Help, not sure what fish to get

[goldfish1212]

I have a 2O gal tank with pretty good air circulation that has been cycled for about a month now. I currently have 8 cory cats, 4 albino and 4 emerald.

I really want to get some pristella tetras and lamp eye tetras ( sorry if I misspelled anything) but I'm not sure if my tank would be good or how many to get, although I read that both types of tetras would prefer groups of at least 5.

Any suggestions?

 

[OhNeil1969]

Try this site: AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor. It can help you with a lot of your stocking questions. I'm not totally familiar with the type of tetras you're interested in but it sounds like you are coming close to overstocking in a 20 gallon tank. To be fair though, I'm probably the last person that should be giving advice about overstocking. I deliberately overstocked my 29 gallon tank. I believe that as long as the fish have enough swimming room and you're willing to do the added work needed with a heavily stocked tank then you can go above the 100% calculation from Aqadvisor.

 

[goldfish1212]

thanks

 

[goldfish1212]

I did the calculator like you said and it was a little confusing
The calculator at the end said with my current filter i had a 243% capacity for my current species, i should change 19% a week water, and my aquarium stocking level is 116% currently

can you explain these numbers to me?

Currently I have a 50gal aquaclear filter, an air stone for airation,( sorry for spelling), and do a 25% water change every Saturday.
I change the filter media as directed on the box ( that is the carbon section once a month, the filter media once every 2 months, and the little ammonia removers once every 3 months)
my ph is 7.5-8, 0ppm ammonia, and 0ppm nitrite, and 20ppm nitrate

I am willing to clean my tank once a week.

 

[itsgracia]

I'm new too but one thing I learned is to never change your filter media unless it is falling apart. Just rinse them in the tank water that you take out from your PWC to get the gross stuff off of it. The majority of the nitrifying bacteria lives in the media so changing it will cause mini cycles.

The aqadvisor, I dot know I used it and told me I can keep 31 fishes in my 29 gallon tank and be only 2% overstocked.

Having said this the numbers it's giving you is that you have 243% of filter left which means the filter can handle the billows d the ghosted you entered. And then how much water to change weekly is the 19% and the last percentage is how much you have stocked 100% means your fully stocked and over that ... well your overstocked. Hope that helped.

 

[tyspot1000]

Welcome to AA!

Really, AqAdvisor is only a guideline when It comes to stocking your tank. AqAdvisor gets weekly updates, and they're huge. This means that the program is still missing things, and still has incorrect information. On top of that, there are plenty of stocking plans that few have noted are questionable at best. I think that the programmer could work on this for the rest of his/her life and still not truly complete it. It's trying to cram a world full of knowledge into one program. It just can't be done.

Is this a 20 gallon high or long? I would say the cories would do ok in a long, but you might have to get rid of some (4) to make room in a high.

Maybe once your cory school is down, you could do a school of 6-8 pristella tetra and some kind of centre piece fish.

The Lampeyes need at least 30 gallons or more (known to grow around 3 inches In my experience).

 

[goldfish1212]

Having said this the numbers it's giving you is that you have 243% of filter left which means the filter can handle the billows d the ghosted you entered.

what do you mean i have 243% filter left? and what is 'the billows d the ghosted'?

I'm not sure if this is right but I think my tank is a high 20 gal. If I gave my emerald corys to a friend then could i get 6 pristellas, but what do you mean by center piece fish? and what would be a good one?

 

[Luna112]

Try this site: AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor. It can help you with a lot of your stocking questions. I'm not totally familiar with the type of tetras you're interested in but it sounds like you are coming close to overstocking in a 20 gallon tank. To be fair though, I'm probably the last person that should be giving advice about overstocking. I deliberately overstocked my 29 gallon tank. I believe that as long as the fish have enough swimming room and you're willing to do the added work needed with a heavily stocked tank then you can go above the 100% calculation from Aqadvisor.

I totally agree about the over stocking. How many do you have in you tank? And btw Aqua advisor is very conservative. Great facts about fish, but still very conservative.

Sent from my iPhone

 

[itsgracia]

Sorry typos on iPhones. It means that you have that much percent of filter to handle the bioload of the fishes you entered. 

 

[goldfish1212]

Sorry typos on iPhones. It means that you have that much percent of filter to handle the bioload of the fishes you entered. 

i feel dumb, but i'm still a little confused. do you mean that the percentage for stocking fish can go up to 243 (119% currently) or that the calculator thinks my filter is 2.5 times what my tank needs (although i know my filter is a good size for my tank)

From this advice I think I will get the pristellas while keeping all my corys and continue to do my 25% water change every week and my water remains stable.
please tell me if this is wrong. I'm not getting any more fish for a week any way.

 

[OhNeil1969]

i feel dumb, but i'm still a little confused. do you mean that the percentage for stocking fish can go up to 243 (119% currently) or that the calculator thinks my filter is 2.5 times what my tank needs (although i know my filter is a good size for my tank)

From this advice I think I will get the pristellas while keeping all my corys and continue to do my 25% water change every week and my water remains stable.
please tell me if this is wrong. I'm not getting any more fish for a week any way.

It saying that your filters have 2.5 times the capacity based on the fish you have currently. As you add more fish that number will go down. The filtration capacity is based on the waste your fish will create, no the size of your tank.

 

[itsgracia]

It saying that your filters have 2.5 times the capacity based on the fish you have currently. As you add more fish that number will go down. The filtration capacity is based on the waste your fish will create, no the size of your tank.

This exactly.

 

[goldfish1212]

Thanks

 

[severum mama]

AqAdvisor should be used for entertainment purposes only. There are far too many variables involved with stocking to quantify it the way that AqAdvisor tries to do.

Lampeye/red eye tetras grow too large and too active for a 20 gallon IMO. I'd recommend a 3 foot tank at least to house them. Your emerald cories are most likely Brochis splendens, a relative of Corydoras that grow larger and bulkier. At adult size, these really aren't suitable for a 20 gallon either IMO.

Pristella tetras and aeneus cories (which is the species that your albinos most likely are) are good choices for a 20 gallon. Pristellas are also available in a gold variety, and even a blushing variety if you can find them. They are all color variants of the same species and you can mix them up if you want.

 

[goldfish1212]

Thanks. Right now all my Corys are about 3/4 inch long, so they are still small. I'm thinking I will get about 6 pristellas in a week. When the emerald corys get bigger then I will definitely find them a new home.