20 gallon high ideas

[cowgirluntamed]

So...planted 20 gallon high. Still going back and forth on ideas for it if my gourami will live in the 55 I plan for him.

Right now I'm mostly looking at different fish that I can get at petsmart. I only have one local store that I've been to once...not sure how often she gets stuff in but if I really want something she may be able to order stuff.

Anyway.....general tank info.
Ph 8.2, gh and kh around 12-13 drops of the API liquid test. So yes, I have a bit of harder water than most...but it's always been nice and stable at least.

It's planted with crypts and anubias, plus a dwarf aquarium lily. It has salvinia minima floating really well. All of these (and maybe adding water sprite and frog bit eventually) I want to be able to keep.

I had thought of white clouds, but I'm not sure the plants could handle the lower temps they need. (Under 70, right?)

Other options...guppies...not real impressed. Mostly I don't want to deal with more attachment issues with the males (no females) because I would name them....lol.

Petsmart now seems to carry cherry barbs, so it's an option though not sure how well I like the fish.

The other two fish are black neon tetras and regular neon tetras. I've had black neons do well before, just not sure.

I kind of want a semi active tank. I was thinking maybe cherry barbs and one school of the tetras. Not sure what might work better. I know one school of one of those three would be technically better...I'm just not sure I'm sold on cherry barbs yet. One of the neons may be cool, since I could have more regular than black, just not sure how fragile they would be. Blacks wouldn't be bad...but not sure how active they would be. I was kind of thinking if I went that route to maybe get a few male guppies just to spice up the color, but again, not sure. I also thought of cories too but still wasn't sure. If the other fish are active enough then I wouldn't worry much about the cories.

So what would you do?

 

[mikey11]

So what would you do?

what would i do?

i would go to the store and pick out the fish that i liked, and buy the fish that i wanted to have,

i wouldn't want a bunch of strangers on the internet deciding that for me

 

[stanleo]

With cories the foot print is more important than the height. What are the dimensions of the tank?

Cory and neon tetras would not thrive in your water. They much prefer a low to nuetral pH and low to neutral on hardness. Whenever people report neons being hard to keep, they usually have them in water that is too alkaline.

Petsmart (at least the one here) regularly carries fish that will do well in your water. Small African cichlids would be great but you may not like the aggression. That being said cherry barbs and any of the live bearers would do quite well. Have looked endlers livebearers? Similar to guppies but more interesting IMO

 

[cowgirluntamed]

what would i do?

i would go to the store and pick out the fish that i liked, and buy the fish that i wanted to have,

i wouldn't want a bunch of strangers on the internet deciding that for me

It's called advice for ideas......inspiration.

With cories the foot print is more important than the height. What are the dimensions of the tank?

I believe it's a 12x24 inch. Just a normal 20 gallon.

Cory and neon tetras would not thrive in your water. They much prefer a low to nuetral pH and low to neutral on hardness. Whenever people report neons being hard to keep, they usually have them in water that is too alkaline.

I'm trying to stick with the ones that have been tank raised for a long time and are more adaptable. Peppered cories is the one I was thinking (these will be in a bigger tank as well with some glowlight tetras and harlequin rasboras.)

Petsmart (at least the one here) regularly carries fish that will do well in your water. Small African cichlids would be great but you may not like the aggression. That being said cherry barbs and any of the live bearers would do quite well. Have looked endlers livebearers? Similar to guppies but more interesting IMO

I don't like cichlids for some reason (more of lack of interest, not total dislike. Lol). And we don't have anything that would stay that small far as I know.

I know black neons are very hardy. The last group I had was wiped out due to parasites. And it wasn't a great group because I ended up with too many males with one female.....

Anyway, they are hardy, but was thinking of a group of only them maybe with a few male guppies thrown in. But like I said, I'm not really interested in livebearers all that much.

That saying....they did have some sort of endler listed on a tank that seemed interesting....but I've never seen them in really. And I don't know if they are only males in that tank or not.

The only reason I was thinking regular neons was their size, since I could up the school if I did only a group of them. But I do know they can be fragile and wasn't sure on the adaptability.

 

[NickAu]

You could look into Bumblebee Gobys

 

[cowgirluntamed]

They do look cute but I don't think I'm up for them quite yet. Thanks though!

 

[NickAu]

As I had a empty cube I moved my Rose tail Betta out of the 2 footer and got 10 Gobys.

But before that I made sure I had a live food set up for them, Now that they are used to me whenever they see me near the tank they think its food time, Slowly I have started substituting frozen food for live food and they seem to be OK with that, In a few weeks I will try a few pellets but I dont expect any success there.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

As I had a empty cube I moved my Rose tail Betta out of the 2 footer and got 10 Gobys.

But before that I made sure I had a live food set up for them, Now that they are used to me whenever they see me near the tank they think its food time, Slowly I have started substituting frozen food for live food and they seem to be OK with that, In a few weeks I will try a few pellets but I dont expect any success there.

That's cool. I'm not wanting to do live foods right now. If I tried anything it would probably be vinegar eels first. Something easy. Lol.

What's is your opinion on the regular neon tetras in my sort of water? I think black would work ok. Just not sure the regular ones. I was thinking a group of black neons and maybe some guppies or endlers depending on stock. Unsure of cories though still.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

So...sitting on lunch break at work watching youtube videos....I'm still not sold on cherry barbs (but not totally disinterested now. Lol). So...I'm thinking a group of black neon tetras. They do look pretty cool. Maybe I will add a few guppies or endlers depending for color...not sure. I don't think I will do cories though as I would want a nice size group of these. Depending on plant growth, maybe 10 to 15 I think would look cool. What does everybody think of that?