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Oh, how many otto's for a school?

oops sorry ya i was thinking of your 29! i agree with bable the tank is so small there's no point in getting an algea eater! shrimp would be very good i dont think at cleaning algea of glass dont have the mouths

Thanks, we've been doing water changes every couple weeks, and adding water about every week. We weren't thinking of addding an otto or other fish to that tank, that's why I asked about a shrimp (I didn't think they added much to the bioload).
We have a Whisper internal filter in there, should we really do 100% water changes? The water itself looks crystal clear, there's really only a few patches of brown algae on the sides.

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-07-21 10:53][/span]

Best algae scrubber for a 5 is your own hand. There's really no reason for algae to grow in that small of a tank, you should be doing nearly 100% water changes every week on it anyway.

Get an algae pad, soft for acrylic tanks if that's what yours is...and don't add any more stock to the 5, Ottos especially won't do good in that sized tank.

^_^

I think you're (Fish1) thinking of the present, and I'm trying to plan for when the 29's done cycling.

The ottos are for the 29 (with the angel). I'm trying to think of a good algae eater for the 5, it's starting to turn green. We've had snails in there but they keep disappearing.

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-07-21 10:22][/span]

the ottos should take care of the algea! and your angels might eat the shrimp!]

Ok, so how's this (for the 29)
1 Angelfish
6 Gold barbs
3 Ottos

Is this too much, enough, or not enough?

Oh, one more question. Do shrimp somehow manage to get algae off the sides of the tank or do they just clean the bottom? We're thinking of getting a little shrimp for the 5 gal.
Thanks!

The angel (only 1) is about an inch and a half right now, was dime size when we got it about a month and a half ago. The neons are starting to hide in the tank (behind the internal filter mostly), so I don't think it would be a bad idea to separate them.

jw how big are those angels if they arent too big and werent eating the neons in the 5 gal they should be fine in the 29!

ottos are usually kept in groups of 3

We just did water tests last night and it looks like our 29 gal has just hit its nitrite spike (hopefully, 5.0ppm), so in anticipation of the cycle finishing before too long we've been trying to figure out with what to stock the 29 and the 5 gal. We've pretty much decided to leave the neons in the 5 gal when our angel moves to the 29. So, here's the question, given that neons like schools of at least 6, can we get away with 4 or 5 if they're the only fish in the tank? I'm a little tempted to put six in there, but I also don't want to be overstocked in such a little tank. Also, since neons seem to be a little troublesome lately, would we be able to get cardinals instead to finish off the school (in other words, do neons and cardinals school together)?
We're still trying to figure out what else to put in with the angel. We have the 6 zebra danios in there right now, but we're thinking of taking them back to avoid any fin nipping issues and to make room for some more colorful fish. I would like to add a small school of dainty cories and we were thinking of adding a gourami or two. Any thoughts?

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-07-20 10:50][/span]

Thanks, I guess I should have remembered that being as my angel has been doing fine in our water.

There is nothing wrong with those numbers for gold barbs. Fish can adapt very well to different conditions. If you wanted to get very critical, angelfish prefer a slightly acidic to neutral pH. However, your parameters are fine for almost any kind of fish.

Thanks, I like the looks of the golden barbs, but I don't think they fit our tank parameters very well (sorry, I probably should have listed that earlier, ph 7.6, temp approx 79, 9 dH). Basically we're trying to cater to our angelfish that we really want to keep but got before we knew better.

Gold Barbs . Some barbs, tigers for example, are known for nipping. Gold barbs are not only very colorful but they're also rather calm. Just a heads up on the 29. Because of the smaller surface area (compaired with a 36" tank) I'd suggest keeping the stock hardy and lightly stocked. Oh, and don't forget the plants .
HTH a bit .

^_^

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Thanks, I didn't know that about ottos. Any ideas for another colorful fish instead of a yellow?

[font color="#800080"] For the 5 Bettas. Either 1 male or a few females. Their just too difficult to keep stable to risk anything else...but your tank your call. I wouldn't put neons in that sized tank. Neons and cardinals won't technically school together, but they won't tear each other up either.

Ottos are schooling fish and should be in groups of 3 as a minimum. I really wouldn't suggest putting the electric yellow in there, they are aggressive after all and want entirely different water paramaters. [/font]

Thanks for the suggestions so far! We would like some kind of school in the tank, but we're unsure of what kind of tetras we can have with the angel.
Also, I've been wondering if an electric yellow would be okay with an angel? If so here's one option I've been considering:

1 Angelfish
1 Dwarf Gourami
1 Electric Yellow
1 Otto
5 Cories (preferably Dainty, but maybe Panda)

Thanks!

Oh, the 5 gal is a half hex of sorts, look at my pics in my profile and you'll see it

Along with the cories and angelfish for the 29, a gourami would look great. You have several to choose from, it's up to you. Here are some suggestions:
Dwarf gourami (and color variation)
honey gourami (it is on the small side)
pearl gourami ()
blue gourami (any color variation)
there are others...I just listed a few of the common ones

Or, maybe a school of tetras?

[span class="edited"][Edited by SolubleFish 2004-07-19 18:18][/span]

For your 29 gallon:
Definitly take the Danios back, they will nip the Angel. Get at least 8 Dainty Cories. I really don't know what else can safely go with Angels, so hopefully other people will chime in about that.

For your 5 gallon:
What are the dimensions? If it is a hex tank, I wouldn't keep any Neons in there. But if it is a standard glass 5 gallon, I think 5 would be the max.