what fish should i get (20 gallon tall)

[fish boi]

i went to my local fish store to find out that they don't have honey gouramis anymore. but they did 3 types of dwarf gourami: neon blue, neon red and honey yellow. which one should i get also any information about dwarf gourami in general would help.


I plan on getting 8-10 neon tetras. and these are the ones that the pets store has at my buget:
cherry barb
zebra danio
gold barb
platy assorteed
platy glaxy
lemon tetra
pristella tetra
dimond tetra
lambchop rasbora

my water is 17.1 -18.8 mg/L

 

[Essjay]

I would not bother with dwarf gourami, to be honest. So many of them are already infected by dwarf gourami disease when they get to the shop, and it's incurable. You may be lucky and find some that are fine but it can be hot and miss.


Of the fish on your list:
You have very soft water so that means you should not get hard water fish. The hard water fish on your list are platies, so not them.
Zebra danios are very fast swimming fish and those people who have them in 4 ft tanks say they can cross the tank in less than a second. At 24 inches long, your tank is too short for them, I'm afraid. They may be small but they need more swimming length. Lemon tetras also need a bigger tank than 24 inches long. Diamond tetras could be nippy if you ever find the gouramis.


Since your tank is tall rather than long (it has the same footprint as the 13 gallon tank I had to close last year) you need smallish slow swimming fish. And if you do manage to find some honey gouramis, you need sedate fish which won't stress them by swimming around too much or nip their fins.
Neon tetras are fine, I would get a good sized shoal of them. Lambchop rasboras are also sedate fish. There are three related species, and knowing shops they could have labelled either of two of them as lambchop rasboras. They should be these http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/trigonostigma-espei/ but they might be these http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/trigonostigma-hengeli/. As you can see from their profiles, their requirements are the same, they just look slightly different. I have a shoal of fish sold as T. hengeli but I'm pretty sure they are really T. espei.

Did the shop not have any ember tetras that Byron suggested? They don't look much in shops but when they've settled in your tank they are a lovely deep orange red, which lives up to their name.

 

[fish boi]

I would not bother with dwarf gourami, to be honest. So many of them are already infected by dwarf gourami disease when they get to the shop, and it's incurable. You may be lucky and find some that are fine but it can be hot and miss.


Of the fish on your list:
You have very soft water so that means you should not get hard water fish. The hard water fish on your list are platies, so not them.
Zebra danios are very fast swimming fish and those people who have them in 4 ft tanks say they can cross the tank in less than a second. At 24 inches long, your tank is too short for them, I'm afraid. They may be small but they need more swimming length. Lemon tetras also need a bigger tank than 24 inches long. Diamond tetras could be nippy if you ever find the gouramis.


Since your tank is tall rather than long (it has the same footprint as the 13 gallon tank I had to close last year) you need smallish slow swimming fish. And if you do manage to find some honey gouramis, you need sedate fish which won't stress them by swimming around too much or nip their fins.
Neon tetras are fine, I would get a good sized shoal of them. Lambchop rasboras are also sedate fish. There are three related species, and knowing shops they could have labelled either of two of them as lambchop rasboras. They should be these http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/trigonostigma-espei/ but they might be these http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/trigonostigma-hengeli/. As you can see from their profiles, their requirements are the same, they just look slightly different. I have a shoal of fish sold as T. hengeli but I'm pretty sure they are really T. espei.

Did the shop not have any ember tetras that Byron suggested? They don't look much in shops but when they've settled in your tank they are a lovely deep orange red, which lives up to their name.

they did have ember tetras but they were 5 dollars so id rather go for another fish. what about cherry barbs or gold barb. ok here is a list from another pet store:
flame tetra
leopard danio
red eye tetra
pristella tetra
tiger barb

edit: what about a Sparkling Gourami for center piece fish? turns out this fish store has a red honey gourami should it get the honey one or the sparkling one?

 

[Essjay]

Wow, that's expensive. The shop near me that gives their prices on line charges £1.25 per fish or £5 for 5. (That's about $1.62 per fish according to an exchange rate I just found on line)

Leopard danios are a colour morph of zebra danio so they also need a much longer tank.
Tiger barbs need a longer tank and are very nippy fish unless kept in groups of at least 10, preferably more.
Red eye tetras are another nippy species which needs a 3 ft tank.
Pristella tetras (aka X-ray tetras) have minimun tank size 24 inches but your hardness is below their range.
The gold barbs you mentioned before need a bigger tank than yours and cooler water - their preferred range is 16 to 24 deg C which has very little overlap with neons.

However, flame tetra's minimum tank size is 24 inches, and they like very soft water so they are OK.



The problem with nippy fish is that if there aren't enough of them they treat all the other fish in the tank as members of their shoal. If there are a lot of them they usually keep their nippiness to within their own species.

 

[fish boi]

Wow, that's expensive. The shop near me that gives their prices on line charges £1.25 per fish or £5 for 5. (That's about $1.62 per fish according to an exchange rate I just found on line)

Leopard danios are a colour morph of zebra danio so they also need a much longer tank.
Tiger barbs need a longer tank and are very nippy fish unless kept in groups of at least 10, preferably more.
Red eye tetras are another nippy species which needs a 3 ft tank.
Pristella tetras (aka X-ray tetras) have minimun tank size 24 inches but your hardness is below their range.
The gold barbs you mentioned before need a bigger tank than yours and cooler water - their preferred range is 16 to 24 deg C which has very little overlap with neons.

However, flame tetra's minimum tank size is 24 inches, and they like very soft water so they are OK.



The problem with nippy fish is that if there aren't enough of them they treat all the other fish in the tank as members of their shoal. If there are a lot of them they usually keep their nippiness to within their own species.

so flame tetras are okay?

 

[Essjay]

I think so - but wait till someone else (eg Byron) confirms it.

 

[Byron]

I agree the Flame Tetra (Hyphessobrycon flammeus) would work here; they occur in backwaters (note, back, not black) and slow-flowing creeks, and such habitats usually (always exceptions) suggest quieter fish, meaning less active swimmers. I would get seven (I just prefer odd numbers but when you are down below 8 or 9 it is more noticeable and odd rather than even tends to look better. Same holds for "specimen" plants by the way; one or three, not usually two.

Like the Ember Tetra and many others for that matter, Flame Tetras can look pale and "washed out" in stores. They will brighten once they are settled, and particularly so in soft water. They can manage in moderately hard water but will not be as colourful, so you will benefit with your soft water.

I also agree with essjay's comments on the other fish, and that all are not suited here.

Sometimes it pays to wait a bit for different fish to come to the store. Don't be quick to load the tank and then find later something you prefer but have no space for. If you really like the Flame Tetra, fine; but if it is just that nothing else in the store now will work, it can be better to hold off.

Byron.

 

[fish boi]

I agree the Flame Tetra (Hyphessobrycon flammeus) would work here; they occur in backwaters (not, back, not black) and slow-flowing creeks, and such habitats usually (always exceptions) suggest quieter fish, meaning less active swimmers. I would get seven (I just prefer odd numbers but when you are down below 8 or 9 it is more noticeable and odd rather than even tends to look better. Same holds for "specimen" plants by the way; one or three, not usually two.

Like the Ember Tetra and many others for that matter, Flame Tetras can look pale and "washed out" in stores. They will brighten once they are settled, and particularly so in soft water. They can manage in moderately hard water but will not be as colourful, so you will benefit with your soft water.

I also agree with essjay's comments on the other fish, and that all are not suited here.

Sometimes it pays to wait a bit for different fish to come to the store. Don't be quick to load the tank and then find later something you prefer but have no space for. If you really like the Flame Tetra, fine; but if it is just that nothing else in the store now will work, it can be better to hold off.

Byron.

thanks, could i replace the neons with cardinals?
edit: do you like flame tetras or lambchop tetras more?

 

[Essjay]

Personally I prefer the lambchop rasboras, but I have some of those so I would

 

[Byron]

Essjay earlier mentioned the three very similar fish in the "Harlequin Rasbora" genus. My favourite is Trigonostigma hengeli, sometimes called copper harlequin because of the very bright copper-coloured spot above the black "axe" or hatchet mark. This is the smallest of the three, though only slightly so, and probably less commonly seen.

The very similar Trigonostigma espei (sometimes commonly called lambchop) is sometimes confused with it in stores, I've seen the copper labelled lambchop and vice versa. But both are ideal fish, swimming mid-tank though "swimming" is a bit misleading as they cruise more than actively swim around sometimes.

Photos below show the two species, and the third, the common Harlequin (Trigonostigma heteromorpha). This one is more often seen, and is larger than the other two. Personally I wold get either of the other two smaller species, in a group of at least seven, though nine or ten wold work nicely here. The neons (or cardinals, whichever) will remain a bit lower in the tank than these rasboras.

 

[fish boi]

Essjay earlier mentioned the three very similar fish in the "Harlequin Rasbora" genus. My favourite is Trigonostigma hengeli, sometimes called copper harlequin because of the very bright copper-coloured spot above the black "axe" or hatchet mark. This is the smallest of the three, though only slightly so, and probably less commonly seen.

The very similar Trigonostigma espei (sometimes commonly called lambchop) is sometimes confused with it in stores, I've seen the copper labelled lambchop and vice versa. But both are ideal fish, swimming mid-tank though "swimming" is a bit misleading as they cruise more than actively swim around sometimes.

Photos below show the two species, and the third, the common Harlequin (Trigonostigma heteromorpha). This one is more often seen, and is larger than the other two. Personally I wold get either of the other two smaller species, in a group of at least seven, though nine or ten wold work nicely here. The neons (or cardinals, whichever) will remain a bit lower in the tank than these rasboras.

hmmm.... the things is harlequin rasbora are 4 dollars and the flame tetras are only 3 dollars but my birthday is in 3 days so i think ill just the harlequin rasbora as you guys think like them more. and are cardinals the same care as noens because i think the cardinals look a bit better. i guess i should go big or go home

 

[fish boi]

also what would i feed these fish blood worms and flakes?

 

[Byron]

hmmm.... the things is harlequin rasbora are 4 dollars and the flame tetras are only 3 dollars but my birthday is in 3 days so i think ill just the harlequin rasbora as you guys think like them more. and are cardinals the same care as noens because i think the cardinals look a bit better. i guess i should go big or go home

Both cardinals and neons are quite sensitive fish. Neons must have cooler water, around 75-77F (24-25C), whereas cardinals can manage with warmer water if you have other fish requiring that. In other words, you have to think through everything that you plan for this tank so you have all fish requiring the same temperature, parameters, decor, etc.

I would select the lambchop rasbora over flame tetra, with either cardinals or neons (if you want one of those). That leaves the substrate level...maybe a small group (five minimum) of a smallish cory?

On the food question...bloodworms are OK for a treat once a week, but not as the regular diet. Frozen bloodworms are better than the "freeze dried" which I would avoid. I feed my fish frozen daphnia and frozen bloodworms once a week as a treat.

The rest of the time a good quality flake food is fine for upper water fish; substrate fish like cories would require a sinking food. I use Omega One brand and New Life Spectrum brand. They cost a bit more, but they are unquestionably better nutrition with no "meal" but whole fish and plant matter.

 

[fish boi]

Both cardinals and neons are quite sensitive fish. Neons must have cooler water, around 75-77F (24-25C), whereas cardinals can manage with warmer water if you have other fish requiring that. In other words, you have to think through everything that you plan for this tank so you have all fish requiring the same temperature, parameters, decor, etc.

I would select the lambchop rasbora over flame tetra, with either cardinals or neons (if you want one of those). That leaves the substrate level...maybe a small group (five minimum) of a smallish cory?

On the food question...bloodworms are OK for a treat once a week, but not as the regular diet. Frozen bloodworms are better than the "freeze dried" which I would avoid. I feed my fish frozen daphnia and frozen bloodworms once a week as a treat.

The rest of the time a good quality flake food is fine for upper water fish; substrate fish like cories would require a sinking food. I use Omega One brand and New Life Spectrum brand. They cost a bit more, but they are unquestionably better nutrition with no "meal" but whole fish and plant matter.

i was looking at kuhli loaches put then i would need a sand substrate, so here are the cory in my buget that the pet store has green corys, albino corys, bronze cory and the Peppered Cory, they do have pygmy corys but those cost a bit more so only if those won't work.

 

[Byron]

i was looking at kuhli loaches put then i would need a sand substrate, so here are the cory in my buget that the pet store has green corys, albino corys, bronze cory and the Peppered Cory, they do have pygmy corys but those cost a bit more so only if those won't work.

Cories need sand too, though very fine gravel can "work" but not in the best interest of the cories.