20 Gallon Fish Choices

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aklaum

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Dec 31, 2005
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Hello all,

I have a new 20g tank I am cycling and was thinking about stocking the following when it is complete:

5 African Cichlids
8 Discus
2 Goldfish
3 Bala Shark

........Sorry, just thought maybe I could make a few people laugh or snort or roll your eyes. Below is a list of what was available at the LFS about a week ago (yes I wrote them all down):

Bloodfin tetra
Cherry barb
Clown loach
Cremecicle lyretail molly
Delta tequila sunrise guppy
Dwarf gourami
Emerald green catfish
Glo lite tetra
Gold gorami
Gold skirt tetra
Golden algae eater
Golden wonder killi
Lemon tetra
Long fin black skirt tetra
Long finned red minor tetra
Long finned rosy barb
Longfin blue danio
Marigold swordtail
Neon tetra
Octocinclus
Orange von rio tetra
Pineapple swordtail
Powder blue dwarf gourami
Rasbora heteromorpha
Red fire dwarf gourami
Red glass barb
Red mickey mouse platy
Red minor tetra
Red swordtail
Rosy barb
Scissortail rasbora
Silver lyretail molly
Spotted cory catfish
Sunburst mickey mouse platy
Sunburst wag platy
Velvet wag swordtail
Yellow guppy
Zebra danio

At this point my son and I are thinking about a Clown Loach and a Powder Blue Dwarf Gourami and then just filling in with interesting guppys/tetras/mollys/platys. Actually I think the Red Micky Mouse Platy and the Cremecicle Lyretail Molly are really cool as well. My son says he absolutely must have a Black Mystery Snail.

Any votes/advice for or against the fish on the list?
 
Unfortunately, the clown loach gets way too big for a 20 gallon.

What you could do is get a pair of dwarf gouramis then add a group of 6 "small" tetras (1-2") OR a group of corys.

Or you could center around guppies or platys, which may be interesting for your son since they reproduce like crazy!
 
i was under the impression clown loaches are schooling fish and do much better in groups of 3 or more. i could be wrong. i also think clown loaches get pretty good sized i mean big enuff to out grow a 20 gallon tank with no problem. so u may wanna stick w/ the dwarf gouramis and tetras platys mollies guppies stuff like that. just a thought u may wanna research ur clown loaches a lil further before u buy any unless u plan on getting a bigger tank.
 
Indeed, I checked the Clown Loach on the Species Profile and it likes a school of 5 or 6 and gets too big for my tank. Ahh well, plenty more to choose from on that list.

I guess my question is that it seems like you should always have some kind of catfish/loachy thingy bottom feeder to help keep the tank clean. Is this really the case or another LFS plot? With good water maintenance and husbandry how important is it really to try and get a bottom feeder?
 
Also, I'm having trouble finding profiles on a lot of these fish, not only on the Species Profile but even on the web in general. What do you do if you can't find information on a fish? Can you substitute info from the same type of fish?

For instance:

For a "Powder Blue Dwarf Gourami" can I just follow the profile for the "Dwarf Gourami"?

or

For a "Delta Tequila Sunrise Guppy" can I just follow the profile for "Guppy"?
 
Gourami's are aggressive/territorial, try and stick with a more docile gourami. Pearl Gourami would be a good choice as it is the most peaceful.

By the way, if you ask your LFS (nicely) to get you a certain fish, they will oblige if it shows up on their 'availability list'. At least that's what they do at Jack's in Columbus, Ohio.
 
I'll put a good word in for corys -- any of the smaller varieties -- not only are they incredibly humorous to watch, they do a very good job of keeping the bottom clean of debris from plants/overfeeding/etc. Not much help for algae though -- so don't count on them for that. My little girl loves our corys -- a very interesting fish for young eyes!
 
I'd get nice shoal of smaller sized cories (dwarf or pandas) for the bottom..they a fantastic job of keeping the substrate tidy. DON"T get the emerald cory cat.....lol....they get huge! (for a cory..lol) Another nice bottom feeder instead of the corys....that your son might enjoy are the kuhlii loach, though I didn't see any on your list there. They are a smaller loach and look like snakes....lol...a nice group of 3 in there could do well. (you tend to see more of them when they're in a small group, they can be shy and like to hide)

I would get 2 ottos for algae control. They do about as good a job as any other.....DON"T get the chinese algae eater (I believe that may be what the golden algae eater is, not sure though)...they have a reputation for sucking the slime coat off of other fish when they reach adulthood.

Pick out some nice schooling fish and maybe a pearl gourami as your centerpiece fish...and I think you're son will be quite happy ! :)
 
aklaum said:
Indeed, I checked the Clown Loach on the Species Profile and it likes a school of 5 or 6 and gets too big for my tank. Ahh well, plenty more to choose from on that list.
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Just a correction here: clown loaches, and most other types of loaches, are not schooling fish. They are "grouping" fish, which means they like to be in groups of 3 or more.

Even a small clown loach would be hard pressed for space in a 20g.

I guess my question is that it seems like you should always have some kind of catfish/loachy thingy bottom feeder to help keep the tank clean. Is this really the case or another LFS plot? With good water maintenance and husbandry how important is it really to try and get a bottom feeder?
Click to expand...
You don't *have* to have anything on the bottom if you don't want to, but bottom feeders do a good job as janitors. They clean up the food messes (not excrement) that the other fish leave behind.

Actually, your original idea:

At this point my son and I are thinking about a Clown Loach and a Powder Blue Dwarf Gourami and then just filling in with interesting guppys/tetras/mollys/platys. Actually I think the Red Micky Mouse Platy and the Cremecicle Lyretail Molly are really cool as well. My son says he absolutely must have a Black Mystery Snail.
Click to expand...

except for the clowns, is a great one.

A mystery snail would make a fine bottom feeder for a 20g. A blue dwarf gourami would be great for the top layer of the water column. For your middle layer, mollies and platies.

If you want more than one molly and/or platy, then don't do schooling fish. They will eat up all your available room as they need to be in a quantity of 6 or more. Schooling fish don't do well in crowded conditions.

If you decide just one of each, then a small tetra, like neons, would go well as a school of six.

That's a well balanced tank. Just don't put in TOO many middle layer fish.

Roan
 
So how does something like this sound?

1 - Powder Blue Dwarf Gourami
1 - Spotted Cory Catfish
6 - Neon Tetras
1 - Red Mickey Mouse Platy
1 - Delta Tequila Sunrise Guppy
1 - Black Mystery Snail

That's roughly 17 1/2 inches of adult fish. I have 18 gallons of water in my tank.

Here's a question. Will different types of Tetras school together, or do you have to get all of the same kind? There are a number of different tetras on the list and I wondered if I can mix and match?
 
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