[sunshineband]

After years of fish keeping, I now have a very small tropical tank to fit on my desk. (39L) The filter mechanism is housed in the lid and the front of the tank is bowed, making it look quite good.

Apart from my wild excitement of being able plant up a new tank, I can choose new fish, not based on what is in the tank already (we have two other much, much larger tanks). According to the blurb this one will house 47.5cm of fish, but I shall not be adding them all at once of course!!

Has anyone kept Endler's guppies at all? I do like the look of them, and also fancy some shrimps too, plus a couple of small corys perhaps?

I also like a pair of dwarf gouramis but have had zero success with these in the past, even though larger sorts have been quite successful.

What do you guys think of this please?

[Aunt Sally]

I like Corys too.  My favourite little one is Adolfo's Cory Corydoras adolfi. They like to be in small groups of abou 4-6.

They are ideal for community tanks.

[New shoot]

I had no luck at all with Cherry Shrimps, but have had a small group of Amano shrimps for at least a couple of years now.   They are not as showy, but they work very hard inspecting the tank and munching algae. 

They get shrimp pellets as well and are not adverse to nicking fish food if they get the chance 

[Beetroot Queen]

Ohhh i miss our tank, we used to have a 400l tank in the dinningroom, till it sprang a leak one morning an hour after hubby left for the USA for a month. I was not impressed and all the kids kept saying was we wont be late for school will we.

[sunshineband]

Thank you for the info about corys and the shrimps, Aunty and New Shoot. Of course the cherry shrimps were the ones I had my eye on    as they are such a lovely colour but I shall certainly take some notice of what was said. As the tank is on my desk I shall be able to see Amalfis without any trouble.

I shall try to get the smallest corys I can --in terms of adult size not maturity - as this really is a tiny tank. there are some that stay under 2cm which sound ideal, and a little group would certainly be good.

Ottocinclus are the other fish I was thinking of as they are sort of mid water algae feeders, and stay small.

Plus the dwarf gouramis and Endlers Guppies - if I can actually find any of these for sale of course 

[Aunt Sally]

A shoal of White Cloud Mountain minnows would be nice.  They stay near the top.

[sunshineband]

I am sure that white cloud mountain minnows  would look great!! I can see me being pressed for decisions soon. Abby has already said he can take anything that grows to big into one his tanks (Oh Yeah!). As he helped me cut the backing picture to size I suppose I could consider that.... if it ever happened!!!

I am now very excited as the tank is all planted up and looking fabulous. Photo to follow when I find the camera chip that has wandered absent mindedly from my work basket....

Had a chat with a guy in the fish shop who will happily order Endler's Guppies for me once the tank has matured a bit, so very pleased with that as they can be hard to come by, mainly because they are only 1cm long and so are looked upon as food by many fish. So gorgeous though. Picture attached

He suggested Honey Gouramis as another option

[spottymint]

For a small tank, Pygmy cory's would be good, also Celestial pearl danios (galaxy rasbora), threadfin rainbows, maybe copper harlequins, lamp eyes and for sucking type fish, octocinclus. Kuhli loach may also be good. Check adult fish sizes before purchase.

I too have had bad issues with cherry shrimp, all forums blamed the water, but they are prone to bacterial infections and colonies can die out rapidly ( exactly what I had).

Dwarf gourami are prone to a virus in which they waste away and die. I think they must be prone to bacterial issues as well, another which I have had no luck with.

We have a 450 ltr tank, 180 ltr tank, a 19ltr nano tank and a 2 ft quarantine/breeding tank. 

[spottymint]

Sparkling gourami are not often seen, but small and sweet.

http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/fish-pictures/sparkling-gourami-1269993967-800.jpg