what to put in my new 20 gallon tank???

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nzpv03

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jul 12, 2006
Messages
58
hello everyone...i just set up my first aquarium ever; I am very new at this whole thing (and even more excited!), but i have been reading through a LOT of literature and through many posts on these forums; first off, I can NOT have fish that will require me to get a new tank so pleaseee advise accordingly :lol: thanks! well I'll start my cycle with two zebra danios, but I am not sure whether I want an aggressive tank or a community tank...and i do want a decent amount of fish (atleast like...8 or more ) i ask all of you experienced aquarists to please give me suggestions for an aggressive set up as well as a nice community set up...i would like to have a mix of big and small! keep in mind...20 gallons! so space is limited!! thanks alot in advance :p
 
Well, i would go for a community tank, you can fit more in, for example you could have, 10 tetra's as schooling fish, or some fancy guppies, or some glass fish, or some red eyes, or some rummy noses, or a mix, eg tetra's and fancy guppies that what i have in my 30gal, they are small, stay small and are very colorful, just a recommendation HTH :) have fun choosing!!!
 
Welcome !!!! I can feel your excitement :) Kudos to you for doing your research first.

Before you start adding fish to the tank you might want to consider a fishless cycle. Have you read any of the articles on that ? When you cycle with fish you need to do alot of water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrites below leatle levels; plus if you don't want to keep zebra danios in the tank long term you're going to be using space for them that you would normally have the fish you really want to use.

Cycling with fish also takes a very long time - months. When you cycle without fish it is usually completed in about 6 weeks and you can then all all of the type of fish you do want almost immediately.

Here's an article on fishless cycling - it was originally written for saltwater but the method is exactly the same for freshwater.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/article_view.php?faq=2&fldAuto=15

The cycle time will also give you the opportunity to take your time discovering how many different types of fish are out there so that you can choose those that will really make you happy. Here's a good website to research types of fish and what they like:
http://fishprofiles.com

Again - welcome to AA ! This forum has helped me tremendously in setting up my tank, so don't hestitate to come back often and ask questions.
 
I'd recommend Cherry Barbs! I just recently got some for my 20L and I love them! They are very friendly and curious, very non-agressive (I have them in the tank with 2 Fancy Guppies a few Otocinclus catfish, and a Bamboo Shrimp), colorful, lively, and just such much fun to watch!
 
I was in a similar situation. I chose to stock my 20L with 9 black neon tetras, 3 Siamese Algae Eaters and 3 Skunk Corydoras. Since all three of these species are schoolers, and all have a lengthwise black stripe, they all school together; very cool.
 
HERE is another fishless cycling article.

I really recommend it, especially if you don't want to keep danios. I think for a 20g tank one school of fish is best. I think you could have 6-8, depending on what type you choose. Then you should get some type of centerpiece fish, maybe a dwarf gourami or betta. Also, you could either get some small cories, panda or trilineatus (3-line) for the bottom or some ottos for algae.

So, here is what you could have:
6-8 schooling fish (tetras, rasboras, or danios)
1 dwarf gourami or betta or 3 cherry barbs
6 small cories or 4 ottos

Is the tank a 20g long or tall? If its a tall tank, then I'd go with ottos instead of the cories. Taller tanks don't have as much surface area, so swimming space is limited.

Do you know what type of schooling fish you would like to keep?
 
wow thanks for all of your suggestions! well if i was to go with any type of schooling fish i would definitely do the tetras because of the captivating colors...oh and joannde thank you for the article I will read it right after i press submit in this box! I did read about fishless cycling but do not know enough...justonemore20 ill read yours for further information too! ok so ive gotten some awesome suggestions for community tanks...how about some aggressive? I feel like aggressive fish have more of a personality...but of course, i could be wrong (community lovers dont get mad =) ) one more thing! joann i loved that fishprofiles website! thanks alot for that...my question is what am i going to do with the danios if i cant use them? and how often would i have to change the water if i was to cycle with fish?...ahh i never thought how inhumane it was to cycle with fish! i wish i had spoken to someone earlier! :oops:
 
If you are set on using fish, there are some semi-aggressive tetras that are pretty hardy (though I don't recommend using fish).

Serpaes are semi-aggressive tetras. You could have a group of 8 of them. Buenos aires are also aggressive, but a bit bigger, so you could have 6 of those.

The thing with aggressive fish, is that you can't have as many as you would in a peaceful tank.

Buenos aires and Serpaes are nippy, so that rules out gouramis or rams (because of their fins). So there isn't anyting else that is aggressive that can go with them.

I really think a 20g is a little small for an aggressive tank.
 
Do you already have the zebra danios ? If you do then you're sort of "stuck" with them until they die of old age :) Unless you can find someone who'll take them or maybe the fish store will take them back ?

Once upon a time I had a sort of aggressive community tank - not quite semi-aggressive but there were a few fish who just BUGGED the other fish alot. It really grated on my nerves - I couldn't take seeing the fish being chased (ok ok, I'm just a wimp perhaps LOL).

I opted for a peaceful community this time and I do really enjoy it. I've migrated towards livebearers but I'm keeping all males so that I don't become overcome with fry. I accidentally misidentifed one platy as a male and he turned out to be a she, and ... well, you know it - babies - not that I mide, I very much enjoy watching the young'uns start to get brave and explore the tank.

Don't feel bad about not knowing about fishless cycling - I'd venture to guess that most people don't. The fish stores rarely talk about it - probably because it delays the purchase of fish; and the repurchase when the original fish die from ammonia and / or nitrite poisoning (no flames please - I said "rarely" - I'm sure some stores DO have personnel talk about it).

If you don't already have the danios its not too late to go fishless. I started my fishless cycle using ammonia (be VERY careful with the ammonia you pick - you need to find pure ammonia - if there are any bubbles after a vigorous shake then don't use it). I switched over to a (grocery store variety) shrimp - it was a bit simpler since I didn't have to worry about how much ammonia to use and I didn't even have to remember to do anything at all.

come back with any questions you have - we're here for you !
 
unfortunately yes i did buy those danios! im trying my hardest to keep these suckers alive! i hope they don't expire during the cycle process! i would feel horrible! ya! noone at any pet store told me about fishless cycling...i had no idea until i stumbled across these forums! ahha well i may try ONE pair of livebearers just for the experience...what do you think? ok ok i wont get an aggressive tank! you two have convinced me! ill be sure to come back with any questions! thanks alot :)
 
hey thanks! i hope he does haha! well i read that whole thread...hmm its interesting but kinda intimidating! i dotn want these things to die on me...but cant wait to add fish of my choice!
 
If you get an aggressive tank you could get intimidated by caring for it for your first tank. They require a little more maintenance and nerves because if your not careful the fish will kill each other. So make sure they are compatible and make sure they arent OVERLY aggressive. Also keeping bigger and smaller fish together is good to look at but you also need to remember that big fish eat little fish so you need compatability lol. If you want bigger fish with little fish you could get like a gourami and a school of tetras. When they school they are less likely to get eaten lol.
But in a tank that size as already suggested, i think a community set up would be a little better. Community fish have great personalities to. Especially bettas imo. I really like sunburst platies to.
Picking your own fish is part of the fun so i recommend you look around and get just the fish that you want. Just check for combatability. If you have any questions about it Just post back in here.
Good luck ^^.
(hope this helps).
 
hey matt...ya i def get what you're saying...slowly but surely all of you experienced aquarists are convincing me that an aggressive tank should probably wait until i can get a bigger tank... i have seen many AMAZING community fish...in fact, i first got two bettas which led to my purchase of this bigger tank! but suppose IF IF IF i was to have an aggressive set up...what would any of you recommend?? i wanna have some options ya know? i already know what id do for a community!
 
dwarf cichlids all the way. im not sure how aggresive they get but they are cichlids either way and cichlids are agressive. i personally love my GBRs they are a little harder to take care of but the are so awsome nice color and personalities.
im not sure what other smaller aggresive fish u could get. all the real aggresive fish that i know of get big.
How about some sharks of some sort. i have a red tail shark and hes real little bugger when it comes to other fish.
but thats a problem with agressive fish you cant have to many kinds that can live together.
i hope i helped.
 
Absolutely. Well keep in mind that a fish like an oscar would definatly fit by the 1'' per gallon rule, its not a good idea in your case lol. I would recommend smaller aggressive fish like 4'' max and some smaller fish around 1 or 2''
maybe 3'' tops on those. But i would suggest ONE aggressive fish with some community fish.
You could get a dwarf gourami and some danios, I prefer long finned danios to regular zebra danios because i like the look. Or some tetras (glolights or others, not neon tetras to start with, your just asking to feed them to an aggressive fish, besides that they die really easy). You could get some mollies to go with the gourami, or some platies, they all stay pretty small and are interesting to watch. If you like top water fish you could get some hatchet fish, i'm pretty sure they stay small, like 1-2 inches. Maybe some some corys for the bottom. Or guppies
Do you like german blue rams?
To me a setup with a dwarf gourami, (4 inches), some guppies or platies (or a mix of the two) say two guppies and two platies. that would be about 8 inches, so 12 inches right there to the rule. And some tetras with that.
Or instead of the gourami you could have a pair of gbr's with the same set up with the rest of the fish. Just remember, ONE aggressive fish with some smaller fish, if there is to much aggression and not enough fish to spread it around the stress can kill them over time. It also lowers their immune system to be so constantly threatened.
So i would go with one of those two set ups bud.
 
thanks both of you! ill def look into some dwarf cichilds...matt! i just copy/pasted the set ups onto my big list that ill be taking into the lfs when I'm done with this darn cycle! ok dont slap me or anything but what are GBRs???
 
GBR's are German blue rams, they are pretty little fish that get about 3'' long, they arent very aggressive at all, have great personalities.
If you p.m me i'll give you a link to some pictures of them.
Like Ky said, chichlids would work, but they tend to get larger and are more aggressive than gouramis.
You should look at some pictures of dwarf fire gouramis for example, which i can also give you a link to.
 
haha thanks! wow im def a fan of the gbr now!! they're really pretty! i love these gouramis as well! please give me more suggestions like these! im liking these alot! thanks alot
 
There is acoupe more spices cichlids you can use for a 20g set-up,That are aggrasive. You can put a trio pr {1M/2F } of in the tank

Apistogramma's: Ap. Cockato full red or double red
Ap. agssizii red tail
Ap. panduro
Ap. njssizi There is loads of the Apistogramma spices that will work with the fellowing.
Pelvicachromis pulcher or Krib, Kribensis,pruple cichlid those are all the differnt names for the Krib.
there is also the keyhole cichlid

Here's apicture of the Ap.cockato double red
ef88a98e.jpg


the Ap. njssizi
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The krib or kribensis with fry
ee468ee3.jpg


the Ap. Panduro
f0b30eeb.jpg


There's a few of the differnt Apisgramma spices that can be kept in a comunitey tank along with swordtail,guppys and countless others. They are semi aggrasive and make for a beautiful tank. The keyhole i don't have but m trying to find some. LOL any number of the before mentained will and can give you fry at anytime.
They are beautiful and all are in the dwarf cichlid class and only grow to 3 to3.5 inches for the males and around 1 to 1.5 inches for the females. The kribs grow to 2.5 for the females and 3 inches for the males.
 
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