What can I add?

[theFinn]

Hey all.

I've got my 20 gallon all cycled and running nicely and over the past couple weeks I've added my fish in. I currently have:

2 Blue Dwarf Gourami
5 Bloodfin Tetra's
2 Spotted cory catfish

They all seem pretty happy but it's looking a little sparse fish wise. I'd like to get either one more large fish (somewhat larger then the Dwarf Gourami) or another small shole of schooling fish, but I'm not too sure what to get, and I don't want to overstock.

In regards to a larger fish I'd like something with a calm demenor that will just cruise the tank and keep to itself.

As for a shole of schooling fish I'd like something that acutally schools. The Bloodfin tetras I have don't really keep together in a pack much. 2 or 3 will swim together but most of the time they just chase each other around....

Either way I want something that's quite colorful and will really stand out against the black background and substrate I have.

My local fish store is a Big Al's location in Edmonton and they've got a pretty good selection of fish so feel free to toss out exotic idea's :D

[Bwana]

I've got a 20g too.

I have:
2 Dwarf Gouramis (one blue, one normal)
7 Serpae Tetras - They are really cool when they're in a school, but they dont move much, and like to hang out in the back, where i cant really see them :( .
5 Zebra Danios - Very active in the middle-upper parts, they seem to settle down a bit when there's more of them.
3 Peppered Cory's - awesome little buggers, thinking of adding 2 more.

As for a bigger fish...I dont really know, the gourami's are my "big fish". Dont know how well they would get along with something bigger then them in the tank. :confused:

Good luck!

edit: Oh yeah...the Serpaes school very tightly, they just dont move too much. If you dont have a lot of decorations, i suppose they'd be cooler, because you could actually see them. :laugh:

[theFinn]

Anyone else have any thoughts?

[Aquarius0015]

I would get 3 more cories personally assuming I am correct in the assumption that the spotted ones stay small.

Ottos tend to school and stay small, plus they help with algae.

Sorry, I can't think of anything that gets larger than the dwarfs but won't get aggressive with them.

An angel fish would be ideal IMO in terms of beauty and demeanor, but many people say they need at least 29 gallons. Even so, it would probably take a long while to outgrow a 20 gallon. I guess that depends on if you're willing to part with full grown fish or not.

[tomm10]

I don't know that I'd put a whole lot more in the tank. I would definitely get a couple more cories. I would have a minimum of three in a tank. You could get two more different cories though. Maybe a couple of pandas. The cories like the company of their own.

You could also get a few more tetras. 5 is a pretty small school. Don't be suprised if they don't school too much. IME they tend to school out of stress or fear. Once they're comfortable with their tank and tankmates they tend to run in a much looser group.

I don't think you really have the room for a big fish so I would concentrate on adding cories and increasing the school of tetras you have.

One othe idea for the cories is to add pygmy cories. They only get to about an inch long, are very active (once they're settled) and they patrol more than just the bottom. You could add a school of 6 or so of those I would think.

Tom

[fishfood]

I think that you're near the limit for fish. Maybe you could add 2 -3 more tetras but I wouldn't add much more. I would agree with everyone else that you really can't put a bigger fish in the tank.

[boyohboy]

As with other ppl said, I would suggest adding more smaller fish rather than a big fish. Smaller fish makes ur tank looks bigger : )

Cory is cute, I would consider more. Try to get the cory species that stay smaller. Some like albina/green/pepper cory grows to like 3" (?), while other's like Panda, which I have, only gets to 2" max. Pygmy cory (1" max) is also good, I have 6 of them and they are barely adding to any load at all, as they are just so short and tiny. The Pygmy is sorta a mid-bottom feeder, they alot of times will swim on on the leaves of my plants and eat(?).

If for tetras, I like Rummynose tetras. The rummynose seems to be the tightest-schooling tetras I've ever had (black-skirt, neon, black-neon, cardinal, lemon, zebra danio), and they are quite active. The 7 of them I have are always together whereever they go. Altho right now they seem to be hiding abit among my stem plants becoz of (i think) my filter currect being too strong.

Actually for bigger fish if you want, maybe (dwarf) Neon Rainbowfish? They aren't really bigger than gourami tho. They aren't aggressive at all IME

[Bwana]

Peppered Cory's get to 3"? Hrm...

[boyohboy]

Originally posted by Bwana
Peppered Cory's get to 3"? Hrm...

Yeah, at least all the info sites say so :p Actually some sites even say 4". This what I kept in my mind when I went fish shopping, "no albino/green/pepper... panda and pygmy cory only" Altho I felt like getting a new tank full of cory after seeing at least 9 different types of cory in BigAl's (north york) couple of weeks ago.... oh well dream on :rolleyes:

[Aquarius0015]

Julii aren't supposed to get bigger than about 2.75"

[Hound]

Hmmn, well my pepper corys are between 1.75 and 2.5 inches roughly, but how did we get onto peppers when the original tank has a pair of spotted corys?

I would think adding another cory to make it 3 spotted corys and a couple more bloodfins so you have 7 would be ok. As for a second schooling fish or a bigger fish I'd have to say you probably shouldn't. As for adding a bigger fish in your tank is questionable at best. You say you have 2 dwarf gourami in your tank already and if both are male they might get a bit pushy with each other as they get older as it is. They seem to like a bit of territory and if you add another fish of similar or slightly bigger size things would probably get worse from there.

Another suggestion would be that if you really want something a bit more substantial you could find your gourami a new home and bring home a couple (one male on female) ram cichlid.