Hi all,
I bought a 20 gallon tall tank about a month ago and let it set for a week before adding any fish. I keep the temp at 78 and have been slowly adding 3 small corys a week. I have a big chunk of driftwood in the center that is shaped like a volcano and has a little "cave" underneath for the corys to hide. I have also rubberbanded java fern and moss on it so I can have some live plants in the tank. I haven't had any deaths so far and currently the tank has:
3 Corydoras Panda (which I regret because they are so shy compared to the other corys, they are absolutely the cutest though)
3 Corydoras Sterbai
2 Corydoras Schwartzi
1 Unknown Cory, he's got a white body and gray spots, the pet store said he was an irregular and didn't know what he was
1 Unknown Loach, he was also an irregular that came in with the kuhlis, he's super skinny, really small and iridescent silver, he is not nocturnal at all and swims on the sides of the glass with the corys (my favorite fish so far)
1 Borneo Sucker (which after looking him up online I regret buying him since it looks like he is a cold water fish, I think he looks amazing)
The fish are all fine, no ich, no ripped or rotting fins, and they all have very healthy appetites. I do a 10% water change every other day and the fish seem to love it. It only takes about 5 minutes to do. I also feed frozen bloodworms a few times a week and the corys go crazy. I had planned this tank to be a cory tank but it seems so empty and I really want something in the top or mid region.
Do I have room for anything else? The corys range in size from .75" to 1.25" right now and the borneo sucker is smaller than 1". The tank currently has a cheap "20 gallon or less" HoB filter but I think I'm going to upgrade to a Whisper 330 gph filter to get some more turnover.
I was thinking of adding maybe 6 lemon tetras or dwarf neon rainbows. I'm not too fond of most tetras or barbs and want something interesting. I've had lemons before and they really color up when they get settled in. I've always loved rainbowfish and used to keep some bosemani in a 55 gallon but have never tried the neon variety. I even thought of maybe adding a betta as a centerpiece fish instead of a schooling fish but the short lifespan makes me shy away from it. I get really attached to my fish.
Also, should I think of lowering the tank temperature to maybe 74 or 76 degrees? I don't want the borneo sucker to be miserable in the tank and read that some corys and loaches like lower temps. Maybe I should return the borneo if my LFS will let me? Any advice would be appreciated.
I bought a 20 gallon tall tank about a month ago and let it set for a week before adding any fish. I keep the temp at 78 and have been slowly adding 3 small corys a week. I have a big chunk of driftwood in the center that is shaped like a volcano and has a little "cave" underneath for the corys to hide. I have also rubberbanded java fern and moss on it so I can have some live plants in the tank. I haven't had any deaths so far and currently the tank has:
3 Corydoras Panda (which I regret because they are so shy compared to the other corys, they are absolutely the cutest though)
3 Corydoras Sterbai
2 Corydoras Schwartzi
1 Unknown Cory, he's got a white body and gray spots, the pet store said he was an irregular and didn't know what he was
1 Unknown Loach, he was also an irregular that came in with the kuhlis, he's super skinny, really small and iridescent silver, he is not nocturnal at all and swims on the sides of the glass with the corys (my favorite fish so far)
1 Borneo Sucker (which after looking him up online I regret buying him since it looks like he is a cold water fish, I think he looks amazing)
The fish are all fine, no ich, no ripped or rotting fins, and they all have very healthy appetites. I do a 10% water change every other day and the fish seem to love it. It only takes about 5 minutes to do. I also feed frozen bloodworms a few times a week and the corys go crazy. I had planned this tank to be a cory tank but it seems so empty and I really want something in the top or mid region.
Do I have room for anything else? The corys range in size from .75" to 1.25" right now and the borneo sucker is smaller than 1". The tank currently has a cheap "20 gallon or less" HoB filter but I think I'm going to upgrade to a Whisper 330 gph filter to get some more turnover.
I was thinking of adding maybe 6 lemon tetras or dwarf neon rainbows. I'm not too fond of most tetras or barbs and want something interesting. I've had lemons before and they really color up when they get settled in. I've always loved rainbowfish and used to keep some bosemani in a 55 gallon but have never tried the neon variety. I even thought of maybe adding a betta as a centerpiece fish instead of a schooling fish but the short lifespan makes me shy away from it. I get really attached to my fish.
Also, should I think of lowering the tank temperature to maybe 74 or 76 degrees? I don't want the borneo sucker to be miserable in the tank and read that some corys and loaches like lower temps. Maybe I should return the borneo if my LFS will let me? Any advice would be appreciated.
.
