New 29 Gallon - Stocking???

[Nano Nano]

Woohoo I got a new 29 gallon tank I am thinking about making it a neon tetra tank, I just love those scaped tanks that look like a lawn with just a piece of hardscape covered in moss or something protruding upward and a school of tetras swimming around.

So the question is, how many neons does it take before they start to look like a school and stop darting around solo?

Also, about how many would be an upper limit? I am not sure about my maintance team yet, what do you suggest. I was thinking about a trio of oto's and a trio of cory cats, but just didn't want to get something that is distracting from the tetras. Snails maybe? Do they eat left over food to or just algae?

[Riley]

I would put the limit at around 12-15 neons. I like to try to understock my tanks though. I think you could get away with the neons, cories and the ottos. There really isnt a magic number when it comes to schooling fish, sometimes they stay together, sometimes they dont. As far as snails go, maybe a few olive nerite snails would be good, I dont know if the nerites eat excess food, but I know the cories will. Good luck, and cant wait to see pics!

[forddna]

A pair of Corys would be fun. They are shoalers. As for schooling tetras, I had 10 Bloodfins, and they would sometimes school, but not always, and rarely did they ALL school at once. It's hard to say, though.

Do schools form better in smaller tanks? Mine were in a 120, so maybe they had too much space to school.

[bsmith782]

personally if you want cories buy 5-6 of them they fell/look better in groups of 3+, also i would get ~20-25 neons (cardinals are better imo) if thats the way you end up going.

[Nano Nano]

Well I was thinking of Neons just because they are cheaper, but I haven't committed to anything.

[bsmith782]

i never noticed is it that big of a difference?

[Nano Nano]

At my lfs I can get neons 2 for $1.00, the cardinals are $3.59 each. I haven't braved the traffic to check the chain stores yet.

[bsmith782]

dang that is crazy, i thought maybe 2x as much for the cards but ~7x thats bananas!!!

[rasetsu]

Cardinals are much prettier especially if you plan on doing a scape with a lot of open space from the bottom up.

Corys are much happier in groups of 4 or more. Same with otos. Nerite snails do not really eat left over food. They are too slow. The corys will take care of that. Might want to put in half a dozen cherry shrimp too.