20 Gallon Community Tank, Goldfish?

[savannahsuch]

Hi all! I have another thread on this with what I was planning for a 20-gallon long tank that I got, but I've been thinking about some other ideas. I don't know hardly anything about goldfish (don't worry though, I do thorough research before I get any fish) but would any of them be suitable for a 20 gallon? I keep up on my water changes and don't mind cleaning the tank or anything like that. If there are, do they do well in community tanks or are they stressed out by them?

I definitely want a school of fish and a clown/bn pleco. I love the looks of german blue rams, but do they have much personality (if I don't do a goldfish)? I love bettas, for this reason, they're so smart. Or, I thought maybe I could do one male betta as the centerpiece fish, but don't know if it would stress him out I know it depends on the temperament of all the fish but have heard of many people's successes with bettas in their community tanks.

 

[Flushable Pets]

I wouldn't keep goldfish in a 20, at least not long term. All the different species that I know of get 8"+. Goldfish are also cold water species, so that narrows down what you can keep with them.

I've never kept rams, but I know they like a nice toasty tank that is warmer than most species require.

I've heard of bettas in a community tank, but I've never tried it as the general consensus is don't. If you were to try it, make sure there are lots of hiding spots and plants to break up the line of sight. I wouldn't put anything in that is brightly colored or with large fins that they could mistake for another betta (ie: guppies, gouramis). Likewise, avoid anything prone to nipping fins (danios, barbs, etc). You might be ok with a school of corys since they are peaceful, fast, do not look like a betta, schooling and mostly inhabit the bottom where as bettas mostly hang out up top.

Sorry to be a bummer.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

20 gallons is too small for Goldfish.
Avoid Goldfish unless you have large tank and ready for more frequent water change.
Betta cannot be a centerpiece because it's too aggressive. Bettas are better to be alone in a tank by itself.
Blue Rams are colourful but they can be unpredictable. It will chase all other fish away.
For a 20gallons, I guess you can only have a single Blue Ram as its territorial and will fight if you have more than one.

I think for a 20 gallons, probably the best idea is to have 1-2 groups of small schooling fish(Chili Rasboras, Galaxy Rasboras, Clown Kilifish, Ember Tetras, etc) or 1 group of schooling fish (Cardinal Tetras, Rosy Tetras, Neon Tetras, etc) plus a centerpiece fish.
Other than Blue Ram, you can also consider Apistogramms, Killifish, etc as centerpiece.

But firstly before considering all the fish, you need to know your tap water chemistry (GH, pH).
In other words, is your tap water soft or hard?

 

[hansgruber7]

I wouldn't put a goldfish in a 20G; too small in my opinion.

 

[savannahsuch]

20 gallons is too small for Goldfish.
Avoid Goldfish unless you have large tank and ready for more frequent water change.
Betta cannot be a centerpiece because it's too aggressive. Bettas are better to be alone in a tank by itself.
Blue Rams are colourful but they can be unpredictable. It will chase all other fish away.
For a 20gallons, I guess you can only have a single Blue Ram as its territorial and will fight if you have more than one.

I think for a 20 gallons, probably the best idea is to have 1-2 groups of small schooling fish(Chili Rasboras, Galaxy Rasboras, Clown Kilifish, Ember Tetras, etc) or 1 group of schooling fish (Cardinal Tetras, Rosy Tetras, Neon Tetras, etc) plus a centerpiece fish.
Other than Blue Ram, you can also consider Apistogramms, Killifish, etc as centerpiece.

But firstly before considering all the fish, you need to know your tap water chemistry (GH, pH).
In other words, is your tap water soft or hard?

No actually, bettas can be used as centerpiece fish! That’s actually a misconception in the fish hobby, but bettas are aggressive with their own kind and fish that look like them, but not so much with other fish, they suit peaceful community tanks I’ve heard and seen that oranda goldfish can live in 20 gallons, but yeah imo it seemed like too small. I only planned on getting 1 blue ram but what about the personality of blue rams?? Are they smart/reactive like bettas or do they just kinda swim around like cichlids?

 

[itiwhetu]

No actually, bettas can be used as centerpiece fish! That’s actually a misconception in the fish hobby, but bettas are aggressive with their own kind and fish that look like them, but not so much with other fish, they suit peaceful community tanks I’ve heard and seen that oranda goldfish can live in 20 gallons, but yeah imo it seemed like too small. I only planned on getting 1 blue ram but what about the personality of blue rams?? Are they smart/reactive like bettas or do they just kinda swim around like cichlids?

I wouldn't put goldfish in the tank. I agree about Bettas they are fine as community fish as long as the other fish don't invade their space, keep them at the bottom of the tank.

 

[Colin_T]

All labyrinth fishes (Bettas & Gouramis) are territorial to some degree.

Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) is a hybrid between B. splendens, B. imbellis and a few other species. Some of these species are peaceful but B. splendens is aggressive.

Due to the hybridisation, some Siamese fighting fish are pleasant natured because they take after their B. imbellis ancestors. Whereas others are plain out nasty. These nasty ones take after their B. splendens ancestors.

It is a hit and miss affair with Siamese fighting fish. You might get a peaceful one or an agro one, there is no way of telling until they are in the tank with other fishes. They might all get along or they might fight.

 

[savannahsuch]

All labyrinth fishes (Bettas & Gouramis) are territorial to some degree.

Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) is a hybrid between B. splendens, B. imbellis and a few other species. Some of these species are peaceful but B. splendens is aggressive.

Due to the hybridisation, some Siamese fighting fish are pleasant natured because they take after their B. imbellis ancestors. Whereas others are plain out nasty. These nasty ones take after their B. splendens ancestors.

It is a hit and miss affair with Siamese fighting fish. You might get a peaceful one or an agro one, there is no way of telling until they are in the tank with other fishes. They might all get along or they might fight.

In a few of my other comments, I said that I have a lfs that keeps bettas with each other and other fish, so I am able to pick out the non-aggressive ones. I understand all of that.

 

[EllRog]

Fish stores toss a betta in a tank with other fish out of convenience for the short term. This is why hobbiests belive they can keep a betta in a community set up. It also doesn't help that there's plenty of irresponsible people on YouTube promoting it too.

Long term, it doesn't work. The betta will either decimate the tank mates, eventually, or become so stressed, it dies.

 

[Essjay]

I have seen two male bettas in the same tank in one shop. Both bettas had virtually no fins left and both were drifting listlessly round the tank. Never look at shop tanks for the best way to keep fish.