Hello from Boston!

[Kirrashi]

Hi there! I’m Sarah! My partner and I are just setting up our first shared aquarium! I haven’t kept fish in quite a few years, and there are so many new things to learn! Our setup is a 20gallon long planted tank for our work-from-home office. We’ve got a seachem tidal 55 filter (I know it’s a bit extra, picked it for the extra features from the smaller one… and I can already tell we will upgrade someday..) Our water seems to be slightly hard, so still figuring out how that impacts everything.

We just got the cycling going last week, and have only plants so far. Baby Tears, Ludwigia, valsinaria, Anubias, Java moss, and an unspecified “sword” from the local fish store. Just added Monte Carlo, hydrocotyl, Java fern windelov, and crypt parva from aquarium co-op! And root tabs and fertilizer which we forgot when we bought the first plants.. they’re already looking happier for it.

One of the sword plants is growing new red leaves which look amazing! Does anyone have thoughts on what specific type it might be? 
As for critters we are planning on adding orange neocardinia, otocinclus when it’s ready and stable.. aaand everything else is still being decided!

I love the look of the pearlescent pink ramshorn snails I’ve seen on aquabid, we also like chestnut and magenta mystery snails, but aren’t sure about how a tank this size would be once they got to full size… Nerite snails are definitely being considered, particularly if we pick a fish that will eat the egg capsules. 

Other fish I’m thinking about are kubotai rasboras, CPD’s, gold ring danios, green neon tetras, or fancy guppies. I’m enchanted by the look of the “alien” betta fish, but I’m not sure about keeping a hybrid fish that I haven’t found very much information on yet.  If anyone has experience or information you can point me towards for any of these fish, that would be awesome! I’m particularly interested in what they all look like when not in “super prime breeding/photoshoot colors”.  

Looking forward to chatting and learning with everyone!

Sarah
❤️

[Jacob Hill-Legion Aquatics]

Welcome to the forum! Your tank looks nice can’t wait to see what it will look like grown in! The sword might be a red flame sword but I’m not sure. The fish I would pic for that tank would be guppies cause they look really colourful and they breed so easy! you could start with a trio (2 females, 1 male) and if you do guppies make sure there’s dense plants for the babies to hide in. For the snails I would go with nerite snails they seem to be the best algae eaters and I think guppies might eat the eggs so you don’t have to worry about seeing them. Also the nerites just have cool patterns.

Good luck with the tank and I hope this helped a bit.

[Henry the fish keeper]

Welcome! 🥰

[lefty o]

welcome to the forum.

[Tihshho]

Welcome!

[Streetwise]

Cheers from Vermont!

[Griznatch]

Welcome! There's a lot of options for nano fish in a 20 long.

[Tabeth]

Hello from New Hampshire!

[Colu]

Welcome to the forum nice tank

[Sal]

Hi Sarah from the north (NH!) Welcome!  Your tank looks awesome so far and will be stunning when it grows in!!  

[Guppysnail]

Hi. Welcome to the forum!  I have videos of CPD in my journal of both everyday color and their breeding colors as well as interaction, mating, spawning and the fry.  I love my CPD, Guppies are guppies and I have never seen extra color from them just lots of showing off for the girls.  

[anewbie]

I'm a huge fan of kubotai rasbora - they are a little different than cpd in behavior in that they are constantly in motion and are really quite lovely once you give them a bit of time to get settled. Frankly I would drop the cpd and get 30 kubotai - i have about 18 in my 40 - and they mix with the guppies. The cpd are a lot less active and at least the ones i have will also go lower in the water - with the kubotai staying near the top. Another great active fish are cherry barbs. They are a bit larger than the kubotai - just under 1 inch for the kubtai - the cherry barbs are around 2 inches - and they will at time go lower in the water - but they are a fun loving very active fish always chasing each other. 

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Aquahuna sells kubotai for a good price; when i was in boston (moved about 1.5 years ago); there was only one decent fish store accessible via the T; but further out there are some nicer stores (i didn't have a car in the city as driving was too painful). I lived near the aquarium - so a pleasing walk to south station was suitable for fish shopping trip.

Edited May 16, 2022 by anewbie

[Kirrashi]

On 5/16/2022 at 9:59 AM, anewbie said:

I'm a huge fan of kubotai rasbora - they are a little different than cpd in behavior in that they are constantly in motion and are really quite lovely once you give them a bit of time to get settled. Frankly I would drop the cpd and get 30 kubotai - i have about 18 in my 40 - and they mix with the guppies. The cpd are a lot less active and at least the ones i have will also go lower in the water - with the kubotai staying near the top. Another great active fish are cherry barbs. They are a bit larger than the kubotai - just under 1 inch for the kubtai - the cherry barbs are around 2 inches - and they will at time go lower in the water - but they are a fun loving very active fish always chasing each other. 

-

Aquahuna sells kubotai for a good price; when i was in boston (moved about 1.5 years ago); there was only one decent fish store accessible via the T; but further out there are some nicer stores (i didn't have a car in the city as driving was too painful). I lived near the aquarium - so a pleasing walk to south station was suitable for fish shopping trip.

That's really awesome to know! We are also car-free, but have been visiting European Aquatics in Malden for local fish-viewing and advice. 😃 They haven't had and Kubotai that I've seen, but we got to see some CPD's yesterday! I am still super excited about kubotais's so it's really awesome to hear your experience with them!  I was entertaining the idea of keeping kubotai's and ember tetras since they are similar size/parameters and contrasting colors.

[anewbie]

You can get them from aquahuna if your local store doesn't have them - they are fairly inexpensive. cdp are not bad - a lot of people like them. Another nice fish is cherry rasbora. they are a little larger than kubotai but their deep red constrast nicely with the green.