ideas?

[SunkenShip]

hi all, new here.

I'm planning to get a 20 gallon tank sometime in the future ( hopefully will be in Aug ) . I plan to make it an aquascape with community fishes. That way, it will look good and help speed up the cycling process

Apart from carpet grass and a few general ideas, I dont really know what should I put in. Ideas?

I'm the sort that would do all the planning and settling all the small details before I start something so that nothing would go wrong when i start

I'm hoping to give it an aztec feel with a stone pyramid in the center that is falling apart and tall and creeping plants at the side. ( idea anyway. not sure how viable it is considering that it will be placed on my study table beside me and I'm not sure how much weight it can take :/ )

thanks for reading!

 

[FishEggs]

i think you opened a barrel of monkeys here. lol
so many things you can do.

 

[SunkenShip]

haha thats the problem
theres too many to choose from

erm.. in general, what fish are easy to keep, easy for a beginner, can stand loud music ( I play the guitar in the same room )? I heard of zebra dainos or something like that were ok?

plants wise, which type of plants dont need so much light and are easy for a beginner? my dad dosent went me adding too much to the power bill at the end of the month

thanks again

 

[DragonFish71]

Low light plants: any of the java ferns and anubias plants. Plus they are hardy and look great rooted to rocks or driftwood. I use Narrow Leaf Chain (Echinodorus tennelus) sword for grassy. I bought some along with micro swords and dwarf hair grass. Out of all 3, the hair grass and narrow leaf chain are doing the best. The micro has pretty much died off. The micro in pots does much better than micro that comes as a handfull. It's a pain getting the floss off the roots, but at least you get roots. The half square foot of micros had almost no roots. *Growls* But back to the narrow leaf. It is really a good low plant for foreground. Dwarf hair grass is another.

Here are some links for places that I use and my friends use.
AquariumPlants.com Largest online sales / service site for the live aquarium plants & aquarium products community.
Aqua Botanic-Aquarium and Terrarium Plants galore

 

[FishEggs]

there are lots of low light plants and most are easy to keep. some too easy and then take over the tank and you want to get rid of them. java moss is one that i think would be good to go with your deteriorating aztec pyramid idea. other low light plants would be java fern, most crypts, anubias nana, hornwort, anacharis. i like to use plantgeek.net for plant info. you can search according to light conditions.
lots of different substrate options too. depends on the overall look you want. personally i like eco-complete for my planted tank. other than gravel it's all i've used and it has worked great for me so i can't really comment on how it compares to most other substrates.

 

[DragonFish71]

I completely forgot the question about fish. Zebra danios are fast little critters and fun to watch schooling. A very easy fish for beginners as well as some of the live bearers like guppies. Corys, otocinclus (otos) are easy too and make a great clean up team. Corys go for any extra food left around and otos go for algae. They also like to be kept in at least pairs. With a 20 you have lots of options. You can go with the zebras, some neons, maybe a dwarf gourami or 2 as a main fish (s) and some corys and otos.

If it were me, I'd go with about 7 or 8 long fin zebras, 7 neons or cardinals, 7 black neons, 7 glolight neons, 7 harlequin rasboras, 3 albino, julii or panda corys and a herd of otos. Over stocked? Probably. But with the right filtration and regular water changes it's not an issue. Plus the smaller fishes like tetras really put out small quantities of waste.

Some other plants for the background. I would go with swords. They are easy to keep under most any condition. (Yeah I'm biased with swords, javas and anubias, love 'em)

Eco complete is a great substrate. I wanted to go with that for our 40 but the only place that had it only had 2 bags. I used activ flora sand and onyx sand mix instead.

 

[FishEggs]

can also look into white cloud mountain minnows. one of the fish i started with and have had them almost 2 years through all the ups and downs.

 

[SunkenShip]

thanks for the ideas guys!
definitely will be looking for those in my nearest pet shop when I am getting my tank

I just hope the fish shop has stuff like the swords and the otos.I dont live in USA so it might be harder to get some of the stuff :/

Probably will include the javas and anubias.

@ dragonfish71 : can those fish stand music?. I'm really afraid my guitar playing will kill them

@fisheggs: dont think my fish store stocks white cloud mountain minnows but hopefully they do so i can go see

as for the aztec idea, I was hoping to put somesort of pyramid in the center overgrown with plants on it and plants at the side. what can i use to make the pyramid? I'm hoping for somthing that is not too heavy as I'm afraid my table would not be able to take it. thanks!

 

[happygirl65]

Your fish will be fine with music, they get used to it even sensitive fish like discus can get used to loud noises....the trick is consistency. They may not act happier when you are playing your guitar, but they will not likely be affected much by it in my experience.

 

[SunkenShip]

I've pretty much just decided on what fish I will start with.

6 zebra danios
6 golden white clouds ( woot! @fisheggs: I found them in a fish shop near my school )
2 otos.

is that ok or am I overstocking?

 

[FishEggs]

i would leave out the otos for a while until the tank matures and you get some algae growth. just make sure to go slow with the stocking. i would just do 6 of one or the other and then the rest a couple weeks later.

 

[bmg07]

keep us updated i want to see pics

 

[SunkenShip]

will do
right now I'm still at the planning stage though
I just saw the Kuhli loach.
How would they fare in my so far hypothetical tank?
I'm really afraid of overstocking and the fish not being compatible.

I was thinking a school of 4 or 5 as that seems to be the minimun for them to be active.

will they affect plants or how I place them in anyway?

thanks

edit: I'm now thinking of doing something like this : http://www.dreamaquarium.com/moss_angeles800x600.jpg

aquascaping wise anyway
hows it look?