Fish for 20 Gallon High Aquarium

[Weather11am]

I am setting up a 20 gallon high aquarium. I have been trying to explore my options. I plan to get a sponge filter and Penguin Boi Wheel filter.

Could i put:
6 Cardinal Tetras
6 Cory Catfish
1 Molly
3 Sword Tails
1 Redtail Shark
4 Hatchet fish

[OrionGirl]

Too many fish, too many different water preferences, IMO. I would cut the molly (these are social fish that do better in a group, also prefer harder water than Amazonian tetras and cories), the sword tails (they'll soon breed enough to fill the tank), the red tail shark (6 inch fish with a nasty attitude, not a good choice for a small tank).

The tetras, cories and hatchet fish should work fine together, and occupy all levels of the tank. Have the tank well cycled before adding the cardinals--they are hardy once established, but sensitive to the nitrogen cycle and changes in water. Make sure the tank is securely covered, or the hatchets will carpet surf.

[anonapersona]

OrionGirl has a great suggestion on the mix, then you could probably increase the cardinals, depending on how the tank filtration is and how clean you keep it.

8-10 cardinals
6 cories
4 hatchet fish

[Weather11am]

Could I keep 1 Sword Tail with the other fish?

[TPIRman]

The swordtail prefers groups, so just one isn't a good idea. OG + Anona came up with a good stocking plan for you IMO -- nice activity at top, middle, and bottom of the tank as OG said.

Is there a particular reason you wanted a sponge filter in addition to the Penguin filter? I think a Penguin Bio-Wheel 125 should take care of a 20H's filtration needs pretty well.

[stunt 101]

the red tailed shark gets too big i think

[Weather11am]

The reason for the extra filtration is so that I can more fish in my tank. What about angelfish? Would they work with the hatchet fish, tetras, and the corys?

Any other ideas for what fish to put in a 20-gallon high aquarium?

Andy

[Dangerdoll]

If you wanted to add Angels in the mix of cardinals and cories, they'd be fine but only in a bigger tank. When starting with Angels, the least amount of tank needed per Angel is at the very least 1 in a 20 and that IMO is stretching it....my personal preference would be 1 for a 30, then you may have 1 more per 10 gallons up from that.

[Leopardess]

Angels are too big for that tank. Besides, most angels would LOVE to eat cardinals. Cardinals/neons make up much of their diet in the wild.

[Dangerdoll]

my mistake, Leo is right.... I was under the assumption that the Angels would go for neon tetras, not cardinals because the cardinals were a little bigger.... but apparently, they will attack, if not, eat both types. Thanks for the enlightenment Leo ;)


and check me out, keeping Angels for the better part of 10+ years, and I'm still learning ;)

[Leopardess]

Eh, that's okay. The angels won't work for that tank anyway:p

There are instances where neons/cardinals *may* be safe - when they are raised with baby angels, but even then I know some people have had problems with their adults eating them later on :/

[Weather11am]

What fish would really stand out against the hatchetfish and tetras? First i though mollys and sharks, then swordtails, and finally angelfish. What fish(s) would stand out?

[Weather11am]

Here is what I have planned so far:

8 Cardinal Tetras
5 Hatchet Fish
6 Cory Catfish (assorted)

Does that sound good? What about a dwarf Gournami? They are small and they would really stand out in that tank.

[TPIRman]

Originally posted by Weather11am

6 Cory Catfish (assorted)


You'll probably have a better time of it if you find one variety of cory that you like best and get six of those. These guys like to be in groups. I've seen tanks with "little of this, little of that" for cories, and tanks with all one kind of cories. The schools of a single type of cory always exhibit more interesting behavior than the scattered singles/pairs. It's tempting to get different breeds, but there is only so much a 20-gallon can reasonably support (esp. a 20H).

I don't have any cories myself (yet), so I'm just going from what I've seen in others' tanks, but I bet you'll find the conventional wisdom is to stick with one type of cory.

[Leopardess]

It would be acceptable to get several different types, but I'd vote for either one type or two kinds, three each.


I do have the mix tpirman is talking about though (:o) in my 55g:

3 albinos
2 pandas
2 bronze
1 emerald

They do get along just fine, though. But I also think its because there are 8 of them. I'm not sure it'd have the same effect with, say, 2 albinos and 2 bronze....

[brookelyn]

Actually, bronze and albino corys work well even with just two of each. :) I can't speak for any other combination, though.

And I could be wrong, but I believe a dwarf gourami would work if maybe you had just six tetras instead of eight.

[TPIRman]

LOL -- I concede to Lep's superior fishy intellect! :D

[Weather11am]

After going to my local Petsmart, to my dismay, I found out that they don't have hatchet fish AND cardinal tetras. For the Hatchet fish I think I'm going to get to 3 Dwarf Gouramies. For the cardinal tetras I'll get neon tetras instead. I also like the emarald cory catfish. Here is what I'm going to get instead:

8 Neon Tetras
3 Drawf Gouramies
5 Emerald Cory Catfish

How does this sound?

Thanks

[Leopardess]

Too many.

Firstly, emerald "Cory" cats are actually brochis splenden and get a lot bigger than "normal" cories. Mine is 3.5" (and big in girth) and still growing. They can reach 4-5"

I'd find different cories. Esp. because its a 20g TALL and not a 20g LONG.

As to the gouramis, males are territorial (and you won't find females around) and will nip and fight with each other. Get one of those instead.