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This is for future refrence. In like 2 weeks or so I will be getting a 75gallon. I want to stock it with small shoaling fish this is what I want in it and yall can help me fill the banks.
10 zebra danios
10 panda cories
10 gold danios
10 ??? cories
10 ??? cories
then I want a few centerpieces.........
I recently have a 20g which will be my quartine tank soon. I heard if i used the establish filter on my new tank that my tank would be cycled instantly???? How true it that statement. Also If I did that would it effect my establish tank? Also is sand hard to keep up with? Would you just go with gravel? Let me know

If you have that many cories in one tank most of them will die because of the compition for food, unless you plan to feed them sepertatly with sinking foods they should be alright or at least 20 of them. In terms of center peice fish I would go with either some large Gouramis, or a pair of angels.

For the bottom I'd personally go with one school of cories, a group of ottos (once you have some algae established) and some loaches. That would give you a nice variety.

I agree that angels or gouramis would be nice centerpiece fish, I like pearl gouramis and they're a good size for your tank.



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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

I heard if i used the establish filter on my new tank that my tank would be cycled instantly????

Only partially true. You'll have alot of bacteria on it, but alot of the bacteria is also in the substrate. Since there is a pretty big difference between a 20 and a 75 you'll still have a noticible cycle. I'd still go with leaving the filter on the established tank for 3-4 weeks to get it well colonized with bacteria. Then stock the danios and slowly increase the stocking from there watching out for mini cycles.

Sand needs special attention. You have to be careful that ti doesn't develop anerobic pockets of bacteria that can kill your fish. Sand is also not the best for a planted tank. However since you're planning on so many corys , I'd reccomend you doing a bit more research into sand. I have it in my cory tank and just love it , so do the corys .

Theres no worry about how many corys you're planning, I think it'll be an awsome tank. Just remember that they're not solely scavengers and they will need to be fed .

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thanks for the info. I was encorage to do this tank because of a show i was listening to on the net. This guy had 3 schools of 20 cories in a 110 gallon tank and i heard it was pretty neat. So im going to try it out. I think i might just stay with gravel. Keeping a healthy tank is hard enough I dont think i want to do sand yet untill im an expert.

You might also try some Rainbow fish as your center piece. Many of these fish have awsome colors, and they too like to school. And, you can keep several different species in that size tank, and they will do great. That would mean you could have a very colorful tank as well.

Check out this different Rainbows here;
http://members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/


HTH....

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There is always a bigger fish...

rainbow fishes are cool but they dont seem pretty hardy to me. Plus they are probably so hard to find. I would love them if that was not the case. Now with the angel fish wouldnt my dainos pick at them? Any other suggestions for centerpieces I might have to end up with gourmias

i would rethink sand. there are some nice plants you can plant in sand or grow on rocks and wood. sand is not some horrible disease like people think. keep it at 2 inches deep and your cories and loaches will sift it for you. could drop some MTS snails in there to sift it even more. its keeps itself clean for the most part, the junk floats tot he top of it so its ALMOST like haveing a barebottom which is the cleanest. gravel catches and holds all the crap floating around. if your really woried about bad bacteria , just run your hand through the sand every couple weeks. this will break up any pockets.
about the cories, i dont know why someone said you can have to many and compete for food. just feed them directly and that wont be a problem, should be fed directly regardless of numbers anyway. i have 7 cories in my 75g, 6 are one school and im working on the 2nd of a different species. drop in some bottom feeder pellets once/twice a day depending how fast they eat it. i have alot of bottom dwellers in my tank so i feed twice.
i also like schoolers, i will be putting in a school of 10 neons, 10 card tetras, 10 black neons, and 6 small threadfin rainbows ( easy to find ). As far as centerpieces im going with a Solo marbled angelfish, not sure whatelse , gouramis are on the possability list but im not sure.
anyway wish you the best of luck and would love to see some pics when your done. i like the idea of all those cories but i didnt wanna sacrafice so much bioload and lose the top/mid part of the tank.

Sin

ok you conviced me to go with sand where can i go to do some study on sand and aslo what kinda sand would you go with????

Rainbows are actually plentiful in the US, well, OK only about 30 species, but they are the more colorful ones. Where are you located in the US? As I might be able to hook you up with some Rainbow breeders. And, there is always mail order. I currently have 20 different species of them.

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There is always a bigger fish...

im in N.J..... but are these fish pretty hardy I dont know if i want to go that way if they are not I hate having fish die on me

fish hardyness is a term that holds little to no water with me. in a clean tank thats well maintained rainbows will do absolutly fine. they arnt gona drop dead cuz the dog sneezed up stairs. if you got roaches floating in the water and dead fish in the corners with ammonia spikeing these fish will die along with many others. if your really worried about it, slowly add your other fish, 2-3 fish every couple wks, the tank will increase bioload very slow and very safe. put the rainbows in last, by then you will have a very large bacteria colony that can expand quickly and have loads more experience under your belt.
about the sand, this is kinda harder to help with. there are loads of options suited for just about every situation. personally i have black moon sand in my 75g, but this stuff comes at a $1 a lb price. 40 lbs will give ya a couple inches at the bottom. you can find other sands FAR cheaper. white sand, tan,brown, a mix of 2-3 of them. then there is size grain. the larger the grain the easier it is to clean because it doesnt dust so easily and float in water. dont get me wrong this isnt as complicated as it sounds.there are a ton of threads about sand on here. alot of people just use sand from a hardware store. just because on how its cleaned at the factory. im a bit rusty on my terms hopefully someone can come save me and help you lol.

Sin