Stocking For My 20 Gallon Long

[isaboo]

Hi everyone,
Sorry if this is in the wrong place I am new to this forum.
I need some help on stocking my 20 gallon long aquarium. I am going to plant it (any suggestions on a good light?) and I am going to get the Aquaclear 50 ( used to be called the Aquaclear 200) I have no idea what to stock my tank with! I would like colour and also a centerpiece fish. I don't like cories and I am not really keen on gouramis. I would like some cherry shrimp at the bottom. I like Rams but are they hard to look after? I also like chichlids. What are some nice stocking ideas?

 

[reignofcheese]

if you are looking for a small bottom dweller other than corys look no further than the chain or zebra loaches- I'm partial to these guys at any rate.

So I currently run the AC50 on my own 20 Long and it works fine, but I find the pourback renders part of the tank practically unusable because the tank is so short unless the filter is turned down, in which case it isn't doing enough. It will be replaced soon with a small canister that can provide a nice crosswise flow across the tank.

For lighting on my 20l I'm using a standard single 18 watt T8 fluorescent, which is the most basic type, and it keeps my cryptocoryne, anubius, and dwarf sag healthy, but with extremely slow growth. To get better growth I'd use a pair of those T8's, but I don't need them to grow - I do the growing in the 29g, with 2 x 24w T5HO flourescents and injected co2. Planting an aquarium is a broad enough topic for dedicated forums (www.plantedtank.net), and can be as complicated or simple as you want it to be.

Cichlids are cool but they do give certain limitations on the setup. adult Rams will eat cherry shrimp for one. Rams are known to be finicky and are more interesting and complicated than typical community fish, and you can also find forums for them (www.cichlid-forum.com)' I kept cichlids for many years, but now that I keep just the two small planted setups I find they don't suit what I want, which is shrimp and stuff.
BTW in my 20l tank the school of 10 hengel rasbora is the centerpiece.
Cheers

 

[KittyKat]

Can you please post the dimensions of the tank and your tap water parameters (especially interested in pH, KH and GH)?