Creating an Interesting 20 gal

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powellmacaque

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Feb 16, 2005
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St. Petersburg, FL
I just moved into a small apartment and I brought a 20 gallon with me. I'd like to set up a tank that is unique, but does not contain species that are impossible to find or keep.

I'm also a college kid, so I don't really want an animal that requires more than the average amount of tank care and etc.

I also have a 15 gallon betta tank at my parent's house, so I'd rather not have another one here.

Any suggestions? I'm looking for fish with personality like cichlids or oddballs that you don't see every day. I'm also open to brackish, coldwater/native US, and saltwater setups if anybody would like to send me in that direction.
 
Why not use sand substrate and try a Dwarf Puffer tank?

They're not completely common, but they're absolutely beautiful and each have their own personality.
 
Dwarf Puffers are actually high on my list, but I have heard that they aren't exactly hardy fish and they require a bit more care than the average fish.

I could fit like 3 DPs in a 20 gallon, correct?
 
What's your budget? If you've got some $$$, FOWLR (Fish-Only, With Live Rock) SW is the way to go for eye-catching and less common fish and inverts (shrimp, crabs, etc). Going FO opens up a lot of options for non-reef-safe inverts and is cheaper too, as you don't need powerful lighting or perfect water quality for corals.

A FOWLR SW tank does require a bit more setup and upkeep, but much of this can be automated or minimized with $$$ so in the end it's not that much more work than FW on an ongoing basis. Just more expensive. :-P
 
powellmacaque said:
I've heard that saltwater tanks require a lot more maintenance when they're smaller. Is this always true?
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The smaller the tank, the more wild the salinity swings with evaporation. The solution to this is an ATO or Automatic TopOff, which you can build from parts for maybe $50 or buy a complete kit for $100. Once you have evaporation dealt with, the smaller the tank the easier it is to take care of, in my opinion -- water changes are smaller so you're dealing with smaller/lighter buckets and making fewer trips to the LFS for RO/DI or Wal-Mart for distilled water.

I had a 10g reef tank and the salinity swings were acceptable if I topped off daily (no ATO). On a 20g fish-only, you could probably get away with every other day if you don't want an ATO -- it's not a big deal to mark a line on the glass with a Sharpie or tape and pour RO/DI or distilled in until the level reaches your line. You only need to break out the hydrometer to actually measure salinity before/after a water change.
 
tylernt said:
The smaller the tank, the more wild the salinity swings with evaporation. The solution to this is an ATO or Automatic TopOff, which you can build from parts for maybe $50 or buy a complete kit for $100. Once you have evaporation dealt with, the smaller the tank the easier it is to take care of, in my opinion -- water changes are smaller so you're dealing with smaller/lighter buckets and making fewer trips to the LFS for RO/DI or Wal-Mart for distilled water.

I had a 10g reef tank and the salinity swings were acceptable if I topped off daily (no ATO). On a 20g fish-only, you could probably get away with every other day if you don't want an ATO -- it's not a big deal to mark a line on the glass with a Sharpie or tape and pour RO/DI or distilled in until the level reaches your line. You only need to break out the hydrometer to actually measure salinity before/after a water change.
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salt doesnt evaporate
 
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