybe a centrepiece fish? Does anyone have any ideas?

ericm

Welcome the age of confusion. Yes I had plenty of cories all died bought more all died.

OH I forgot to mention they were all peppered. For some reason they are not suitable for my tank so I transfered to plain old Bronze all survived and going well plann to buy (6) That figure came out of the Univerisity of THEY location unknown. It must be an excellent Uni as eveyone quotes it (they say)

A simple word of advice go with suites your tank that will tell you exactly what to do.

It might sound very silly but you tank WILL tell you exactly what it wants just watch and listen

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

I don't think that would be overstocked, providing you keep up with maint. If it were me I'd even bump the number of ottos up to 6...

Try going to a different pet store. One just has to take the danios back, just make sure to bring a sample of your water to prove that the tank is "healthy." You might have to settle for $$$ in return though...

I think you have a pretty nice set up planned.

EDIT: Just realized you didn't mention what type of cories...what did you have in mind?

And neons or cardinals...well I prefer the cards over black neons, but thats just up to you. Cards are a little bigger, and prolly a bit more hardy too. They've got more color to top it off.

Last edited by FerretFanatic at 18-Dec-2004 22:12

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Ok I should have explained the whole situation in my first post. I had 6 danios originally to cycle the tank. A few died and i replaced them and so on. I then added the 6 cories. Then 6 neons. I wanted to take the danios back but the lfs wouldn't allow that. Maybe I shoulda checked that when i bought the fish. :%) Well my ideal stocking list would be...
1 angel
12 black neons or cardninals
6 cories
3 ottos

But would that be overstocked for a 32? I am going to check with the lfs again to see if they will take them if not I am stuck with the danios.

EDIT: My neons have been in the tank for a few months now and if I were to get an angel i would get a juvenile to avoid problems.

Last edited by ericm at 18-Dec-2004 21:42

Okay...

First off, yes, bump that cory school up to 6. You'll notice such a big improvement in their behavior/attitude once you do this.
I might even add one more danio...
If you like the look of the danios and neons, just make sure you keep both schools at 6. If the danios were just cyclers, I'd bring them back and fill out the neon school instead, I think it'd look pretty cool to have one bigger tighter schooling fish.

For a centerpiece fish, my thoughts would be some sort of pretty gourami, ram, or if you want, the angelfish. It's really personal preference, I prefer rams over the other two, but you get to decide because it's your tank. Just take caution with the angel and the neons; make sure the neons are bigger than the angels mouth. Most of the time when they're raised together, and the neons come first, they will be okay. But larger angels with new neons are known to have a rather pricey dinner.

Ottos make great little algae eaters, just make sure you get them in a group so that they aren't stressed and timid. Also- before adding ottos it's important that you have a decent algae crop (this may mean cultivating your own) so that they're nutritional needs will be met. They should also be acclimated very slowly, preferably by the drip system, as some tend to be delicate.

*checks original post to see if she missed anything...*

EDIT: I agree with Matt, with rams it's best to get an even number such as 4, because one will become dominant in a smaller group and will most likely bully the others.

Last edited by FerretFanatic at 18-Dec-2004 21:33

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Well I did have 6 cories. 3 died from gill flukes. I plan on replacing those 3. I would like an angel in there, but i would also like some ottos.

I would get rid of one of the schooling fish. Cause then you could fill out the school to like 14 which would be great for the black neons or the danios. For a centerpiece fish i would get a angel. Rams are nice put there not that big some you could get like 4. Try to get an even number of rams if possible cause the "odd" one will die if the otherones discide to mate.

Well, the first thing everyone will tell you is that you need to have at least 6 cories. That being said, are you looking for a centerpiece fish that everyone will notice or another smaller type of fish?
An angel or a ram would probably look nice in your tank if you were looking for signature fish. Or maybe a dward gourami.
HTH
Jen