Hi all. I am planning to get my dad some fish for father’s day, he is letting me choose what to stock the tank with. It is a 20 gallon hex tall. That being said we have had some issues with the tank in the past.
sorry it’s long.
My dad originally had a 55 gallon hex tall tank, for maybe 15 years? Over the time it has gotten wore down, it is a tank attached to a base. He didn’t want to rescape tank. So he just bought a new one. There was still fish in the tank though. There were neons, 1 zebra danio, a few tiger barbs, and an ANCIENT silver dollar, almost as old as me. (I know silver dollars are schooling and not really appropriately sized for a 55 tall but my dad doesn’t really research before buying most.)
However i wasn’t with him when he went shopping for it so he ended up getting the 20 gallon mentioned above. It was those tank kits so prolly a good deal. So i knew this tank was gonna be overstocked now.
When we moved the fish over, it actually went well: we transferred the filter media, some of the water and only a few decorations. No fish deaths during tank swap.
A few weeks later my dad went to the store to buy a “cleanup crew” even though his tank was full basically. Bought a BN pleco and a single corydora. (Facepalm. Why’d the store sell him one :/ )
THENN the fish started dying. The new CUC definitely introduced ich, completely wiping out the tank. My dad was really bummed, some of the fish were several years old. Only the nerite snail survived, after several doses of ich medication he kept dumping in there. (the water was a deep blue so i’m thinking he used that methylene stuff.)
Short version: Impulsive purchases lead to mass fish deaths.
Now we are here much later with an fishless tank wondering what to stock it with. I know there isn’t as much wiggle room for stocking bc it’s tall. I was thinking harlequin or chili rasboras, as they are small. For cuc i as thinking some blue velvet neocardinias or otocinclus, as there’s a lot of soft, flowy algae on the plants that the nerite seems to ignore. It grows fast because it’s near a large window. I feel like he would like a center piece fish, but also know that with bettas/gouramis tall tanks can be an issue since they are labyrinth breathers. We also have hard water. We have a water softner but even then my own tanks are covered in hard water stains. I can post parameters later. Any thoughts?
sorry it’s long.
My dad originally had a 55 gallon hex tall tank, for maybe 15 years? Over the time it has gotten wore down, it is a tank attached to a base. He didn’t want to rescape tank. So he just bought a new one. There was still fish in the tank though. There were neons, 1 zebra danio, a few tiger barbs, and an ANCIENT silver dollar, almost as old as me. (I know silver dollars are schooling and not really appropriately sized for a 55 tall but my dad doesn’t really research before buying most.)
However i wasn’t with him when he went shopping for it so he ended up getting the 20 gallon mentioned above. It was those tank kits so prolly a good deal. So i knew this tank was gonna be overstocked now.
When we moved the fish over, it actually went well: we transferred the filter media, some of the water and only a few decorations. No fish deaths during tank swap.
A few weeks later my dad went to the store to buy a “cleanup crew” even though his tank was full basically. Bought a BN pleco and a single corydora. (Facepalm. Why’d the store sell him one :/ )
THENN the fish started dying. The new CUC definitely introduced ich, completely wiping out the tank. My dad was really bummed, some of the fish were several years old. Only the nerite snail survived, after several doses of ich medication he kept dumping in there. (the water was a deep blue so i’m thinking he used that methylene stuff.)
Short version: Impulsive purchases lead to mass fish deaths.
Now we are here much later with an fishless tank wondering what to stock it with. I know there isn’t as much wiggle room for stocking bc it’s tall. I was thinking harlequin or chili rasboras, as they are small. For cuc i as thinking some blue velvet neocardinias or otocinclus, as there’s a lot of soft, flowy algae on the plants that the nerite seems to ignore. It grows fast because it’s near a large window. I feel like he would like a center piece fish, but also know that with bettas/gouramis tall tanks can be an issue since they are labyrinth breathers. We also have hard water. We have a water softner but even then my own tanks are covered in hard water stains. I can post parameters later. Any thoughts?
