To add or not to add?

[Cinnebuns]

I lost some fish and snails in my tank due to a variety of reasons (illness, rehoming, etc.).  I'm thinking up options for adding more, if at all. 

29-gallon:

2 "red honey" aka thick-lipped gourami

6 male guppies with 4 to be added after hospital tank things 

2 reticulated hillstream loaches

9 panda cories

6 mystery snails

3 Japanese Trapdoor Snails

4 nerite snails 

I've considered just adding 2 hillstream loaches, maybe 1 gourami (I had 3 originally), or possibly more guppies. Basically "more of the same." 

What I'm mostly wondering is people's opinions on adding a different species and what that might be. Idk if a school of tetras would really work space wise. The bottom is pretty well covered with the cories and snails. Idk if maybe adding a couple gardnerii killifish might work?  Do rainbow shiners need a school? Maybe a nano rainbow fish? I think maybe they need a school too. 

[nabokovfan87]

What is the tank temp right now? Is there any way for the Guppies and Gourami to go to a separate tank?

I think you have essentially "two tanks" in one right now.

Cool water, higher oxygenation, "high flow" tank:  Panda Corys, Hillstream Loaches.  (these species at 72-74 would give you a set of options to add to the tank)
-Killifish (depending on scape/flow), barbs, rasboras, white clouds, etc. would be good in this tank and would prefer the higher flow, cooler water.

Warmer, tropical tank, lots of fry, big ball of plants: Guppies, Gourami, etc.  (I would imagine this tank is ~78 degrees).
-Tetras, rainbowfish, bolivian ram, etc.

Potentially it makes sense to just drop the temp in the tank in general for everything.  This is from the Co-Op care guide for guppies.
 

Quote

An aquarium heater is recommended to keep the water warmer at 76 to 78°F, since these new lines of fancy guppies are not as resilient as the original species found in the wild. At this temperature range, your guppies should have an average life span of two to three years. If you raise the heat to 82°F, the fish will grow faster and make more babies – but they’ll only live for 18 months. If you lower the temperature to 72°F instead, their life span may increase to 3.5 years or longer, but they’ll take forever to reach adulthood and may only have babies every six months.

 

Edited July 10, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[Cinnebuns]

On 7/10/2022 at 6:37 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

What is the tank temp right now? Is there any way for the Guppies and Gourami to go to a separate tank?

I think you have essentially "two tanks" in one right now.

Cool water, higher oxygenation, "high flow" tank:  Panda Corys, Hillstream Loaches.  (these species at 72-74 would give you a set of options to add to the tank)
-Killifish (depending on scape/flow), barbs, rasboras, white clouds, etc. would be good in this tank and would prefer the higher flow, cooler water.

Warmer, tropical tank, lots of fry, big ball of plants: Guppies, Gourami, etc.  (I would imagine this tank is ~78 degrees).
-Tetras, rainbowfish, bolivian ram, etc.

Potentially it makes sense to just drop the temp in the tank in general for everything.  This is from the Co-Op care guide for guppies.
 

 

Temp is at 76. I have planned on eventually moving the hillstreams into my 20 and adding white clouds and medaka but I have to raise a clutch of mystery snails and season the tank more first. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/10/2022 at 5:01 PM, Cinnebuns said:

Temp is at 76. I have planned on eventually moving the hillstreams into my 20 and adding white clouds and medaka but I have to raise a clutch of mystery snails and season the tank more first. 

Sounds perfect.  I would consider adding some of the pandas to that tank too. I'm sure they'd do really well.

Have you ever kept emperor tetras?  Pseudomugil rainbowfish look really awesome and might be what you're looking for. They have a very similar aesthetic to the killifish also.

@WhitecloudDynasty How do you think shiners will do here?

Edited July 11, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[Cinnebuns]

On 7/10/2022 at 11:39 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Sounds perfect.  I would consider adding some of the pandas to that tank too. I'm sure they'd do really well.

Have you ever kept emperor tetras?  Pseudomugil rainbowfish look really awesome and might be what you're looking for. They have a very similar aesthetic to the killifish also.

@WhitecloudDynasty How do you think shiners will do here?

Those are exactly the species of rainbows I was considering. A friend also suggested gobies which put me down a small peacock gudgeon rabbit hole and now I'm considering them. 

[Cinnebuns]

I also keep wondering if I could add a tetra that isn't a tight schooling and highly active fish like diamond tetras. I can't convince myself either direction. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/10/2022 at 9:54 PM, Cinnebuns said:

I also keep wondering if I could add a tetra that isn't a tight schooling and highly active fish like diamond tetras.

They keep coming up on the forums a bit, what about silvertip tetras? They have that behavior and stay slightly smaller so you'd have more room to add more of them.
 

On 7/10/2022 at 9:49 PM, Cinnebuns said:

A friend also suggested gobies which put me down a small peacock gudgeon rabbit hole and now I'm considering them. 

Agreed, gobies are really fun to me as well. One of my favorites I look forward to keeping one day.

[Cinnebuns]

On 7/11/2022 at 12:08 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

They keep coming up on the forums a bit, what about silvertip tetras? They have that behavior and stay slightly smaller so you'd have more room to add more of them.

Oh that's a good suggestion. The size is what made me hesitate about diamonds. 

[macdaddy36]

Harlequins are very hard and would be a great schooling fish as I don’t really see a midwater schooling fish.

I am not really sure if the thicklippeds are big or fast enough to chase them. If there anything like honeys they will get along just fine.

[kahjtheundedicated]

I second harlequin rasboras. I keep 8 with my betta, and they school/shoal really well. They're wicked fast and seem to stay very aware. I've never seen my beta go for one, but they do a good job keeping clear.

[Patrick_G]

On 7/10/2022 at 4:03 PM, Cinnebuns said:

What I'm mostly wondering is people's opinions on adding a different species and what that might be.

I’m a fan of the nano fish. You could get a decent  group of Green neon tetras or a ton of Chili rasboras. The Psudomugil rainbows look cool also so keep those on the list. 

[WhitecloudDynasty]

On 7/11/2022 at 12:39 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Sounds perfect.  I would consider adding some of the pandas to that tank too. I'm sure they'd do really well.

Have you ever kept emperor tetras?  Pseudomugil rainbowfish look really awesome and might be what you're looking for. They have a very similar aesthetic to the killifish also.

@WhitecloudDynasty How do you think shiners will do here?

Should be fine..my top aquarium normal stay around 75-77, I recommend adding an airstone

[Cinnebuns]

On 7/12/2022 at 9:23 AM, Patrick_G said:

I’m a fan of the nano fish. You could get a decent  group of Green neon tetras or a ton of Chili rasboras. The Psudomugil rainbows look cool also so keep those on the list. 

Oh man, now I have too many options and can't decide haha. 

Here's the list:

Psudomigil rainbows

Green neon

Cherry barbs

Silver tip tetra

Ok, let's be honest, lots of tetra options

CPD 

 

Leaning towards the rainbows. 

Edited July 13, 2022 by Cinnebuns

[Cinnebuns]

On 7/10/2022 at 11:39 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Pseudomugil rainbowfish look really awesome

So this is now my top contender for the addition. I've become slightly confused tho. Is Pseudomugil a family of species?  Are they all nano?  I realized that the 2 sites I was considering have different ones. 

Edit:  I figured it out. My brain isn't working this week 

Edited July 14, 2022 by Cinnebuns

[nabokovfan87]

I believe is a subset of rainbowfish species like "neocaridina shrimp" or something.

Looking forward to what you choose! Some beautiful fish.