20 Gallon Community

[Iron Man]

I got rid of my 55 gallon a while back, obtained a 10 gallon realizing its a little too small as I'd like to go, and found a recent 20 gallon I got to be just the right size.

It has the standard flourescent light with hood, Emperor 400 filter, heater, gravel (which I will change to sand), some ornaments and plants, 1 HUGE female cory cat (I think its an emerald?) and 2 neon tetras. I got this tank from my dad as he doesn't want it anymore.

I was contemplating a community of tropical fish for it, working with the neons and cory. So what do you think about this list?

1 gourami (of some species)
6 guppies (4f/2m)
8 neons
8 harliquin rasboras
3 more emerald cories
2 loaches (that like to burrow in the sand, the name escapes me at the moment)

I know this may be considered too much bioload, but.....I may either add to the Emperor or switch it altogether with my (much quieter) Eheim 2217 that is just sitting around, and I may add live plants with a nice light setup down the road.

I was also contemplating making a sump out of my 10 gallon to give these fish more water/surface area if this is too much bioload. It would also make the frequent water changes I plan to make a lot easier.

So whadya think??

 

[SJ2K]

If you do sump it with the 10 then you may get away with it but I think 2 shoals of smaller fish is pushing it. Personly id go for the gourami, neons, harliquin and cories. Also the male to female ratio of guppies isnt right, should really be 3 females per male.

 

[Iron Man]

OK since my water is super soft (5.5) I'm thinking of putting soft water fish in here with a couple of bolivian rams.

So it would be more like this now;

2 Rams
8 Neon Tetras
8 Roberti Tetras or Black Skirts (long fin)
3 more Emerald Cories


I've already got a bag of pool filter sand so that's getting washed and going in tomorrow. I'd like to keep live plants in this tank but at the same time want that "amazon black water" thing going too so that means subdued lighting.

Think I'll just get some fake grass like from the craft store and bury that into the substrate along with other fake plants I can find that might look appropriate.

 

[Biulu]

I like the idea, although I agree with SJ2K that 2 shoals is pushing it. I have a 60 litre bowfront tank (around 17 gallons) and my lightning is not good at all (only 1 15W lamp). I am growing successfully amazon swords, vallisneria, anubias and cryptocoryne wendtii, as well as java moss in it. If you have the possibility to go the live planted route, do it; it makes the tank look so much nicer and natural!

By the way, I envy your soft water! I am able to get my pH at 7, but my hardness is still around 25 or so!

 

[Iron Man]

Thanks! It would feel like such a waste putting in the nice sand and then just dumping fake plants in it. I had an amazon sword in a 55 gallon tank once and the lighting over that wasn't more than 40 watts, and I actually believe it was 20 (one tube instead of two). That plant became a "mother plant" and spawned two other plants. I got a good price for that plant when I traded it into the fish store (the goldfish were beginning to tear it to shreds).

When I moved to where I am now I still had the 55 gallon goldfish tank but since those fish don't do well in soft water it was a real pain. My water changes consisted of exact amounts of sodium carbonate in the exact amounts of change water, etc.

I once in the past did keep neons in soft water such as this (its the well water of this area, which is ultra SANDY - no minerals), and they REALLY thrived. I couldn't keep any other fish though that weren't known as "softwater" fish.