Stocking for 65litre tank

[Ry4n7]

My stocking in a similar sized tank is in my signature.
I’m pretty near the limit but I’m over-filtering somewhat.

That looks like it'd be an entertaining tank to watch.

I'm thinking of a betta and some rummy nose or ember tetras and maybe a couple of Cory's to sort out the bottom. If love kuhli loaches but I don't think they'd enjoy the Gravel substrate as it's quite big

[Stephen]

Cory won't like the gravel substrate either, certainly kuhli loach require sand as do cory.
I would forget hard water fish species such as platy or guppy and keep to soft water fish species.
It's not too late to change to sand as a substrate.
A 65L tank would be nice with a bit of colour such as neon tetra and with a cory friendly substrate you could have (just an example)
6 x neon tetra
5 x peppered cory
pair of apisto dwarf cichlids

All the best


Stay safe & healthy everyone

[Ry4n7]

Cory won't like the gravel substrate either, certainly kuhli loach require sand as do cory.
I would forget hard water fish species such as platy or guppy and keep to soft water fish species.
It's not too late to change to sand as a substrate.
A 65L tank would be nice with a bit of colour such as neon tetra and with a cory friendly substrate you could have (just an example)
6 x neon tetra
5 x peppered cory
pair of apisto dwarf cichlids

All the best


Stay safe & healthy everyone

Thanks! I wish I got sand substrate tbh, I have it in the main tank and wanted something different. I have aqua soil in aswell and it'll be a nuisance to split it all up. So annoying.

[LadyDay]

...but I'm aware I need a bottom feeder or cleaner fish in there...

I don't think there's any requirements for bottom fish in an aquarium? None of them eat fish poo, so the substrate has to be cleaned by their human either way.

[mikeyw64]

I tried before in a tank and it cycled and just completely crashed after a water change. the shop said since it was a small tank (22l) it could be unstable if its under 4-5kh so I just buffer up on my 2 bigger tanks now and haven't had any problems since thankfully.

ahhhh yes, smaller tanks are more susceptible to little changes

[plankton]

It won't be long enough for rummies who need a lot of swimming room for small fish.
The shape of rummies is also likely to tempt a betta to nip/bite.
I'd get dwarf anchor catfish if you have gravel, as long as it's smooth. Maybe some glowlight tetras or lemons who don't need as much space as rummies and have the deeper bodies.
You still can't be guaranteed that there won't be problems keeping a betta with other fish, so you'll need a plan B like moving the tetras to another tank.

[mattindevon]

the pH is around 7.4 if I remember right. Thanks

My tank's pH is 7.4 and I'd be interested to know what the consensus is on how to judge this. I know it's technically alkaline and not neutral but it seems close enough to being neutral for stocking considerations. On my API testing kit the low pH always comes out at the top-end and the high test comes in at the low-end.

[plankton]

I can't remember what the ramp up is, but it's something like 0.1ph is 10x higher than 0.0, 0.2 10x higher than 0.1 etc, so 7.4 is a lot more alkaline than 7.0......
The hardness is usually more important to the fish because of the osmotic systems.

[mattindevon]

I can't remember what the ramp up is, but it's something like 0.1ph is 10x higher than 0.0, 0.2 10x higher than 0.1 etc, so 7.4 is a lot more alkaline than 7.0......
The hardness is usually more important to the fish because of the osmotic systems.

That's interesting, thank you.

[Gingerlove05]

I can't remember what the ramp up is, but it's something like 0.1ph is 10x higher than 0.0, 0.2 10x higher than 0.1 etc, so 7.4 is a lot more alkaline than 7.0......
The hardness is usually more important to the fish because of the osmotic systems.

Thats right Ian
0.1 of ph is 10x more acidic or alkaline (depends which way its going ).
So 0.2 difference is 100x (10x10) more acidic or alkaline.
So 7.4 is 10000x more alkaline than a ph of 7
Think that works out