Hi all. New to the site and kinda novice aquarium keeper. I had a 46 gallon bow front in my childless years that I sold when I had my daughter. She's 2 now and I'm trying to get her interested since one of her first words was "fish". I picked up a 27 gallon cube aquarium a bit ago that is running extremely well and was wondering what I should put in it (if anything) that will go well with my current fish. As of now I have:

3 Angelfish
5 Neon Tetras (will remove when Angels get too big)
4 Cory Catfish

They've all been in the tank together for a few weeks now and are getting along well. Am I pretty much fully stocked or do I have a little room for more fish? If I have room what do you recommend?

Thanks!

Fishkeeping is all about personal preference. In my opinion, you're done with the stocking you have. I would even say that angelfish are too big for a 27 gallon tank, but others could say the opposite and be correct too. It's all about what you enjoy and whether a big fish in a tiny tank would make you uncomfortable and unhappy. I, myself, like the look of a tiny fish in a big tank. You won't see the same behaviors from the angelfish crammed in that tiny 27 gallon tank as you would from the angelfish in Takashi Amano's large angelfish tank: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrjxg_8wmdg They do more interesting behaviors when they have enough room to move around. Obviously that tank is a little bit excessively big, but it's just an example. Here's a second example, my 55 gallon Elassoma gilberti tank. Elassoma gilberti get at maximum about an inch and a quarter long. In the four foot long tank they have enough space to claim territories. Each male will defend a space of about one cubic foot in volume. They turn black with neon blue to defend their territories and to woo females into their space to spawn. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnVXXwbIU5U I like seeing the same behavior that they would have in the wild. The 27 gallon tank you have is really very limited. The neon tetras, yes, are size appropriate. They will do their schooling behavior, although five is a low number. My old school of more than a dozen neon tetras was a beautiful large school. They would travel around together from one side of the tank to another. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3ikKTwTEKs
In 27 gallons the angelfish won't act like they would in the wild. Cories are schooling fish, so.... Yeah. In conclusion, I would say get rid of the angels ($5 for all three on craisglist will make them gone in like a day or two), and double the numbers of neon tetras and cories (both schooling fish) so they can school better.

If you're looking for a third species of fish you can add to the tank, because 10 neon tetras and 10 corydoras means you have room for about 10 more fish, maybe check out my list of one inch fish. These aren't necessary available fish that you can find at your local pet store, or common fish, that you would want to get. I think a few are endangered. But it is a complete list. These are all the fish I can think of that are one inch long. If you check aquabid.com you could probably find some of them.

1. Apistogramma elizabethae (elizabeth dwarf cichlid)
2. Aspidoras pauciradiatus (false corydoras)
3. Barbus hulstaerti (african butterfly barb)
4. Barbus jae (jae barb)
5. Boraras maculatus (dwarf rasbora)
6. Boraras micros (no common name)
7. Boraras merah (phoenix rasbora)
8. Boraras urophthalmoides (sparrow rasbora)
9. Boraras brigittae (mosquito/chili rasbora)
10. Brachygobius doriae (bumblebee goby)
11. Carinotetraodon travancoricus (malabar dwarf pea puffer)
12. Celestichthys margaritatus (celestial pearl danio)
13. Corydoras habrosus (venezuelan pygmy cory)
14. Corydoras hastatus (black diamond cory)
15. Danio erythromicron (zebra rasbora)
16. Danio choprae (glowlight danio)
17. Dario dario (scarlet badis)
18. Elassoma genus
a. Elassoma gilberti (gulf coast pygmy sunfish)
b. Elassoma okefenokee (okefenokee pygmy sunfish)
c. Elassoma evergladei (everglades pygmy sunfish)
19. Epiplatys annulatus (clown killifish)
20. Etheostoma microperca (least darter)
21. Etheostoma tippecanoe (tippecanoe darter)
22. Hara jerdoni (asian stone catfish)
23. Heterandria formosa (dwarf livebearer)
24. Horadandia atukorali (platinum barb)
25. Hyphessobrycon amandae (ember tetra)
26. Leptolucania ommata (pygmy killifish)
27. Nannostomus espei (barred pencilfish)
28. Nannostomus marginatus (dwarf pencilfish)
29. Otocinclus cocama (zebra otocinclus)
30. Paracheirodon innesi (neon tetra)
31. Pseudomugil gertrudae (spotted blue-eye)
32. Rasbora dorsiocellatus (eyespot rabspora)
33. Tanichthys micagemma (sparkle-eye whitecloud)
34. Trichopsis pumila (sparkling gourami)


Also I hope you cycled your tank. http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles_5 ... rticle.htm

"If I did get up to 10 neons and some more cory catfish what, from yours list, would you recommend I stock?"

I would recommend going to youtube.com, copying and pasting the fish's taxonomic name from the list, and watching videos of them. Watching videos of the fish species are a good way to look at them and see if you like them. That will help you find one you think is cute, which you can then do more research on to see if it's a good match for your tank.

First of all, that is so cool that one of your daughter's first word was fish!!! I'd be so proud if that were my kid!

Second, I think we not only need to be mindful of our own preferences, but also the well being of our fish. I don't believe an angel would be happy in a 27 gallon tank, so i wouldn't put one in, whether i like the look of a crowded tank or not.

That looks like a good list of recommended tank mates, although some might be hard to find in your LFS. Okiimiru, are you still selling pygmy sunfish on aquabid? I'd add sunset gouramis and platies to the list.

Good luck getting back into the hobby! Maybe you'll catch the bug and end up adding a second tank to house angel fish. They are one of my personal favorites.

How tall is the 27gal tank?

You can house 2 angels comfortably in a 27gal tank, providing its at least 18inch tall, and they arent the veiltail type.