Stocking question for a 20g Long

[M8D]

got my aquascape all planned out

the left and right corners will be densely planted with the center being a bit more open, though I may add a few short plants (maybe put one in front of the rock closed to the front of the tank)

For fish... I'm thinking either 3 Dwarf Gourami (1 mal 2 females) or some dwarf rainbows (I'd REALLY like the dwarf Rainbows more if you guys think it can work out)

For schooling fish I think I might go Red Minor Tetras.

and for the bottom I'll probably just do corys

So what do you guys think? Will I be able to add another schooling fish or will the dwarf rainbows and tetras be enough for schools?

 

[M8D]

Hah, I talked to Reefmissoula today and asked if they knew about a local FRESHWATER store cus I was interested in getting a zebra pleco and Dan (the owner) said he could order one from his supplier for me for pretty much $300. It's the cheapest I've seen them o-o. He said his supplier has the Venezuela Zebra Pleco, and he doesn't know the difference between the Ven. Pleco and the Brazilian pleco though, but he could order it for me.
I COULD have one instead of cories. Thoughts?


got my plants today!!

waiting for them to perk up a bit before trying to plant them this is the 'range' of plants I might have

Could include but not guaranteed -
Dwarf Sag
Green Hygro
Jungle Vals
java moss
Several Species of Ludwiga
bacopa
Floaters - greater duckweed, duckweed, dwarf water lettuce, frogbit, salvinia, azolla
anacharis
wisteria
Myrio
Limnophilia Sessefloria
Rotala
honwort
crypts - red or green
Brazillian Pennywort

from the buyer. I'm hoping I don't have duckweed, but I think I might have Frogbit because the floaters are HUGE. bigger than duckweed. It's not Salvinia cus its not 'bumpy'. but I'm sure I have wisteria.

They all arrived in a huge clump, so some are still mushed together. Some of these plants I'll have to research some because I have no idea what Myrio is... or Limnophilia, rotala...bacopa... there are a few others that sound familiar but their details escape me @_@

 

[Khuligirl93]

Sorry I can't answer all of your questions, but I can say from personal experience that the dwarf neon rainbows are amazing little fish! I have a school of 8 in my 36 bowfront, and I think your 20 long might be longer than mine so I think they would be fine. I would just make sure your tank is cycled before adding them because they're not cheap. I think if you got a school of 6 or 8 of them you could do a similar sized school of tetras like you said with a couple dwarf gouramis. I'm not an expert on the gouramis but I have heard people say usually pet stores only sell males, and they can be aggressive with each other- so you may only want 1 gourami. Try that stocking list on aquadvisor and see what it says maybe about the bottom feeders you were thinking about. I don't think there would be any compatibility issues with the fish species you listed, so it comes down to stocking level.

 

[siva]

Do you have a source from which you can actually get a sexed trio of dwarf gourmis? Females can be hard to come by.

In a 20L a dwarf pleco and cories is fine, you wouldn't necessarily have to pick between the two. If you are going for a L46 however, I would definitely understand stocking lightly since that is quite an investment!

In a 20L I wouldn't go for more than two schoolers. You might want to also consider a single gourami as a centerpiece fish. I haven't personally bred gourami - I'm not sure what kind of environment a breeding trio would make for the rest of the community so I probably wouldn't recommend it for a tank this height.

 

[M8D]

well i don't know if petsmart has females. I never really looked too closely at them since they were on the very top row. Kind of hard to see into haha.

hmm so could I do an albino BN pleco and maybe 5 corys for the bottom or would that be too much with say a school of 5-7 cardinal (or neon, i understand the cardinals are just a bit bigger?) Tetras and 5 Dwarf rainbows? Would that be enough? Or could I put a single male Dwarf gourami in there? (or maybe a betta? i know most are solitary fish and dont work in a community, but I've heard a few stories of people successfully keeping them in a small peaceful community tank? idk how nippy the neon/cardinal tetras are though)

 

[siva]

No, it is highly unlikely petsmart will have any females. If you are serious about a trio you'll probably want to research a good source and order them.

I think that stock list with a single gourami for the CP fish will be great for this planted tank. Add the fish slowly, testing parameters regularly for a while before adding the next group, and get your gourami last, as they are the most sensitive. If you are getting your gourami from a chain store like petsmart observe the tank for a while before you pick out your specimen. I know in my petco I typically see a tank of rather unhealthy looking gourami so choose carefully.

 

[M8D]

mk so gourami last. Yeah i normally pace around the petsmart tanks for a good 10-15 minutes 'studying' the fish. my petsmart seems to be pretty good. I've been in there over 50 times since September last year since I got my geckos (usually in their every weekend for crickets) and i rarely see dead fish. one or two maybe but thats to be expected. Their tanks are always clean too o-o.

What fish should I add first? 2nd? 3rd? I was thinking maybe the pleco first since I believe they're pretty shy fish so I would think it would be wise to get him in there first so he has all the time he needs to settle in. then maybe the cories? then the tetras, rainbows and finally the gourami?

 

[siva]

Sounds good! What acclimation method will you use? Are you doing a fishless cycle?

 

[M8D]

yeah fishless cycle atm. @_@ the bacteria in a bottle didn't work worth a **** lol. and as far as acclimation i was thinking just a small cupfull every 20-30 minutes but i also read about drip acclimation. I'd have to go get the tubing though P:

 

[siva]

Ah I see. Is this your first aquarium then?

Drip is great but I typically just take out a little water and add a little water like you said, and for some fish I go slower with that and really make sure to wait until I feel like the bag water has pretty much become tank water before I add them. The gourami and tetra (specifically neons) I would take some extra time with.

 

[The Trooper]

imagine finding a $300 fish dead.. I've seen a place selling them in the UK for £100, and i've been thinking about it

 

[M8D]

yeah first tank. P: i might just do a little water added by use of a cup because I don't feel like spending that extra few bucks for tubing haha it's not neccissarily quicker but I feel with drip acclimation I might accidentally forget about it because.... I've done a few things like that before.

 

[Khuligirl93]

What kind of lighting, ferts, and carbon source are you using for your plants? A few of those plants you listed are more difficult to keep without good lighting and a fert regimen, the myrio being the first one that comes to mind.

 

[M8D]

I have a 4200k light in the stand atm, though I'll be going out this week to get a new bulb (6500k) and I have flourish substrate with sand over it and API root tabs. I'll be getting liquid fertalizer too (The flourish stuff, since most people seem to have the best luck with that) and will probably dose it 1-2 times a week.

No CO2... I don't want to mess with that stuff.

Also:

Nitrites showed up today (or could have yesterday, i didn't test for them yesterday) around .5 to 1ppm (those purples are so close to the other I can't really tell, though Im leaning more towards 1ppm cus it was a bit darker) so... YAY! Haha, just when I was about ready to just say forget this crud i'ma go get TSS to jump start it

my tank was like: "Nope! We ganna save ya 10$. Here have some bacteria!"

 

[M8D]

As of today the ammonia reads: 2-4ppm
Nitrites are around 2-5ppm
Nitrates are somewhere in the 5-20ppm (oranges are a bit difficult to tell apart but I'm leaning more towards 5ppm just cus it's still got a yellow-hue)

Is it just me or is this cycling really fast o-o I thought it took about a week for Nitrates to show up? Oh well... I'm not complaining. Go little tank, go!!! -cheers-

 

[Fishperson]

I'm sure that the bacteria in a bottle worked a bit, but not a whole lot. Just enough to kick start it.

Good luck!

 

[M8D]

fyi, my ammonia now is dropping real low 1-2ppm in a day or two and my nitrites are 5pppm+ Nitrates are going past 10ppm so I'm hoping this will be over soon

My stock list will be as followed:
Harlequin Rasboras x10
Cory x5
BN Pleco
Betta

I'm 100% content with this stock now Ganna go get some new plants when i get my refund money tomorrow (hopefully) all petsmart has though is different typs of anubias, java fern, amazons aaaand they have one type of wisteria that I saw (looks like a legit weed though hahe) but i need plants so i'll have to suck it up. $8 a pop... but... my first experience in ordering plants was horrible. nothing but a wet paper towel... and 90% of the plants i spent 22$ on died, wilted back all the way to the very last bit of stem. the sag i got had roots but even those aren't looking too good. there are a FEW plants that look good. two stem plants and the little stubs of pennywort I got that I hope hangs in there cus I love pennywort. but... my anubis and amazon sword that i got from petsmart are sprouting new leaves... seriously. @_@ i thought they were slow growers? hah. My amazon popped 5 new leaves litterally overnight and my anubis has like 2-3 little leaves growing in. soooo idk. I have a T8 bulb that i just bought. got API root tabs and Jobe's fert sticks along with the flourishs substrate in there so theres plenty of ferts.

 

[M8D]

Well it finally happened. I tested this morning and Nitrites were still there, though for the past 2 days it has been slower to change to purple. What I mean is, when I hit the spike the first time, the tube changed purple IMMEDIATELY after adding the drops, before even inverting. The past two days it had been taking a few seconds to change, and really just stayed a dark blue until I inverted the tube.

Tested this morning, still had nitrites. Tested just now at.... 11pm... and I now have 0 Amm, 0 Nitrites, and a whooooole lot of Nitrates as it should be. My friend is taking me to the store Friday to get the fish since it's too cold now to bike home (I only live a few city blocks away from Petsmart) Montana just hit a bad cold spell so I figured I'd play it safe.

These were the readings. I took the Nitrite test twice cus the first time I was like "Wha-what? Did I miscount the drops?" so I took in a second time, counting carefully and turned out the same. Clearly there are no more Nitrites.

So Friday after I get home I'll do a 90% WC, clean my filter (its full of tannis and random pieces of plant fluff) and go get my fish <3

Ganna dose my take up with ammonia as a test tonight and then test tomorrow when I get home and hopefully it'll zero-out. Soooo took me... 4-5 weeks total to cycle? Yup.

 

[M8D]

Acclimating now. got more plants <3<3 very happy. my 2nd piece of driftwood is coming in monday and will go on the left.

 

[Fishperson]

Nice! I can't wait until it fills in! (and hides the heater )