Advice on restocking our 20 gallon

[mond]

Greetings, all --

After being in and out of the hospital constantly for the last 6 months, our poor little 20 gallon tank fell on hard times. Of the few fish we had, 2 black skirt long fin tetras, 1 serpae tetra (PetSmart calls it a long fin red minor) and 1 albino bristlenose pleco, we're down to the pleco (Casper) and a black long fin (just Fish). The tank was a mess when I was finally released, and I'm banned from cleaning it for several months, so we paid to have it professionally cleaned. Now the tank is AWESOME and crystal clear, the levels all check out using strips, and our two lonely residents are ready for some tank mates.

I went on AqAdvisor and calculated up what I'd like to eventually get to in a vibrant tank, but I wanted some opinions from a respected community first. Obviously I'll be adding these fish in groups of 2-3 at a time every few weeks to make sure the tank stays stabilized. I'm thinking this to be the end goal:

1 albino bristlenose pleco
6 black skirt tetra (probably long fin)
6 serpae tetra (probably long fin)
6 danio GloFish of varying colors
1 dwarf gourami

Again, I won't be 18 new fish to my tank today, but this seems like an OK goal that gets pretty close to maxing out the tank.

I'm using a Marineland Penguin 200 filter and thinking of adding a pump and bubble bar to the back of the tank. There are 2 large decorative structures for hiding and several plants (all plastic). I haven't yet picked up any driftwood for the pleco as I wasn't sure if it would want fake or real wood.

How does this sound as a long-term goal? Too much? Everything I've read says that the tetras and danios are happiest in schools of 6, so I figured that would be a good target. We've had a gourami before and it seemed fine to be the lone member of its species.

Thanks for the input!

 

[ImACoolguy]

I'd drop the glofish. Without them it looks fully stocked to me. Pleco have a very high bioload compared to other fish in its size range.

Your pleco would appreciate real driftwood as it is part of their natural diet.

Should also be noted that test strips are quite inaccurate. A liquid test kit would be much more beneficial and cost effective for you as you can do 200+ tests with it for ply a few dollars more than a 25 pack of strips. Not to mention it's much more accurate.

I'd imagine a few months of no cleaning in this tank took a toll. I'd be interested to see what nitrate reading the liquid kit gave.


Caleb

 

[mond]

Can you recommend a good liquid test kit?

 

[Fresh2o]

API FW Master kit is a good one.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[ImACoolguy]

Can you recommend a good liquid test kit?

API- it's cheap and quite accurate.


Caleb

 

[mond]

Awesome, I'll pick one up today.

So drop the danios...what about dropping 1 each of the tetras to add in a few danios?

 

[thing fish]

i would be concerned for the gourami with the serpaes.

 

[mond]

I was wondering about the gourami, too...

I'm open to advice on other fish! The wife and kiddo just happen to like the tetras and I figured I'd get enough so they would school and be happy.

Will differing species of tetra school together, or are they pretty much each group to themselves?

 

[claudio1]

why don't you change the serpae tetras as they are semi aggressive for rummy nose tetras,i got 10 of them and i really like how they schooling together all the time..


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[mond]

I think we will end up ditching the serpae idea and pick a different species. We've ruled out any live bearers (no one told us when we first started that platys would be fruitful and multiply), and we really like zebras and tetras.

I did go by a couple of PetSmarts on my way home from the hospital today; all were out of the API fresh water test kit. I'll order from Amazon tonight and post back my results. I'm hesitant to add new fish now that I know the strips aren't very accurate. Since I'm ordering online, is there a better kit to get?

 

[Fresh2o]

The API FW Master Kit is much less expensive on Amazon. Since a lot of folks on this site use that kit, it will be easier to explain, compare, and interpret results with others.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[ImACoolguy]

I don't think it was mentioned but I would highly suggest the use of quarantine with new arrivals. This can save you a lot of stress and frustration of you bring home a sick fish. Fish can be sick yet look perfectly normal at the store.


Caleb

 

[mond]

Ordered. Should be here Friday so I'll update the results this weekend.

 

[mond]

I don't think it was mentioned but I would highly suggest the use of quarantine with new arrivals. This can save you a lot of stress and frustration of you bring home a sick fish. Fish can be sick yet look perfectly normal at the store.


Caleb

Caleb --

Can you suggest a link on how to quarantine new fish? I only have the one tank, and, knock on wood, we've never had issues with sick fish before killing off the tank.

 

[ImACoolguy]

Caleb --



Can you suggest a link on how to quarantine new fish? I only have the one tank, and, knock on wood, we've never had issues with sick fish before killing off the tank.

Quarantine doesn't have to be anything fancy, some like myself just use an extra tank and heater for this purpose.

If you don't, you can use anything from a 5g bucket to a giant Rubbermaid container. Just have a heater for it.

Inside doesn't have to be anything special, even cheap pieces of PVC pipe will do.

The main purpose of QT is for observation and treatment not to look pretty.

IMO a filter is optional. It's just more water changes if you don't have one. I have sponge filters I use on my main tanks so when I need a QT I simply use one of the cycles sponge filters.

It seems like a ton of precautions but when you have a tank full of fish all it takes is 1 sick one to make a disaster!


Caleb

 

[brennae]

I agree. That one sick fish can cause a ton of problems and heartache.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[mond]

An update on tank chemistry:

I took a water sample to my LFS for testing.

Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 10
pH - 7.6

I put a teaspoon of neutralizer in the tank last night. Looks like we're ready to add a couple of fish!