stocking for 75 L (20 g) - gouramis? angels?

[bacon4112]

Hi,

As a brief intro, I used to own a 146L tank in which I kept mainly native (Australian) fish or rainbows, but had to sell that because of moving house/having kids. I never had it anywhere near "fully" stocked. I'd like to get back into fish keeping and have just found this site - thanks for the interesting reading so far!

Now for the question -

I've just bought a 75L (20g) Aqua One R-510 aquarium which has the dimensions: L 51 cm x W 35 cm x H 65 cm (20 x 13.7 x 25.6 in).

In it I want to keep fish and plants from the same region.

Could I keep?

2 x pearl gourami
2 x opaline gourami
1 x (or 2?) clown loach (later swapping outgrown loach for smaller one at LFS)

OR??

1 x (or 2?) angels
some (how many?) cardinal tetras
some (how many?) corys - (what type?)

Suggestions for other 20g "biotypes"??

Thanks in advance for any replies - any help or suggestions would be great!

- Richie

 

[hurdledude1298]

in my 20 gallon i have 2 swordtails 2 mollies 4 guppies and 3 platies and it is really nice looking

 

[TetraFreak]

please keep n mind that a 20 Gal tank is relatively small and placing fish like Angels and some of the potentially larger gouramis would not be in the best interest of those fish.

If you like the brilliand colors, then perhaps het a school of Tetras & add a trophy fish such as a betta. Bettas & most tetras do get along quite nicely but you have to watch out for the fin nipping at first.

Also, feeding can be an issue if you go with that type of setup. Bettas don't need nearly the amount of food that others do and they'll eat if the food is there. If you're not carefull, you'll have a fat betta that sita on the bottom.

you might also be able to go with a pair of dwarf gourami & some Tetras. Please avoid the clown loach as they can get really big. perhaps a small school of Otto's for the cleanup crew!

 

[Omega]

Angels grow way too big for a 20G.

 

[bacon4112]

Thanks Tetrafreak, Hurdle and Omega

I'm aware that the clown loach can grow large (seen some beauties in a few lfs), I was thinking about only keeping a juvenile (and take back to lfs when bigger).

So I will strike angels of my list (as I suspected).

I'm not really a fan of bettas and I wouldn't want to mix them with tetras (generally from different parts of the world - no?)

The Central/South American livebearers could work, but most of them available here (Australia) have a real "selective breeding mass produced" look (if you know what I mean).


How about the pearl gouramis? 2 of them and some sort of South East Asian loach(?) and some smaller SE Asian fish?

Any South American "trophy" fish suitable for a 20g that could go with some cardinals and corys?

 

[Omega]

Thanks Tetrafreak and Hurdle.

You're welcome.

Yes, angel fish are a definate no-go, unless your LFS is willing to take them back along with the loach after they get too big. Bettas are a bad idea because the Angel and gourami's will probably pick on it and nip its fins. I know what you mean about the selective breeding look. I like natural fish myself. Many angels available today have the same problem. Live bearers like a higher pH than a lot of tetras, so be careful there.