Need Stocking Help/ideas For New 20 Gal Tank

[bassmaster]

I'm done cycling my 20 gallon tank and need advice on how to stock it. I currently have a 5 inch rainbow shark (red tail black shark) that I bought a couple of days ago. This is a really cool fish, but unfortunately I have a feeling that my tank is not big enough for it, especially if since I want to stock it with more fish. Is the tank big enough? Should I keep the rainbow shark? Any stocking ideas? Should I keep community or semi-aggressive fish (if I return the rainbow shark)? Or any ideas on what else I should do with my tank would be appreciated.

Thanks for the replies and if you have any pictures of fish or aquarium set up please share!

 

[necava01]

what fish catch your eyes?

 

[sanka101]

As necava01 said, what fish catch your eye? its easier to start figuring out stocking once we know what fish you like or are intrested so we can help you work with some of those speces or one main species and build around that...Say you like angels, its easier to help give you some ideas on what would work well with them and how many to have, once we have established thats a species youd like to keep, not saying you should keep angels its just an example

 

[Myuu]

I would definitely return the rainbow shark. A 20 gallon is way to small, you'd need around 50+ gallons for one rainbow shark. I would look into of dwarf cichlid species. One of my favorites is german blue rams, although they need a mature, stable tank and are sensitive to nitrates. Like the other posters said, you should pick something you really want and build it up from there.

 

[waterdrop]

Hi bassmaster and welcome to our beginners section!

I see the others are already at work helping you with stocking ideas and that's great! We also always like to try and perform a helpful double-check with our newcomers to make sure the LFS has not given them a false impression of what cycling really is and how one goes about "qualifying" a biofilter as being truly "cycled."

Can you describe to us the number of days water has been in the tank? All chemicals and other added substances that have been used in the tank? The cycling methodology you used? The members can help with further questions about this if necessary. What are your tank water stats versus your tap water stats?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[bassmaster]

Hi guys, I did return my rainbow shark and i bet he will be much happier with a larger home. and water drop i have had a couple of fish in my tank for about two years but i gave the fish to my friend. I have taken my water to my local fish store and they have tested it and it is good to go. And i have plenty of my plants browning with algea. Thanks for checking on me though, bc im definitely not an expert yet. I was thinking maybe going the community route and getting some glofish and some tetras. Just keep from getting anybody eaten. Thanks for your replies!

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, this was my concern, but it still stands. It's true that if you've had two fish in the tank for two years then the two species of beneficial bacteria we want will have grown to match the bioload of those two fish. That bioload however, may not be anything like the capacity of a 20G tank and if the tank is now empty, the bacteria will be dying off at maybe 2 to 10% per day. A fair percentage of our beginners who lose fish have it happen around these sorts of situations where they are swapping fish in and out and the LFS tells them the water at a particular moment is "OK."

As you gain experience as a fishkeeper you begin to realize that it's better to truly understand how all of this works and what your real water situation is numerically. LFS testing and reporting can vary rather wildly: sometimes you have an employee who doesn't really quite understand how to conduct the test correctly or is rushed, but more often what happens is that the person person makes a judgement call that you wouldn't in that they learn, sometimes almost subconciously that reporting that the water is "good" results in more immediate sales, including sales that are linked to that salesperson.

This is one of the reasons we encourage newcomers, regardless of the stage they are at in their experience and knowledge, to explore and learn the full skill set of biofilter creation and maintenance, so that they will have maximum flexibility in running their tanks in the future! (this involves obtaining and practicing with a good test kit)

~~waterdrop~~