Need Help With Chosing Fish Need Help!

[Binskiboi]

Hi, fellow fishforums members. I recently started a tank 3 months ago. After cycling my 20 gallon tank I put in 1 blue gourami, 2 blackskirt tetras, 2 redswordtails, and 2 rainbow sharks (YIKES!). So here's the story.... The jack's aquarium worker told me I could put in 2 swordtails. (little did i know they were both male and males would NOT get along without at least a few females per male). I then purchased a blue gourami, and 2 blackskirt tetras. I then sited the rainbow sharks and thought they were cool. I asked for one then said, unknownly "Would it be okay for me to put 2 rainbows in a 20 gallon?" He replied, ofcourse!. So I bought two. a week later 1 rainbow was dead. 1 blackskirt was dead. and the two MALE swordtails wont stop fighting. So im taking out the last blackskirt and one of the males and donating them back. The 1 rainbow shark, blue gourami, all get along fine with eachother. I have read different forums and have learned to NEVER TRUST A PET STORE WORKER!!!! I cant decide what to put in now.

here is what will have left
1 male swordtail
1 blue gourami
1 pleco
1 rainbow shark



what else could i put in my 20 gallon tank? (in a few weeks im upgrading to a 40gallon tank so dont worry i know the rainbow shark needs more space!) any help would be GREATLY appreciated.


P.S. i would LOVE to put a bala or red tailed black shark in but i know those probably wont work even in the 40? >.<

thanks.

~Binskiboi

 

[aly_starh]

Some shoaling fish, tetras?

Also do you know what type of plec you have?

 

[Binskiboi]

I believe its just a normal plec. its 4 inches and spotted black and tan. also i had an idea. 1 rainbow shark, 1 blue gourami, and 1 black shark in the 20gall? and get rid of both aggressive swordtail males? the rainbow shark and gourami get along great so maybe a redtail shark would be okay just the 3 of them and a pleco?

also im worried because my plec is almost always moving. i have a few real plants hoping that irts giving him enuogh algae food?

 

[veloxci]

I believe its just a normal plec. its 4 inches and spotted black and tan. also i had an idea. 1 rainbow shark, 1 blue gourami, and 1 black shark in the 20gall? and get rid of both aggressive swordtail males? the rainbow shark and gourami get along great so maybe a redtail shark would be okay just the 3 of them and a pleco?

also im worried because my plec is almost always moving. i have a few real plants hoping that irts giving him enuogh algae food?

Try dropping him a few extra sinking algae waffers and make sure hes got some where to get out of the way abit.
You could just increase the numbers that you have , sword tails are pretty intersting in a social group of 2/3 females vs 1 male. and there live bearers which is cool.

 

[Curiosity101]

The gourami will grow too big even for the 40gal
The rainbow shark may JUST be ok in the 40gal, but to be honest should be in nothing less than a 55gal, so keep a very close eye on it. If it ever starts to get agressive then be ready to re-home it.
The plec sounds like a bog standard leopard sailfin pleco, grows to 20"+ so will easily outgrow a 40gal and therefore will need re-homing in the near future.

If it were me I would re-home everything except the swordtail, and buy 3 female swords to replace the fish you re-homed.
From there you would have a huge amount of choice.

But as it stands I'm hesitant to suggest bottom feeders incase the shark gets territorial.
However for the upper levels of the tank (I'm suggesting for the 40gal here, not the 20gal), you could perhaps have a pair of keyhole cichlids and then a shoal of something (dwarf rainbowfish, tetras, rasbora).

You really need to narrow it down before we can properly give suggestions.

Edit: The plec must be fed in the same was as the other fish, if you expect it to simply forage for food in the tank then it will starve to death. They can be fed on all sorts, algae wafers, courgette, spinach and often they like meaty cichlid pellets and stuff too.

 

[The Other Lebowski]

rainbow sharks are very aggressive towards its own kind and should not be kept together. so it's likely your swordfish had nothing to do with the death of one of them, i'd say the other one is the culprit. in fact you shouldn't combine it with any other shark species.