20g stocking question

[fins]

Current stocking in my established 20 gallon is 3 glass catfish, 3 otos, a glofish, and a juvenile long-finned albino bristlenose pleco. Until recently there was a male swordtail and 4 glofish. However, 3 of the glofish succumbed to stress from our move in November. The swordtail was moved to our 55 because he was nipping the pleco's fins.

The problem is that now that all the dither fish are gone, we almost never see the glass cats. Before, they were always out swimming and playing in the filter current. They would even feed from the surface. Now they just hide in the plants.

We're considering rehoming the glofish (because our tastes have changed since were first started the tank and they seem too artificial to us now) and getting a small school of Harlequin rasboras. Would this work? I know we're getting pretty full but we do 30% water changes weekly and our parameters are very stable.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[azmodan]

You could easily do 8 harlequin rasboras as well as bump your glass catfish stock to 5-6.

 

[fins]

Really? That seems overstocked to me...Is it because they have light bioloads?

 

[azmodan]

Their bioloads are small relative to something like platies or a BN but in a 20 gal you'd be fine with something like 8 harlequin rasboras, 5 glass cats, 1 BN, and three otos. Most will say the BN is too big and produces too much waste for a 20 in its adult form though, and I'd agree. But it's not a terrible choice providing you have good filtration and you're doing like 40%-50% PWCs. Glass cats are also probably better in something like a 29, but the more important thing in your case is getting their numbers up to five. They also greatly appreciate plenty of plant cover.