I was at Pet Supermarket and saw a $85 20g tank, lighting and hood, and the filter. Is this a good deal to start off? Next question I had was, what would you all recommend in terms of a subsrate and tropical fish. Looking for something tropical like angelfish, tetras, gouramis, and a red tail shark. How many of each do you all recommend. The aquarium is probably NOT going to be planted because of the hassle in maintaning a planted aquarium. I have a 10 gallon with 3 tetras and a pleco but I read somewhere 3 fish to a 10 gallon is more than enough. Can anyone help please?
Ideal setup for a 20g
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Todd2
Aquarium Advice Freak
Substrate - go with whatever you like (gravel or sand). Sand tends to be harder to maintain but looks better to some. (ie. you can't dig the gravel vac into the sand because it'll suck it all up) Plus you need to make sure it doesn't get sucked up into the filter. If you go w/ gravel and you want cories in the future, don't pick sharp gravel because it'll damage their barbels.
Fish - IMO, angelfish will be too small for a 20g. Tetras and gouramis will be fine. Tetras perfer to be in schools so I'd go w/ 6+. I'd start out w/ 1 gourami. They can be aggressive towards each other, it just all depends on your fish.
3 fish in a 10g is fine as long as there small. A general rule of thumb is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water. But this varies w/ filtration and surface area and the type of fish. You obviously can't have a 10" oscar in a 10g. Your pleco will outgrow the 10g soon, infact it'll outgrow the 20g too. I'd recommend giving it to your LFS or a friend when it gets to big if you can't house it. You still have room for a few more fish in the 10g. A couple more tetras to complete the school would be nice and maybe a gourami or some cories could complete it.
HTH and don't be afraid to ask more questions.
Fish - IMO, angelfish will be too small for a 20g. Tetras and gouramis will be fine. Tetras perfer to be in schools so I'd go w/ 6+. I'd start out w/ 1 gourami. They can be aggressive towards each other, it just all depends on your fish.
3 fish in a 10g is fine as long as there small. A general rule of thumb is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water. But this varies w/ filtration and surface area and the type of fish. You obviously can't have a 10" oscar in a 10g. Your pleco will outgrow the 10g soon, infact it'll outgrow the 20g too. I'd recommend giving it to your LFS or a friend when it gets to big if you can't house it. You still have room for a few more fish in the 10g. A couple more tetras to complete the school would be nice and maybe a gourami or some cories could complete it.
HTH and don't be afraid to ask more questions.
Thanks a lot Todd. Do you think a school of 8 neon tetras and a red tail shark will be to much for the 20 gallon? I will have plenty of places for them to hide. Anything else I can fit besides the 8 tetras and 1 gourami? Thanks a lot for the help!
Todd do you know anything about Biospira?
Todd do you know anything about Biospira?
Lonewolfblue
Aquarium Advice Addict
20G is a little small for a red tail shark. He'll be very aggressive in that small of space. A rainbow shark may be a better choice, as they are not as aggressive. But you still need lots of good caves and hiding areas.
As for other fish, Bolivian Rams do well in a 20G, as well as GBR's. The Bolivians are more hardy, so if you don't want to deal with the less hardy GBR, the Bolivian is the way to go.
I would also do 6-8 tetras with them, and even a BN Pleco, as they stay small. Could do some Otos as well if it's planted, or if not, make sure you feed an algae wafer daily.
As for Bio Spira, you add that with all the fish at the same time. Will give an instant cycle if you got a good batch. Also, if you get Bio Spira, make sure it stays cold at all times til you dump it into the tank. When transporting it, it's best to transport in a cooler with ice, and have the biospira wrapped in newspaper so it doesn't freeze or kill off anything because it got too cold from sitting directly on the ice. Once home, place it in the refrigerator until you add the fish. I would add the fish first, wait a couple hours, then add the Bio Spira. That way there will be some ammonia to start with, even though there won't be enough to register on your ammonia test kit. Then just dump it into the tank, near the filter intake.
Other good fish for a 20G includes loaches, some rainbowfish, apistos, danios, cories, some barbs, rasboras, dwarf gouramis, a single angelfish (or a pair if you know you can get a mated pair), and a few others.
As for other fish, Bolivian Rams do well in a 20G, as well as GBR's. The Bolivians are more hardy, so if you don't want to deal with the less hardy GBR, the Bolivian is the way to go.
I would also do 6-8 tetras with them, and even a BN Pleco, as they stay small. Could do some Otos as well if it's planted, or if not, make sure you feed an algae wafer daily.
As for Bio Spira, you add that with all the fish at the same time. Will give an instant cycle if you got a good batch. Also, if you get Bio Spira, make sure it stays cold at all times til you dump it into the tank. When transporting it, it's best to transport in a cooler with ice, and have the biospira wrapped in newspaper so it doesn't freeze or kill off anything because it got too cold from sitting directly on the ice. Once home, place it in the refrigerator until you add the fish. I would add the fish first, wait a couple hours, then add the Bio Spira. That way there will be some ammonia to start with, even though there won't be enough to register on your ammonia test kit. Then just dump it into the tank, near the filter intake.
Other good fish for a 20G includes loaches, some rainbowfish, apistos, danios, cories, some barbs, rasboras, dwarf gouramis, a single angelfish (or a pair if you know you can get a mated pair), and a few others.
flip_lx
Aquarium Advice Freak
if you want sand get pool filter sand its cheap and looks nice. sand isnt that hard to clean really keep a nice little selection of MTS or shirmp and circle your vac about an inch or 2 above the bed to stir up debris and leave sand
Thanks a lot guys. Your very helpful. I am going to pass on the red tail shark and go with 7-8 neon tetra's so they school and a pair of dwarf gourami's. Can I and should I add anything else besides these fish? I was thinking about adding a Siamese betta pair also (male and female) will the other fish pick at their fins? I currently use sand in my 10 gallon tank and its a pain to clean. I think this time around I am going to go with gravel.
joannde
Aquarium Advice Addict
Betta's and gouramis don't mix well. Also, you can't generally keep a male and female together all the time; they become very agressive towards each other.
Lonewolfblue
Aquarium Advice Addict
Just a word of warning. I had 12 neons and 2 fire red dwarf gouramis in my 26G. After 4 days, I only had 2 neons left, and they were just a little too big for the gouramis to eat. But they still tried eating them as well. Neons are food for them. If you want survivors, get cardinals instead.
