New tank

[Sernalex]

Just started my 20 g tank!!! I have the water cycling!! Wanted to know with what fish I should go with I kind of wanted cichlid??? Any opinions??

[josh7]

Is it a standard 20 or a 20 long Tank but i would get a ram if you only are willing to keep up with weekly water changes and add them after the tank is completely cycled I would also get a school of 7-8 bloodfin or cardinal tetras and for the bottom I would get a school of 6 panda cories. If your tank is a 20 long 30 inches long you could get a pair of convict cichlids or just a single if it's a 20 standard.

[HooKooDooKu]

Based on the research I've done, to avoid being over stocked, you're going to want to limit yourself to something like a school of Mollies, Guppies, Tetra's, Pladdies, or other similar fish.

Based on a random sampling of cichlids @ Aquarium Fish: Tropical Freshwater Fish and Saltwater Fish for Home Aquariums, their site indicates African cichlids needed 50g to 70g minimum tank size (depending upon exact bread), while there were a few American cichlids that went as small as 30g for a minimum tank size.

I don't know how accurate their information, but liveaquaria list minimum tank sizes for all the fish they sell. Seems as good a place to start researching unless someone else gives you something better.

[Sernalex]

Its a regular 20 gallon!!! Is it to small to put big fish in it???

[josh7]

I wouldn't listen to liveaquaria on basically every fish they make the minimum tank size about 10 gallons over the real minimum tank sizes are.

[HeatherW]

i agree with Hook. check out liveaquaria - they have alot of good info and you can find some cool fish. if you are really set on cichlids look into the rams. I think you can put ONE in a 20gallon tank, but if you really want cichlids you would be better off with a bigger tank. maybe you could do a community tank on this one, get the hang of things and then buy another bigger tank.

either way - check out the web site and do some research to find the fish you want. in the meantime you can start doing a fishLESS cycle. you need to read up on the whole cycling process. check out the stickies at the top of this section - read up on the two types of cycling and let us know which way you are going to go

[Mumma.of.two]

20g is a small tank. IMO your looking at dwarf cichlids like rams and apistos.

[HooKooDooKu]

Originally Posted by josh7

I wouldn't listen to liveaquaria on basically every fish they make the minimum tank size about 10 gallons over the real minimum tank sizes are.

Yea, but that means for the average cichlid, 20g gallons would still be about 20g to 40g too small.

And of course anyone's measurement on minimum tank size is a bit subjective. But if you push the numbers, you're just making it more difficult on yourself.

But if someone is going to ignore a source of advice (in this case, Live Aquaria) then they better make sure they know more about the given subject that the source they are ignoring.

[Sernalex]

Thanks for the advice everyone I think I'm going to go with community fish!!!

[librarygirl]

Hi and welcome. You might want to read the link in my signature below: guide to starting a FW aquarium. The first thing it covers is cycling. Letting a tank run for a few days does not properly cycle it (regardless of what the fish stores tell you). Good luck.