What's a good middle level swimming fish for 20 gallon long?

[jigabodo]

Hey folks,

I am looking for a good middle level dwelling fish for a 20 gallon long! If anyone can offer any nice suggestions!

Currently I have a heavily planted 20 gallon long that's been up and running for a while. So far I've got a nice school of white clouds (12), a single honey gourami, 3 otos, and some shrimp. I have plenty of filtration (whisper PF 60 rated at 330 GPH) and I perform 30% PWC about 2x a week.

Thanks in advance!

 

[absolutangel04]

Where do your white clouds school? High or low?

 

[jigabodo]

Where do your white clouds school? High or low?

My white clouds are almost always swimming on the top of the tank. Occasionally I will get one straggler swimming near the bottom though.

 

[CoryFan]

I like my lemon tetra; they are middle level.

 

[jigabodo]

I like my lemon tetra; they are middle level.

Would it be OK if I only get one? Or do they absolutely need to be in school? I am asking cuz I am a little worried about my bioload if I add another small school of fish into my 20L.

Thanks!

 

[CoryFan]

Would it be OK if I only get one? Or do they absolutely need to be in school? I am asking cuz I am a little worried about my bioload if I add another small school of fish into my 20L.

Thanks!

Good point! Tetra can be nippy and aggressive without a school. I will think on this.

 

[Luananeko]

Guppies or any other live bearers can be kept either singly or in groups and tend to stick mostly to the middle, but they do traverse the entire water column.

 

[absolutangel04]

Neons are small and school mid-bottom level. I think your tank could easily handle the bioload of like 5 neons.

 

[paytertot]

I may be way off here but what about danios?

 

[Tigroscr]

Danios would be good or rasboras they both are more middle level swimmers.

 

[Luananeko]

Danios need a school and it sounds like she's pretty near maxed on her bioload. Neons may even be pushing it, but they at least are a lighter bio-load than neons.

 

[CoryFan]

I second the neon idea! I have had nippy danios that became nicer in a wider tank.

 

[CoryFan]

What about ember tetra? Would they be better for bio load?

 

[Tigroscr]

Neons are good if you can keep them alive!! In all my years of fish keeping can never keep them alive longer than 6 mths I finally gave up! I've had real good success with rasboras and I really like the scissor tails very hardy get along great even with my betta

 

[Luananeko]

The trick with neons seems to be making sure that the tank parameters are perfect for the first few months. Weekly water changes, an established tank, live plants, and buying from a decent LFS instead of Petco/Petsmart seem to go a long ways toward ensuring their survival.

Just to get a rough guess at how stocked the tank currently is I went and plugged things into aqadvisor.com... Looks like there should be room for a school of any small to mid length fish you want, be it danios, rasboras, tetras, guppies, whatever. Especially with the dense live plants, and the fact that the tank is a long rather than a regular 20, you've got a lot more leeway than most. The size of the fish you pick will determine how many you can have.

 

[Samzter]

Sparkling gourami? If need be I'll give you more info.

 

[jigabodo]

Sparkling gourami? If need be I'll give you more info.

Would it matter if I already got a honey gourami in the tank? My honey is about 2 inches right now, not much bigger than my WCMMs.

Thanks!

 

[jigabodo]

The trick with neons seems to be making sure that the tank parameters are perfect for the first few months. Weekly water changes, an established tank, live plants, and buying from a decent LFS instead of Petco/Petsmart seem to go a long ways toward ensuring their survival.

Just to get a rough guess at how stocked the tank currently is I went and plugged things into aqadvisor.com... Looks like there should be room for a school of any small to mid length fish you want, be it danios, rasboras, tetras, guppies, whatever. Especially with the dense live plants, and the fact that the tank is a long rather than a regular 20, you've got a lot more leeway than most. The size of the fish you pick will determine how many you can have.

According to aqadvisor.com my tank is only 75% stocked, which is strange since I thought I was actually getting close to maxing out my bioload.

Originally I was actually thought about getting neons instead of WCMM for my tank, but after doing a little bit of research I found out that neons prefer soft water, and according to the city water report my water is "moderately hard". Do you think neons will do OK in harder water?

Thanks again!

 

[Luananeko]

Aqadvisor is a guide only, it can't take everything into account Personally I think you've got a little more space than you think since a 20 long has way more surface area and swimming space than a normal 20 gallon, and the dense plants help keep the water parameters clear. I'd double check the numbers against what folks better at figuring stocking levels say to be sure though!

I'm in an area with soft water, so I have no experience with keeping neons in hard water. Your LFS should have the same water as you unless they're really far away though. The easiest way to tell how the neons will do in your water is to go to the LFS and ask them when their current batch of neons came in. If they've been there for a week or more, the fish are probably acclimated to your water hardness already and should do okay. You may lose a few in the first month since some are more sensitive than others, but the ones that make it should be fine for the rest of their lives. You can add some peat or use some reverse osmosis water during your water changes if you want to soften your water to make sure they're okay though.

 

[paytertot]

I have really hard water and I've kept neons successfully. Well, until I got rope fish.. lol