Sorority plans

[MattsBettas]

Well, I'm starting to own enough females to start a sorority in the next few months. I'm thinking that it will be a thirty gallon long NPT and will start with 5 females, some panda or Pygmy cories (help me decide please!), a few african dwarf frogs, and some shrimp (my lfs always have a ton of choices, so they will be a colorful shrimp of some kind). Will the african dwarf frogs work with shrimp? It will be a very well planted tank. Could I pull it off with a ten gallon aquaclear hob (I have one lol) and a sponge filter? Remember that it will be a npt. Thanks for the help!

[aokashi]

You can definitely pull it off if you are going NPT style.
make sure you read the NPT sticky carefully. Usually people skim through it and then end up wondering why their nitrates are sky high!

I do not recommend colorful shrimps... bettas (especially the fast females) are seasoned hunters and will definitely chase down shrimp. unless you have ghost shrimp (which aren't very colorful at all) shrimps are quite costly!
If you want a nice shrimp that isn't cery colorful, but still very helpful I would recommend an amano.
Pygmy cories are great :) and super duper duper duper cuteeeeee. and did I mention cute?
if you do those sand substrate is a must!
I would get the larger adult pygmy cories as the juveniles are quite small.

I'm not familiar with african dwarf frogs, but you might might want to check up on that tank depth... and compatibility with dwarf frogs, I heard that they need a gulp of air every now and then. but I may be mistaken...

you can probably also do a school of small fish (emphasis on "school"). I love least killies, although they arent the most colorful of fish they will certainly add life to the tank without taking the spot light from your girls :) and since they are prolific breeders... the girls can enjoy a nice live snack every now and then :D

I would ditch the sponge filter as a personal preference...


other than that... oooohhh a 30L tank! I'm sooo sooo jealous!!!!

[Option]

I think a thirty gallon tank w/ a ten gallon filter should be okay, as long as your tank is heavily planted & well-cycled by the time you add the fish. A heavily planted tank will partially act as a water itself through it's nitrogen absorption....but I would not add the fish until it's thorougly cycled.

[MattsBettas]

Well of course. I'm starting to lean towards a 20 long b/c of price, but I'll have to actually look at them first.