20 gallon aquarium

[Elliebean]

I currently have a 20 gallon aquarium with 2 ghost shrimp, a lyre tail molly, 2 african dwarf frogs and a bushy nosed pleco. The petsmart associate said that the ghost shrimp, frogs and pleco don't count in terms of filling my tank. That doesn't sound right, but is that true? In that case I'd like to get more fish because my molly looks lonely.

Also what do you suggest I add to my aquarium?

Water levels:
0 ammonia
0 Nitrites
5 Nitrates

Are my water levels okay? I read nitrates under 20 ppm is good.

 

[bud29]

to the forum!

Your water parameters are good. You probably could get some more fish, like a small school of tetras. The shrimp don't count a ton in terms of bioload, but the frogs and pleco definitely do. Just be sure to closely monitor your water parameters after you add anything.

 

[FishyBusiness]

I agree with bud. I don't think I'd count the shrimp at all unless you had like a 50 of 'em lol. But the frog and pleco do! Maybe the associate was just referring to the shrimp? If not they need to be informed that just because their "bottom feeders", they still have a bio load.

 

[henningc]

The PetWhatever person had no idea what they were talking about. First, if feed appropriately Plecos become a poop factory. If you don't notice dark, large poop strands then the Pleco is not being feed correctly. Plecos also need driftwood. The frogs are carnivores and anything eating high protein poops a lot. Last current stock note, Mollys eat a lot of green food, same result as the Pleco.

You didn't say if it was a standard 20H or a 20L. 20Ls have a larger footprint and can hold more of some types of fish. I would agree with the above you likely can add a small school of small tetras, cherry barbs or gold barbs. Mollys really grow too large for a 20H, so you could return him and get maybe 4 platys or 6 Endlers or 6 guppy males only. If you're using the shrimp as the bottom clean up crew you may want to get 6-8 more.

 

[mxg5299]

Why have ghost shrimp? They're normally used for feeding larger fish. With a molly, I'd recommend a group of schooling fish like rasboras or tetras. Maybe a few barbs.

Sent from my SCH-I415 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[bud29]

Why have ghost shrimp?

They can be interesting to watch, and since they're bigger than other shrimp, they aren't eaten as easily by bigger fish.