Fish lovers!

[Cardinal]

I always thought the angelfish have a tank height requirement too. That if they don't have enough they'll scrape their fins and such.

At 15 gallons, your tank isn't much smaller than mine (20 gallons). I know a lot of people who have smaller tanks and like guppies.

Indeed they do have height requirements. xD Another reason for the 29 gallon being minimum. I'm getting to guppies in my guide in just a second. <Wanders back to work on it.>

[varoujan]

hey I noticed some people are saying cory cats need to be in groups, I have a single peppered cory and at the pet store they said the where fine on thier own... do they need to be in a school of what?

[Cardinal]

hey I noticed some people are saying cory cats need to be in groups, I have a single peppered cory and at the pet store they said the where fine on thier own... do they need to be in a school of what?

No less then 4. It makes a huge difference and brings out more natural behavior, including schooling and playing together. I currently just lost one of mine at the age of four and I'm getting his shoal a new buddy pretty soon.

For a 15 gallon I really wouldn't do angel fish. >.> Most everything I've read states a minimum of 29 gallons for a pair~

Anyways, 15 gallons is rather small, but completely do-able. I'll do tropicals..Then cold water I suppose. >.>

Bottom dwellers/ algae eaters:
Khuli loaches: Small, schooler (4+), worm like, likes to burrow under substrate, mostly nocturnal. Will swim into under gravel filters or any tubing. xD
Cory Catfish: Small, schooler(4+), chubby and very catfishy, many many kinds in various sizes. The smallest ones are Pygmys and some of the largest are Emerald. I would personally go with pygmys, pandas, or peppered. I believe these are some of the smallest and rather easy to find.
Shrimp: Small, some species like company whiles others do not. Generally they say no more then 1 shrimp per gallon. Some fish will try to eat these fellows so be careful. Also, a lot of shrimp are wild caught and do not last very long in the tank. They need plenty of hides for when they shed their hard exoskeletons and become all squishy.
African Dwarf Frogs: Small, aquatic frogs, love company, not very bright so some owners have to 'target' feed. Target feeding is where the owner gets a turkey baser or something similar and puts some food in it then puts it down in the water close to the frogs nose and squirts it out. If you have other bottom dwellers the frogs may try to..harmlessly nibble on them. They can be easily stressed and get ill without warning.
Otto Catfish: Small, algae eating catfish, Schooler (5+), they should only be added to well established aquariums being they do not have scales and are highly sensitive to spikes in ammonia, hungry hungry hippos when it comes to algae, most are wild caught and starved in the pet trade, most come very stressed out and many tend to die off the first week or so.

----- Will finish first thing in the morning ------

Anndd, I'm back to finish this. xD

Centerpiece fish/ aggressive species. :
Betta: Males should never be housed with other males, males and females should not be housed together, females -may- be carefully housed together with plenty of hides and a well planted tank. Males can be kept with other small nonaggression community fish. Other members of the tank should not be brightly colored or have long flowing fins. Avoid plastic plants because they tend to snag betta fins, opt for silk or real plants instead. Avoid overly powerful filters.
German Blue Rams: Very, very beautiful fish that can be hard to find. They do best in a male/female pair or a male with a couple of females. Never house more then one male. They are a cichlid species so choose wisely when pairing with other fish. They will spawn happily in most aquariums.
Dwarf Gourami: Should be kept alone or in a group of 5. You can only really keep one in a 15 gallon with other fish. They come in three different kinds.
Honey gourami: A bit more docile and smaller then the dwarfs. You can normally keep a small school (5) in a 15 gallon just fine.

Live bearers
Guppies: Small, feeder or fancy varieties, should be kept 1 male to every 2-3 females.
Endlers: Cousin of the guppies, much more colorful, wild-type tail, a bit hard to find, breeds readily in aquariums, 1 male to every 2-3 females.
Platys: Mid-sized live bearer, comes in many color variations and tail types, 1 male per 2-3 females.

---I want a break before I get into schoolers.---

[GummyKarp]

Time to go get 2 more platy's. One of my males is becoming agressive, due to not enough females in the tank. Also one of my females looks like she may have babies before too long, so time to get a breeder net.

[varoujan]

hey I noticed some people are saying cory cats need to be in groups, I have a single peppered cory and at the pet store they said the where fine on thier own... do they need to be in a school of what?

No less then 4. It makes a huge difference and brings out more natural behavior, including schooling and playing together. I currently just lost one of mine at the age of four and I'm getting his shoal a new buddy pretty soon.

Ok thanks, I will get some buddies for my little corydora catfish

[The_Tide_Keeper]

Oh sorry on the angelfish, if you're tank is 16 inches tall, then get one. It's a stocking opinion and I say 15 is fine for a single angelfish, but that's my opinion, and no veil/super viels. Good luck with your new platys!

And yeah 8 gallon for a pair is really a bad idea, you may want to upgrade.

[Tuesday & Imoen]

Indeed they do have height requirements. xD Another reason for the 29 gallon being minimum. I'm getting to guppies in my guide in just a second. <Wanders back to work on it.>

I have to say I love your guide so far. Very helpful and to the point. I joined a fish forum a few weeks before buying my fish and it was a bit overwhelming.

I think my fish are doing alright though. Maybe some of you could give me some advice though? I've got a 20 gallon tank with 5 black widow tetras, 2 platties, 1 guppy & 2 zebra danios. I know I should likely have a few more danios because of how they like to chase and probably more guppies but I'm afraid of overstocking. Or of stressing out the current fish. Though the tetras & danios I've had for 5 months and the guppy & platties for 4 months. I do a 30% water change 40% every now and then instead) every week to a week and a half for them. They've never been sick and seem to get on fine. Am I doing okay?

[Cardinal]

Indeed they do have height requirements. xD Another reason for the 29 gallon being minimum. I'm getting to guppies in my guide in just a second. <Wanders back to work on it.>

I have to say I love your guide so far. Very helpful and to the point. I joined a fish forum a few weeks before buying my fish and it was a bit overwhelming.

I think my fish are doing alright though. Maybe some of you could give me some advice though? I've got a 20 gallon tank with 5 black widow tetras, 2 platties, 1 guppy & 2 zebra danios. I know I should likely have a few more danios because of how they like to chase and probably more guppies but I'm afraid of overstocking. Or of stressing out the current fish. Though the tetras & danios I've had for 5 months and the guppy & platties for 4 months. I do a 30% water change 40% every now and then instead) every week to a week and a half for them. They've never been sick and seem to get on fine. Am I doing okay?

Is it a 20 gallon high or 20 gallon long? The amount of surface space can affect the stocking. The more surface space..the more fish that can be added. =) Have you used Aqadvisor . com ? Its a very helpful stocking calculator. You just enter the stats of your tank and your currant stock and it'll tell you how much water you need to change weekly, your filter capacity, and how stocked your tank is. So far its been very accurate and I've used it for all of my tanks without any problem. =)

[Tuesday & Imoen]

Er, so actually my tank is 15 gallons. I always thought it was 20. Guess that's what I get for getting a tank from my sister. But regardless, I'm not overstocked so yay. Here are my stats:

# Warning: Black Skirt Tetra will likely to fin nip Guppy. Try increasing the number to 6.
# Suggestion: If you want to keep more than 1 Sunburst Platy, minimum recommend male to female ratio is 1:2 (M:F). You will be less likely to experience problem if you get even more females.
# Warning: At least 5 x Zebra Danio are recommended in a group.

Recommended temperature range: 68 - 75.2 F. [Display in Celsius]
Recommended pH range: 6 - 7.5.
Recommended hardness range: 5 - 15 dH.

You have plenty of aquarium filtration capacity.

Your aquarium filtration capacity for above selected species is 296%.
Recommended water change schedule: 26% per week.
Your aquarium stocking level is 78%.

I've never seen my tetras nip at my guppy. So that's not really a problem. And I already knew about the platys and danios. I just thought I couldn't take more but if I add 3 more danios and a platy it ups my stocking percent to 98%. I have my heater set on 75 F so that's good I suppose. And I actually change more water than that. Perhaps I'll cut it down a bit.

[Kickin' up dirt]

I had said before that I had 10 guppies,well now they are ALL dying one by one I have four alive now but by tomorrow they I bet they will all be dead D :