20 gal high stock

[Theo1994]

Hello dear community,

I have a 20 gal high cycled with 7 cardinals, 5 purple/blue emperor tetra, 3 corys and 1 bolivian ram. Currently 3 live plants, planning on adding 3 or more. Can someone experienced comment on my stocking? Can I add a top dweller or my bioload is too heavy already? Thanks in advance

[Autumnsky]

Hello!

It seems the number of fish would be alright if you have a cycled and stable tank. Are you familiar with the nitrification cycle (and never throw out your filter pad or wash it in straight untreated tap water).

A nice top fish would be a few 3-5 male fancy Guppies - only males so no babies!

Or one of my fish favorites which loves the top few inches would be the Neon Green Kubotai / Microdevario Kubotai it does however have the similar body shape to the Cardinal Tetra and again the Emperor Tetra, in case you would rather have a different shaped fish for additional interest.

Rachel O'Leary (youtube aka msjinkzd) has video about them and their care.

If you have a cycled tank, I would also recommend another 3-4 Cories if they are the medium sized ones, like Bronze, Green, Albino - Corydoras aeneus.

After adding fish, (quarantine / QT is recommended before adding to you main tank) just be sure to watch the water parameters as additional fish mean a larger bioload.

Feeding half as much but 2 times per day, helps spread the food and waste load more evenly in the day and make it easier for the filter to process.

You might consider also adding a 2nd weekly water change to keep the water in good condition initially to the 20G high for a few weeks just to make sure the BB in the filter is doing a proper job of keeping the water safe!

[Theo1994]

Hello sir and thanks for the reply,

Yes i am aware of the cycle, and my fish are doing fine for the last couple of months. The only fish im worried about are the blue emperor tetra, since 1 of them lost its color on 2 small spots on his body. i just added some sera super peat to the filter in order to drop the ph, thinking this may be the cause. I m going to add some corys later on. Do you know if bronze and green corys(aeneus) school together? I ll consider the guppies, but I don't think I'll be adding any more tetra due to their similarities. Anyway i wont add anything until i sort out the blue emperor issue. Thanks again for your response sir.