Stocking for 20 gal?

[LeilahWolf]

Hello!
I'm currently in the process of setting up a standard 20 gal tank. I'm considering doing all female guppy, with Salt and pepper corydora, and maybe amano shrimp. What are some thoughts and recommendations for how many? Or is it too many? Thanks for any advice.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Female guppies will almost certainly already be pregnant. Some of the fry will be male, and they will breed with their parents, their siblings, produce more fry, which in turn will breed etc. You can very quickly see a 20g aquarium not being big enough. Either have a plan for fry or only keep male guppies.

If you can seperate out male fry from females and somehow get rid of the males, eventually the females will stop giving birth. Guppies can store sperm for up to a year, and produce several litters from a single insemination.

 

[Andy Sager]

Is this a 20 gal long ( 30"L x 12"H x 12"W) or a 20 gallon high ( 24"L x 16H x 12"W)? While they hold the same amount of water, you can put more in a 20 Long than you can in a 20 High.

Also, adding to Aiken's advice, you may want to reconsider the Guppies as they will do better in water parameters your shrimps don't do well in and unless you get tank bred cories that are already in alkaline water, they wont do well in "guppy friendly" water parameters. The wild Cories and shrimps prefer a similar water parameter so you would just need to pick another swimming fish since the bottom level of the tank would be pretty full with cories and shrimp. OR, you reconsider the shrimp, make sure you get tank bred cories in alkaline water and stick with the Guppies ( and I'd do males only also as they are usually the prettier ones. )