20g Freshwater Stocking

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spacedoll

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Jan 27, 2012
Messages
7
Location
Wichita, KS
Hello! I have a fishless 20g tank currently, and I'm ready to stock. The tank was housing a common pleco, but a friend of mine with a 90g is taking care of him until I move next year and can get a pleco-sized tank.

This is my plan for the 20g.

3 black mollies
3 silver mollies
6 glofish
3 kuhli loach
1 bamboo shrimp

I'm really new to stocking aquariums. Will these fish get along? Is it overstocked? Any thoughts are welcome!
:thanks:
 
Is it a 20 long tank or a 20 high? Sorry I forgot. :)

That's a lot of mollys for a 20 gal, IMO.

Kuhli's should be in a group of 5. I don't know much about them otherwise. What substrate do you have? I think they'd prefer sand over gravel.

You could do 8 Glofish, 5 Kuhlis (I think they're ok in a 20 gal, I don't know for sure), and 2 Mollys. You can add as may shrimp as you like too.
 
Personally, I wouldn't put a bamboo shrimp in a 20g. They are rather difficult to keep live since they are filter feeders, so I would recommend a 29g. Some people have had luck with them in smaller tanks, but it doesn't seem to be very common.
I also agree that 6 mollies would be a bit much. I suggest starting with 2 mollies plus the other stock and seeing how it works out. You can always add more mollies later if you feel it would work out. :) I think ultimately 4 mollies would be good.
Glofish should be in a 20g long tank, but if you have a 20g high there are some other cool species of topdwellers that would look awesome in your tank and would thrive. :)
I would get 5 kuhlis. You will see them more if you have more of them. :)
 
thanks for the help guys!
The tank is a 20g long. I think I'll do 5 kuhlis, 6 glofish and 2 mollies for now.
 
I consider 29 gals the minimum for mollies, but 2 in a 20L with good filtration should be fine, since the rest of the fish you'll be stocking have fairly low bio-loads. If you want to avoid reproducing, which would be your best bet to you don't end up overstocked with big poopers, you should get two of the same sex. If you go with females, they'll already be pregnant, and may continue to have batches of fry over the new few months, but most would probably be eaten, especially if the tank isn't heavily planted. If you go with males, there could possibly be some aggression. I've had issues keeping just two male mollies together. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.

I'd go with a soft substrate like sand or small smooth stones for the kuhli's. I've seen some pretty bad inujuries on them when kept in a sharper gravel.

I keep a pair of bamboo shrimp in a 20 gal, and it can work, as long as you supplement with micro foods designed for filter feeding inverts, such as OSI invert micro food and/or liquid phyto/zooplankton. They also will do best in a heavily planted tank. If you do decide to try them, I would go with two, as they enjoy the company.
 
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