Stocking Thoughts for a 20 (Maybe 50?) Gallon Tank

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WestCoastChelle

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I'd like to set up a little community tank. I plan to get it cycling sometime this week and while that whole process happens I'm researching and thinking about who all I'd like to have in there. The tank will have a lid, driftwood and live plants with sand substrate.

My initial thoughts atm are:
  • Male Betta
  • Dwarf Clown Pleco
  • 5 or 6 Kuhli Loaches
  • 3 or so African Dwarf Frog
  • Shoaling fish, maybe the Harlequin Rasboras? Or something similar?
I've never kept a frog in a tank before but I love the idea. Some research on suitable betta tankmates suggested them as an option. My plan is to do some research on feeding them, as I've seen it suggested to handfeed them in community tanks.
There seem to be conflicting reports on the suitability of the Dwarf Plecos, although most of those seem to be more actually about bristlenose.
I'm not sold on the Rasboras as the small shoal, definitely open to other suggestions!
 
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Hi welcome to the forum :) great to see you pre-planning the tank and good choice to do this as your current plans have a couple of issues.

Male Bettas are not a great choice to put into a community tank or an overly large tank, with their line-bred finnage they are better suited to life in smaller tanks and often by themselves as they can nip and fight with other fish and also can get nipped by other fish and their big fins while beautiful are susceptible to fungus and infection if they get damaged.

Second, Dwarf Frogs are quite cool but I wouldn't keep them with fish so its a bit of an either-or situation. They are not a threat to fish (unless you accidentally get clawed frogs as they look similar as youngsters), but they can sometimes get out-competed for food with faster-moving, more alert fish.

The Clown Pleco and the Khuli Loaches could be a good choice - though if you like Harlequins you could swap the pleco for some Panda Garas and go for a South East Asian themed tank and look at some kind of Gourami as a centre piece species in place of the Betta - though avoid any larger growing species and dwarf gourami (Dwarfs can often carry diseases as they are really overbred in big fish farms). But something like a Honey Gourami or a group of the smaller Croaking or Sparkling Gourami could be great.

One thing to check though is do you know what your water hardness is like? All these fish mentioned so far are softwater species so hopefully your water is slightly acidic and soft or if its harder we might need to think of some other ideas.

Wills
 
Thank you for the response. Yeah I had a feel I was being ambitious putting those in with the betta. I hadn't really thought of a gourami. Honey Gourami are so pretty! Would you recommend just one? Or a small group?

Panda Garas also look great, and I love the idea of doing a themed South East Asian tank. But I wasn't entirely sold on the Harlequins. Basically I don't really have a clear picture of what all I want in the tank, other than I'd like some kind of center piece fish and then a shoal and something like the loaches and pleco as bottom dwellers.

I believe we have soft water here. The area I live actually wins awards for best water in the world.
 
Thank you for the response. Yeah I had a feel I was being ambitious putting those in with the betta. I hadn't really thought of a gourami. Honey Gourami are so pretty! Would you recommend just one? Or a small group?

Panda Garas also look great, and I love the idea of doing a themed South East Asian tank. But I wasn't entirely sold on the Harlequins. Basically I don't really have a clear picture of what all I want in the tank, other than I'd like some kind of center piece fish and then a shoal and something like the loaches and pleco as bottom dwellers.

I believe we have soft water here. The area I live actually wins awards for best water in the world.

Good quality soft water... bah, feels like bragging to someone with rock hard water with barely legal levels of nitrate... haha

If you can get a figure for your hardness that would be good :) have you got a test kit? If not you could probably go to your water companies website and you can usually work it out from a post or area code?

Honeys are a really nice fish, I'm no expert on Gourami though so someone else might be better to advise on this - I'd guess that a trio would be a good group in a 20g 1 male, 2 female.

Again with soft water you have loads of options for shoaling fish from south east asia, neon green or neon blue rasboras, normans lampeyes, chilli rasboras, clown killifish - maybe think about what colours you'd like, what kind of behaviour (chilled or active etc) and what sort of size and we can work out some options :) .

Wills
 
Confirm your source water parameters to be certain. I suspect you are not on Vancouver's water which is very soft (7 ppm) but it is probably similar. The GH, KH andpH may be listed on the website of your water authority.

A 20g tank is small, if it is the "basic" or high, with a length of 24 inches/60 cm. The 20g long has a length of 30 inches/75 cm. The latter is in many ways more useful. And if the footprint is OK, you can go up to a 29g (same length/width) for a lot more options. But whichever, small fish are more suitable, and provide more variety. Wills has mentioned several options.

Personally, I would avoid gourami here, unless you decide on the quite small species like the pygmy sparkling gourami. A group of 6-7 would work well in a 29g, or a 20g long, but I would b careful with any gourami in a 20g high.
 
Thanks again! I do have an API test kit but I'm not sure it tests for hardness. The most recent report on the water company website is 2021, but many previous years are available. I'm not totally sure what figures I'm looking for? https://www.clearbrookwaterworks.com/CWD 2021 Water Quality Report - final.pdf

I will have a thinky think about the shoaling, thank you for the suggestions. I think if I go with Honeys then probably something in the blue/green family might look good. Probably something on the active ish side.
 
Hello, from my experience and that of other keepers it is basically impossible to keep african dwarf frogs with fish. They are almost blind, slow moving, slow eating and starve to death while the fish gorge.
Having kept harlequins and other rasboras, they are classified as fast eaters.
Doing research on kuhli loaches recently, because i desperately want them ,the consensus is more the merrier. If you have hidey holes, driftwoods, caves, cholla wood, tunnels, and roots of potted plants, they will feel safe and enjoy your tank. They do not appreciate too many other bottom dwellers, so if you decide to go kuhli loaches, prepare the environment for them to enjoy and get 10 to 20 of them. They are more active in larger groups. If you get five, you won't ever see them again.

Since you can sort of always add more, i would start with one bottom dwellers, be it panda garras, kuhli loaches, pleco or corydoras, and one good sized group of mid level shoaling fish, be it any sort of daniel, tetra or rasboras
Main piece can be decided later on based on the tank feels and looks
 
Thanks again! I do have an API test kit but I'm not sure it tests for hardness. The most recent report on the water company website is 2021, but many previous years are available. I'm not totally sure what figures I'm looking for? https://www.clearbrookwaterworks.com/CWD 2021 Water Quality Report - final.pdf

I will have a thinky think about the shoaling, thank you for the suggestions. I think if I go with Honeys then probably something in the blue/green family might look good. Probably something on the active ish side.

The GH on page 22 is said to be in the range of 75 to 127 mg/l. They term this moderately hard,which is why subjective terms are so misleading--to an aquarist, this is soft to very soft water. The mg/l is the same as ppm (parts per million) which is one unit we use, the other being degrees (dH). So 75 ppm = 4 dH and 127 ppm = 7 dH. The latter is soft, the former very soft. The pH range in the 7's is fine.

You have a lot of options here for fish, almost any from South America and SE Asia will do, water wise. Tank size is the other factor. And behaviour/compatibility of course.

The gourami is still an issue, depending upon tank size. Anabantids are slow sedate fish, and cannot be combined with any active swimmers. Nor fin nippers obviously. You have not given the tank dimensions.
 
I'm a novice to the site, but a school of Harlequin Rasabora look fantastic and is on my list as my tank cycling progresses.
 
Turns out I also have my old 50 gal with all the trimmings (and a new filter I picked up from someone who was moving a few weeks ago) in my storage room. I've been doing some research on bucketless water change options and if I can get that sorted than it looks like I'll be going 50 not 20 :D This is why we research before we set it up, lmao.

I've kinda fallen for the Honeys. Thinking some of those Normans Lampeyes that Wills mentioned might look great in the tank with those. And some Kuhli.

Then I was thinking maybe some Threadfin Rainbows as another option. Possibly with some corys too?

10 x Kuhli Loach (Pangio kuhlii)
6 x Cory (of some kind)
3 x Honey Gourami (Trichogaster chuna)
6 x Threadfin RainbowFish (Iriatherina werneri)
8 x Lampeye Killifish (Micropanchax macrophthalmus)

Wondering if that will wind up being a balanced looking tank. Not sure what's best to start with, currently researching which on my list are considered hardier and would be more suited to a cycled-but-new tank.

Apologies if I seem a bit scattered and not sure what direction I'm going. Definitely in the "throw ideas at the wall and see what sticks" phase of planning this tank. I've bought nothing yet, so it's all in the dreaming and research phase. I'd rather do this for a while than buy fish only to realize I've put them in a bad spot.
 
It is good that you are thinking of options, rather than acquiring some fish that look nice in the store but have issues going forward. You are on the correct path here.

Substrate was not mentioned (unless I missed it)--with cories or loaches you need soft sand. Quiklrete Play Sand from Lowe's or Home Depot is fine, and inexpensive.

Cories are shoaling/schooling fish, so they need a group. Numbers in the 10-12 range are minimum, it would be preferable to have more, if in the 50g I would go with 20-25. You can mix species. But cories and loaches are not a good idea, though admittedly kuhli loaches are much less of a problem than the Botia species. Still, I would not mix them.

Honeys could work in the 50. Tankmates are restricted somewhat, but still plenty of options. The rainbowfish need double (12).
 
It's funny, researching the tank is a good part of the fun for me!

Yeah it's going to be a sand substrate and planted. Not totally sure on plants yet but those will be more informed by what I wind up deciding to stock it with RE: temps, etc.

Having to pick between cories and kuhli is gonna be tough! I guess I'll do some more research on the personalities of them and see what I feel I'd enjoy more. Kuhlis have such a unique look, but cories are so cute.

Are you able to point me to some good info on the honeys? I hadn't seen much about how they restrict tankmates so clearly I'm not looking in the best places.
 
Cories will be out and about all the time, if not stressed of course. This cannot bee said of kuhli loaches; some aquarists never see them. This loach is very secretive, and nocturnal. Personally in a tank that is 4-feet long which I assume this 50g will be,the cories are a better option. Or one of the botine loaches (kuhli loaches are not botine).

This is my profile researched several years ago on the Honey Gourami, Trichogaster chuna:

Family: Osphronemidae, Subfamily Luciocephalinae

Common Names: Honey Gourami, Sunset Honey Gourami, Red Flame Honey Gourami

Origin and Habitat: India and Bangladesh. Found in sluggish waters with thick vegetation, such as ponds, swamps, ditches and flooded fields.

Compatibility/Temperament: Peaceful and suited to a community aquarium of smaller non-aggressive fishes. Can be kept in a small group in a 20g long or larger, although males will become territorial when spawning.

Honey Gourami Diet: Omnivorous by nature (feeding on insects, small invertebrates, aufwuchs [algae growing on rocks, etc]), it accepts most prepared foods. Supplemental feedings with frozen daphnia and bloodworms, or live foods like artemia (brine shrimp), worms and insects will bring out the best colouration.

Size: Two inches (5 cm) although some sources give 7 cm. Females are larger than males.

Minimum Tank Suggestion: 30 inches in length.

Water parameters for Honey Gourami: Soft to moderately hard (< 20 dGH), acidic to slightly basic (pH 6 to 7.5) water, temperature 22-27C/72-82F. Available fish will normally be commercially raised and suited to the ranges given for hardness and pH, but wild-caught fish must be kept in soft, acidic water.

Discussion

This is the smallest gourami in this genus and probably the best choice from among the more common gourami for a community tank; as noted above under Compatibility, this species can be kept in a small group in smaller tanks (20g long and larger) unlike the other species.

Females are slightly larger than males in this species, and usually exhibit a brown stripe along the side; males are the more colourful, taking on quite spectacular colouration in spawning condition. This species is a bubblenest spawner, and fairly easy to spawn if the fish are both willing, healthy and conditioned with good foods. The male cares for the nest and fry, and the female should be removed after spawning to avoid injury from the male as he will chase her away. The tank must be tightly covered so that the labyrinth organ will develop properly in the fry.

In common with all the species in the suborder Anabantoidei, this fish possesses an auxiliary breathing organ called the labyrinth, named because of the maze-like arrangement of passages that allow the fish to extract oxygen from air taken in at the surface. The fish must use this accessory method, and it allows the fish to live in oxygen-poor muddy waters. To accommodate this, the aquarium must be kept covered to maintain warm moist air above the surface.

The tank should be well-planted, and floating plants are important as the species, like all gourami, spends much time near the surface, browsing plant leaves and dangling roots for food. Floating plants also provide support for the bubblenest. Subdued lighting, partly achieved with floating plants, will calm the fish. It may live for 5-8 years.

Some colour varieties exist, developed by breeders, including the red flame honey gourami and an albino form. Requirements and maintenance are the same as for the type species.

In 1882, F. Hamilton first described this species as Trichopodus chuna; at the same date Hamilton also described a species as Trichopodus sota which subsequent study [Schaller & Kottelat, 1989] revealed was actually the female of the subject species so the species epithet sota became a synonym. It was transferred into the genus Colisa [erected by Cuvier in 1821] and remained there [apart from a 1999 reference by A.G.K. Menon to the species as Polyacanthus sota] until 2009 when it was assigned to Trichogaster [see summary explanation below]. This genus name comes from the Greek thrix (hair) and gaster (belly), a reference to the thread-like pelvic fins that contain taste cells at the tips. Given that this is a very recent reclassification, the subject species will be frequently encountered in the literature as Colisa lalia.

Until 1923, Trichogaster was used as the genus for the small gourami species and Trichopodus for the larger species. When the genus Trichopodus was established by Lacepede in 1801, it was not usual to designate a type species (as it is now), and later ichthyologists frequently designated one. A "type species" is the species that exhibits all the scientific characteristics for that genus, normally today the first such species to be described, and all species assigned to that genus will also share those characteristics. Topfer & Schindler (2009) detail the matter of the type species designations and errors respecting Trichogaster and Trichopodus; the end result was that in 1923, Dr. George S. Meyers incorrectly assumed the type species earlier assigned for Trichogaster and consequently established Trichogaster as the true genus in place of Trichopodus (which name became a synonym for Trichogaster) for the larger gourami species. Colisa was then selected as the genus for the small (dwarf) species previously assigned to Trichogaster.

This state remained (although in the literature there was frequent confusion) until 1997 when E. Derijst pointed out the error of the assumed type species by Meyers [see Topfer 2008]. R. Britz (2004) obsoleted the name Colisa, but its popularity continued in the literature. In 2008, J. Topfer thoroughly investigated the issue and recommended renaming of the species and K.-H. Rossmann (2008) followed. In 2009, Topfer & Schindler established Trichopodus as a currently valid genus of Osphronemidae, which includes the four large gourami species, Trichopodus trichopterus, T. leerii, T. microlepis and T. cantoris. The Colisa species reverted back to the genus Trichogaster as Trichogaster chuna, T. fasciata, T. labiosa, T. lalius, and T. bejeus. The species names of this genus were also corrected grammatically in accordance with the rules of the ICZN [Schindler 2009]. The California Academy of Sciences--Ichthyology [W.N. Eschmeyer] has adopted the afore-mentioned revisions.

References:

Britz, R. (2004), "Why Colisa has become Trichogaster and Trichogaster is now Trichopodus," AAGB Labyrinth 136, pp. 8-9.

Derijst, E. (1997), "Nota over de geldigheid van de genusnamen: Trichogaster Bloch & Schneider, 1801; Trichopodus Lacepede, 1801; Polyacanthus Cuvier, 1829 en Colisa Cuvier, 1831 (Perciformes: Belontiidae)...," Aquarium Wereld 60 (9), pp. 217-236.

Rossmann, K.-H. (2008), "Neue Namen fur die Fadenfische?" Der Makropode [Zeitschrift der Internationale Gemeinschaft fur Labyrinthefische] 30(3), pp. 79-80.

Schindler, I. (2009), "On the spelling of the Species name of the genus Trichogaster (formerly Colisa) and Trichopodus," Der Makropode 1/09.

Topfer, J. (2008), "Lacepede-2. Teil: Seine Labyrinthfischgattungen Osphronemus, Trichopodus und Macropodus sowie die Gultigkeit der Namen," Der Maropode 30(2), pp. 41-52.

Topfer, J. & Schindler, I. (2009), "On the type species of Trichopodus (Teleostei: Perciformes: Osphronemidae)," Vertebrate Zoology 59(1), pp. 49-51.
 
A word about the honey gouramis you'll find in stores. You may find three varieties of honey gourami - the natural colour, a yellow variant and a fish labelled as red honey gouramis. The red ones are not honey gouramis, they are either thick lipped gouramis or some sort of hybrid between the two.
 

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