How Many Cherry Barbs Can I Stock In A 20g Long?

[rowens86]

Hello

I was just wondering how many Cherry Barbs can I stock in a 20G, 30inx12in? I was also wondering if you can use all males?

Thanks

 

[waterdrop]

Various references put Puntius titteya (Cherry Barb) as growing to a maximum size of 1.5 or 2 inches, including our very own TFF reference. If the barbs were the only fish in your 20g, you could entertain a shoal of 10 (or 15 perhaps if you are confident of overfiltration and good maintenance habits.) If you are new to the hobby its highly recommended you experience the "feel" of running an aquarium at roughly the "one inch of mature fish body per US gallon guideline" (this would be the 10 fish rather than the 15 for you) for the first year prior to trying out the more risky and involved practice of over-stocking. (Overstocking, to give a single example, brings with it much trickier problems with power outages!)

~~waterdrop~~