# Ideas For a 20 Gal.



## Momo (Jul 28, 2009)

Hello everyone! I have a 20 gallon tank and am open to suggestions for what to stock it with. I have some experience with freshwater in the past, so I know about pH and Ich and diseases and such. I would kind of like small fish, with a larger "main" fish (which may very well be impossible due to it eating the small ones lol). I also have a cray fish which I could easily move ( or would it eat the old food or the other fish?) Thanks for any suggestions!


----------



## Guest (Jul 28, 2009)

Hey Momo,

Option 1: a pair of black angel, 6 cory, 6 platy/swordtails, 12 danio/glofish and maybe a dwarf pleco like a rubbernose or a bristlenose.

Option 2: 12+shoal of Black Neon Tetras, 6 cory, maybe a dwarf pleco like a rubbernose or a bristlenose.

Combining small tetras with large angel is a bad idea, which i learnt the hard way recently.

hope this helps.

Cheers!


----------



## IAN (Apr 14, 2008)

I sugest that you work in categories:

Enviornment:

substrate: gravel is easy, but aquarium sand if fun (but harder to clean). Gravel is cheapest, so I recommend it.
Community tank: not planted. I suggest you don't plant it as planted tanks are much harder to deal with than rocks, driftwood, and fake plants.

Cleanup crew:

1 Plecostomas or siamese flying fox to eat algae. (the regular pleco will eventually get too big, but that will take many years, or you can get a bristlenose or rubbernose)
1 other fun bottom feeder, such as your crayfish. Bear in mind that if you want LIVE plants he might eat them. But then again mine eats destroys too (eventually)! If you don't decide you want the crayfish (he'll eat small fish if given the chance) get a school of 3 cory catfish.

Main fish:

get a fish like the giant guormi of sunset guormi (not spelled right) or some other pretty gourmi. Avoid angle fish and chichlids as they might eat the smaller fish, and the angle fish are delicate :-( (in my experience)

Schools:

Get a school of 10 or so tetras, or several like 5 livebears, or 10 guppies.

Its really up to you, but I would stay close to the 1 inch per gallon rule and not go overboard. It makes cleaning alot easier. :fish:


Hope this gives you some ideas.

Ian


----------



## Guest (Jul 28, 2009)

Ian,

i would not suggest a giant gourami. they get MASSIVE and will stunt in a 20. they are native to where i am from and have seen some that get 3 feet in lenght. i keep angels as well and no, i dont think they are delicate, if you maintain a healthy tank.

personally, i feel a pair of angels make a nice centerpiece fish.


I totally missed on the cray fish. yes. he will and can eat smaller fishes. i dont suggest u keep him with corys. either the cory or the cray.


----------



## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

Zakk said:


> Ian,
> 
> i would not suggest a giant gourami. they get MASSIVE and will stunt in a 20. they are native to where i am from and have seen some that get 3 feet in lenght. i keep angels as well and no, i dont think they are delicate, if you maintain a healthy tank.
> 
> ...


Angels are not suitable for a tank less than 50 gallons please stop telling people they are.


----------



## Guest (Jul 28, 2009)

If you say so Cray. LOL


----------



## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

You are wrong cray. I normally keep pairs of breeding angelfish in a 20 gal hi. If you don't want to take my word for it please visit "World of Angelfish forum" and ask the experts.


----------



## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

I stand by what I said.


----------



## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

Ive had 6 full grown angelfish in a 46 gallon bowfront with absolutely no problems, so sorry cray but I disagree with you as well and I've had angelfish for quite a long time.
Heres what I think:
Move the crayfish because any fish he can catch, he will eat
Live plants are not near as hard as IAN makes them seem, there are plenty of low-light plants thats are very beneficial to have in tanks, you can check them out in the plants section of the forum
Good fish to build a tank around could be one or a pair of angels, a pair of rams, a coupe dwarf gouramis, or even a betta
Other than that I would go with a couple shoals (8-12) of tetras or danios, if you go with angelfish stay away from neon tetras, cardinal tetras, and serpae tetras
As for a clean-up crew go for 5 or 6 corey cats, and either a dwarf pleco (rubbernose, bristlenose, angel), a group of otocats (3-6), or one or two flying foxes (DO NOT CONFUSE WITH CHINESE ALGAE EATERS!)


----------



## Guest (Jul 28, 2009)

ok i guess the pair of angels in a 20 would be fine then. 

i did suggest this only if the tanks height was 18inch.


----------



## Momo (Jul 28, 2009)

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Just so everyone knows the dimensions of the tank: 16" tall 24" long and 12" wide.

Also- would this work?
2 Dwarf Gouramis
12 glofish
some cory cats
and some tetras?


----------



## Guest (Jul 28, 2009)

sorry my bad! i didnt ask on this thread. was muskiigirls post i asked for the height.


----------



## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Momo, that is a standard 20 high. A pair of angels would be OK with a few cories. Your 2nd list is OK too as far a number of fish and I like the fact that you are staying with soft water fish and not mixing. The two gouramis might pick at each other a little and I personally don't like glofish but that's just me. They are fine. I might would stop without the extra tetras. Your list before that is getting close to capacity. Make sure you get 6-8 cories. They like to be in groups. Good luck


----------



## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

I don't like glofish personally because they are so expensive and they look unnatural but yeah that looks good, should work out, just don't buy them all at once and add them, that would overload the tank too quickly. Add the glofish and tetras first, then add the cories a couple days later, then add the gouramis. You add the gouramis last because if you add them first they may get a little aggressive with whoever you add after them as they would see the whole tank as their territory.


----------



## Momo (Jul 28, 2009)

Ok. What are some less expensive fish than glofish?


----------



## Guest (Jul 28, 2009)

regular Danios.  glofish are genetically modified Danios.


----------



## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

Most glofish are running 5.99 each, unless you go to walmart and get horribly crappy ones for 3.99 each, but either way thats between 4 to 6 dollars for only one! Most other cheap danios such as long fin and albino long fin you can get 3 or 5 of them for 5 bucks.


----------



## Momo (Jul 28, 2009)

OK Cool. I never knew glofish were just modified Danios.


----------



## Momo (Jul 28, 2009)

Hate to double post, but wanted to post my updated list-
2 dwarf gouramis
6 or so cories
and 10 or so either tetras or danios.


----------



## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Yes Perfect!


----------



## betta0fish (Feb 16, 2009)

get a betta for a centerpiece or a dwarf gourami


----------



## Guest (Jul 29, 2009)

Ron,

am just clearin my confusion here....but dont Dwarf Gourami's die out for no reason? from what i understand that this variety just goes from healthy to sick and then *poof*.

here is a link i found 

http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=153493

Personally, i dont like gouramis. i had them when i was 1st starting out.


----------



## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Could be Zakk. I haven't kept any dwarfs in probably 20 years. If that is the case, maybe pick another center piece fish. I have some 3-spot gouramis now they are tough as nails.


----------



## Guest (Jul 29, 2009)

I agree. i've seen some that might be tougher than nails.


----------



## Momo (Jul 28, 2009)

Alright. So i could do a beta for a centerpiece, anything else? Also, could I do 5 tetra and 5 danios, or should I just pick one?


----------



## betta0fish (Feb 16, 2009)

you could but the fish would be happier if u chose one


----------



## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

absolutely right..angels in at least a 50 gallon tank..mine were in a 75....see.........


----------



## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

lol loha you tell him!
Both would be happier in larger groups as betta said, if your tank goes long enough with no problems you could eventually add another shoal, just talk to loha, he is the expert in adding more and more fish haha


----------



## Momo (Jul 28, 2009)

lol! So I could do angels as a centerpiece?


----------



## Guest (Jul 29, 2009)

absoluetly! 

i have 6 in a 25 and they are fine. just the occasional "I AM BOSS" thing but that subsides pretty soon.


----------



## Momo (Jul 28, 2009)

sweet!
So I'm looking at 2 black angels
6-8 Cory Cats
and either 10 tetras or Danios.


----------



## Guest (Jul 29, 2009)

if you can, get these. i have one of those with a black background....he pretty much disappears into it.....evil lookin...though evil is always beautiful


----------



## Momo (Jul 28, 2009)

OK. Are those just called black angels or do they have a specific name?


----------



## Guest (Jul 29, 2009)

am sorry. am not good with name. never have never will be. i just call them by the species name. Lohachata, Ron V and emc7 would be able to help you with the name.


----------



## IAN (Apr 14, 2008)

no, he forgot the algae eaters!

Get 3 siemese algae eaters or a rubber lip/ bristle nose pleco.

AVOID CHINESE algae eaters, in the end, they don't eat algae.


You must consider if angle fish would be _HAPPY_ in a 20 gallon.

I think not...

Mono, they might make you happy though, so its worth it. :lol:


----------



## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Momo, I think you are getting a little carried away. IMO two angels and 4-6 cories. Thats enough.


----------



## Guest (Jul 29, 2009)

i agree with Ron.

and i wouldnt quite agree with Ian. am sorry but thats me.


----------



## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

I have had many pairs of angels in 20 gallon aquariums that were happy enough to spawn and raise 1000's of baby angels. I'm not really sure how to go about determining if a fish is happy or not.


----------



## Guest (Jul 29, 2009)

the way i look at it is this:

if they werent happy, why would the spawn? the fact that they are spawning is a sign of content, happiness and safety. i dont think an unhappy fish would go through the trouble of spawning but again, this is just my take on it.


----------



## Momo (Jul 28, 2009)

Yeah. I Don't want to overcrowd the tank, and don't want to stress the fish.


----------



## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

all of the various colorations and markings that you see in angel fish are just mutations that naturally occurred in Pterophyllum Scalare..(common silver angel)..
there are blacks ; and then there are Double Dark Blacks...you will usually see both come out of the same spawn..

DO NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.....I repeat.....DO NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! buy "chinese algae eaters"
they really don't eat much algae....and they are meaner than snot..they will also get to be about 8 inches long and will kill everything in your tank....
if you want an algae eater ; get some otocinclus..

you have a 20 gallon tank...here is what i would suggest....

2-3 angelfish..................
5-6 dwarf cories...(pygmeus.....habrosus or hastatus)
5-6 otocinclus
5-6 harlequin rasboras...

with the exception of the angels all of these fish stay small and place very little bioload in the aquarium;yet they perform important functions....


----------



## Momo (Jul 28, 2009)

Ok! Thanks a million! I did want to stay close to the 1 inch per gallon rule and not overcrowd. This list looks great! thanks!


----------



## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Momo, I don't want to disagree with loha but... well yes I do. LOL. Too many fish!!! Loha could make that work but he changes water like 10 times a day. For us normal folks that change 25% once a week, 2 angels and 6 cories is about right.


----------



## Momo (Jul 28, 2009)

Thanks for the advice everyone! Today I got 2 Serpae Tetras and 2 Black Phantom's. I'm going to let them be for the weekend and then get 2 angels Monday or Tuesday. My LFS has black larger angels for $10 and has baby angels for $4.99. The babies have longer tails and fins. Which ones should I Get? Does it make a difference?


----------



## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

true ron...some can make it work because we do more water changes.i usually do 40-50% at least once a week..and i think that would work for what i suggested ; but one would have to keep up with that kind of regimen..

you can keep a large number of fish in a tank..but maintainance is critical..you can't slack off..if something happens ; you could lose everything within a couple of hours..


----------



## Guest (Aug 1, 2009)

yeeeeeeeeesh a tank crashing in a couple of hours is not fun!


----------



## Momo (Jul 28, 2009)

YIKES!!! So, baby angel fish or larger ones?


----------



## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

Either, babies are a little more prone to umm dying lol but you get to watch them grow up.... and vise versa for the older ones.


----------

