what type of community fishes to get?

[robotcholi]

hey guys, i'm planning on using my 20 gal tank for community tank. This will be my first time having community fishes so please bare with me. I want red tail shark, neon tetra, some type of bottom feeder catfish to clean tank, and any others u would recommend. Please let me know how many of each i should get so i don't overstock the tank and do harm to my fishes. I'll be ready with a pencil and paper to jot down recommendations and go to my lfs and get them. Thx you so much.
I'll be using Emperor 400 as filter for the tank. Thx.

 

[ScottS]

I kept a red tail in my 20G for years. I wouldn't keep him with small fish like neons though, as he, as do nearly all red tails, was on the aggressive side, and particularly territorial. I finally settled my tank with small gouramis which stayed in the upper strata and never interfered with the shark. A couple pairs of different variety dwarf gouramis would be one way to go. We've also been successful mixing barbs and the shark as well. Perhaps 6 Tiger Barbs and your shark would be attractive too. Just a thought.

 

[Allivymar]

*nods and agrees with Scott on the red tail shark*

Not great community fish. As Scott said, REALLY aggressive buggers; you can only keep one to a tank as they'll likely kill any of their own species, and they don't play well with others. Not a good choice for peaceful delicate lil guys like neons.

Do be VERY careful about adding more the one dwarf gourami. Also aggressive within their own species (although they do well with gentle fish like neons); they too have been known to kill each other. That being said, I also have had success with keeping more then one dwarf gourami in my 10g tank, but its really an exception to the rule, and I have homes for them already planned should WW3 break out. If you decide to go that route, make sure you have a backup plan should you need to remove them.

Bottom feeders/algae eaters/cats. Lots of choices there. I'd start off with a school of corys; 5-6. Fun to watch, and fairly hardy. I'd wait if you are looking to add an algae eater as well, at least until there is algae for them to eat. You could either go with a bristlenose plec (which tops out at about 6 inches), or a few otocinclus (which remain small; about 1-2 inches) but if you go with otos do not add em till the tank is mature. The bristlenose will eat algae wafers as supplements, but the otos can be fussy and you want to be sure they don't starve.

I've the dwarf gouramis, a small school (5) of neons and 2 otos in my 10g. Really nice mix of fish. I'd suggest something similar in your tank, a single dwarf, a slightly larger school of neons, a few otos and adding the corys too. This way you'll have fish at all levels of the tank, and always something to look at Do keep in mind my tank is overstocked (but is very well planted and water parameters are monitored regularly, along with weekly water changes) but is half the size of yours. Oh and do keep in mind neons can be tetchy; don't be surprised if there is initially a lot of die off. Do QT all your guys first; better to treat in a QT if you need to then to mess upthe main tank.

Lastly, an emperor400 is a bit much for a 20g. Figure you want around 6-10x tank capacity flowing thru the filter each hour. A 400 would give you 20x the tank amount! Overfiltering is never a bad thing, but that might be overkill; you could easily do a smaller filter safely and still overfilter (and save a few dollars as well).

 

[tkos]

My brother was successful with a redtail shark, cory catfish (only 2 but you should get more) and a bristlenose pleco on the bottom. Instead of tiger barbs I would suggest cherry barbs, they are much smaller but colourful and still aggressive enough to take care of themselves.

Or else some of the danios are fine schooling fish that are zippy enough to take care of themselves and they come in all sorts of varieties (though in a 20 don't get the giant danios). There are other tetras that are a bit tougher than neons and would do well with the shark, like silver tips or head and tail light or emporer, maybe even glow light.

Make sure to add a piece of driftwood if you get a pleco of any sort (though make sure to get a dwarf pleco) and maybe make a rack cave or something for the shark to hide in. A cave will make it less agressive and he will feel safer.

 

[ScottS]

make a rack cave or something for the shark to hide in. A cave will make it less agressive and he will feel safer.

This worked well in my setup. Unfortunately, I didn't see much of the shark once he established the cave as his territory. As much as I love the red tailed shark, possibly my favorite fish, I think if I were you, I'd go with the neons instead. Only because you would at least get to see the neons swmming around on a regular basis.

 

[ferret]

Ooo OOo me make suggestions:

8 Neon tetra for color (1.25" each)
1 Rubbernosed Pleco for cleanup (4")
5 longfinned Zebra danios for speed. (2"-3" each)
1 Gold Gourami for something bigger and constrasting. (4")

Maybe some snails and african dwarf frogs for variety Now you too can own my 29 gallon! But smaller!

 

[robotcholi]

thx guys for the help! taking notes ...

 

[robotcholi]

hey guys, is Bala Shark as aggressive as Red Tail? I could substitute for that if the Bala is not that aggressive else i think i might have to forget about shark altogether even though I really like them.

Ok this is what i have in mind:

Must have (don't know quantity yet, maybe u guys can help me out):
-Zebra Danios
-Tiger Barb
-Tetra (maybe cardinal, neon, glowlight)
Optional if permits:
-red tail and/or bala
-catfish (bottom feeder don't know specific names yet)
-yoyo, kuhli loaches
Please give me some inputs to these selections guys. Thx. Some fishes I don't even know what they look like especially the catfish family

 

[Sati]

Bala sharks grow to 12-15" and also need to be in small schools to be happy so a 20g is not enough room for balas.

As for catfish check out http://www.planetcatfish.com/ to get a feel for some varieties :]

 

[robotcholi]

thx sati, checking it out right now

 

[Allivymar]

LOL Didja spend all nite at planetcatfish robot? Tis quite the website!

A bristlenose cat would fit well into your tank with the chosen tankmates. About 6 inches long adult size, good algae eaters, peaceful and generally easy to find.

Also check out www.loaches.com for detailed info on the loaches.

 

[robotcholi]

Thx Alli, i was thinking of the samething too since so many of you have britlenose. Is the temperature ideally at 22-24C according to that site? That's a little bit on the demanding side eh.

 

[Allivymar]

They like it cooler, but they will do fine at slightly higher temps. I have a lipsarcus pardalis; they recommend similar temps, but my guy lives in an 82-84F tank and has no probs other then he's a PIG (higher temps = higher metabolism).