Fish Tank Mates

[Coryenthusiast45]

Hello,

I am setting up a new fish tank for my mom as her Christmas gift. We have 1 albino cory, and 2 glofish tetras (white skirt tetras). The tank will be 36 gallons. She wants pretty fish to go with them. She is really wants angel fish, if they can be solo with these fish and others that would be fine. I was wondering if Angel fish and those species get along? and what other fish may pair well with them? She wants pretty fish but no more guppies (they had a lot of young). Likely will get some more corys and the tetras. This is my first post here. So apologies if I am doing something wrong in the etiquette here

Additional Info:

I will get more corys and tetras. There were more when I set up the fish tank years ago. New crib for them and new friends. Just want to make sure anyone added will get along with them.  My mom doesnt want Gouramis because we haven't had much luck caring for them. Dont have a gourami thumb I guess. (not an invite to tell me what we are doing wrong, shes firm on that). 

Edited December 28, 2023 by Coryenthusiast45
clarification

[Pepere]

You might consider adding another 3-4 Skirt tetras and another 4-5 albino Cories first…. They are both schoaling fish and live longer healthier and happier with groupings of at least 5-6 of each species.Albino Cories have also been converted to Glo Cories in the orange and Green variants.  The Glow and Albinos will schoal together as they are the same species  just with added genes for the color expression.

A single Angelfish can be a nice centerpiece fish. They do well as a single without needs of a group. Going with a group of Angelfish can be problematic if some pair off and can become aggressive when breeding.

A schoal of 6 Neon Tetras add a definite visual statement, and a schoal of Harlequin or Espei Rasboras also add a lot of color once they mature and color up.  Their color is usualy much more subdued at the fish store when they are juveniles.

Aquarium Co op just sent out an email highlighting several Rasbora species to consider..

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/top-10-rasboras

 

Edited December 27, 2023 by Pepere

[Guppysnail]

Welcome to the forum. Along with adding to your existing fish I suggest honey gourami. 
Mine are sunset honey gourami. Very friendly and interact with me.  Get along with everything. They are also very pretty. 
 

Very hardy easy care fish.  The young are very hard to raise so no worries if ending up with too many. 
 

[Uproar]

Welcome to the community!

Just like you I planned (and added) a single albino cory to my tank. Quickly after, I discovered it'd mostly sit still and not move much. I rehomed it to the corydora tank at my LFS and now everytime I visit I see that albino cory super happy and active. This goes out to show that corydoras are all shoaling fish and love company of their own kind. Like Pepere said above, I'd suggest you to get more albino corys. Unlike some species, corys don't really stress each other out so the male:female ratio shouldn't matter, and you should be fine picking up a random bunch of albino corys from the shop.

36g is pretty large so it increases your options significantly. You should get more glo tetras to form a school of 6 minimum. Of course the more the merrier. For centerpiece fish, try some kind of rams (if you want more than one centerpiece fish), or just a single Angelfish for the very reason Pepere stated above. You could look into some kind of cichlids too. Of course make sure to read the care guide for each species before getting them. 

Good luck! 

[GoofyGarra]

I definetly agree that more cories are better, I suggest at least 5.

If you want to get lots of color within the Cory group you can combine Albino Cories, Bronze Cories, and Glo-fish Cories as they are all Corydora Aeneus and will play around together.

In my experiences younger albino cories are much more active then older ones. My older ones sit around on the substrate all day and sometimes move around while my younger ones swim around with each other much more often.

 

 

[NOLANANO]

I suggest this to a lot of people because I think it’s such a fun addition to a tank but neocardina shrimp come in a variety of colors and are interesting little guys. Get like 10 of them and then watch them breed.

now that I am re-reading the OP, maybe you don’t want breeding but they are easy to cull and you can trade the extras into the LFS for credit. They are also really small so it would take a long time before you would have to do anything. a decent amount of the hatchlings will help feed your other fish as well.

as far as a good centerpiece fish, pearl gourami are pretty and majestic and are far less likely to be aggressive than angels.

Edited December 27, 2023 by NOLANANO

[PotatoFish]

Welcome to the forum!

To add to the great "cory info" that others have said, with a larger group of corydoras, you will also note a lot of different behavior you may not have seen if you have only ever kept them as single fish or a duo. I bumped my bronze corydoras (same species as the albino, they're just brown and cream, though some of mine have some nice subtle shades of pink along their bellies) up from 4 fish to 8, and they are FAR more fun to watch now.

Cherry barbs are great little fish to have. The males will color up a beautiful red if you put some females in with them, and they will pick at blackbeard algae.

Maybe also get some nerite snails. They come in all sorts of colors and have a variety of shell shapes.

[Coryenthusiast45]

Thank you everyone. Some additional info has been updated. Dont want to do any breeding or snails. Shrimp could work though.