New 35 gallon fish tank

[Madam Macaw]

We will be picking up the 35 gallon tonight. I will probably have to cycle it since the owner didn’t really know what that meant and the filter only has the replaceable bags, no sponge for the good bacteria. (I am shopping tonight for new filters, driftwood, etc.) Now, I am trying to plan out what my son wants in the tank – and not overstocking it. This is what I have so far, listed in order of top dwelling, middle, bottom feeders:

35 gallon
Some swords and mollys from the fry – how many of each?

6 Black Widow Tetras
6 Cardinal Tetras

Possibly some dwarf chain loaches? – how many
Clown Pleco

My tank will be stocked as below:

55 gallon
3 Pearl Gourami (4”)– one male and two female
6 swords (4”)

6 dwarf Pea**************** Rainbow (2”)
6 Bleeding Heart Tetras (2”) – possibly, what else would work?
2 Red-eyed Tetras

10 – 12 Corys (either Skunk or Swartz) (2 ½”) – have 6 False Network now – instead of getting 6 more cories, would 6 dwarf chain loaches work?
Gold Spot Pleco
2 – Apple Snails

The small tank holds the fry now, but they will eventually go to the LFS and this will be a quarantine tank.

10 Gallon
Molly fry
Sword fry
1 Snails
Clown Pleco

Opinions and/or ideas please?

[JustOneMore20]

If he's wanting the 2 schools of tetras, I wouldn't put too many swords and mollies in the tank. I know they are fry now, but they'll grow.

Maybe a trio or 4 of each would be good, plus the tetras, loaches, and pleco. That would be a nice stocking.

The Dwarf Chain Loaches (good luck finding these cuties!) would be fine with your Cories. Really, in the 55g, you could have about 7-8 of each, as they are pretty small.

What about the Mollies in your 55? I'm confused by the stocking in your sig and the stocking listed above. I see you are moving some fish around, but are you keeping what is left in the 55 and then adding the above?

[Madam Macaw]

Originally Posted by JustOneMore20

If he's wanting the 2 schools of tetras, I wouldn't put too many swords and mollies in the tank. I know they are fry now, but they'll grow.

Maybe a trio or 4 of each would be good, plus the tetras, loaches, and pleco. That would be a nice stocking.

The Dwarf Chain Loaches (good luck finding these cuties!) would be fine with your Cories. Really, in the 55g, you could have about 7-8 of each, as they are pretty small.

What about the Mollies in your 55? I'm confused by the stocking in your sig and the stocking listed above. I see you are moving some fish around, but are you keeping what is left in the 55 and then adding the above?

You are absolutely right - I left off my 6 existing mollies (bad mom). I think that might be a bit much then so if need be I will not get the gouramis since I do want to keep my current ones. Everything else I believe I listed - that will be the rearranged tanks.

How many cories or dwarf loaches would work in the 35 gallon? Either or. Is there dwarf cories?

[Madam Macaw]

So proposed would be:

35 gallon
4 Swords
4 Mollies

6 Black Widow Tetras
6 Cardinal Tetras

Possibly some dwarf chain loaches? – how many
Pleco (not sure what kind)

My tank will be stocked as below:
55 gallon
6 Mollies
6 swords

6 dwarf Pea**************** Rainbow (2”)
6 Bleeding Heart Tetras (2”) – possibly, what else would work?
2 Red-eyed Tetras

10 – 12 Corys (either Skunk or Swartz) (2 ½”) – have 6 False Network now – instead of getting 6 more cories, would 6 dwarf chain loaches work? – yes, 7-8 of them
Gold Spot Pleco
2 – Apple Snails

The small tank holds the fry now, but they will eventually go to the LFS and this will be a quarantine tank.

10 Gallon
Molly fry
Sword fry
1 Snail
2 Clown Plecos

[JustOneMore20]

Looks good!

For the 35g, I would do either the dwarf loaches or the cories. There are dwarf Cories. The species are hastatus, habrosus, and pygmaeus. Usually, people refer to all of them as Pygmy Cories, but really Pygmaeus are the Pygmies. The hastatus and pygmaeus stay around 1 inch. Habrosus get a tad larger....around 1.3" or so full grown.

If you can find the dwarf Cories, you could definitely have 10-12 of them in the 35g.

[Madam Macaw]

Originally Posted by JustOneMore20

Looks good!

For the 35g, I would do either the dwarf loaches or the cories. There are dwarf Cories. The species are hastatus, habrosus, and pygmaeus. Usually, people refer to all of them as Pygmy Cories, but really Pygmaeus are the Pygmies. The hastatus and pygmaeus stay around 1 inch. Habrosus get a tad larger....around 1.3" or so full grown.

If you can find the dwarf Cories, you could definitely have 10-12 of them in the 35g.

If I can't find any dwarf cories, can he have 6 of the swartz or skunk cories in the 35 gallon? I think he will fall in love with the dwarf loaches personally, but I want to be prepared for anything.

[JustOneMore20]

Sure. Either of those would be fine.

[Madam Macaw]

Thanks for all of your help!