I have had a tank for over a week i am getting cold-water fish in the next few days. It is a 95 litre tank with plenty of decorations and live plants. it has also got a very large filter.

I was wondering how many fish to start with for a while before i build it up i was thinking of getting: A few Butterfly Pinstripes
A couple of rainbow Butterlings
About 4 Weather Loaches
A big Oranga
And a couple of Black Moors

As i final results, any advice would be nice
cheers
yann

Hi and welcome,

I'm afraid that's far too many fish for the tank size, and most are going to need a considerably larger tank.

Fancy Goldfish (like the Oranda and Moors) need 140 litres for the first fish and 45 litres more for each additional fish so you would need at least 230 litres just for them. Our article here has more information on this.

Weather Loaches need at least a 4ft x 2ft x 2ft tank of around 300 litres with good water flow and a sand substrate for digging (gravel can damage them). This care sheet goes into detail.

The only temperate fish on your list suited to the tank size are the Rosy Bitterlings. Others suitable for that size of tank include White Cloud Minnows and Danios. Adding a heater and going for tropical fish instead would give you a wider range of fish to choose from.

Whatever you decide, you need to cycle the tank first to make the water safe for fish. This article explains fishless cycling, which takes around 4-6 weeks.

Just seconding what Fishlady has said. I have a similar size tank with a shoal of various types of WCMM which are quite fun.


JON