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Livestock suggestion - 12g long

2K views 22 replies 7 participants last post by  sfshrimp 
#1 ·
I have a 12g long, heavily planted. It's doing awesome, you can see the tank journal in the signature.

Looking for a "light volume" livestock suggestion, because I want to keep bioload healthy...so far I have:

2x pygmy raspbora
1x neon tetras
5x amano shrimp
6x red rili shrimp
1x black tiger shrimp
6x carbon rili shrimp

I'd be fine with more neon tetras probably and calling it a day, but planning on going to the LFS to see what they have. Maybe otos or corys? I am worried about bottom feeders destroying the hair grass. I also don't want fish that will annoy the shrimp. The rasboras and tetras are fairly docile.

I like killifish but worried they will jump out of the tank. Guppys are cool too, but maybe they are too aggro? Any thoughts?
 
#3 ·
I agree. Does it have to be one style of tetra? I.e. all neons? The rasboras and neon hang out together it's cool.
 
#4 ·
I'd rehome the neon, they need a 20g and a group of 5 minimum. I'm fairly certain the Pygmy Rasbora is a nano fish? If so I'd up it to 6-8 and call it stocked. Cories and otos both need the same as neons, 20g and group of 5minikuk. Guppies you could do 5-6, but without the Pygmy rasboras. I don't know has much about killifish, but if you get a least killifish you could have quite a few, again, without any other fish. I'd also make sure all your inverts and fish are temp compariable on Seriously fish.
 
#5 ·
Agreed with the last poster. The footprint would probably make it possible to have the neons, but I wouldn't recommend it. At full grown and in an appropriately sized group, they'll be too much. Plus, I speak from experience here in saying that guppies or neons either one are fully capable of decimating your shrimp population. Pygmy rasboras would be a good choice for this tank size wise. Be aware though, even the mere presence of fish is enough to change the behavior of most of the small shrimp, and even the smallest fish have the potential to harass/eat your shrimp (especially the babies - but adults as well. I've seen nano fish literally pick a shrimp apart when it was too big to just be eaten). If you want cories, pygmies would be fine, and I think habrosus would work as well. Skip the otos. They need to be in groups and a group would not have enough algae to feed on in a tank that size (and my experience is that some otos just flat won't take to other forms of food.).
 
#6 · (Edited)
From what I've observed, both Ember and Ruby tetras are less active than Neons and have significantly less body mass when full grown.
Or you could bump up the number of pygmy Rasbora and mix some microdevario kubotai in with them, they'd go well together.

I think 3 or 4 corydora habrosus would be very content with the footprint of your 12g long and you could even add a few more in the future if you wanted. I prefer habrosus to pygmy because they seem less shy and skittish. Regardless, they're absolutely too small and light of touch to do anything to your rooted hair grass.

I like Clown killifish because they add movement to the top of my tank and are not shy. Months ago, however, when I first got them I had a big problem with them jumping. I lost 4 altogether, 3 of them were males. Now I'm more diligent about keeping my tank covered and I also have floating plants, finally the killifish themselves are just acclimated to my tank and very calm to my presence at this point. Also- I don't buy males anymore, only females. The males are fairly aggressive, they don't tolerate the presence of other males very well and often harass the females and beta males lower into the water column (thus defeating the purpose of why i bought them..). Still a big fan of the females though.

I once had an solitary oto in my 5 gallon (with several cory habrosus as pseudo company) and I wasn't a fan of its spastic darting movements so I returned it to my LFS. I now have a single orange otocinclus (Nannoptopoma sp. Peru) in my 5 gallon and it's movements are more fluid and relaxed than a standard oto. It's been in there for about 6 weeks now and it seems to be doing quite well, that is- if the amount of poop it produces is any indication of well-being.. It seems to really enjoy my driftwood and eats blanched zuchini, hikari algae wafers, and presumably tank algae so feeding hasn't been an issue for me. I'm a big fan of it and plan on getting another one. I think it could do well in your tank and would really appreciate your hardscape.
 
#7 ·
I thought the neon tetra is a nano fish - how big is it going to get? The amano and rili shrimp are larger in size than the neon tetra or rasboras.

The salt and pepper cory and the clown killifish are cool, but I'm a little nervous about the killifish aggression. I have floaters in the tank, but also had a few rasbora jumpers.

Understand about the potential for the fish to kill baby shrimp, but so far I am a novice and have not even had one batch of shrimp fry.

What exactly happens if the neons or raboras aren't in a proper school size? They die off?
 
#8 ·
A neon tetra is not a nano, they get around 2". I don't recommend any cory(even pygmy) in anything less than a 20 long. You'll also need a good amount of mid swimming are for pygmy's since they are mid dwellers. They will be more stress, less natural behaviour is they aren't kept in proper environments. I'd keep it to one type of fish(schooling at least) in this tank since it's barely larger than a ten. I looked up the rasbora and I'd say you could get away 8-10 since they are quite small. Then you'd be stocked.
 
#11 ·
The fish is rated for 20mm max length which is 3/4" inch.
Same with dwarf raspberry.

From what I understand the rasbora is not a mid swimmer, and rated for all areas of the tank which is how they are behaving.
 
#16 ·
By the mid dwellers I meant the Pygmy cories, most don't relies they are mod dwellers and not bottom dwellers(didn't find out myself till recently). I imagine your joking, but just in case, please don't get discus for a 12g.:)
 
#19 · (Edited)
Well the tetra is eating micro pellets and it grabs them from the water column. In the case of cory I thought it only sucks since the mouth is on the bottom. It sounds like it would have to swim vertically to eat a fish pellet, in which case it would not be able to see what it is trying to eat.

I guess it is like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKoLvofxETE

I think cory fish is too big for my tank. I probably only want fish 10-20mm long.
 
#21 ·
Discus is way too big. I think i will stay with nano fishes. Maybe give more neon tetras a try. I like the killifish but also too big I think, unless I get just one.
 
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