Stocking Question For A 20G Long

[kahira]

 
got my aquascape all planned out the left and right corners will be densely planted with the center being a bit more open, though I may add a few short plants (maybe put one in front of the rock closed to the front of the tank)

For fish... I'm thinking either 3 Dwarf Gourami (1 mal 2 females) or some dwarf rainbows (I'd REALLY like the dwarf Rainbows more if you guys think it can work out)

For schooling fish I think I might go Red Minor Tetras.

and for the bottom I'll probably just do corys

So what do you guys think? Will I be able to add another schooling fish or will the dwarf rainbows and tetras be enough for schools?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Dwarf rainbows are shoaling fish.
 
And one thing to note on 'red minor' or 'serpae' tetras is that they can be rather nippy, so anything you keep with them needs to not have flowing fins or be too slow (like dwarf gouarmis).

 

[ythao01]

I'd say get the rainbows because female dwarf gouramis are pretty blan in color and hard to find. and also make sure to have enough serpae tetras in your school or else they will nip a lil bit. and make sure your corys are in good condition when you buy them because if the store has been keeping them in a dirty tank with gravel and bad tank mates, you're sure to find worn barbels.

 

[kahira]

mk so the minimum shoal of dwarf rainbows and then I was thinkin prob 7 red minor tetras then? Was thinkin 5 for the corys?

 

[kahira]

Hah, I talked to Reefmissoula today and asked if they knew about a local FRESHWATER store cus I was interested in getting a zebra pleco and Dan (the owner) said he could order one from his supplier for me for pretty much $300. It's the cheapest I've seen them o-o. He said his supplier has the Venezuela Zebra Pleco, and he doesn't know the difference between the Ven. Pleco and the Brazilian pleco though, but he could order it for me.
I COULD have one instead of cories. Thoughts?


got my plants today!!

waiting for them to perk up a bit before trying to plant them this is the 'range' of plants I might have

Could include but not guaranteed -
Dwarf Sag
Green Hygro
Jungle Vals
java moss
Several Species of Ludwiga
bacopa
Floaters - greater duckweed, duckweed, dwarf water lettuce, frogbit, salvinia, azolla
anachris
wisteria
Myrio
Limnophilia Sessefloria
Rotala
honwort
crypts - red or green
Brazillian Pennywort

from the buyer. I'm hoping I don't have duckweed, but I think I might have Frogbit because the floaters are HUGE. bigger than duckweed. It's not Salvinia cus its not 'bumpy'. but I'm sure I have wisteria.

They all arrived in a huge clump, so some are still mushed together. Some of these plants I'll have to research some because I have no idea what Myrio is... or Limnophilia, rotala...bacopa... there are a few others that sound familiar but their details escape me @_@

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Just an fyi- zebra plecos are only found in one part of one river. They are found in the Big Bend section of the Rio Xingu starting at Altamira and running to Belo Monte in Brazil. There are maps showing the area which appear on planet catfish in this thread:
 
http/www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=29394
 
Thie second one shows the dam under construction overlayed on the first map and the yellow dots show the known locations where zebras have been collected. The dam will likely wipe them out.
 
It is illegal to remove zebra plecos from Brazil. Their price makes them worth smuggling. If so called Venezuelan zebras are actually zebras, they were take there from Brazil.

 

[hobby5]

Looking good so far! On the pic the tank looks huge, but in fact its only 20G? Then I would say there is only space for ONE schoal of fish. What are your water parameters, pH & hardness? I would recommend to chose your fish accordingly and go for 1 schoal of about 8-10 fish, 1 species of bottom dwellers (either a group of catfish or a pair of small cichlids) and 1 species which is more surface oriented (dwarf or honey gourami or Red-chinned Panchax).
 
No zebra plec please. This would be a waste of money: http/www.seriouslyfish.com/species/hypancistrus-zebra/

 

[kahira]

The zebras the guy is offering are captive bred. so yeah their ancestors were probably taken from the wild, but the offspring i would be purchasing would be captiv bred.
 
 
 
 
Water params are as followed:
7.8-8 pH
GH is 12 drops
KH is 9-10 drops
 
I'm cycling right now so amm. Nitrits and nitrates are pointless for me to give heh.
 
Water would be kept around 75F unless it needs to change to suite fish.
 
All my fish I plan to get from Petsmart, just a few blocks from my place, so the fish would already be used to my high pH and hard water so really the 'type' of fish I get shouldn't really matter since they're already accustomed to the water quality. I have no intentions of breeding either.
 
 
I'm unsure on whether I just want corys or to get an albino long finned BN pleco. (aside from the common pleco, its the only other one the store carries I think.)

 

[frapadoodle]

Okay, I have to say it.
"and for the bottom i'll probably just do corys"
You should be beaten with a stick!

But, I love corys.
You might want to check your Petsmart again. It is more likely a clown plec.

 

[hobby5]

...so the fish would already be used to my high pH and hard water so really the 'type' of fish I get shouldn't really matter since they're already accustomed to the water quality...

 
This is a urban myth and wishful thinking I hear quite often on this forum, but this is not the case. Fish cannot adapt to the wrong water by simply keeping them in it for a while. Evolution takes many, many generations. It is always best to keep the fish in water which has similar parameters as their home waters. This will extend the life span significantly.

 

[kahira]

then that truth would rule out pretty much every fish in this hobby I'm available to keep in a 20g since most fish prefere a pH around 7... not 8... and most like soft to moderately hard not the hard 12+ drops water i have.... i've had many... many people (people that have had tanks for years) tell me that most fish can adapt to a wide range of water perameters that are tank bred, though of course wild caught fish are a lot more sensative.
 
I do not care much for livebearers just because they're all young in the store and almost impossible to sex. I also don't care much for ciclid tanks since they are really bare and I find them boring(not to mention a 20g is too small anyways). I like plants, wood and an overall nice 'foresty' riverbed look kinda.

 

[hobby5]

Yes that is what everyone is telling cos it makes their life easier and they don't have to care about those parameters. But if you ask them how long the fish lived and compare that to how long the fish could have lifed you will see the difference.
 
No worries, there are plenty of fish which like hard water, for instance the dwarf rainbow fish is a hard water fish. (I always recommend this site.)

 

[eaglesaquarium]

http/www.seriouslyfish.com/species/melanotaenia-praecox/
http/www.seriouslyfish.com/species/melanotaenia-maccullochi/
 
I prefer referencing specific profiles, but you are correct, seriouslyfish has very good profiles.

 

[kahira]

Everyone I've talked to keeps telling me no to dwarf Rainbows. I feel they'd be fine it a group of 5 and they certainly dont get large like the non-dwarf ones. they say they get skittish in small groups but I will have plenty of protection once my plants take root and grow and really only the 'center' of the tank would be open. Of course there is still more to add. I'm trying to find one more good piece of driftwood and I still have tons of slate rock that I'm trying to figure out what to do with. I can't stack them very high unless it's against a wall because 90% of them are not flat so don't make good stacks so i'd only be able to stack them up to one small level ;-; srry.. rambling LOL

 

[kahira]

Nitrites showed up today (or could have yesterday, i didn't test for them yesterday) around .5 to 1ppm  (those purples are so close to the other I can't really tell, though Im leaning more towards 1ppm cus it was a bit darker) so... YAY! Haha, just when I was about ready to just say forget this crud i'ma go get TSS to jump start it
 
my tank was like: "Nope! We ganna save ya 10$. Here have some bacteria!"