Planning On A New 20 Gallon Long

[Mauricia]

My birthday's coming up so I'm asking my parents for stuff to set up a 20 gallon long (30" x 12" x 12"), but I really want to make sure this is set up properly, so I have a few questions.

Does anyone know about how many pounds of sand are required to cover the bottom with about an 1" of depth?

I'm planning on getting an Whisper EX Power Filter EX30, it's meant for 30 gallons and turns over 160 gph, does this sound good? I've used the whisper HOB filters and liked them, so I figured I'd try this.

I plan on fishless cycling of course, so don't worry about that. But I would like to start thinking about what to stock it with. I really want to get some khulie loaches, although I've been having trouble finding any but the black ones which I don't want, but I'm going to watch aquabid for some when the tanks all ready. Do they need a group of six or would 3/4 be enough? I wanted to get some cories too, but I'm worried that might be overcrowding the bottom. Thoughts on this? If I got cories I'd want to get like 5 of them so they could have a proper shoal.
Other than that I'm sort of at a loss for stocking ideas. I suppose I could try some Honey Gouramis, or I might also be interested in a few Endlers. I'd rather have somewhat interesting fish, are there any suitable fish that I'm not thinking of? I'd rather keep the tank slightly understocked though, I like my fish to have lots of room. I read the ideas for a 10 gallon list, and I'm interested in the pygmy hatchetfish but I thought I read somewhere that these are delicate, is this true?
thanks!

 

[dthoffsett]

If I remember right you'll need about 1lb of sand per gallon of water, so about 20lbs. Your filter sounds fine to me, sorry I can't help on stocking, I'm not too good on community tanks.

 

[Ficious]

i like your idea! i recently bought a 20 tall because the hood for the 20 long was way expensive and i had to had the tank then!

anyways, khuli loaches sound great. maybe a pair of pygmy corys. some neat fish for the top are halfbeaks. i love these fish!!! if theyre available in your area i would recomend 1 or 2, they stay strictly on top.

honey gouramis are an amazingly peaceful fish! i have a pair and they are awesome!! since your tank is a 20 long its going to be hard to have fish at top, middle, and bottom, as the top and middle would meet often.

i look at 20 longs as mini 55 gallons, or in some cases a cool "reef" tank. and by reef i mean rocks. like a shallow piece of shoreline.

your best option is going to go to your lfs and see what they have. then write down what you like (even if its way more than you can have) and come online to research them. find their needs and amoungst this you will find a balance. thats the part i love about stocking a community tank.


good luck! i hope your tank works out well, and IMO stay natural. a tank like that has the potential of being the center of attention to any room.

 

[Mauricia]

Haha, so basically I'm a loser and spending too much time on this forum, but all I have to do at my job is play on the internet while I wait for people to come ask a question, so I guess I have nothing else to do.

I really like the rock idea, it would be great for creating hiding places and look cool.
Don't cories need a shoal though? I would go with pygmy cories if I got any. I was just going to order fish online though, skip the LFS, as all of the fish I've gotten online have turned out to be wonderful, beautiful, and healthy, and the LFS's where I live suck and the fish I buy from them just die. I see what you mean though about not having distinct levels with a shallower tank, I'll keep that in mind.

 

[Mauricia]

Ok, well I thought about it, and I would like to get two Bolivian Rams and 3 Khuli loaches.
Does anyone see any problems with this? Would there be too much competition for space on the bottom?