20 gallon

[........ 12036875]

Any ideas for a 20 gallon 90 litre 60x40cm tank.
Fish and plants suggestions.

 

[Kolton13]

Could do a planted tank or a rock scape. Could do small catfish like orca catfish, Tatias galaxias or bumblebee catfish. Could do a gourami like a honey or blue, With maybe a school of some medium sized tetras. A school of neons with a center piece.

 

[Byron]

First off, we need to know the water parameters of your source (tap) water--these are GH, KH and pH; the GH is most important. Small fish are more sensitive when it comes to the parameters and adjusting these is not as easy as it might sound. Fish suited to your water will make their lives and yours much easier.

Plants are much less fussy with parameters. Here (plants) the light is the most important factor. Do you know the data for your tank lighting?

 

[........ 12036875]

I'm not sure of what lighting or filtration I just want to get an idea of the fish I could do so I can research them.
Because I want to ask for a tank a Christmas.

 

[Essjay]

In order to research which fish would be suitable, you need to know what parameters they need. Do they need hard or soft water?

It is a lot easier to keep fish which come from water with similar hardness to your tap water which is why you need to find out the hardness - or GH - of your tap water so that you can research fish that would do well in your water.

Once you know how hard your water is you can start to draw up a shortlist of fish you like, then group them into temperature requirements, fast or slow flowing water etc.

 

[Ch4rlie]

I'm not sure of what lighting or filtration I just want to get an idea of the fish I could do so I can research them.
Because I want to ask for a tank a Christmas.

Best method at this stage is probably go online to your local water supplier website and look for water quality information, you may need to type in your postcode / zip code and should see a page with several units of measurements and data.

Here is an example of my water supplier water quality, it’s shows my water is hard with 258ppm or 18 degrees Clark.

So with that information I can then research online what fish I could potentially have and basically with that level of water hardness it may mean I would only be able to have hard water species of fish such as Rainbowfish or cichlids as two examples.

 

[Essjay]

Whereas mine says


so I can keep soft water fish but not hard water fish.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Don’t worry about lighting at this stage by the way, when / if you get a tank of your choice, come back on here and explain what sized tank you have and what brand of light unit may help also but not a priority for now.

See if you can find out the water quaility / hardness or your area first and then take it from there going forwards.

It’s great you want to research first before getting the tank, so many people get the tank first, add water and decor then immediately excitedly add their fish of their choices only to find later they may have issues.

Best method is to research and do some homework first. Well done.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

It would be fairly safe to assume that whoever will be buying you your tank as a Christmas present will be looking at an all-in-one set-up, where the tank comes with all of the necessary equipment.
There may well be a further temptation to go as small and as cheap as possible, (money's too tight to mention, etc.), but this will be frustrating and actually quite limiting, if you were considering this to be your serious hobby. Smaller tanks are not only harder to stock, but they're actually harder to maintain than people realise.

You've made a good first step in deciding to research the fish and you're correct in noting just how many there are to choose from.
However, this and most other forums will be asking you about the chemistry of your water. Understanding this is key to you successfully keeping any fish and so the advice given, to check with your water supplier as to the chemistry of your water supply, is well made.
You'll be picking up that there's a lot more to fishkeeping than simply looking at pretty fish in a glass box and you'll be able to make a better argument for a quality set-up, if you can demonstrate to those with the purse strings that you have really thought it through and you know full well what you're taking on.

Of course, knowing your local water chemistry will also narrow down, to some small extent, your choice of available fish, so you don't waste time chasing after fish that would be unsuitable.

 

[ClownLurch]

Agreed.

 

[........ 12036875]

Thanks for the help I'll try to find out my water chemistry.

 

[........ 12036875]

that is my water chemistry.

 

[Essjay]

The two numbers you need are total hardness (mg calcium carbonate/l) and German degrees.

Mg calcium carbonate/l is also called ppm = 174.8
German degrees is also called dH = 9.8
Fish profiles use either ppm or dH, and now you know your hardness in both those units.

This is middling hardness. It is neither soft nor hard. But there are more soft water fish which would be happy in this hardness than hard water fish, you would just need to avoid those soft water fish which need very soft water.


You said in post #1 that the tank size you are looking at has a 60 x 40 cm floor (24 x 14 inches) The short swimming length will restrict the choice of fish. Is there any chance of a longer tank, or is that the size that will fit in a particular place?

 

[........ 12036875]

This tank is really the only one online that fits the space I have.
But I'll have a look the next time I go to my lfs for bigger tanks.