20 Gallon Setup!

dubiousintent

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Ok here goes. I jsut came from Petsmart where I purchased a 20 high starter kit. I didn't buy any gravels,plants or anything else yet because I have a few questions that I need to ask before doing so. I want to put gouramis and a couple of apple snails only for this 20 gallon. Does anyone know how many gouramis I can stock in this size? Also, does anyone have any plant,gravel, and substrate suggestions that they could share? Thanks again in advance. Taylor
 
The 20H is a nice starter tank. A lot depends on what type of gourami you are looking at. With sparkling gouramis you could probably keep 12 in that tank but with a big pearl gourami, more than one or two would be too many. When you use the inch per gallon stocking guide, an apple snail is about 2 gallons for each one so it needs to be taken into account too. If you are going to use the standard light fixtrure on a 20, you won't be able to grow much variety of plants because you are going to be in a low light situation at best. Maybe a java fern or an Anubias would work for you but not much requiring more light than those.
 
Thanks so much for responding. I like your suggestions. What kind of lighting do you think I should use?
 
Your lighting depends a lot on your plant choice. If you go with low light plants, the hood that came with the tank might be OK. If you want higher light plants, you get backfit kits to up the light levels.
 
If you decide to go w/live plants, i'd recommend Eco Complete for your substrate. Also, i've really enjoyed my honey gouramis, and they stay small, so you could have more than one or two.
 

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