Help Me Finish Stocking My 20 Gallon Long!

[SombreroBanana]

I've had my 20-gallon long running since last November-ish. It's made a lot of progress, and I'm proud of it, but I want to stock it a bit more. Here's the specs:


Penguin 150 Bio-Wheel stuffed with ceramic rings.

Heater, can't remember brand/wattage, and I'm on vacation currently so I can't check. The temperature generally hovers around 76-78 Fahrenheit all the time.

48 watts of lighting,
this
is my fixture. It has one 6700k bulb, and one "roseate" bulb.

Nitrates are almost always below 15ppm. Nitrites and ammonia are non-existent.

pH is around 7.5.

Can't remember GH, but it's Western-Chicago suburbs tapwater. It's medium hardness according to my madre.

Flourite substrate, couple pieces of driftwood (covered with java fern and phoenix moss), and some lava rock (with anubias on it). Jungle/Italian val covering half the tank, some Amazon frogbit covering about an eighth of my tank, some purple cabomba in one corner, and the pitiful start to a glosso carpet. Also have some Naja grass that hitchhiked on my vals in one corner, and some narrow-leaf anacharis that hitchhiked on my cabomba.

One male Bolivian ram (I might set up a fry tank and get a female, deciding on that currently), three BN plecos (don't know sexes, I'm going to get rid of two, PM me if you're in the Chicago area and could rehome them), two zebra danios (got 6 when I had just finished cycling my tank, 4 died off. Also need to rehome these, so send a PM), about 12 ghost shrimp (which somehow breed and survive), and 50+ ramshorn snails.

I rarely perform water changes (maybe twice a month), but I have to top-off my tank pretty regularly. I genuinely have no idea how my nitrates are that low.


I want to have some schooling fish. I like the look of micro-rasboras, but I'm deterred by their need for soft water. Would they do fine in tap water?

I also would love some more invertebrates. I'm thinking of trying to get some microorganisms from the pond near my house and introducing them to my tank.


Give me ideas! I'm completely open to suggestions. I love seeing others' perspective.

Thanks,
SombreroBanana

 

[the_lock_man]

The microasbora or microdanio species you are looking at will do fine - Bolivian Rams also prefer softwater, and are doing fine.
 
I would strongly suggest increasing your water changes to weekly - it's not just the removal of nitrate, you also need to replenish the trace minerals into the water column.
 
I would also advise against introducing any organism from the wild into your tank - first, the temperatures are greatly different, and secondly, you risk introducing infection or pollution that may well wipe out your stock.

 

[SombreroBanana]

The microasbora or microdanio species you are looking at will do fine - Bolivian Rams also prefer softwater, and are doing fine.
 
I would strongly suggest increasing your water changes to weekly - it's not just the removal of nitrate, you also need to replenish the trace minerals into the water column.
 
I would also advise against introducing any organism from the wild into your tank - first, the temperatures are greatly different, and secondly, you risk introducing infection or pollution that may well wipe out your stock.

 
I just wanted to make sure on that, thanks. The Burma yellow neon rasboras are really catching my eye, moreso than the chili rasboras.
 
I dose Flourish weekly, I forgot to put that into the original post. Wouldn't that replenish trace minerals just as much as a water change?
 
Yeah, I realize that now. I might try and buy some microorganisms from a biological supply company or something and introduce them, however.