20 gallon tank - WWYD?

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squidneh

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Haven't posted on here in quite some time!

I had my 75 gallon running for years. All of my fish have passed on now, and I am downsizing to a 20 gallon (long) tank because it will be easier for me to manage with my busy schedule. I'm not super interested in setting up a typical community tank. I had a community in the 75, and I'm wanting to try something different.

I forget my water params since it's been a while since I had fish and tested. But I do know that the water was neither very soft nor very hard, but leaning towards the hard side. I was able to soften it fairly well and consistently.

I have been considering a few things;
-Pea puffers
-Betta and cories or loaches
-A pair of some type of small cichlid

I plan on having live plants and heavily planting the tank, I'm aware they would need to be anchored if I have cichlids.

But, what would you do?
 
Pea puffers would be good for a 20 gallon. You could not put anything else with them though. The rule of thumb for them is 1 puffer per 5 gallons. Pea puffers are also sensitive to water chemistry like any other puffer. They can also be picky eaters and prefer bloodworms and live snails. They like a heavily planted aquarium with a sand substrate. The light should be dim and there should be leaf litter to mimic their natural habitat.

If you want cichlids you could try German blue Rams. These need a mature tank. My German blue ram is actually in a new tank and here is how I did it. I have a 29 gallon tank that has been running for years. The fish are breeding in it and everything is healthy. When I filled up the tank, I filled it up with the mature water from the 29 gallon. I also moved some of the carbon from the filter in the 29 to the 10 gallon ram tank. Because this tank is home to only one female ram, the ammonia is controlled by plants and bacteria from the 29 gallon. I also recommend only getting two Rams. They will be much happier without any other fish. Just keep in mind that the Rams have to be paired first otherwise they may be aggressive to each other. You should also put Indian almond leaves. These lower the ph and give your Rams a more comfortable home. I still recommend doing a fish less cycle for a few weeks just to make sure nothing goes wrong with the filter. The filter also needs to run for a while anyway before adding fish. The only reason I would do the process that I mentioned above is so the tank has more helpful bacteria when you get fish.
 
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