Community Tank?

[drewr13]

Hi all, i am new to this forum and have not yet bought any danios but i would reallyt like to!

My question is… would i be able to keep celestial pearl danios in a 20gal community tank with tetras, other danios and some 1.5” swordtails(they must have been bred specially as they are about 1 year old and still very small, and very, very peacfull. When i had them with neon tetras they wouldnt go near the tetras!)

I think this mixture would be great, but i would like to get a second opinion first!

[altaaffe]

Yes.

I grew out a dozen juveniles in a community tank alongside copper harlequins, Zebra Danios, cardinal tetras, corys & clown loaches with no bother. They tended to stay towards the top of the tank (I have tall plants) until they had grown some bulk.

[atlantis_child]

Yep, definately.

I guess this counts as the 3rd opinion.

– Atlantis

[Aquaseafoam]

I’m going to say no, but explain why
I can’t say yes without knowing how many tetras, danios and swordtails are already in the tank. Your swordtails sound like they are stunted, this can be from keeping them in a tank too small for them, or in crowded conditions or in water of poor quality.
IF this is the case, I would not add any additional fish to an already overstocked tank- no matter how small they are;)
again- thats why i’m asking since you didn’t day how many fish are in there or how often you do water changes, filtration… etc.

[drewr13]

There are 5 black neon tetras, 10 neon tetras, 3 zebra danios, 3 swordtails. The Tank is a planted 20 gal(Imperial measurement) ( about 90 L)
The tank looks like it has a lot of space, and they all have loads of room to swim about in. There is an oversized fluval internal filter, and a 25% water change every 2 weeks.

[matthew583]

Hi, i personally think that with plenty of planting and places to retreat too there shouldn’t be to many issues with the fish you already have.
That said fish can be fickle creatures, so my advise would be that it would be prudent to keep a very close eye on how they interact for the first few weeks.
How many CPD’s are you planning on introducing ?

[drewr13]

I am planning on adding around 10 cpd’s

[misterchengmoua]

my reason would have to be that CPDs arent the fastest eaters. remember, they will be competing with the tetras for food. you’ll probably have to feed more than you need to just so that the CPDs get to eat.

[altaaffe]

I overstock my community tank (180l) slighlty but counter this by planting, nitrate reduction in the filter & 50% water change every week. Nitrate stays at or below 5 ppm even when after a recent disaster my wife put all my CPDs from their tank into the already crowded community. They got on perfectly well with Copper Harlequins, Leopard Danios, Cardinal & Neon Tertas and Glowlight Danios, not to mention various Corys & 4 clown loaches that are being grown out.

If your plants are taking up most of the nitrate burden then there should be no problems with their fellow tank mates but as said above fish can be fickle things !!

[tedr108]

I would lean toward try-it-and-see. I recently got 6 rummy nose tetras (true variety) for my 50G planted aquarium. I guarantee you that my 18 CPDs and 25 cardinal tetras are now getting a lot less food, because these rummies eat very, very quickly — they are, however, totally non-aggressive. I’ve been feeding a little extra to make up for it, but I’m not overly comfortable with this situation. I do a 50% water change every week, so the extra food won’t hurt my tank. I really don’t think you’ll know for sure if this will work until you give it a try.

One thing I did to help my CPDs and cardinals get more food was putting wafers in every day. They seem to get their fair share of the wafers.

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