Stocking Numbers?

[dothedew]

Perhaps you saw my post in the emergencies forum? My 20 gal got wiped out.

I'm thinking about stocking it now. I was wondering how much of all of these fish I can put in.

Upside down cats
cories
danios (I have 5 to be moved from my 10gal)
otos.

I'm gonna do sand, and potted plants.

Speaking of sand, can I get it from a hardware store? If so, how do I clean it before I put it in the tank?

 

[yhbae]

Perhaps you saw my post in the emergencies forum? My 20 gal got wiped out.

I'm thinking about stocking it now. I was wondering how much of all of these fish I can put in.

Upside down cats
cories
danios (I have 5 to be moved from my 10gal)
otos.

I'm gonna do sand, and potted plants.

Speaking of sand, can I get it from a hardware store? If so, how do I clean it before I put it in the tank?

You should be able to accomodate all of those species in your 20g tank...

Before going with sand, perhaps you should look into pool filter sand as well. These are somewhat more coarse than play sand hence it doesn't get blown around the tank as easily, and grains are large enough that you don't have to worry about nasty gas getting trapped. Also, it is small enough that almost no particles gets trapped in between. IMO, it is the easiest substrate to maintain. They are very cheap, at few dollars for the whole tank coverage. You can find both pure white and mixed brown kinds. They are sold in pool supply stores.

But if you must go with play sand, you can buy them from the hardware store - they are super cheap as well. Try to pick the ones that are as coarse as possible. Some are nortorious for creating cloudy water and even breaking power filters. In order to wash it, you can pour some of them into a bucket, then stick a hose into it, then go full blast, while shaking vigorously. Pour as much water out of the bucket, then repeat as much as you can until water becomes clear after the blasts. It takes some patient to really get the fine particles out.

I have both sand based and PFS based tanks. I use PFS in all tanks except for mbuna tank which is sand based, and bare tank, which doesn't have any...

 

[dothedew]

Thanks YH, you helped a lot. I'm gonna look around for a pool store, I'll ask my uncle who lives less than a mile away and has a pool. Do these numbers for the fish sound good?

3 cats
4/5 cories
5 danios
3/4 otos

Sound alright?

 

[dothedew]

Another thing, how many pounds of sand do I need? The tank is 20g US and 24x12x14 inches.

Also, with potted plants, can I buy any plant and buy a pot? Or do I have to get the ones that are potted in the store.

 

[dothedew]

Gah, double post, sorry

 

[The-Wolf]

Another thing, how many pounds of sand do I need? The tank is 20g US and 24x12x14 inches.

Also, with potted plants, can I buy any plant and buy a pot? Or do I have to get the ones that are potted in the store.

according to boonedocks 30 lb will give you an
average depth of 2" of sand in that tank.

Personally I remove the pots on my plants as it
encourages the roots to spread better, so you may
want to think of that.

 

[yhbae]

I purchased a 50lb pack of PFS, and I only ended up using half of it in my 25g tank. And the whole thing only costs $5CA...

As for your stocking level, yeah that sounds sensible to me...

 

[dothedew]

Ok, I called a pool shop, and they only sell 100lb bags, so they're gonna give me like 20lbs free , since sometimes the bags break.

I'd like to change the stock a little.
Bnose
Zebra Loach
5 Danios
4/5 hatchetfish

Sound ok?

 

[yhbae]

Ok, I called a pool shop, and they only sell 100lb bags, so they're gonna give me like 20lbs free , since sometimes the bags break.

I'd like to change the stock a little.
Bnose
Zebra Loach
5 Danios
4/5 hatchetfish

Sound ok?

Good for you - free substrates... You will find that they are alot easier to wash compare to sand as well...

As for the stocking level, I think it looks ok, but I believe loaches like to be in a group of 3+ (they are more active), but I've seen people raise a single one as well...