Finishing My 20

[GAB99]

20 gallon high with a TOPFIN 20 power filter which include
5 gold barbs
2 balloon mollys
6 praecox rainbows
1 striped raphael catfish

i want to add
3 otos
1 black balloon molly

im also doing 20% water changes always gravel vac. every week

if it will help,ill get another topfin power filter 20 if it will mean i can have the fish.

need otos for algae, and ill feed them wafers when there isnt any
need molly so there is 2 female and 1 male (btw, sexing is males have big sailfin and females no, right?)


thanks for any help. changes welcome, no i cant get ridof the CURRENT fish, i also cant put current fish in another tank

 

[aly_starh]

Click Aqarium advisor says your tank is overstocked

 

[GAB99]

imnot gonna get rick rolled am i ?

 

[OldMan47]

Wrong on sexing the mollies Mojo. You sex them the same as other poeciliids. The triangular anal fin is the female and the anal fin modified to be a line shape is the male. The anal fin is the one next to where a fish eliminates its waste.
A male of another poeciliid species

A female of the same species

In these guys, the difference is a bit more obvious than in a molly, but it is he same way of telling the sexes apart.

 

[drobbyb]

I would invest in a better quality filter instead of adding another bad one. Those filters are cheap for a reason. I have always been a fan of aquaclear filters. Lots of media options and reliability make it a rock solid filter.

A good thing about your rainbow choice is that they stay small, reaching only 2 inches. Remember to do your 50% waterchange every week and feed a quality staple, like high quality spirulina flake supplemented with other frozen foods like blood worms and brine shrimp, but not too often as rainbows are prone to bloat. Feed a cooked shelled pea (mushed up)a few times a week. You can also feed many vegetables that you can find at your supermarket like watermelon, kale greens, lettuce, ect.

 

[GAB99]

thnx, that confirms that right now i have 1 male and 1 female molly

seriously?! i know the raph is going to get big, but right now he is 1.5" max.

then for the algae can i get a snail?

so wait, drobbyb- you say keep my current filter and get an aquaclear filter for my twenty,and do 50% water changes and ill be ok? i dont mind the extra work.

 

[GAB99]

i personally would not use the aqua advisor (catfish alone is 65%) (barbs are 56%) the mollys alone are 47% of my tank, and i DEFINATELY know that is offand the rainbows are 89

overall its a good program, but i woudnt use it until most of the bugs are gone.

 

[drobbyb]

Yeah, since you already have one, might as well use it. The aquaclear 20 is a far better filter with media options. If the topfin is a family sedan, the aquaclear is a ferrari.

 

[Curiosity101]

I'd say you're overstocked as it is, with your current filtration and water sechedule.

What are your water stats?

And what are the tanks actual dimensions? Rainbows are very active fish, a 20gal tall tank seems like it could be a bit cramped for them swimming wise.

And the raphael...20cm when fully grown (7-8"), I guess you can just rehome as it grows...seems unfair on the fish though.

Just a note on aquarium adviser, it's actually rather accurate. I've seen lots of tanks checked on it and they all seem fairly (if not generously) rated stocking wise...

If you were to re-home the raphael then so long as you add more filtration, and upped your % changes (depending on water stats). Then your proposed additions would be fine bioload wise.

 

[drobbyb]

Well, when dealing with dwarf rainbows, the footprint doesn't have to be that long, however I wouldn't push it. It's not ideal by any means, but passable, just barely.

Edit: After looking up the actual dimensions, they wouldn't really fit. Curiosity101 is right. I was thinking the 20H was a bit longer than it actually is.

 

[GAB99]

really? their supposed to be energetic? mine swim about as slow as my mollies, i have only seen them go crazy for food.

and hopefully for x-mas i might get a 55 gallon tank, this is were i plan to move my catfish, and since the gold barbs steal most of his food hes not really growing too much, like.5" so far so hes still tiny.

x=mas is also were ill get the filter (might as well) whats the brand called? is there one for a 55?

my water stats actually stay low until the next wc, but when a plant leaf dies the nitrates go a little higher than usual. after todays 60% it is 0,0,5 which is where it stays at most of the time unless aleaf diesvthen its like 0,0,10 and if i dont change the water for 2 weeks its 0,0,30-40. should i always do 60% because i usually do 20 but i was medicating (its gone now, hopefully)

so if all these changes occur and you make me a weekly % for wc, then can i add the molly and otos?
for now can i add 1 oto? i only want 3 if it is a schooling fish


and here is the future stocking for the 55 incase your wondering (it was approved last time i posted it, but i think it wont be fair to put torpedo barbs so i took them out.)
6 bosemani rainbow
6 irian red rainbow
1 chocolate cichlid
the raph
8 sterbai corys with tons of plants and sand.

just checked it outon aqua advisor, it will be fine if i get a another filter to whatevr comes with it (aqueon) and ill keep the temp at 25 celsius and im pretty sure hypselecara temporalis will be fine with sterbai. comments?



lastly if it makes any difference, my current tank has 3 amazon swords 1 moneywort bunch, and 1 very shameful anubais. can i add plants? sorry for all the questions i just dont want to push things any frther than to get at least the otos.

 

[drobbyb]

12 large rainbows in a 55 is going to put you over the top. Rainbows, although small when you initially get them, will reach 5 inches or more. 5 * 12 = 60 inches of fish in a 55 gallon tank.