Would this tank be overstocked?

[rijac]

i have a 23G community tank which i intend to be south american species.... its planted and my goal is to end up with:

10 neons
3 corys
3 ottos
1 sae
4 hatchetfish
1 male and 3 female apisto borelli
handful of shrimp

would this tank be considered to be very overstocked? would it be better with only a pair of apistos?

thanks!

 

[Griz]

IMO I would stick with just a pair of borelli- maybe 2f/ 1m at most. That would give you a nicely stocked tank I think. What kind of shrimps? I'm no expert on them but have heard of problems with apistos and some species.

 

[aspen]

that tank could be very nice as is, provided you take into account that each of those females needs a bit of space for herself. if it is your first foray into s/a dwarfs, i would heed the advice of Griz and use only 2 females. you will be sure to have more to stock when they start breeding once you've got the hang of that very nice dwarf species. personally i would not use the cories, they will eat your spawns with relish ime.
there are different species of hatchets. some prefer warmer water like the silvers, and they grow quite large. if i'm not mistaken, the marthae's and the marbled stay smaller and prefer cooler water. keep any tetras species in groups of 6 or more, the silvers are quite agressive ime.

i stay away from neons, they are not very hardy generally, cardinals (once established) seem much more hardy.

all apisto and rams are good bottom clean-up fish. when you observe them, they'll spend all day searching for food in the bottom layer. their gill structure (like any geophagus species) sifts any food out of the sand while foraging.

sand is a nice substrate for all sand sifting fish species.

if you can get any of the more exotic morphs of a. borellii, go for it. the opals are esp nice ime.

rick

 

[rijac]

hi thanks for the great feedback..

i already have 10 neons that are well acclamitized and very hardy in my tank, along with 6 yamato shrimp, 2 corys, an otto and a sae...

would normal gravel be a problem? coz i already have that with base fert layer at the bottom for my plants..

i guess my best approach would be to get an established pair from the lfs to be sure i get a pair....

i will look for opals... or i might also consider cacs if i cant find borelis...

 

[aspen]

as long as you are careful about the size of the entrance into the breeding caves you provide so the cory's won't be able to get at the eggs, then you should be ok. or, pull them when spawning ocurrs. they are armoured fish, and they love eggs and fry that haven't yet become free swimming. i've seen rams unable to defend against them, but they are open pit spawners.

i've seen neons make good long-term tankmates for cacs and i'm sure they'd be fine with borellii's. most fish will attack shrimp though, you may lose them depending on the temperment of the dwarf species.

i'd be sure to quarentine new dwarfs, you don't want a problem with your established tank.

rick

 

[Griz]

would normal gravel be a problem? coz i already have that with base fert layer at the bottom for my plants..

Corys prefer sand and I believe the borelli would too. I don't think it's strictly nessessary but if you are thinking about sand, you could add some on top of the gravel. Create depressions between your plants (remove some of the gravel if nessary) and fill it over with sand. You may like the effect.

I did this some time ago in a community tank over the period of a couple years. I had a natural color standard aquarium gravel. Hated it. Changed the top half or so with a layer of natural river gravel (small pebbles). Found out corys like sand. Added sand and ended up with sandy areas in the forground and pebbley(sp?) areas toward the back and around the bases of some of the plants. It ended up quite nice.

Don't blame me if it ends up a mess though! :lol:

 

[cdawson]

as long as you are careful about the size of the entrance into the breeding caves you provide so the cory's won't be able to get at the eggs, then you should be ok. or, pull them when spawning ocurrs. they are armoured fish, and they love eggs and fry that haven't yet become free swimming. i've seen rams unable to defend against them, but they are open pit spawners.

i've seen neons make good long-term tankmates for cacs and i'm sure they'd be fine with borellii's. most fish will attack shrimp though, you may lose them depending on the temperment of the dwarf species.

i'd be sure to quarentine new dwarfs, you don't want a problem with your established tank.

rick

All fish will eat shrimp, especially after molting when they're nothing short of a fatal chomp and a slurp. Right after molt shrimp are very soft and don't have much in the way of defense. Apistos also love to prey on them during this period. I've lost countless amanos to my cockatoos, borelli and gold dwarfs.

 

[rijac]

ok thanks for the feedback.... pity.. they do such a good job with all the junk in the tank!..... :lol:

 

[cdawson]

ah yes, but so do apistos! =)