Sort Of New To This With A 20 Gallon Tank.

[mhschiefs97]

We have had a tank in my house so I have experience but I just bought my own tank 2 weeks ago and it is still cycling with some fish in it and none have died even though I put a Irradescent shark in the first night (the other one got eatin that day in our other tank and he had been attacked badly with one I swollen with blood and scratches all over, he has completely healed since then in my tank), and some others sicne then including: I stupidly bought 2 cheap baby oscars the second day that I am going to have to find new homes for if they survive the rest of the cycling; These nex fish I bought maybe 5 days after setting up my tank: 1 baby silver dollar, a danio, a small pleco, and a tadpole. They have all seemed to be fine, but they are not my long term plans.

I wanna know if I can make a setup with:
2-3 South american puffer since I have read they stay fairly small and are very peaceful. (what amount of these would you guys reccomend?)
2 German blue Ram cichlid or (2-3 different dwarf cichlids or get 2 of the blue rams so they I can get some experience with breeding)
2-4 oto's since they like being in groups

What I have learned is the puffer need snails for their teeth and a good way of getting snails is from plants. So I would get some plants for my tank. And since alot of things have said plants produce alot of algae I would get some oto's as my cleaners.

So do you guys like my plan and if you do would you reccomend getting any more fish than I already planned or would that be to much. Also if I got 1-2 plants would I still need to buy another hiding place for the fish like some rocks or a cave.

 

[funkycat]

I'm glad you came on here for advice, dont be scared to ask alot of questions.

First of all both the irredescent shark and Silver dollar will get much to big for a twenty gallon. Silver dollars grow to 6 inches around, are skittish if not in a school and eat basically all plants. Irredescent sharks have been known to grow up to 12 inches, will eat anything that fits in their mouth, usually your smaller fish. And the tadpole, i dont know what type of frog it is, but i would definitely check it out, once it turns into a frog it'll probably go after some of your fish.
Danios like to school groups of 5+ are reccomended.

As far as i know all south american puffers grow pretty large, or are brackish. (I do know that dwarf puffers are fresh water) but NO puffers are community fish, despite what many LFS will say. They nip at the fins of other fish.

A pair of rams would be good, in a 20 gallon they'd probably end up being the centre pieces. Other fish which easily breed are livebearers. (mollys, guppies, platies)

Otos are awesome little fish, they can be kinda hard to acclimatise especially to a new tank, they do best in an established one so u might want to wait a little while.

Plants dont produce algae, algae and plants actually compete for the same resources (light etc). The decorations, plants you want usually depend on what you want your tank to look like. Fish will appreciate more hiding spots, be more comfortable active usually. I know if you eventually do want to breed Rams you will need a nice flat surface usually a rock like slate or something.

Keep doing research online theres ton a ton of information. Definitely take what you hear from the LFS with a grain of salt, and impulse buys without research usually turn out badly.

Just out of curiosity what is your other tank like (size, inhabitants etc.)

 

[mhschiefs97]

The other tank is 29g and is one that would probably anger people, but it has no research put into it just advice from fish stores, which is why I wanna do it right with my tank. Before I list the fish just keep in mind it is not my tank so I have no say in what goes in it. I recently learned one of the fish was a jaguar ciclid, 2 parrot cichlids, 2 jack dempseys, a silver dollar, and an electric tail cat fish.

Are you positive the South American puffer are to aggressive for my tank? all the research I have done has pointed towards them being good community fish.
If the SAPs aren't good for my tank how many more fish would I be able to add on top of the blue rams and otos?

 

[lovemyfraggies]

The best way to fish cycle your tank is with hardy fish and less expensive fish like mollies or platys. It is not cycling when you add all those fish in the beggining. Those fish are also to big for your tank. You should research each fish carefully, find out what size tank they can be in and also if they get along. There is also another way to instantly cycle your tank and that is with Bio-Spira. It is live bacteria. You can buy it in the pet store or on line. You might want to get some to save your fish since you already have them. I paid 11.99 for 30 gallons. It's the only instant cycle that works. Good luck!

 

[mhschiefs97]

It's funny you bring up Bio Spira because I actually just bought it and put it in my tank. The ammonia level is at around 4-5 right before putting it in with the nitrate level at 0 ppm after 2 weeks of having my tank. I am looking forward to the results tommorow because everyone in the fish store said good things about it.