Fish stocking

[FKIDN]

Hi everyone, I have various different fish in different tanks, but am looking to put them all into the same one. The tank is a 20gal cube and the fish I am looking to put in are, 1 bristlenose pleco, 4 zebra danios, 2 neon tetras, and 1 rose barb. I know these fish are from different variety’s of the fish community, but I have had some of them living together happily for a few years now. Anyway my question is, will these fish live together happily, and will I have more room for other fish ?

 

[sharkweek178]

The bristlenose alone needs to be in a larger tank. They're a very heavy bioload fish.

 

[FKIDN]

The bristlenose alone needs to be in a larger tank. They're a very heavy bioload fish.

I perhaps should’ve mentioned this, the bristle nose was a rescue fish, and I really don’t have space for a larger tank, so instead of letting it die I thought I’d save it, but it’s only in a 25 litre tank at the moment, so what do you suggest I do ?

 

[Colin_T]

What are the tank dimensions of the 20 gallon cube (length x width x height)?
Long tanks are better than cube tanks because they have more surface area.

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website (Water Analysis Report) or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Depending on what the GH of your water is, will determine what fish you should keep.

Angelfish, discus, most tetras, most barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200-250ppm and a pH above 7.0.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids, or use distilled or reverse osmosis water to reduce the GH and keep fishes from softer water.

Tetras, barbs and danios need to be in groups of at least 6 (preferably 10) or more so they can socialise with each other. If you already have those fish, try to get an aquarium that is long enough so you can increase the number of each species.

 

[sharkweek178]

I perhaps should’ve mentioned this, the bristle nose was a rescue fish, and I really don’t have space for a larger tank, so instead of letting it die I thought I’d save it, but it’s only in a 25 litre tank at the moment, so what do you suggest I do ?

If you can't get a bigger tank or rehome it, then you're going to need to do a lot of water changes every week.