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Well I'll defer to the rest of you in terms of stocking although I disagree that the 3rd fish would be the back breaker in this set up.

No they are not and I'm not suggesting keeping 300 fish in a tank either. There is a lot of wiggle room with the so called rules of how to stock a tank and to suggest otherwise is simply wrong.

Ok a few things to start off. 1. The pH is way too high to successfully breed rams. I have the most success at around 6.5. 2. What is your water hardness? Rams like it very soft. 3. The extra female will be subject to a lot of aggression once a pair forms. I usually stick to one male and one...

I actually have that tank myself and yeah the filter is strong. Now that I have it heavily planted it breaks up the current ( and of course turn it to the lowest setting). I haven't had the heat issues (been a nice 76-78 for me with a standard submersible in the filter housing). You could try...

What are your water parameters? Excessive algae is usually a sign of poor water quality which of course will harm your fish. If you don't have a liquid test kit already I strongly recommend getting one. It's one of the best investments you can make in this hobby.

That sounds more like a disease than pregnancy.

A dwarf lily perhaps?

I've found malachite green to be pretty effective at knocking out fungal problems (though I don't recommend adding it to a main tank as it will stain many decorations and even the silicon seals). Of course without clean water medicines won't solve much.

Yeah they're generally pretty well behaved unless they are spawning.

Dojo loaches will do ok in cold water tanks. As far as the tank being overstocked well that really depends on your filtration and upkeep as much as the particular fish. I strongly doubt you would be going overboard with a 3rd fish in a 20 gallon tank if it is well maintained. I've run numerous...

A ram would probably be ok with any of those. They are quite a bit pickier about water conditions than the rest though.

I've run discus tanks at 6.2 - 6.4 without having issues with ammonia control.

Media refers to the stuff in the filter ( cartridge, floss, sponge, etc etc).

If you take the filter media out of the filter and hang it in the tank above your airstone that will keep some water flowing around it and help a little. Its no substitute for a functional filter or water changes but itll increase your odds of keeping everyone alive ( including the bacteria in...

I agree with regular testing. That testing kit isnt just for cycling and its always better to catch problems with water quality before it starts affecting your fish and youre scrambling to find out what has gone wrong and how to fix it.

Nitrite yes, nitrate no. If you want to lower nitrates you can do it via water changes or live plants ( which will utilize nitrates). Ive found duckweed to work as a good nitrate sponge.

I believe so but I haven't used peat with fhe express purpose of lowering water hardness so I cant give you much in the way of details. I'd suggest trying some in a filter bag in a seperate container and see what kind of results you get. Just know it will affect more than just hardness (pH...

Rams are relatively peaceful unless they are spawning and even then you should have enough space for them to carve out their own territory. Of course as with any fish you should keep an eye on them but I wouldn't anticipate many problems.

Gold rams and blue rams are just different color variations of the same species so yes they can be housed together and will successfully interbreed. As far as sexing goes I've found the easiest way to sex gold rams, especially young ones, is to look at the dorsal fin. An extended second ray...

Maybe my mystery snails were a little more mysterious lol because they did terrible things to my plants the last time I had them.

Do either neutralize ammonia? It'll say on the label if it does. If not even the Walmart here carries amquell so it shouldn't be hard to find.

Java ferns usually grow much denser in my experience.

The angels will eat the cardinal tetras when they (the angels) get big enough. And mystery snails have a tendency to eat live plants and over populate the tank. Have you considered praecox rainbows? They stay smaller (for rainbows) and a school looks very nice in a large planted tank.