My new tanks and stocking plan! Any ideas?

[Riverfisher234]

Hey I’m new here! Just found this website while doing some research. Anyway I currently own three fish tanks, a 75g with a red Texas, jack dempsey and rainbow shark, a 20 gallon with just plants, and a new 10g that’s been cycling for a while now!

Anyway I’ve been trying to figure out what type of fish I want to stock these tanks with. I’ll start with my 10g, I’m thinking I want to make this a planted tank with a few with. I’m looking into putting all my plants in my 20g in there and maybe buying a few more types of plants aswell. Then fish wise I think I want to keep it simple and cheap, so a dwaft gourami, and then adding a few shrimp and maybe a few snails and that’s it, my one question is I never owned shrimp or snails, and this tank doesn’t have a lid it’s just a clip on light, it was just the style I went with for this tank, is that a problem for snails getting out?

Next for 20g, I really like angelfish, and I know that they are kinda big for a 20g but it is a tall 20g. If angelfish can live in that how many, I’m expecting most to say just one angel is more then enough and that’s fair. Along with an angel fish im just looking for room fillers that are cheap and easy to care for, maybe a small school of fish and a few algae eaters, how does that sound?

If you made it this far thank you! And any help will be appreciated and I look forward to hearing from you guys and you opinions!

 

[Utar]

Hi and welcome to the forum. I am not sure what you could put in a ten-gallon tank. Maybe some small tetras, I started with a ten-gallon but didn't use it for long because the fish I had in it was too much for that size of a tank. There are others here with better ideas than I have, so hopefully, someone will be along to help you.

Is you 20g a long or a high, in any case, these are two small for angelfish. I know others might disagree but I feel a minimum of 50g for angelfish. I have only known one breed of snail that will crawl out of a tank, that's a nerite black racing snail. I had one get out of my 29g and it had a lid. Found it on the floor but it was too late to save it.

 

[Essjay]

I agree.

20 gallons is too small for angelfish and is more suited to a small gourami. Dwarf gouramis do have a problem in that a lot of them are infected with dwarf gourami disease and/or TB by the time they reach the store and die quite quickly after purchase. Both of these diseases are incurable. Honey gouramis are a better option as they don't seem to have these disease problems.
A pair of honey gouramis and your choice of one of the smaller species of tetra, or harlequin rasboras would be my choice. Algae eaters should only be bought if you like the fish. Algae should be kept under control by suitable lighting/fertiliser. Shrimps would work in this tank - and help keep algae levels down - if you got something like cherry shrimps they would also breed though the baby shrimps might well be eaten. Having somewhere for them to hide would mean a lot would survive.


But that does depend on your water hardness. These fish would be good in soft water but not hard water.


For the 10 gallon, again depending on hardness - a single betta (male or female); one of the Boraras species for soft water or a few male endlers for hard water.

 

[Riverfisher234]

Hi and welcome to the forum. I am not sure what you could put in a ten-gallon tank. Maybe some small tetras, I started with a ten-gallon but didn't use it for long because the fish I had in it was too much for that size of a tank. There are others here with better ideas than I have, so hopefully, someone will be along to help you.

Is you 20g a long or a high, in any case, these are two small for angelfish. I know others might disagree but I feel a minimum of 50g for angelfish. I have only known one breed of snail that will crawl out of a tank, that's a nerite black racing snail. I had one get out of my 29g and it had a lid. Found it on the floor but it was too late to save it.

Hey thanks for the response! Yeah I only ever kept 1 angel fish in my large 75g tank but I soon resold him cuz he was a bully in the tank and I decided to get some cichlids instead! Now I seen I video online and I’m not trying to fight with you as you probably know what more then I do, but I seen a video online of someone keeping 6 angels in a 20g, however they seemed like angels that are not fully grown yet. So I think i will need to pass on the idea of angels. I think I’m dead set on my plan with my 10 gallon, one dwarf gourami and then 3 shrimp and 3 snails and then that’s it, cheap and simple. But for my 20g you got any suggestions? U kinda would like a center piece fish that catching you eye and then a few fish to keep the algae at a minimum and then maybe a schooling fish, any recommendations?

 

[Riverfisher234]

I agree.

20 gallons is too small for angelfish and is more suited to a small gourami. Dwarf gouramis do have a problem in that a lot of them are infected with dwarf gourami disease and/or TB by the time they reach the store and die quite quickly after purchase. Both of these diseases are incurable. Honey gouramis are a better option as they don't seem to have these disease problems.
A pair of honey gouramis and your choice of one of the smaller species of tetra, or harlequin rasboras would be my choice. Algae eaters should only be bought if you like the fish. Algae should be kept under control by suitable lighting/fertiliser. Shrimps would work in this tank - and help keep algae levels down - if you got something like cherry shrimps they would also breed though the baby shrimps might well be eaten. Having somewhere for them to hide would mean a lot would survive.


But that does depend on your water hardness. These fish would be good in soft water but not hard water.


For the 10 gallon, again depending on hardness - a single betta (male or female); one of the Boraras species for soft water or a few male endlers for hard water.

Hey, thanks for the help, I will not being adding a angelfish to my 20g, I was just looking for information on if it works and I always like to keep my fish tanks open and under stock because I’m not a person who enjoys cleaning my fish tanks 2 times a week, I normally aim for every 10 days or so personally. I never heard of either of those gourami ideas before, and from what I heard from my other fish keeping friends they never had trouble with them, but I’ll surely look into it, but I’m pretty set on getting a few snails and shrimp, but one center piece fish would fit in that 10 gallon? I would like a dwarf gourami but if they come with many complications then no thanks? What else would work good decides a betta, they just aren’t a fish I like, to overdone in my opinion. And 20g wise what do you think would be a good set up? I know you said gouramis but I mean that’s a great idea as long as I don’t have another one in another tank already? Any good center piece fish?

 

[Utar]

A centerpiece fish for a 20g is kinda tuff to figure out. Most centerpiece fish get too large for 20g and are among aggressive types of fish. You could go with a large school of tetras. But again I don't know what type of tetras would be best. Right now I am setting up a 20g long just for one Betta. You could go with shell dwellers because they are small and you can get a lot of them in a 20g. Check out this website.

 

[Riverfisher234]

A centerpiece fish for a 20g is kinda tuff to figure out. Most centerpiece fish get too large for 20g and are among aggressive types of fish. You could go with a large school of tetras. But again I don't know what type of tetras would be best. Right now I am setting up a 20g long just for one Betta. You could go with shell dwellers because they are small and you can get a lot of them in a 20g. Check out this website.

You know what, I love that idea, never even thought of these! In my big tank I have 2 large cichlids, and they are personally my favourite fish ever, they are so fun and cool to watch, as a fisherman I love the fact that they are bigger fish and show more wild like traits. So havin a small group of these would be awesome, I don’t have any shells and I don’t feel like spending a ton of money on my fish tanks, I just do this hobby for a like decoration around my house. But I read on that website you sent that elbow pipes work really well, I think for setup wise I’ll buy a few elbow joints (4 or so) then I have a few small pots I could flip over and drop a few in and smash a little hole in (maybe 2 or 3) then just scatter a few pots around and just have a tank of a few of those! How’s that sound?

 

[Riverfisher234]

You know what, I love that idea, never even thought of these! In my big tank I have 2 large cichlids, and they are personally my favourite fish ever, they are so fun and cool to watch, as a fisherman I love the fact that they are bigger fish and show more wild like traits. So havin a small group of these would be awesome, I don’t have any shells and I don’t feel like spending a ton of money on my fish tanks, I just do this hobby for a like decoration around my house. But I read on that website you sent that elbow pipes work really well, I think for setup wise I’ll buy a few elbow joints (4 or so) then I have a few small pots I could flip over and drop a few in and smash a little hole in (maybe 2 or 3) then just scatter a few pots around and just have a tank of a few of those! How’s that sound?

Hey again, so this is a continuation of my last reply, I’m just wondering what these would be sold as? I can’t seem to find them online and I’m not sure what they would be classified as, and if they don’t sell them what would be another small cichlid that would work in a small group in a 20g?

 

[Utar]

Hey again, so this is a continuation of my last reply, I’m just wondering what these would be sold as? I can’t seem to find them online and I’m not sure what they would be classified as, and if they don’t sell them what would be another small cichlid that would work in a small group in a 20g?

I think I have found shell dwellers scientific name: Lamprologus ocellatus. These fish are from Lake Tanganyika. Not sure what is available for you in Canada, but I found several websites like this one....Sand City Cichlids. But these little guys are not cheap costing around 14 dollars upwards.

 

[eatyourpeas]

They are commonly referred to as "multies" for Neolamprologus multifasciatus.

 

[Essjay]

Shell dwellers are hard water fish, though. You really need to check your hardness before deciding on fish.


If you can find a source of disease free dwarf gouramis, the 20 gallon would be OK. 10 gallon tanks are too small for dwarf gouramis.

Trichogaster lalius (Dwarf Gourami) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

YouTube has lots of videos showing fish kept in inappropriate tanks. Don't go by what you see on there. The best place for information is https://www.seriouslyfish.com/knowledge-base This website is written by experts and tells you the type of water a species needs, the minimum tank size, the food they need etc.