Stocking for 5 and 20 gallon tank?

[fishlover22346]

hello guys, as you may know I have my 10 gallon with some livebearers, a paradise gourami, and a golden panchax killifish. I plan of moving my golden panchax and gourami into my 20 gallon when I get it out of storage which will hopefully be soon. so with those two fish in the tank, what else could I potentially stock the 20 gallon with. one fish that I really want is a silver dollar and a pictus catfish, I have had a silver dollar before and it was an amazing fish. I had him in a 20 gallon and he did great, however I would be new to pictus catfish. any advise on these fish, or what other stocking options there would be? also, as of the 5 gallon tank, I plan on putting a betta in it and maybe a bumblebee goby or some other micro fish, any suggestions?

 

[Essjay]

I'm afraid you can't have either a silver dollar or a pictus in a 20 gallon tank.

Silver dollars are shoaling fish so you need at least 6 of them. They grow to 6 inches and need a tank at least 6 feet long. http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/metynnis-hypsauchen/

Pictus need a tank at least 4 feet long. http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/pimelodus-pictus/


And paradise fish and golden panchax are not really compatible as paradise fish need cooler water than golden panchax. Both of these also need a tank that is at least 30 inches long.

 

[fishlover22346]

I have heard many people saying that both of these fish need a 15 gallon minimum, and as of for the water, there isn’t anything you really can do where I live, which is in Hawai‘i. here you don’t need heaters. because the temperatures are great for any kinds of fish.

 

[Essjay]

There are many websites that give information on fish but a lot of those are written by people who just keep fish and know little about the fish's actual requirements. Seriously Fish is written by fish experts and just about the best site for accurate information.
Did you read the links I posted for silver dollars and pictus?


This is the profile for paradise fish. http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/macropodus-opercularis/
You'll see they need a tank at least 80 cm (31.5 inches) long and a temperature range of 10 to 22 deg C (50 to 72 deg F). As long as your 20 gall tank is 30 inches or more, that's fine size-wise.

Unfortunately, Seriously Fish doesn't seem to have a profile for golden panchax - or if they do, it is under a name other than Aplocheilus lineatus.
FishBase, another site written by and for scientists, gives golden panchax temperature range as 22 to 25 deg C (72 to 77 deg F), though as it deals with the just the fish itself it makes no comments on tank requirements.

As you can see, the temperatures needed by paradise fish and golden panchax do not overlap. If your climate is so warm that you don't need a tank heater, it suggests that it is too warm for the temperate climate paradise fish.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Just because it's minimum doesn't mean it's ok. And seriously fish is an amazing website where scientist that know these fish have put information. You would do well to stay to it the best you can. Trust me, I kept reading that a 3 spot gourami (max size is 5-6 inches) only needs a minimum of 20 gallons. So I got one. Well, he's not happy. He may be alive and healthy and eating, but that's just survival. I want him to thrive. So he will eventually be upgraded to a 55 which will make him much happier.

Now, I just googled a bit on basic care for silver dollars and pictus cats. I'm not sure who told you what, but multiple sources say that silver dollars need groups and a 6ft minimum tank and a pictus cat needs at least 70 gallons. I don't believe either of these are sedate fish. They are active and need room to move.

Please don't get upset with our answers that don't go with what you planned. We are looking out for the best interests of the fish as we want them to thrive.

 

[fishlover22346]

I’m not getting angry, but from what I have read, these two fishes temperatures do overlap. I read from 3 sources including live aquaria, animal world, and aquariumlife.net, and they all said the same thing, 61-79 degrees fahrenheit. and the golden panchax temperature range is 71-75. also, the golden panchax tank size says a 20 gallons and the paradise fishes tank size says anywhere from 10-20 gallons, depending on the website. the water in the tanks here never get above 75 degrees in my tank. but if these fish cannot thrive in this water they wouldn’t be thriving in people’s aquariums. and they do. even goldfish manage to thrive here in people’s ponds, which usually get around 80 degrees fahrenheit in summer. these tanks would be heavily planted and will have 3 filters on them so I believe that these fish would be living great as they both love planted tanks, and from what I can see, their temperatures do overlap. I do trust live aquaria very much as they are not like petco or anything, just trying to scam you in to buying fish. they actually care about their fish and go from scientific studies to determined the fishes requirements. Honeslty guys, i’m not angry, I promise, i’m just going from what i’ve read. as of the catfish, I don’t want many fish in this tank other than the these two fish and some catfish, what are your recommendations of some catfish that would live in the this tank well. I would like a bumblebee catfish because they look cool and stay small, I am just not sure on their water requirements.

 

[fishlover22346]

sorry for some spelling errors I made

 

[Essjay]

The only catfish I would put in a 20 gallon tank is cories. Just about everything else gets too big.

Look any fish up on Seriously Fish before buying. They give the temp, pH and hardness range the fish needs, the minimum size tank it needs, and what fish it can be kept with.

I would not believe anything a shop worker says until I had researched it for myself. No shop worker can know everything about every fish. Sites like Seriously Fish have profiles written by an expert on that fish. Their profiles are written by a range of people, not just one person who claims to know everything about all fish.
And I would ignore other websites, except FishBase for those species that aren't in Seriously Fish's database. Both of these sites are written by scientists not people who just keep some fish for as a hobby.

 

[fishlover22346]

ok, I think i’ll stick with some small species of cory, maybe like 5 panda cory’s is what i’m thinking, also, I like fish base, I’ve used it many times before. I think i’m going to stick with a planted 20 gallon, with not many fish in it.