whats a cool fish for a 20g long?

[flyfly]

In my 20 long I already have 4 otos, 4 khulis, 2 blue rams, 1 pearl guorami and an African butterflyfish. I am looking for that last fish to complete this tank.It is heavily planted and well filtered. What do you guys think? I have been pondering this alot for a few weeks now!

 

[centralharbor]

i think your at its max as it is

 

[biogirl361]

i agree... besides, the gourami gets pretty big doesn't it?

 

[flyfly]

4 inches, hes at three now. Im tellin ya, the tank looks like a ghosttown...

 

[centralharbor]

4 inches, hes at three now. Im tellin ya, the tank looks like a ghosttown...

ok, i know your not supposesd to use the inch/gallon rule, but lets say you do:

4 kuuli loaches x 3 inches =12
4 ottos x 2 inches = 8
2 blue rams x 3 inches = 12
1 butterfly x 5 inches = 5

total 37 inches
im not saying you should use this, but its an indication of how much length of fish you have

now you could say that the kuuli loaches dont really do anything except stay at the bottom, and also the butterfly stays at the top, but to my understanding, butterfly fish are predatory and might eat your rams or ottos if it grows fast enough. you might want to reconsider getting more fish because of this

 

[Seaman]

I would also agree that you are pretty much to your maximum stocking limit. You can technically go more especially with fish that dont move a lot, for instance in my 280g tank I have an 18" TSN, 10" trimac, 10" red bay snook, 8" GT, 3 Tinfoil barbs 8-10"...thats pretty heavily stocked, biologically speaking (they all have a lot of room to move) but I have to do about 40% water change every 2 weeks to keep my nitrAtes below 30ppm. So it all really depends on what your filter can handle, and how often you can handle waterchanges. Another example is african cichlids, they do much better when overstocked because it spreads their aggression, but then you have to be more diligent with waterchanges because you are much closer to a "non-safe" level. Also things to consider, on my lightly stocked tank if I were to lose power it would take a lot longer for amonia to build up to a lethal level, where as on the heavily stocked tank it wouldnt take nearly as long for it to go downhill.

Again I think your pretty much stocked well, but you could IMHO do 2 more otto's and one more kuhli (because they dont use all areas of the tank so the tank shouldnt be overcrowded size wise), as long as you're willing to up the waterchanges, and that your filter is up to par.

 

[flyfly]

now you could say that the kuuli loaches dont really do anything except stay at the bottom, and also the butterfly stays at the top, but to my understanding, butterfly fish are predatory and might eat your rams or ottos if it grows fast enough. you might want to reconsider getting more fish because of this

Thanks for your concern, I really appreciate it, and yes, I have been keeping a critical eye on the otos, but my research points to the safety of the loaches and the rams. I feel I have acieved a certain "harmony" with my stocking.

butterfly on the top
p. guorami on the mid to upper
rams on the mid to lower
kuhlis scavenging on the lower
otos freely suckin on stuff, rarely on surface where the butterfly strictly adheres.

Oh, that brings me back on topic, the fish Im thinking to buy would have to occupy the mid tank area. (not to mention be compatible with the other fishes behaviors, requirements, etc., and thrive in a 20g long. Now you see why I am looking for suggestion! :read:

 

[flyfly]

as long as you're willing to up the waterchanges, and that your filter is up to par.

Im pushin an aquaclear 70 with 40 to 50% weekly. Thanks guys, but forget I asked

 

[Oddball~]

Turn the tank into a brackish setup, SG of 1.010, and put in a FW Toadfish in there. You won't be overstocking, seeing as the Toadfish would EAT all the inhabitants, but you probably don't want that.

But I mainly agree with all the posters here, its stocked as is.

 

[Seaman]

I mean its really up to you on deciding what to do. I mean you could have 40 neons in that tank as long as you were willing to do 40% water changes everyother day, and the tank would be closer to "problems" than a lighter stocked tank. I'm not telling you what to do, but if it were me....I'd leave it like that. its nice to have tanks that arent stocked tokyo style so that maintenance is eaiser and less "critical".