stocking advice for 30gallon; looking for dither fish!

[clownbaby]

Hey hey!!

Thanks for clicking on this! I have a 30 gallon freshwater aquarium, currently stocked with six pygmy cories (to be more in the future), and a mystery snail. pH is about 6.8 - 7.4 range, dgH 8, dkH 6 - 8 range. Ammonia and nitrite 0, nitrate 5.  

I'm looking for some recommendations for dither fish to make my cories more comfortable. I also plan to get a honey gourami or two in the future, and I know they're also shy. 

I am not picky for looks! In fact I tend to like greyish brownish yellowy fishies more than super neon ones, but by all means you're welcome to recommend me super colorful fish, I love all types of fish!

Important notes

- I have live plants and I LOVEEEEE my live plants, so I'd prefer no fish that destroy plants, thank you!

- I prefer smaller fish or nano fish, under 2-3 inches! The max I'd be willing to go is maybe 4 inches. I like my tank to be understocked so all the fish are comfy. 

- carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores okay. Omnivores probably preferred though! 

- I have a sponge filter so my current is pretty slow. 

- pea gravel & pebble substrate, some sand but mostly pea gravel

- currently stocked with 6 pygmy cories, will be about 15 in the future, and a mystery snail. Plan to add honey gouramis as well. 

- dither fish / active fish. The "zone" in which they swim at doesn't matter to me, top middle or bottom is okay!

 

Thank you all so much! Everyone is so so so kind and makes me feel very comfy here, thank you for being awesomeeeee!!

(Sorry for camera quality and the flashlight lol but whatever haha)

 

[Tony s]

for schoolers, try these

 

[macdaddy36]

I love harlequin Rasboras, pseudomugil luminatus, and green neons as honey gourami tank mates.

I'm looking for a tank of a similar size. What brand of tank do you have and where did you get it?

[clownbaby]

On 4/4/2024 at 5:09 PM, macdaddy36 said:

I love harlequin Rasboras, pseudomugil luminatus, and green neons as honey gourami tank mates.

I'm looking for a tank of a similar size. What brand of tank do you have and where did you get it?

I actually got the tank, lid, and heater free from a teacher of mine. She upgraded from her thirty gallon to a 55 gallon and a 90 gallon, and she knew I wanted to start keeping fish, so she gifted it to me. All I had to do was use some sealant and fix up those corners, and I got a great tank. I am really blessed with the kindness I have received from this community. 

I'm unsure of the brand... it may be aqueon, I know they make a lot of bow-fronts, which my tank is a bowfront. 

Here are the approximate dimensions of the tank, from the corners (so the least width):

30in length x 11in width x 21in height  - - (76cm length x 28cm width x 53cm height)

I am very sorry I can't provide the brand / store 😞 my advice would be to look on marketplace, offer-up, ebay, craigslist, etc for a good deal! ISO posts may be helpful too... but then again, I am a massive cheapskate !!! 

And on fish, I thought neon tetras need lots of stream-line swimming space. Is that the case? If so, would my tank be long enough? I do quite like neons and think they'd pop amazing in my tank against the black backdrop & green plants. I don't want my tank to be the "bare-minimum" for the fish, I want to really provide above-and-beyond for the species, which is why I really like nano-fish in larger (20+ gallon) tanks... mainly because I want to see the behaviors of the fish in their best display. 

On rasbora spp: I'm unsure of how to phrase this per se, but do rasboras swim "smoothly", or do they hover and dart around? I hope that question makes sense.

[Tony s]

On 4/4/2024 at 8:24 PM, clownbaby said:

neon tetras need lots of stream-line swimming space. Is that the case? If so, would my tank be long enough? I do quite like neons and think they'd pop amazing in my tank against the black backdrop & green plants.

I have no luck with standard neons. they have become fragile, unless they are wild caught. I did try some in a dark painted tank. the red becomes invisible there. but the grewn neons shine a bit more. Harlequins are great. we keep them with our betta. they are under rated. but very colorful. not as tight of a schooler. 

 

On 4/4/2024 at 8:24 PM, clownbaby said:

I'm unsure of how to phrase this per se, but do rasboras swim "smoothly", or do they hover and dart around

yes, they swim smoothly. they really are very pretty. they can turn a deep copper when they age.

[macdaddy36]

Green neon tetras are actually slightly smaller than regular neon tetras. They are also not prone to the issues that neon tetras have. I would be confident keeping them in a 10 gallon, so your 30 gallon is perfectly fine.

The harlequin rasbora question: I think they do different things at different time. Not sure I can perfectly describe it, so I would recommend you just go watch them at you LFS or watch videos. I can take a video later but I just moved them to a different tank which is cloudy and they are settling in. They are also IMO the hardiest fish I have ever seen.

On 4/4/2024 at 8:36 PM, Tony s said:

I have no luck with standard neons. they have become fragile, unless they are wild caught. I did try some in a dark painted tank. the red becomes invisible there. but the grewn neons shine a bit more. Harlequins are great. we keep them with our betta. they are under rated. but very colorful. not as tight of a schooler. 

 

yes, they swim smoothly. they really are very pretty. they can turn a deep copper when they age.

Actually I think harlequins are more red. I have found my espei rasbora to be more copper colored. 

[Tony s]

at about 3:30 they show the rasboras with the green neons

On 4/4/2024 at 8:37 PM, macdaddy36 said:

Actually I think harlequins are more red

I could see that. probably just a bit of provenance. mine are mostly deep copper, but i can see some red. and when i say deep copper, i mean really dark copper. like, i haven't seen anything else come close 

Edited April 5 by Tony s

[Tony s]

I may as well round it off with these. you can find other profiles, but thought I'd be consistent.