Good fish for a 20 long in a special education classroom?

[heyheyitsrae]

My dad (a special education teacher) asked me to set up an aquarium for his classroom. I have found a 20 long aquarium within the budget he gave me and am now thinking of what to put in once it's cycled and stuff. We've decided on a mix of live and fake plants along with a helicopter crash scene (he's a retired Black Hawk pilot), so there should be a good amount of hiding places.

In his words, he wants "colorful but sturdy fish, and colorful."

I've never had cories before so I want to put some in there, and then I was thinking a gourami as a centerpiece fish.

Recommendations? Also ideas on what to decorate it with to make the helicopter crash site look cool. Thanks to all of y'all, as always.

 

[Tetra1990]

Sounds like a good idea. Panda cores and swordtails would be cool and colorful.

 

[bettaowner]

Guppies, neon tetras, cherry or gold barbs.

 

[vanimal]

Neon Tetras
Cories
And a pair of Rams

 

[heyheyitsrae]

Neon Tetras
Cories
And a pair of Rams

Aren't rams really finicky about water parameters?

 

[heyheyitsrae]

Also I thought that neons were really weak?

 

[vanimal]

Cichlids are usually very hearty fish. Maybe some guppies instead of Neons??

 

[Cichlid Kid]

I like the O.P's idea the best. I'd go with a dwarf gourami, small school of pepper or panda corys and maybe a school of ember tetras?!

 

[heyheyitsrae]

I'm not sure if I want to try keeping rams yet. I have a really hard time keeping my nitrates down as it is in my 10 gallon, with water changes every 3 or 4 days. They're so beautiful though, I definitely want to try keeping them. My ph is like 7.5 though. Hm.

 

[vanimal]

Get a bigger tank and maybe a better filter.

 

[Wy Renegade]

I would suggest a single pair of Kribs! They are very sturdy, very colorful, and chances are the students will get a chance to see their fry as well.

 

[severum mama]

I would not choose M ramirezi for a school tank. Altispinosa would likely fare better, and Kribs are even tougher than those (IMO the best choice if you're looking at dwarf cichlids).

 

[heyheyitsrae]

I'll definitely look into Kribs then. No other tank mates?

 

[Aquavic]

You can put Tahitian moon sand around the helicopter, make it look realistic

 

[severum mama]

I'll definitely look into Kribs then. No other tank mates?

I don't think I'd suggest other bottom dwelling fish with a pair of kribs, as they can get somewhat aggressive when breeding. I do think you could get away with a sturdy tetra that doesn't get too large- my pick would be the flame/von rio tetra, Hyphessobrycon flammeus. They're colorful, hardy, and fast.

 

[heyheyitsrae]

Okay, I'll definitely suggest it to him. Thank you do much! I'm going to buy ammonia today for when I set up his tank.

 

[Mrc8858]

Have you considered an invert tank? Shrimp all very interesting to watch and breed easily/quickly. Also can be pretty low maintenance with some plants.

 

[heyheyitsrae]

I actually have. I would want to do cherry shrimp though and those are so dang expensive. It would look SOO nice too because the tank came with black sand.

 

[jcolon]

My dad (a special education teacher) asked me to set up an aquarium for his classroom. I have found a 20 long aquarium within the budget he gave me and am now thinking of what to put in once it's cycled and stuff. We've decided on a mix of live and fake plants along with a helicopter crash scene (he's a retired Black Hawk pilot), so there should be a good amount of hiding places.

In his words, he wants "colorful but sturdy fish, and colorful."

I've never had cories before so I want to put some in there, and then I was thinking a gourami as a centerpiece fish.

Recommendations? Also ideas on what to decorate it with to make the helicopter crash site look cool. Thanks to all of y'all, as always.

In a 20 long in that setting (i have one waiting in storage) I'd go with low light plants like java fern / java moss, Anubius and crypts ... Crypts and anubias can almost give the impression of tropical pants for the crash site. To start, hardy fish like rasboras, blood-fin tetras and goldbarbs add color. Once it's established, you can look to do cardinal tetras and maybe GBR'S / Bolivians... Again for color.

RCS, Amano's and ghost shrimp can also follow once it's established.

 

[heyheyitsrae]

He kinda wants to get it set up by the time school starts (3 weeks from today). I want to do a fish less cycle for as long as possible, but when school starts what can I have on there? I'm going to start cycling tomorrow. I will try to seed it as much as I can with a moss ball, filter media, maybe some gravel... Ideas?