20 Gallon Long Stocking!

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BlazeitChris

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Aug 19, 2015
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Hey everyone,

I am currently stocking a 20 gallon long and I was wondering if I could get some advice on my stocking ideas. I checked on Aqadvisor and they both seem to check out. I am running a Fluval 206 canister at the moment and can add a U4 internal or C4 HOB if needed.

1) Barb Tank: 5-6 tiger barbs, 5 rosy/gold barbs, 1 vampire shrimp, 2 bolivian rams, small school of emerald cories, and 1-2 CPO crayfish if possible.

2)Cold water: 1-2 Fantail goldfish, 2-4 Dojo loaches, colony of ghost/cherry shrimp.

pH- 7.4
Ammonia- 0ppm
Nitrite- 0ppm
Nitrate- 5ppm

Thanks!
 

Tifftastic

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See my comments in red

1) Barb Tank: 5-6 tiger barbs - I wouldn't do these with this mix they are pretty nippy and the rams won't hold up to them -, 5 rosy/gold barbs - these are quite peaceful and will work well -, 1 vampire shrimp -I'm not familiar with these, so I can't comment-, 2 bolivian rams - again won't work with the tiger barbs-, small school of emerald cories - I would do the smaller bronze cories as the emeralds actually get about 4-5 inches and would prefer a larger footprint, and 1-2 CPO crayfish if possible - when the rams start breeding they will eat the babies, so if you want to keep babies, I wouldn't recommend this mix. I had to read up on them and their size will keep them from picking at the larger fish, but they will definitely eat fry.
2)Cold water: 1-2 Fantail goldfish - this is too much for this size tank, your ammonia and nitrates will be hard to control-, 2-4 Dojo loaches - this might be ok, but not with the goldfish in this size tank-, colony of ghost/cherry shrimp - you won't be able to keep a colony, both the goldfish and the dojos will eat the larval and smaller shrimp-.
 

BlazeitChris

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See my comments in red
That is a little disappointing, I really wanted tiger barbs to work in this tank:(. Can you elaborate exactly why rams won't work with tigers? I was under the impression that tiger barbs keep to themselves when kept in a large enough school.

Vampire shrimp are a large species at about 3"-5"; I picked this one because I thought that a larger shrimp would fair better than say RCS when placed with tigers.

The CPO eating fry really doesn't bother me as long as they don't bother the other fish.

I understand the goldfish situation, I was just brainstorming ideas ;)

Thanks.
 

fishorama

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I think your stocking for either would need a 55g at least.

Tiger barbs get 2.5 inches or so, rosy barbs even bigger. You need to think in terms of adult size fish, most are sold as juveniles. I haven't kept gold barbs...

If your heart is set on any of those, you could keep a species tank of, say, 8 tigers or 6 rosies or maybe 8 golds, but nothing else will really work in such a small tank.

A pair of Bolivian rams (or just 1!) would work in a 20g long & you may be able to have...maybe cherry barbs (3 male & 4 females)?

The problem I see, in addition to overcrowding, is all of you choices live on or near the bottom of the tank. A 20g long is very shallow, not much room for different "stratas" of fish, there isn't room for "bottom fish" (corys) & "low-mid level" fish (barbs & rams).

Another idea might be 8 dwarf corys (habrosus, pygmy, etc, very cute!) & 7 or 8 cherry barbs (or maybe 6? golds, again I dunno).

Shrimp are bite size for many fish, & AFAIK vampires just sit still, nippy fish (like tiger barbs) will possibly maim them.
 

Tifftastic

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That is a little disappointing, I really wanted tiger barbs to work in this tank:(. Can you elaborate exactly why rams won't work with tigers? I was under the impression that tiger barbs keep to themselves when kept in a large enough school.

Vampire shrimp are a large species at about 3"-5"; I picked this one because I thought that a larger shrimp would fair better than say RCS when placed with tigers.

The CPO eating fry really doesn't bother me as long as they don't bother the other fish.

I understand the goldfish situation, I was just brainstorming ideas ;)

Thanks.
a large enough school is 11+ and a 20 gallon wont accommodate a school that large and a pair of rams.
 

BlazeitChris

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I think your stocking for either would need a 55g at least.

Tiger barbs get 2.5 inches or so, rosy barbs even bigger. You need to think in terms of adult size fish, most are sold as juveniles. I haven't kept gold barbs...

If your heart is set on any of those, you could keep a species tank of, say, 8 tigers or 6 rosies or maybe 8 golds, but nothing else will really work in such a small tank.

A pair of Bolivian rams (or just 1!) would work in a 20g long & you may be able to have...maybe cherry barbs (3 male & 4 females)?

The problem I see, in addition to overcrowding, is all of you choices live on or near the bottom of the tank. A 20g long is very shallow, not much room for different "stratas" of fish, there isn't room for "bottom fish" (corys) & "low-mid level" fish (barbs & rams).

Another idea might be 8 dwarf corys (habrosus, pygmy, etc, very cute!) & 7 or 8 cherry barbs (or maybe 6? golds, again I dunno).

Shrimp are bite size for many fish, & AFAIK vampires just sit still, nippy fish (like tiger barbs) will possibly maim them.
So say I took tigers out of the equation; could I have at least two species of barbs (cherry and gold) to go along with the rams since they're smaller and less aggressive?

As for the corys, I am not really interested in "dwarf" species but I have looked at bronze corys which are supposedly smaller than emeralds.
 

fishorama

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Like I said, I haven't kept gold barbs but a 20g is a pretty small tank to keep 2 species of barbs & a pair of rams, too small to me. You want a stable, long term tank, think hard!

A pair of rams, even though Bolivians are more mellow & hardy, are taking up what I'd call almost half your "tank space"...you don't really have room for more than 1 other species of shoaling fish (barbs, corys) that like to be in a group.
 
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myswtsins

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Maybe you had the wrong size tank selected? Because those are both way overstocked. 5 tigers and 5 rosys alone puts a 20 long at 106% stocking on aqadvisor and just 2 fantails is 107% (which I think is very lenient). A dojo loach doesn't belong in a 20long and aqadvisor tells you that so you just must have had the wrong tank size plugged in.

If 11+ is a large enough school, then how come everywhere else I've heard from generally states that 6-8 is all you need to reduce aggression?
Because that is a bare minimum to reduce aggression. You will always have better success with schooling fish if you give them a bigger school, especially with the aggressive ones. And Tiff and everyone else here want you to be successful. :)

So say I took tigers out of the equation; could I have at least two species of barbs (cherry and gold) to go along with the rams since they're smaller and less aggressive?

As for the corys, I am not really interested in "dwarf" species but I have looked at bronze corys which are supposedly smaller than emeralds.
Just 2 rams, 6 cherry and 6 gold barbs is pushing the nitrate levels to about max, no room for cories and if those ram breed they will most likely terrorize the others to death cause there is no where to run/swim without running into someone else's space. A 20 long is actually only about 18.5 gallons, add in substrate and decor and you got like 15 gallons of water. It is quite a small tank and you are trying to put too many aggressive species together in it.

A pair of rams, even though Bolivians are more mellow & hardy, are taking up what I'd call almost half your "tank space"...you don't really have room for more than 1 other species of shoaling fish (barbs, corys) that like to be in a group.
Agreed! A pair of rams with maybe 1 other group of fish is typical in a 20 long.
 

BlazeitChris

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Aug 19, 2015
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Alright so the tank my buddy gave me is not a 20 gallon long but in fact a 29 gallon. Sorry about the confusion! Do the extra few inches of height change anything here?

Would this stock work?
AquStockImage.png

Thanks
 
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