Newbie - Help me stock my 20 gallon tank! :)

[IHaveADogToo]

So, how many cories and tetras can I put in and keep them happy??

At 20 gallons, I would say do no more than 15 inches of fish, just to make sure everyone has enough room. 9 tetras and 6 corys should do it.

Not cycled, no. Didn't know about that. Thanks for sharing! I will do this though. How should I begin with the fish then?

YES!!! This is very important. Before you add any fish, you need to cycle the tank. Cycling the tank could take 4-6 weeks. That's how long it takes for a bacteria colony to build up to deal with ammonia produced by fish waste and uneaten decaying food. If you do not cycle the tank before adding fish, you will have to change the water every day for 2 months, because you won't have a bacteria colony to deal with the ammonia for you.

If you don't have 4-6 weeks to wait, you might be able to use the filter media from an already established tank. If you have a friend that runs a fish tank, they can help you with this. The pet stores won't help you with this. Using pre-established media won't help you bypass the cycle, but it will help the tank cycle much faster. 1-2 weeks usually.

One of the best things you can do for the health and wellbeing of your fish pets is become nerdy-knowledgable about tank cycling.

 

[seangee]

Sorry - my post crossed essjay's - wasn't trying to repeat the same info (but it is important )

 

[Byron]

Definitely deciding on how you intend to cycle and hold off an any fish until that is finished (the cycling). I mentioned live floating plants, and believe me, this is the absolutely easiest and safest way to get a new tank running. You do need floating plants that show signs of growing.

Thinking ahead to the fish, as others have mentioned, tetras and cories are the best option here. Someone mentioned sand and I had forgotten that previously, this is important. If you already have gravel, perhaps the store will take it back? The easiest and least expensive substrate is normal play sand in a dark colour hue.

 

[Colin_T]

Just do a tank of male guppies, lots of colour, they will be fine in your water, cheap to buy and move around a lot. Have some plants and put a nice picture on the back of the tank and maybe some colourful gravel

 

[IHaveADogToo]

Just do a tank of male guppies, lots of colour, they will be fine in your water, cheap to buy and move around a lot. Have some plants and put a nice picture on the back of the tank and maybe some colourful gravel

Interesting story here: I used to have male guppies, and no females, and they'd all gang up on the weakest guppy, and bully him to death, then when that one died, they'd gang up on the next weakest one. Maybe I didn't have *enough* guppies to distribute aggression, although I never thought guppies were an aggressive fish. I started out with 5. Ended with 3. I wound up surrendering them.

 

[Colin_T]

Keep them in groups of 10 or more and the aggression is spread out over all the males. By having a small number of males the bigger ones will pick on smaller males.

Try to keep males that are the same size and have some plants in their tank.