# New 20 Gallon Setup



## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

So I had a 20G with metal stand just sitting in my garage taking up space. I figured why not ditch the 2.5G at the office and replace it with the 20G. This is my plan:

*Filtration*
-Marineland Penguin 150 - Excellent filter and is rated for a larger tank than a 20G so it should do the job
-Heater with water at 78F

*Appearance*
-Black Gravel
-Live plants since the hood actually had a Powerglo for low light plants. I'll probably go with Wisteria or something similar.

*Fish*

15 Neon Tetras
6-10 Guppies (Tequila Sunrises if I can find that many)
1 Female Betta
6 Cories (Probably go with Albinos due to the black gravel)
1 Albino Rubber Lip Pleco (max out at 7-9")

So what do you guys think?


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## platies pwn (Nov 29, 2010)

the 2 only problems i see is that neons might nip at the guppies,and the female betta might mistake the guppies for other bettas and might attack


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

platies pwn said:


> the 2 only problems i see is that neons might nip at the guppies,and the female betta might mistake the guppies for other bettas and might attack


Since when? I have known several people successfully keep all of these together without any problems.


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## platies pwn (Nov 29, 2010)

neons are known to nip,and bettas attack anything they think is another betta


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

platies pwn said:


> neons are known to nip,and bettas attack anything they think is another betta


So scratch the guppies and go with a larger school of neons?


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## platies pwn (Nov 29, 2010)

you can try with only female guppies since they have smaller tales.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I'd do either neons or guppies, either cories or a pleco. I assume it will be unwatched over the weekends, so you want to leave it bit understocked. So a single dead fish doesn't mean lots of deaths by Monday AM. And so they will survive a plug kicked out by a cleaner Friday night.

Your first list is a bit overstocked for 20H, IMO and a growing pleco + breeding guppies would make it more so over time. If you just do neons & cories, you could maybe go up to 20 & 8. Fill it up with java moss and java fern and you might even get a few fry.

Betta and tetra are always hit or miss tank-mates. Some individuals are nippy, some aren't. Generally larger schools of tetra are more likely to leave other fish alone. 

Not sure about betta and neons. You come close to the mouth-size rule. If you get one like Mousey's guppy-hunter, there could be trouble.


Or you could let me send you a breeding pair of convicts. Isn't she cute?








h


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

In that case I'll probably just go with a larger school of Neons and some Cories on the bottom. I have to have something for algae and I can't find any Bristlenose Plecos or snails near me.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

I agree that the original stock plan is overcrowded for certain. I like your new idea of the neons and the cories. Be careful about how many you are putting in there, they are small so you can do more with it, but they still are a bioload. Personally I wouldn't go with more than about 15 neons and 4-6 cories. It's overstocked but not so much that you would have to change water constantly, normal weekly changes would be enough. 

What you might want to do is add a centerpiece fish. A small (dwarf) cichlid might be a good idea. I am enjoying my new curviceps a lot. I bought one so I wouldn't have to deal with any fighting with them in a small space. I am told their temperament is pretty docile for a cichlid (note the for a cichlid in that statement). So far mine has been fine with my current stock. We shall see what happens as I restock the tank like 4 months from now given how slow the cycle on my QT is going LOL. My rubberlip has some attitude with my curviceps but since you are not looking at adding a pleco then that shouldn't be a problem. I have the worlds smallest rubberlip, dang thing refuses to grow, fine with me given the tank he is in!

And yes emc your convict is cute! Love the fry


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## Guest (Sep 11, 2011)

platies pwn said:


> neons are known to nip,and bettas attack anything they think is another betta


never heard of neon nipping fins off other fish... 
female betta attacking other fish is a low chance... 

as time fly the betta will get use to everything around her even the other fish...


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Neons nip and annoy many fish, especially long flowy fins. They are not going to rip a fin off. 

This is not usually seen a lot because most people tend to keep them in schools big enough to keep them happy. It is important to note that it does happen and needs to be taken into consideration. Betta's fins are like tinsel is to a cat. How FUN!!!! They can get fungus if the neon does manage to do damage. Personally I would be more worried about the stress from being annoyed.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Well, I decided to get rid of the Neons so I am starting from scratch. The tank's ammonia finally shot up to around .05 this morning after I threw some food in there on Monday. When the ammonia bottoms out to zero I'll start adding fish. I think I am going to with Guppies. Does anyone know if Cories and shrimp get along? I need to know because I don't want the Cories eating the shrimp.


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## Danio king (Feb 25, 2011)

they will bw fine with the shrimp


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Danio king said:


> they will bw fine with the shrimp


Good, that settles it then. About 10 Guppies, 5-6 Albino Cories, and a handful of Ghost Shrimp. With black gravel I think this setup will look quite nice.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Hide the food. Visitors will feed fish unasked.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

emc7 said:


> Hide the food. Visitors will feed fish unasked.


Luckily, I keep my door closed and locked when I am not there.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

So my tank was cycled as of yesterday so today I added 6 Guppies. I snapped a pic of the tank, but the guppies are still huddled at the waterline.


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## Only One Haze (Sep 6, 2011)

how do you like the live NH3 meter? Thought about getting one myself. 

Nice tank too! Wish I could set up a tank at work.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Only One Haze said:


> how do you like the live NH3 meter? Thought about getting one myself?
> 
> Nice tank too! Wish I could set up a tank at work.


I like them. I have used them for years and to me it's the easiest way to know when a tank is cycled. Ammonia starts at 0.0, add food and let it decay, ammonia shoots up to .05-.07, then drops back to 0.0 after some time. They're $8 at Petsmart and will last for a couple months. 

I appreciate it. My office is not huge, but it's large enough for the 20G. I couldn't go any bigger though.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

I added more Guppies today for a total of 10. I would like to add 5-6 Albino Cories, but that will have to wait until I can find some. On another note I am going to need something in the next month or two that eats algae, but doesn't get bigger than 6 inches.


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

I like the setup. I have black gravel in one of mine too. But no fish yet. its underconsturction. Are those live plants?


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

ZebraDanio12 said:


> I like the setup. I have black gravel in one of mine too. But no fish yet. its underconsturction. Are those live plants?


Much obliged. They are. They make up the first test run. If they survive then I will add some Java Fern or Amazon Swords as they both do well in low light.


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

I got some amazon swords today aswell as wisteria. They look great!


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## CalvinKE (Mar 17, 2011)

from the first message i saw of you describing how you wanted to make it, it sounds so much like what i currently have right now!!! i have a 20 gal with black gravel, 2 caves, amazon swords, wisteria, stargrass, and some fake plants with 4 female bettas! (one died :'-( ) ill post pics for you, first set is how it used to be before the bettas, had neons and guppies


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## CalvinKE (Mar 17, 2011)

pics of how was vvvvvvvv


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## CalvinKE (Mar 17, 2011)

and i cant upload more than 5 at a time so here is the last one that goes with those, and im about to take pic of how my tank is now, betta is in breeder bc had pop eye and im introducing her back

actually im just gonna put the pictures of how it is now, and im too lazy to edit my message  last 4

and as you can see i got a better phone too  (clearer pictures)


i hope these give you some ideas!!!


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## CalvinKE (Mar 17, 2011)

oh and if you get cories, make sure you get a place for them to hide, its good to get atleast 5 or more and they usually stick together, they will hide during the day and be out at night, and if you feed them algae wafers, dont let them in for more than 24 hours, trust me, it gets bad =[ and all under the gravel and its a pain to get out


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

CalvinKE said:


> oh and if you get cories, make sure you get a place for them to hide, its good to get atleast 5 or more and they usually stick together, they will hide during the day and be out at night, and if you feed them algae wafers, dont let them in for more than 24 hours, trust me, it gets bad =[ and all under the gravel and its a pain to get out


Great pics.

Yeah, I have kept cories for years. In my experience they don't hide much at all.


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## CalvinKE (Mar 17, 2011)

thanks, and yea i guess i needed more shade or something, i wonder why mine kept hiding then... ahh oh well


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

CalvinKE said:


> thanks, and yea i guess i needed more shade or something, i wonder why mine kept hiding then... ahh oh well


I should clarify. I have kept Bronze, Albino, Peppered, Julii, and Emerald Cories for years. Of these species I would say that the Bronze are the most shy, but the rest are always out and about.


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## CalvinKE (Mar 17, 2011)

Yea i had bronze  makes sense now lol


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

CalvinKE said:


> Yea i had bronze  makes sense now lol


The Albinos tend be the most active in my opinion.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

I picked up 7 Albino Cories today to complete my 20G. I will try and post a pic later today.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

New picture of completed tank.


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

Woah. Lots of cories on black rocks, I like it. Still can't see the guppies though


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

ZebraDanio12 said:


> Woah. Lots of cories on black rocks, I like it. Still can't see the guppies though


You can see a few near the top in the middle.


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

Oh yup. There they are, a blur, but look blue. They look like they're like my old tuxedo guppy.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

ZebraDanio12 said:


> Oh yup. There they are, a blur, but look blue. They look like they're like my old tuxedo guppy.


It didn't take long for the Cories to clean up the bottom. I dropped about 8 shrimp pellets this morning and now they're all gone. I never notice this at home because all of the food blends in with the natural gravel.


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

Wow. Mine loves shrimp pellets also. He finds them so fast too!


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## CalvinKE (Mar 17, 2011)

it looks so good!! maybe you can get some plants like amazon sword or something in the back, it would look nice imo  but thats a great looking aquarium!


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

CalvinKE said:


> it looks so good!! maybe you can get some plants like amazon sword or something in the back, it would look nice imo  but thats a great looking aquarium!


I appreciate it. I am going to check back at Petsmart soon. Last time I was there they were out of Amazon Swords.


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