First 20 Gallon Tank Stock

[Diego]

Hi everyone, I am new to this awesome hobby and have a bunch of questions. I recently set up a 20 gallon tank ( first ever) and this is what I have in it:
7 Guppies
1 Female Betta
2 Cory Albino Cats
2 Peppered Cats

I really dont want to go over 12 -13 for this size tank so my question is what else can I add that dont need to be a a school because that would push me over where I wanna be, basically is there a fish that would do well on its own and thats compatible with whats there?
Thanks in advance.

 

[JustFrozen]

i would be surprised you could put anything else, that already sounds like a lot! curious to see this what some answers will be, as i'm pretty sure my next tank will be about 20 gallons (are we talking US gallons?)

 

[Wills]

Hi there welcome to the forum! How long has this tank been set up? Did you cycle it before hand in the ways this site talks about with bottled ammonia or was it done with fish in? With that stocking in the tank I would hope it is about 4ish months old is that a good guess?

With your stocking I would add 2 more cories to each group cory cats are fish that need to be in groups. With that you will be closer to your top stocking for the moment, as your tank gets older you will find that you will be able to add more to your tank. What kind of filtration do you have in your tank? Some of the best kept tanks on this site IMO are 20-30g and these have fantastic mixes though like I say these are in mature tanks and build on a lot of research and experience.

Wills

 

[JustFrozen]

IIRC arent all these at least 2" adults?

i guess what i'm asking is how flexible the 1"/gal rule is, obviously depending on filter age etc, but would be interesting to hear how this works because it sounds confusing to me

 

[Wills]

The one gallon rule works to an extent but small fish like 2 inches of guppy will never produce as much waste as 2 inches of a plec (of any kind). So through personal discretion I would count 7 guppies as 10 inches of fish where as I would count 5 inches of BN pleco as 10 inches or maybe more if you see what I mean. The inch per gallon rule is kind of a good rule of thumb but its not set in stone, none of these fish are massive waste polluters and unless its a really small filter on its own with no planting. Idealy in a 20 gallon tank you want a filter that is good for 15-30 gallons possibly more if you can do it. Realistically a 20 gallon tank with 1 female betta 7 guppies and 8 cories is not over stocked particularly since the cory species are reasonably smaller ones. There are a few people on this board that keep a school of 20 tetras plus other reasonably sized fish in a 20g with good success though like I said these tanks are well established and kept by experienced keepers in this case I would say stick with the betta guppies and the increased cories for a while and then a few months down the line depending on your filtration system and also maintenance regime you could maybe add something else though the female betta (depending on temperament) could limit you as I would normally I would say apistos but the apistos and the betta could fight quite badly.

Wills

 

[discus_lover]

for schooling type of fish you may buy neon and cardinal tetra but i'll suggest you to not to buy any fish because then it will be overcrowded...

 

[Diego]

The one gallon rule works to an extent but small fish like 2 inches of guppy will never produce as much waste as 2 inches of a plec (of any kind). So through personal discretion I would count 7 guppies as 10 inches of fish where as I would count 5 inches of BN pleco as 10 inches or maybe more if you see what I mean. The inch per gallon rule is kind of a good rule of thumb but its not set in stone, none of these fish are massive waste polluters and unless its a really small filter on its own with no planting. Idealy in a 20 gallon tank you want a filter that is good for 15-30 gallons possibly more if you can do it. Realistically a 20 gallon tank with 1 female betta 7 guppies and 8 cories is not over stocked particularly since the cory species are reasonably smaller ones. There are a few people on this board that keep a school of 20 tetras plus other reasonably sized fish in a 20g with good success though like I said these tanks are well established and kept by experienced keepers in this case I would say stick with the betta guppies and the increased cories for a while and then a few months down the line depending on your filtration system and also maintenance regime you could maybe add something else though the female betta (depending on temperament) could limit you as I would normally I would say apistos but the apistos and the betta could fight quite badly.

Wills

Thank you all for your opinions and suggestions, it is a 4 week old tank and the original habitants were the guppies, the filter is a tetra whisper 10-30, I also have some water wisteria in the back (just planted). If I add say 2 panda cats or 2 bronze will they school with the albino and peppered? right now I dont see them hanging out, the female betta gets really defensive specially at feeding time so I try to isolate her with a pellet, I m concerned about the cats because they never come up to eat.

 

[Wills]

4 weeks old! Eeek right you have some problems there do you have a water test kit? What is your ammonia reading and also your nitrite reading? I am guessing you are now in a fish in cycle stage which means that your filter has not developed enough bacteria yet to deal with all the toxins that the fish will be producing, this could be a reason for why your cories are not eating. I think a good thing for you to do now would be to read through the articles here http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=277264 this is the beginers center on this site and it is all good you will learn a lot about how to keep your fish.
At the moment like I said I suspect that you are in a fish in cycle situation - which means that you need to do water changes every day to keep the toxins down. Have you lost any fish since the tank started as this could happen now. Also what are the guppies tails like in a new tank like this the toxins sometimes cause their fins to fray and it can be a sign of a bad water. Also what are all the fishes gills like are the red at all or black on the edges or just normal? Keep an eye out for the red or black as this is ammonia burn which is really serious.
Let us know the results of your water tests and this should let us and you know how far along you are with the cycle - if you dont have one we find the most accurate one to be the API drop test, the complete test kit costs around £15ish and is available at all aquatic chain stores but they will last you for ages and will be a very valuable asset to you while you keep fish.

Wills

 

[crazychris]

Thank you all for your opinions and suggestions, it is a 4 week old tank and the original habitants were the guppies, the filter is a tetra whisper 10-30, I also have some water wisteria in the back (just planted). If I add say 2 panda cats or 2 bronze will they school with the albino and peppered? right now I dont see them hanging out, the female betta gets really defensive specially at feeding time so I try to isolate her with a pellet, I m concerned about the cats because they never come up to eat.

I'd avoid Panda cats as they're a bit delicate and not as hardy as the bronze, albino and peppered. You'd be better adding 2 more albino and 2 more peppered as they really like to be in groups of their own species. They eat from the bottom so that's normal that they don't come up to eat! Just be sure that some food's reaching the bottom for them as they shouldn't just be treated as tank scavengers.

I wouldn't add any more fish yet though. The corys are okay for the time being. Buy an API liquid test kit first. I recently bought one and they're very accurate. Then you can keep an eye on your water quality.

 

[natalie265]

To answer your original question, some day down the road, you could consider adding a honey or dwarf gourami. They don't need to be kept in schools, and make a nice show piece fish for smaller tanks.

But definitely listen to the previous advice before you think about adding any more fish!

 

[Diego]

To answer your original question, some day down the road, you could consider adding a honey or dwarf gourami. They don't need to be kept in schools, and make a nice show piece fish for smaller tanks.

But definitely listen to the previous advice before you think about adding any more fish!

Thank you, I am already on top of the water parameters.

 

[waterdrop]

To answer your original question, some day down the road, you could consider adding a honey or dwarf gourami. They don't need to be kept in schools, and make a nice show piece fish for smaller tanks.

But definitely listen to the previous advice before you think about adding any more fish!

Thank you, I am already on top of the water parameters.

That's good! We have good reason to get worried about this for newcomers. The vast majority of beginners coming in have been given completely "off" info by the LFS or other sources. Often people are using testing by the LFS (which is often wrong or they are just told its "fine" when its not) or are using paper strips (which are worse than useless as they are actually misleading and can cause bad decisions.) In the unfortunate circumstance of a fish-in cycling situation its important to understand how large and frequent the water changes will need to be, especially with a near fully-stocked tank as this and how quickly the situation can "go south!" Things can look fine and all of a sudden you'll get a nitrite reading of 1.0 (which of course could lead to a quick death of some of the fish, while permanently injuring the others.)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[fishmad135]

Im curious to know how the guppy and the betta are getting along. Do they fight at all? i was wondering wether i should put a few guppy in my 20 gallon what do ya think?