Stocking A 20 Gallon- Need Fish Suggestions, Easy Keepers Preferred

[trianglekitty]

My cousin proved she hates me by gifting me with a 20 gallon tank for Christmas. Short backstory- I rescued a dwarf gourami and started with a 5 gallon, then upgraded to a 10. Now I'm upgrading to a 20, and I'd love suggestions for easy fish for a newbie fish keeper. I have used filter media to set the tank up with, and I know I need to add the fish slowly over a period of time so the bacteria can adjust.

So far I only have the one dwarf gourami and two guppies (not the fancy kind). The gourami is aggressive toward new fish (he gets along fine with the guppies, I just can't add new fish to the tank). I'll be moving him over last, which should hopefully prevent territorial aggression.

Suggestions I've gotten:

Kuhli Loach
Cherry Barb
Rasboras
Tetras (any suggestions for type?)
Cories
Giant Danios (fish store suggested this- I like them a lot but think they are too big for the tank)

I know I don't want neons or mollies. I'd prefer more varied fish rather than schooling types- would rather have one schooling type, than fill it out with different types. However, it seems like most of the smaller fish are schooling. I'd prefer easy keepers- nothing with special requirements or very delicate. If the gourami does show aggressive behavior I'll have to move him to a tank by himself.

The tank will have live plants, both planted and floating, if that helps to know for fish type.

 

[moochy13]

unfortunately most fish would prefer to be in groups, though there was a thread a week or so ago where a guy was asking what fish ould be kept singuarly in a community. it was either in this part or the 'tropical discussion' part of the forum. worth checking out for fish that can be kept on their own.

 

[Hunterprey]

I guess u can add female bettas and South American Bumblebee catfish to the tank I had them with dwarf Gourami and guppies b4 and they get on fine. Catfish is nocturnal tho, but i think they're really cute fish n its fine by itself.

 

[kiriyama]

20gall would look nice with a group of Lemon Tetras , maybe 12-14 , you could then add 6 Corries, triliniatus are nice, or a nice BN Plec

 

[guppy2198]

You could just have one big shoal of fish. Like Neon tetras and other species as well as danios. A big group would look nice and would be easy to care for.

 

[ddgbumblebee]

I agree with guppy2198 in this. A larger group of smaller fish such as tetras would be easy and also look great. You can then build around this and add some lower level fish to 'balance' the appearance.

 

[waterdrop]

Your instinct was correct: Giant Danios were not an appropriate suggestion for a 20G. They would prefer to be in quite a large group racing around a tank with significantly greater horizontal space.

The others are all appropriate. You asked about an easy fish for beginners: Harlequins (Rasbora heteromorpha (or did they get a new scientific name recently, lol)) are amazingly hardy, easy and beautiful and the 6 minimum you'd need would fit your 20G just fine.

Alternatively, or in addition if you work out that you have room, any of the smaller, more torpedo shaped tetras would allow you a shoal with larger numbers. The larger vertical pancake shaped ones (lemons, serpae, blacks) would start to use up a lot of your 20" guideline by the time a minimum shoal matured (in other words, it could be done but would put you closer to having a single species only tank.)

Let me suggest about tetras that if you have time, browse the LFS and try to study (and take notes on little scraps of paper) the behavior of the different tetras. They can be very different from each other. Some sit very still, other move very fast more frequently. Some shoal more tightly than others (rummy noses shoal about the tightest but they get a bit big (in appropriate numbers) for your tank.) Cories also need numbers, so you might have to think about pygmy cories, but those can be more difficult to find sometimes.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[mikeyy_lol]

I'm new to the hobby and was asking pretty much the same question with respect to singular fish rather than shoaling, personally I'd get a small shoal of Celestial Pearl Danios, even though they do shoal they are very small (2cm max) and would add an extra dimension to the tank I feel ,
You could also add a guppy or 2, Kuhli loaches look great at the bottom of the tank and are my girlfriends favourite, African Dwarf frogs are fantastic but require a bit more care when feeding. Maybe a couple of Bolivian rams? Or some male endlers! I think there are some small community kilifish you could have in there aswell though I'd suggest some research as I'm not 100% sure and pray your LFS can stock them for you if you ask!