Stocking a 20 gallon

[unknown_7]

I really want to change my community tank to a cichlid tank but I can't do that with a 20 gallon tank, so now I am open to your ideas. I was thinking of making it a tank with only rocks and shells which would have worked out in the mbuna tank I had in mind but now that is not possible and I want bright, fast, colorful fish to making it more interesting than a regular community tank.



Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Guest]

I want bright, fast, colorful fish to making it more interesting than a regular community tank.

A lot of community fish fit that description, I'm not sure what you are thinking of as a "regular community tank".

 

[gheitman]

Don't give up on cichlids just because you only have a 20 gallon tank. There are a lot of dwarf cichlids that would find that large enough. If you want something colorful that would grab people's attention you could get a pair of German blue rams. I would make sure that your tank has been set up and running for several months before adding any rams because they are very sensitive to water conditions. There are a lot of other possibilities such as a pair of kribs.

Of course you can still do a community tank if you wish and there are plenty of fish to choose from.

 

[unknown_7]

I guess I am open for both your community and cichlid stocking ideas then.

 

[virus]

i once did a shoal of neon tetras and it looked pretty cool, i mean that you could put any shoal like mixed fruit tetras,painted glass, small bala sharks! lol i know i like shoals 2 much

 

[mr funktastic]

one of my favorites if u want a fast moving fish is the long fin danio. i only have 2 in my tank and they are always together. they also constantly play with each other almost like they are playing tag and it is interesting because they dont stop moving until the lights go off. sounds kinda stupid that they play tag, i know, but they really do.

 

[Blazeherd2306]

Take out the bala sharks and painted glassfish from the list. Painted glassfish are died and will not last long. Bala sharks can get upto 14" long and will not be able to make a full turn in a 20 gal.

 

[gheitman]

You can't go wrong with a school of colorful tetras with some corydoras catfish as bottom feeders. I would suggest at least 8 of the former and 5 of the latter. You could perhaps get a few small rainbowfish to be the centerpieces but you want to make sure that they stay small. There are a lot of possibilities and it might help for you to visit your LFS to see what they have available.

Dwarf cichlids are somewhat harder to find, and a little more expensive, but dwarf cockatoos (Apistogramma cacatuoides) are very colorful. You could also look at some dwarf flag cichlids (Laetacara curviceps). They are very well behaved (except during spawning) and look beautiful as adults.

 

[czcz]

A tank with a couple cherry barb males and many females would have lots of randy chasing and hiding, and have great color. They are peaceful, so you can add a colorful centerpiece fish or a school without issues.

 

[unknown_7]

My present tank is stocked with four neon blue guppies, two sunset platies, four neon tetras, two otos and one dwarf gourami. So far this tank is quiet boring and it needs fish with personality, color and that do something amusing, I dunno if I have high expectations but I wanted something really aamusing, that is why I wanted to go with the mbuna/ cichlid tank. Also, I have a lot of rocks and caves in my tank, I took out a lot though for the community tank cause it looks weird, it is like have a cichlid tank setup with regular community fish in it. This is why I wanted cichlids, oh well, i dunno what I should do now. I should probaly get rid of two of the female guppies and put a german ram, but then he might fight with the swarf gourami and then my tank might be over stocked, I dunno, I am stil open for suggestions, thanks.

 

[talloulou]

My blue rams do not fight with my dwarf gourami, but that is in a 55 gallon.

 

[Blazeherd2306]

Rams are peaceful and should not have an issue with a dwarf gourami.

 

[unknown_7]

If I add the rams, would that make my current setup overstocked?

 

[Blazeherd2306]

If you add 2 rams, then no.