how many black skirts for 20 gallon

[excuzzzeme]

In a 20 gallon long, maybe, but this a a 20 gallon tall (16Hx12Wx24L). In this tank 12 BSTs will severely overstock the tank and will lead to all kinds of other problems.

This is simply not true! I keep 12 Blackskirts, 6 tigerbarbs, 6 serpae tetras in a 20H and have done so for the last 5 years. What problems??? I don't have any and I do a 30-50% water change once a week to once every 2 weeks. My fish are not stunted or ill. Because of their nature they are less likely to be fin-nippers of other species and are more con-specific by the heavier stocking level.

 

[discuspaul]

I am sorry if I offended you I honestly was just trying to help the OP. I do not doubt your ability to keep fish but a lot has changed in 50 years of fish keeping and generally accepted standards change too. I've been keeping fish for almost 10 years now and I can and will admit that almost every aspect of maintaining an aquarium has been revised. All I ask is that you respect my opionion. On a message board such as this, there are meant to opinions and they are meant to be discussed. Please keep that in mind when you flame another poster. Also considering that the OP only has 1 post I expect them to be fairly new to the hobby and it seems unrealistic to expect that a new fishkeeper would have the knowledge or drive to keep up with the care requirements for a system with a bioload that heavy.

Again I am sorry if I offended you,
Razz

Thank you for the apology. I too apologize for seeming to jump on you unfairly. I do agree that one needs to be careful in giving advice to newbies for the reasons you have stated, as I too have taken some issue
with others encouraging newcomers to take steps they may not have the knowledge & experience to deal with, and if I was guilty of that, then I slap myself on the wrist.
I do find it irksome however, to hear advice from posters that appears to err overly- heavy on the side of caution, in the expectation that readers will take them as being wise experts, even though they do not have the benefit of the actual experience and knowledge of having undergone similar circumstances. I hasten to add that I'm not suggesting you were in that category, but it may have appeared that way to me in the heat of the moment, and I was upset by your open criticism of my comments.

Having said all of that, I nonetheless still feel that a dozen fish of that size in that tank is neither a heavy bio-load, nor overstocking, under the right conditions, and based on me & imho. My sense is that keeping say 15- 18 fish of the black skirt size in that tank would constitute being overstocked, and that 'severely overstocked' and subject to a lot of problems, would be in the range of 2 dozen or more. But as was pointed out, we all have are own opinions, don't we, based hopefully, solely on our own actual experiences.
'Nuff said - I will say no more.

 

[discuspaul]

This is simply not true! I keep 12 Blackskirts, 6 tigerbarbs, 6 serpae tetras in a 20H and have done so for the last 5 years. What problems??? I don't have any and I do a 30-50% water change once a week to once every 2 weeks. My fish are not stunted or ill. Because of their nature they are less likely to be fin-nippers of other species and are more con-specific by the heavier stocking level.

Here is an actual experience under the specific conditions inherent to this post.
I rest my case.

 

[discuspaul]

Neglected to say thank you, excuzzzeme, for coming to my defense.

 

[allaboutfish]

i wouldnt even put black skirts in that siza tank just bc the need more room. i think a 20 gallon long would be better. im not saying you cant do it but i wouldnt do it. i know someone who has them in a 29 gallon and thinks it looks cramped for them.

 

[jm1212]

all the sites I've seen say that you can keep a mated pair of angels in a 20H, i keep one in a 29 and she's not very active, just kinda stays in one spot all the time.

a mated pair will work in a 20H if it is used as a breeding tank...a tank with nothing in it besides a place to spawn and a filter. 29 gallons and up are the minimum for a long term living situation (i.e. normal fish tank situation)

 

[spencerguy1]

That would be ok with a lot of caution. I would personally go with serpaes.

You should check out aqadvisor.com. I can't make links on mobile, so srry, just copy and paste. It's a great site if you're stocking a tank

Good luck!

 

[spencerguy1]

Oh and I would go with serpaes because they are smaller and more colorful. I've kept black skirts and currently keep serapes and black phantoms, which someone mentioned before and love them all but would go for serpaes or phantoms in this tank as both are much smaller.

 

[RazzleFish]

Thank you for the apology. I too apologize for seeming to jump on you unfairly. I do agree that one needs to be careful in giving advice to newbies for the reasons you have stated, as I too have taken some issue
with others encouraging newcomers to take steps they may not have the knowledge & experience to deal with, and if I was guilty of that, then I slap myself on the wrist.
I do find it irksome however, to hear advice from posters that appears to err overly- heavy on the side of caution, in the expectation that readers will take them as being wise experts, even though they do not have the benefit of the actual experience and knowledge of having undergone similar circumstances. I hasten to add that I'm not suggesting you were in that category, but it may have appeared that way to me in the heat of the moment, and I was upset by your open criticism of my comments.

Having said all of that, I nonetheless still feel that a dozen fish of that size in that tank is neither a heavy bio-load, nor overstocking, under the right conditions, and based on me & imho. My sense is that keeping say 15- 18 fish of the black skirt size in that tank would constitute being overstocked, and that 'severely overstocked' and subject to a lot of problems, would be in the range of 2 dozen or more. But as was pointed out, we all have are own opinions, don't we, based hopefully, solely on our own actual experiences.
'Nuff said - I will say no more.

Fair enough but I would like to point out that I do have a 20 gallon tall tank with 6 BSTs I had 8 and through careful monitoring the water perameters two times per week I noticed that nitrates rose very quickly and IMHO a good range for nitrates is between 5-10 ppm. Others may disagree but I don't like to have nitrates in any of my tanks over 20 ppm. That's all and I thank you for your apology.

Back to the OP just make sure you keep checking the water perameter and keep in mind what works for one may not work for everyone. It is not impossable to keep more than 6 or 8 fish but it will require more work and more careful monitering. However, I am not saying that there is no work with less fish. So good luck with your tank and I hope I was able to help in some way.

Razz

 

[discuspaul]

BTW OP ssteven - & FYI - I checked the Aqadvisor.com stocking calculator for a 20 gal tall tank, housing 12 adult Black Skirt Tetras, using an AquaClear 50 filter, and the result was 250 % filtering capacity, and the stocking level of the tank was only @ 74%.
Now, I hadn't ever relied on these calculators in the past, as I always felt they were (for obvious and logical safety reasons) somewhat on the conservative side, but was surprised to find that in this case it was accurate imo, far more so than some of the ultra-conservatives who have posted here in the past couple of days. Just my .02
Best of luck to you.