hi im looking to change from coldwater to tropical due to the various fish that you can get.

how ever i need some advice to what to start with
myself and my fiancee very much like the neon tetra's but what else can we put with these fish

we have a 65 litre tank set up and have been told we can keep a maximum of 50cm of fish in there. or upto 20 tropical fish


can anyone help me on where to go now!!!

20 tropical fish in a 65ltr tank is seriously pushing it unless the tank is fully mature and roughly about a year old. Tbh, I'd use a tank of that size for either a male SFF and possibly some otos, or as a species tank with the neons. If you want a community tank, go for a 20-30gal instead.

i would go for a bigger tank but my financial status at the mo wont let me. i fell in love with a nice 600 litre tank a week ago but it will need me to take out a loan just to buy it.


so what can i put in my tank set up as it is.

Number of fish depends very much on the fish, not just their length. Still there are plenty of fish you could choose. First though you need to work out what is available to you and make sure the tank is prepped. So check the PH of the water and report back.

When you say the tank is set up, is it cycled and are you continuing to feed it to maintain the cycle?

i currently have the goldfish in there once i get bk from my hols im putting them into my sons tank adding the heater and well il be set

thats what my lfs suggested i did

they test all my waters for me for free lucky me

It would be much better for you to buy a test kit and test things for yourself, rather than relying on the LFS. That way you can reach for the test kit at the earliest possible opportunity if things go wrong in the tank.

If you're going to keep the (presumably) mature filter in the 65ltr tank, you'll need to continue to feed the bacteria with a source of ammonia to make sure most of the bacteria survive until you get the fish.

Hi Im kinda asking a similar question I have a biorb 30 (I know I know, I realise now not the best move but please help me anyway the poor misguided fool that I am). It is about 6 months old, currently planted and contains several briggs apple snails and I would like to add some tropical fish. Would 6 neon tetras, 1 male and two female guppies over load the tank? Will these three species happily coexist? Also given the age of the tank will I still need to cycle it or will the snails have helped do that, and if I do, will cycling the tank harm the snails?
Finally when I add the fish how should I do it all together to reduce the risk of bringing in disease or a few at a time, I read somewhere you shouldnt keep less than 6 Neons as they get stressed otherwise in which case would it at least be OK to add all 6 at one time?
Cheers for any help you can give, sorry for long post

Hi shadow. Welcome to FK.

Unfortunately, no, the 30ltr Bi-Orb won't be big enough for all those fish Minimum tank sizes for tropical fish start from 10gal for a betta splendens, to 20gal if you want a community.

As if that wasn't enough, the 30ltr Bi-Orb in particular is even worse. The filtration system is poor at best, and the surface area is roughly that of a tank 1/3 of the Bi-Orb's apparent 30ltrs, which means it's not really suitable for any fish at all.


Because of their long, flowing tails, guppies are really species tank fish - even usually peaceful fish like the neons can decide to nip elongated fins like those of guppies and fighting fish.

Cheers for the advice I'll just stick to the snails till I get a bigger house and can have a bigger tank. At least it makes an attractive if somewhat expensive plant pot I've not had the problems I've heard others have had getting plants to colonise it and with the led light it makes an pretty ornament even if I am discovering that is all it's good for
Thanks again for the help, I'll come back when I am better equipped to join your gang ;o)

Hi again, I'm not questioning your advice just to be clear I am asking purely out of curiosity
I wasn’t sure what a betta splendens looked like so I looked it up, and on bettatalk and a couple of other sites they talk about keeping bettas in jars! Surely even a biorb is better than this or am I just showing my ignorance and a jar in this case is actually something else? It also says that anything over 7-10 gals is actually bad for them as they get tired patrolling their territory, please tell me this isn't true when I was a kid we had a massive tank with one of these guys in it, (mind you I now realise we kept a whole load of things together that didn’t really go, they did seem to do ok mind but like it says somewhere else on here you want them to thrive not just survive!)
Thank you again for humouring an ignoramus


(sorry J I've kinda gone off your topic)