Coldwater fish for 20 gallon tall tank?

[Autumnsky]

My better opportunities for finding cool stuff is a local-ish plant nursery family / privately owned. And many times there are plants which can be used in aquariums or growing out of the filters, which happen to be mixed in to the "regular" plants.

Spearmint (or sweet mint) will work too! My neighbor got a snip of a plant he found at the edge of a stream in the really cold Rocky Mountains, and my piece of his plant, turned in to a spearmint monster plant next to my water faucet.

Also some local online town groups people offer house plant cuttings. You might find all sorts of fun things available. Also like craigslist.

 

[Fishobsessed7]

The rosy red minnows should be perfectly fine after they make it through quarantine. They are pretty tough fish. It's the overcrowding that leads to stress and diseases, but given time they will recover quite well.

The paradise fish would do fine your setup as well. One would make a nice centerpiece fish.

I don't think I would put gold barbs in a 20. They can actually reach a pretty impressive size and are quite beefy as well. The danios would do well though.

If you can acquire any species native to the US/Canada they would do well in your tank so long as they don't get too big.

If you are looking for color, try variatus platies as they can handle the cooler temps well.

 

[SaraB]

Thanks. I talked to the store and they said all their feeder fish are medicated as soon as they come in so I'll keep the rosey minnows on the table for now.
Right now the tank is starting to cycle with a bacterial bloom starting yesterday. I'm using used media to speed things up. I still have a lot of plants to buy first. I went with bamboo in ths filter, with java fern and a smaller Bush like sword plant in the tank so far. Plants are expensive here so I'll be adding them slowly. Nobody in town carries any carpeting plants so I'll have to either go out of town or buy online. Has anyone bought one of those 1-2 grow cups online? Do they ship well?

 

[SaraB]

Question. My tank is pretty much cycled (thanks to some pre cycled material from my other tank) and I'm almost done adding plants. I have a thermometer in the tank and the temperature hasn't dropped below 72 F. Could guppies go in that temperature? I know fodder guppies are kept in cooler water but what about the fancy ones?

 

[Autumnsky]

I have seen Endlers amd Guppies doing fine in those temps. If the are a very highly bred fancy strain I would not let them be at that temp. If they are home tank bred tupe and hardy then wouldnt worry. But tjey might need a bit of time to get used to the cooler water.

At night temps in nature reduce. It seems normal. But our tank fish are raised in controlled environment.

My Grandparents had a livestock trough full of Endlers - could have been Guppy mixes (was a kid) and they live in well water that was like it came from a refrigerator. Would warm a little in the mid day.

 

[SaraB]

Good to hear. I know the one store takes fish in from hobbyists so those should be my best bet. I'm going to let my plants grow a bit still before adding any fish.

 

[Autumnsky]

Are you feeding the beneficial bacteria?

Local hobbyists might offer some hardy pretty Guppies. The question of "Is my Guppy pregnant?" is pretty close to 100% - yes always!

 

[SaraB]

Yes I was going to get my water tested yesterday but we had a big ice storm. Right now the only life in my tank is the plants and hitchhiking baby mystery snails.
I'm using root tabs for my plants, trying to help 2 if them get out of their "ugly" stage.