Vastu

[Annie]

Hello.

I am planning on starting over after all my fish died.

I am getting another 20 long brand new and want to get it planted with only plants that will thrive in my poolsand substrate.

I want to cycle completely before adding fish.

inhave decided to follow the vastu . Which says you to have 9 fish.

I want one black . 
I’ve heard goldfish shouldn’t be kept in a 20. Long. 
what fish do you recommend? and I definitely want some sort of algae eater to be included in the total of 9. 
im thinking , mollies or platys  due to the colors of gold/white and black I’m interested in.

I love guppies and Cory’s too

thanks, Annie 

 

Is it easier to deal with no heater cold water fish?

[Lennie]

If you keep livebearers with m:f ratio, you will probably have more than 9 at the end of the month.

Maybe only males or females, if you don't want them to breed. But females will likely to come pregnant anyway. And keeping males only may lead agression.

If you wanna keep only 9 fish in total, schooling fish sizes or livebearers will be a lil questionable considering you wanna have everything covered with fish alone.  

What about adding snails? or shrimps? That would make it easier to stock I believe, if you are certain with the number 9. They are a great non-fish cleanup crew.

I would pass on goldfish, It is hard to keep with plants and you  can't really find a tankmate to keep him with in a 20L even if you force bare minimum to keep one goldfish as a grow out tank. No way reaching 9 fish there.

 

What are your water parameters afterall?

 

Cories would like a crowded group. Livebearers would enjoy 1m:3f ratio, but they would breed. I think you have plenty of options but limiting it with 9 makes it hard, as you will need at least 6 cories and ideally 4 livebearers. Which leaves no algae eater fish option

Maybe panda guppies? 1m:3f. The male would give you the black color you are looking for. Plenty of snails. And corys if you like. And some amano shrimp? If you want other colored guppys, then 6 black venezuela cory? You can rehome the guppy babies if you don't want more when they grow up. But that counts as keeping? XD

Idk, I don't understand this energy stuff. Just make your fish happy! the more the merrier in school size 😄

How sensitive are black venezuela corys compared to normal corys? @nabokovfan87

 

 

Edited January 26, 2023 by Lennie

[Annie]

I decided to go buy a 20 gallon in a hexagon shape. And it’s 24.4 tall. 19 inches wide..

I want to set up this kit . it’s top fin captivate. Tonight with some plants . I have some time to think about fish in this different shape. And it won’t be in the kitchen anymore which I’ve heard I’d not ideal.

im longing to make a beautiful HEALTHY aquarium 🐟🥰🐟🥰

Thanks Lennie. For all of your responses🙏

[TOtrees]

How tied are you to 9 fish? Like, can you start with 9 fish, and if some have babies and you end up with 9 adult fish and 30 tiny babies, does that still follow the principles you're following? 

Or does it have to be 9 fish, no more and no less?

The hexagon will be harder to stock and keep than a 20 long or the standard 20 high, because it has less floor space. It's also harder to grow plants, because the level where the plants start to grow (the bottom) is farthest from the light. If you want to go with the hex, I'd recommend fake plants and decorations, at least until you've had it for a while. 

In terms of getting started, can you add the fish a few at a time? 

[Lennie]

On 1/26/2023 at 10:19 PM, Annie said:

I decided to go buy a 20 gallon in a hexagon shape.

I've never kept one myself. Fish mostly like longer than taller, When I was getting a cube myself, I had questions in this regard. But you can find a way to deal with this and scape it well I guess if you really wanna  go for this shape. But a 20L would be a much better choice tbh. It is always good to know positive and negatives in advance!

Safer than sorry, especially starting from 0. Facing struggles once you've found a motivation again can be a bit demotivating.

I highly recommend watching this before you make a decision!

 

Also I thought you were planning a 20L. Forget about my suggestion for the corys 😄 They like having a gulp of air sometimes, and love having lots of bottom space. A hex does not sound ideal for corys from my experience

Edited January 26, 2023 by Lennie

[Lennie]

I was looking for scaping Ideas for hex and found these looking pretty good to me. So wanted to share, if you wanna go for Hex considering the difficulties mentioned in the video!

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/26/2023 at 10:56 AM, Lennie said:

How sensitive are black venezuela corys compared to normal corys? @nabokovfan87

I don't treat them any differently than my pandas.  They are corydoras and most corydoras are pretty robust fish if you can get them into your water and thriving.   They are larger in size, so that is something to keep in mind.  They aren't smaller in size like the pandas or dwarf corydoras.
 

 

On 1/26/2023 at 9:46 AM, Annie said:

I want one black . 
I’ve heard goldfish shouldn’t be kept in a 20. Long. 
what fish do you recommend? and I definitely want some sort of algae eater to be included in the total of 9. 
im thinking , mollies or platys  due to the colors of gold/white and black I’m interested in.

I love guppies and Cory’s too

some of my favorites are black ricefish, black emperor tetra, or the black corydoras.  For a 20L I would lean towards a fish with black on it instead of a jet black larger fish.... even though a black-tailed black shark is beautiful and awesome.  Pandas fit that, rasboras, barbs, there's quite a few, but there are smaller species as well.

White clouds, ricefish, etc. all should do well with a corydoras species.

On 1/26/2023 at 11:19 AM, Annie said:

I decided to go buy a 20 gallon in a hexagon shape. And it’s 24.4 tall. 19 inches wide..

I would lean towards a pleco, oto, shrimp, or other nano fish in lieu of a corydaras in this tank.  They like more floor space, that's all.

[Theplatymaster]

On 1/26/2023 at 12:46 PM, Annie said:

what fish do you recommend? and I definitely want some sort of algae eater to be included in the total of 9. 

a panda garra maybe?

[Lennie]

On 1/27/2023 at 1:17 AM, Theplatymaster said:

a panda garra maybe?

@beastie keeps them in a group of 4. Do they well alone or like groups? Maybe she can share some experience

[Theplatymaster]

On 1/26/2023 at 5:20 PM, Lennie said:

@beastie keeps them in a group of 4. Do they well alone or like groups? Maybe she can share some experience

i keep mine fine alone. From what i understand they like to be in groups, and have funny group behaviors, but do fine alone. I mean mine is acting perfectly healthy alone.

[beastie]

On 1/26/2023 at 11:20 PM, Lennie said:

@beastie keeps them in a group of 4. Do they well alone or like groups? Maybe she can share some experience

My experience is too fresh, it has only been three weeks. But from what all I read, either one, or 4 plus, ideally 6. I will be getting more of them if I can, since 6 would be better. Then they dispute between themselves and not amongst others. I got mine real small, 3cm perhaps, barely larger than white cloud minnows. But they are amazing

[beastie]

On 1/26/2023 at 9:48 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I would lean towards a pleco, oto, shrimp, or other nano fish in lieu of a corydaras in this tank.  They like more floor space, that's all.

Agreed, wouldnt do corydoras, maybe pygmy ones for this floor dimension. As far as otocinclus go, we sort of decided, with other keepers, to just stop purchasing them. The mortality rate after moving them from the shop is 90% if you dont know what you are doing and 60% if you DO know what you are doing. They also suffer bacterial infections, I guess due to being wild caught and moved to a vastly different water parameter/bacteria.

Recently I was talking with some other keepers here and several did an all guppy or all endler tanks, no aggression, no issues. This could solve the baby problem. From my experience, ember tetras do not need swimming space, they are ok to stand around and dont care about the dimensions, as long as you have plants. Betta would be nice fish too in this tank, if some leaves reach the surface area so it can rest on it.

So as algae eaters go, I would do a nerite snail, and like Ancistrus sp. gold for the color (dont forget to include cave for it to rest in and driftwood to graze on)