the perfect fish

[attiladahun]

to stock my 20-gal, i am looking for a species that is interesting, colorful, and has a personality. i know that corys would be a recommended choice, but i also want a heavily planted tank and i had heard that corys like to tear up plants and stuff. if i keep them well-fed, will they bother plants?

thanks again

[Satin and Tat]

I have cories and they've never bothered my plants at all. They're great little fish :-)

Ottos are fun, too. They're not especially colorful, but I think any of the "sucker" fish are quite interesting, and they definitely take care of any algae.

Some of the gouramis are quite colorful, especially the flame dwarf gouramis.

[SuperiorMN]

You should definetly research Dwarf Puffers. They love heavily planted tanks, as long as there is still some room to swim. A 20 gallon would be perfect for 1 male and 3 females. Make sure to take note on what they are compatible with.

[Emg]

German blue rams are interesting...colorful and have lots of personality. They don't generally get along well with cories though....

Shell dwellers are very interesting and can be colorful depending on the species you get. Though, they probaby wouldn't do well with the cories either...lol...or too many other fish for that matter, but you could put a good group of them in a 20...if its a 20 long that is. They inhabit the bottom area in a tank so longer shallower tanks are best for them....and only one species per tank. It's not a good idea to mix the different shell dweller species in one tank.

Gouramis are always a nice choice for color and personality...take a look at some of the dwarf species for a 20.

If it's a 20 tall you could look for a bottom dwelling species..like the cories....and a mid range fish such as gouramis...and then a top dweller...hhmm.....not too familiar with which fish would make a good top dwelling species...perhaps hatchetfish, but I don't know how large they get and whether they'd be good in a 20 or not.

Well, have fun and do post a pic when you get it all set up. I'd love to see how it turns out ! :D

[Galaxie]

You could throw in some fancy guppies to populate the top of the tank. My 3 girls are all over the place, but mainly near the top.

[attiladahun]

lfs's have told me that guppies need some salt in their water, is this true? i don't want to have to deal with salt. I already have 5 zebra danios in the top range of the tank, but would like more color. also, what kind of manufactured foods do you recommend for mid-rangers, bottom-rangers? i use Wardley brand "total tropical" floating flakes for all my fish, but these probably won't work for mid- or bottom- dwellers.

[tricksterpup]

lfs's have told me that guppies need some salt in their water, is this true? i don't want to have to deal with salt.
AS an avid guppy breeder, you do not need to have salt in your tank.
Please read this article by Dr. Ted Colletti who writes a live bearer column for FAMA. this article is called the Great Molly-salt debate. It centers on Mollies but I think it should be spread across the board.
http://tcoletti.tripod.com/molly_salt_debate.html