20 Gallon Setup and Stocking

[texburgess]

Hello all,

I am brand new to the hobby. I had a 5gal when I was a kid with 3 tiger barbs for some reason from Walmart. But that was ages ago.
Now my friend is giving me a 20 gallon long, used as a terrarium for a while, and I wanted to convert it to an aquarium.

What filter/pump/heater would be good for a tropical aquarium? I plan on doing an fishless cycle before I stock with anything.

My water has pH 7.2 and gH of 45ppm according to my city's website

I was planning on stocking with:
6 peppered cories a local hobbyist bred and is giving me
8-10 of a suitable tetra/rasbora/barb (suggestions?)
1-3 honey gourami or similar centerpiece

How does this stocking sound?
Any other awesome stocking recommendations? I'm wide open.
And what plants would be good, if any? Or should I stick to fake?

Thanks so much!

 

[SaraB]

There are a ton of beginner live plants. I highly recommend anubias, water wisteria, anacharis and any aquatic mosses.
If you want to do barbs stick to the smaller cherry barbs.
If you wanted tetras you could do black neons or cardinal tetras as they are smaller and more hardy than regular neon tetras. I had pristella tetras in my 20 gallon (when I had it set up) and they were great.
You could do a non heated tank and do white cloud minnows.
For a heater look for something around 150 watts. Most filters are labeled with the size tank they go with, you could also go with a size bigger. Air stones are optional depending on your filtration and if you have live plants.

 

[Barliman]

Hello all,

Now my friend is giving me a 20 gallon long, used as a terrarium for a while, and I wanted to convert it to an aquarium.

Be sure to fill it with water first and let it sit for a day or so to make sure the seals are still good.

"What filter/pump/heater would be good for a tropical aquarium? I plan on doing an fishless cycle before I stock with anything."

You have a lot of choices, and there's no one "best," in my opinion. Sponge filters are very easy to maintain and provide great biological filtration. I'e used one with a Tetra "Whisper" pump with no complaints for a couple of years, now. HOBs and canisters allow you to customize the media to your purposes. I really like Aquaclear "hang on the back" (HOB) filters, and for canisters I've had good experience with Eheim and Marineland.

I was planning on stocking with:
6 peppered cories a local hobbyist bred and is giving me
8-10 of a suitable tetra/rasbora/barb (suggestions?)
1-3 honey gourami or similar centerpiece

Sounds great to me. Six pepper corydoras might be a bit big for a 20L. I'd consider the smaller Panda corys instead, and buy seven.

The rest of the stocking sounds great. The recommendation of cherry barbs is a good one. I'd also suggest purple harlequin rasboras as a nice contrast to the honey dwarfs.

And what plants would be good, if any? Or should I stick to fake?

I'd go with easy plants: java fern, anubias, cryptocorynes, and a floater like frogbit to make the gouramis feel a bit more secure.

Be sure to post pics when you have it running!