20 Gallon fish stocking

[Ghostknife17]

I have an Aqueon 20 gallon high fish tank with a two black neons, two glass catfish, a turquoise rainbowfish, a Australian rainbowfish, a striped raphael a giant danio, and a Congo tetra. I was wondering what other fish I could put in the fish tank with them? If so, should I add another filter to the tank?

 

[TekFish]

Hold on there mate, you shouldn't really be thinking about adding MORE fish, rather taking some back. Sorry about that, I know it's not what you wanted to hear. That tank is WAY too small for literally every species in there except for the Black Neon Tetras. I'd rehome all the other fish, buy some more Black Neon Tetras. Probably about 8-10 more? Then think about stocking from there. Sorry again for the bad news.

 

[Ghostknife17]

Thanks for the advice

 

[NickAu]

I agree your stocking is all wrong, Those fish need to be kept in schools of at least 6. I notice you have a BGK as your avatar, Is that your fish? and how big is the tank its in?

 

[Ghostknife17]

Ok and the BGK avatar image is off of google and no I don't own a BGK. It is a fish that i have always wanted, but I would need a much bigger tank for that.

 

[Byron]

Welcome to TFF.

I agree with TekFish. Most of us, if not all of us, have been through the initial stages with a similar problem. It might help you if I explain a couple things.

Fish size (at maturity) is important in the relationship to the water volume (tank size), but there is another aspect to this, and that involves the number of individual fish of a species. All of the fish mentioned, except for the striped Raphael (which certainly gets too large alone) are what we term shoaling species. They live together in very large groups of hundreds, even thousands, of their own species. They have an inherent need programmed into them through evolution to live in groups. There are many reasons they need others of their own species, but the end result if they do not have these will be severe stress, leading to health problems and always a shorter than normal lifespan. A group of say 8-9 Congo Tetra, when they reach 4 inches in length, needs at least a 4-foot tank.

Some of these species also have behavioural issues which will only worsen when they are on their own or in too small a space, or with inappropriate other species in the same tank.

I am sure you will not be happy to see your fish weakening, getting disease, and dying. Don't hesitate to ask questions here. Research is the key to success.

Byron.