Skirt tetra tank mates

[Rangerbob86]

I currently have a 20 gallon cycled tank with 5 white skirt tetras in it. I would like to make it a more diverse community tank. I am thinking of adding…

1 or 2 black skirt tetras (just to increase the school size)
1 dwarf gourami
1 to 3 platties (maybe a high-fin platty and some sort of rainbow fish)

My questions are…would this be overstocked? I don’t want to overstock, but I want to make sure my tetra school is happy, and also add some other non-schooling different kinds of fish to make it more exciting. I know I don’t have room for another school of 6+ of something.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated!

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[sam180]

I currently have a 20 gallon cycled tank with 5 white skirt tetras in it. I would like to make it a more diverse community tank. I am thinking of adding…

1 or 2 black skirt tetras (just to increase the school size)
1 dwarf gourami
1 to 3 platties (maybe a high-fin platty and some sort of rainbow fish)

My questions are…would this be overstocked? I don’t want to overstock, but I want to make sure my tetra school is happy, and also add some other non-schooling different kinds of fish to make it more exciting. I know I don’t have room for another school of 6+ of something.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated!

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I have had a school of 6 black skirts for a month now along with 6 angelicus botia loaches, 6 red wag platies and 4 yellow guppies. They get along great with all of them and mostly keep to their own school. Hope that helps.

 

[Rangerbob86]

Thanks for the reply. Maybe I'll look into some guppies. I'm really looking for non schooling fish however..I don't have the room in my 20 gallon tank to support another school of 6 with the school I already have. Fish that I can get in groups of one or two would be great!

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[bud29]

Thanks for the reply. Maybe I'll look into some guppies. I'm really looking for non schooling fish however..I don't have the room in my 20 gallon tank to support another school of 6 with the school I already have. Fish that I can get in groups of one or two would be great!

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Guppies aren't schooling, so you would be OK on that. Have you considered something for the bottom region of the tank? I think some type of cory cat (panda corys are a favorite of mine) would be good, and they would some more activity.

 

[Rangerbob86]

I've looked into panda corys as well actually...would one or two of them be alright? What's an ideal number?

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[jbib1089]

You should be fine adding another tetra or two. If it were me I would probably go with 1 or 2 dwarf gouramis. They come in a bunch of different colors and would break up the tank a bit.

 

[bud29]

I've looked into panda corys as well actually...would one or two of them be alright? What's an ideal number?

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They are shoaling, so you probably want 5-6. However, since they inhabit the bottom area of the tank, space shouldn't really be an issue. Is this tank a 20g long or a 20g high? It can make a difference in how much you can stock.

 

[Rangerbob86]

It's a long tank

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[Rangerbob86]

Do you think this would be alright for my 20 gallon tank?

6 Skirt Tetras
1 Dwarf Gourami
3 or 4 Panda Cories

I'm also thinking about throwing in a mystery snail or ghost shrimp just for fun.

 

[ArtistGardener]

A 20 long should be able to accommodate that just fine. As long as you have good filtration, you can add some life to the tank. Some live plants make a huge difference, too, both for bioload and hiding places. In addition to your 5 white skirts, I would add:

a single male dwarf gourami or honey gourami (they are hardier but not quite as showy)
5-6 small corydoras (panda, false julii, etc)
8-10 glowlight tetras (understated beauty and quiet disposition, but can hold their own) OR up the white skirts to 10 total (either all white or half black).

 

[bud29]

A 20 long should be able to accommodate that just fine. As long as you have good filtration, you can add some life to the tank. Some live plants make a huge difference, too, both for bioload and hiding places. In addition to your 5 white skirts, I would add:

a single male dwarf gourami or honey gourami (they are hardier but not quite as showy)
5-6 small corydoras (panda, false julii, etc)
8-10 glowlight tetras (understated beauty and quiet disposition, but can hold their own) OR up the white skirts to 10 total (either all white or half black).

I would agree with that but nix the glowlights. Skirt tetras get quite a bit bigger than what most people think, going with something like this should work:

6 skirt tetras
1 dwarf or honey gourami
6 panda corys

 

[Rangerbob86]

Ok awesome, thanks for the help. That's probably exactly what I'll go with

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[Angela1108]

I wouldn't do the black skirts- they also like big groups. If anything like people have mentioned some bottom dwellers. If you did decide to add more tetras I would go with smaller ones so that you could get away with another one without being super over stocked. I would almost suggest just getting a couple more of the white skirts

 

[Rangerbob86]

Aren't black skirts and white skirts the basically the same fish?

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[bud29]

Aren't black skirts and white skirts the basically the same fish?

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Yes. Just different color variants.

 

[Rangerbob86]

Yea that's what I thought. I don't see what the difference would be then adding some black skirts in with the group I already have...

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[Angela1108]

I had groups of them before and they stayed away from each other and didn't school together. Who knows maybe you'll have better luck