Setting up a community tank 20g long

[riioKen]

Hi guys,

i need some stocking ideas, the tank is 80x30x35cm, planted with co2.

I was thinking about:

if 2 schooling fish can be added

Celestial pearl danio: 12 or 16 (i need a bit help about quantity)

Ember tetras: 10 or 12

Honey gourami: 2

Amano Shrimp: 5-10

if 1 schooling of fish - only CPD without tetra, then 6 oto without shrimp.

 

The filter is a Oase Biomaster Thermo 600 (3kg of seachem matrix) with lily pipes and inline co2

Edited May 27, 2023 by riioKen

[Lennie]

Hey @riioKen,

Welcome to the forums.

Both CPD and embers are small in size. So if 2 schools is what you want, then yes you can do it. 

As long as you meet fish's needs and don't crowd their swimming space, sure. Also extra maintenance ofcourse 🙂

Honey gouramis are super peaceful. But I personally don't like the number two. Either one or three is better in my opinion. 3 is better for establishing a pecking order if needed  I believe. I had one in a 29g as a centerpiece fish and he did pretty good alone too. They just seem to like having fish around them nonstop. Mine didn't like to be in a calm tank much.

 

Otos are also a schooling fish! However, they are never guaranteed to accept commercial foods/veggies etc. I was lucky with mine as 5 in a 29g and they ate commercial foods, but in case they don't accept commercial food or veggies, 6 will likely starve after some time in a 20g. Something to keep in mind.

 

On 5/27/2023 at 5:13 PM, riioKen said:

The filter is a Oase Biomaster Thermo 600 (3kg of seachem matrix) with lily pipes and inline co2

The filter kinda seems like an overkill to me for a 20g. Did you have a chance to test it and see the current of the tank? The small fish you have mentioned as well as honey gouramis would rather be in a calmer water. Constantly being pushed around will stress them out and they will struggle swimming nonstop.

 

I would recommend checking the current of the tank, and if it is strong, I would rather lean towards fish that likes strong current instead. Such as hillstream loaches/borneo suckers, smaller rainbowfish, white clouds, danios, some barbs, rasboras etc.

Otherwise the calm water fish will face stress and it will wear out fish fast.

Edited May 27, 2023 by Lennie

[riioKen]

On 5/27/2023 at 4:59 PM, Lennie said:

Hey @riioKen,

Welcome to the forums.

Both CPD and embers are small in size. So if 2 schools is what you want, then yes you can do it. 

As long as you meet fish's needs and don't crowd their swimming space, sure. Also extra maintenance ofcourse 🙂

Honey gouramis are super peaceful. But I personally don't like the number two. Either one or three is better in my opinion. 3 is better for establishing a pecking order if needed  I believe. I had one in a 29g as a centerpiece fish and he did pretty good alone too. They just seem to like having fish around them nonstop. Mine didn't like to be in a calm tank much.

 

Otos are also a schooling fish! However, they are never guaranteed to accept commercial foods/veggies etc. I was lucky with mine as 5 in a 29g and they ate commercial foods, but in case they don't accept commercial food or veggies, 6 will likely starve after some time in a 20g. Something to keep in mind.

 

The filter kinda seems like an overkill to me for a 20g. Did you have a chance to test it and see the current of the tank? The small fish you have mentioned as well as honey gouramis would rather be in a calmer water. Constantly being pushed around will stress them out and they will struggle swimming nonstop.

 

I would recommend checking the current of the tank, and if it is strong, I would rather lean towards fish that likes strong current instead. Such as hillstream loaches/borneo suckers, smaller rainbowfish, white clouds, danios, some barbs, rasboras etc.

Otherwise the calm water fish will face stress and it will wear out fish fast.

About the strong flow, I think that I can reduce it in some way. The tank is already cycled, fishless, with a fluval U2 Internal. I'm buying the Biomaster Thermo 600 in case I want to upgrade the tank, if it is too strong, do you think that a Biomaster Thermo 250 will be better? I found a great deal, Biomaster Thermo 600 with 3kg Seachem matrix at 180€, that's why I was considering it.

 

About fish quantity, which stock sounds better

1) cpd (12/16), ember (8/10), honey gourami (2), pygmy corydoras (6),

2)cpd (12), ember (8), honey gourami (1), corydoras panda (6)

3)cpd (16), 2 Honey gourami, 6 panda corydoras, oto affinis (6).

4) idk, maybe can you give me an input? I like cpd, ember tetra, honey gourami, amano shrimp, corydoras (pygmy, adolfoi, panda). I'm open to suggestions. I'd like a rich and colorful tank.

[Lennie]

On 5/27/2023 at 7:04 PM, riioKen said:

About the strong flow, I think that I can reduce it in some way. The tank is already cycled, fishless, with a fluval U2 Internal. I'm buying the Biomaster Thermo 600 in case I want to upgrade the tank, if it is too strong, do you think that a Biomaster Thermo 250 will be better? I found a great deal, Biomaster Thermo 600 with 3kg Seachem matrix at 180€, that's why I was considering it.

You want a different filter because of a cleaner look? If I had a cycled filter that is okay for the tank capacity, I would use it instead of buying a 180 euros new one tbh. I am a big HOB fan, so not experienced with canister filters much. I've only had sump, internal, sponge and hobs. Maybe a different person with experience may help in this regard. I just checked Biomaster Thermo 600's circulation rate and it said 1200 lt/h which is kinda huge for a 80 liter tank. Turns the water 15x times. Normally 5-6 times is an okay rate.

 

On 5/27/2023 at 7:04 PM, riioKen said:

About fish quantity, which stock sounds better

1) cpd (12/16), ember (8/10), honey gourami (2), pygmy corydoras (6),

2)cpd (12), ember (8), honey gourami (1), corydoras panda (6)

3)cpd (16), 2 Honey gourami, 6 panda corydoras, oto affinis (6).

4) idk, maybe can you give me an input? I like cpd, ember tetra, honey gourami, amano shrimp, corydoras (pygmy, adolfoi, panda). I'm open to suggestions. I'd like a rich and colorful tank.

I personally like a school with a big number from the same species instead of mixing two schools in lower numbers. Especially small sized fish looks better in crowded schools.

Something like 20 CPD, 1 honey gourami, 10 panda cories. 5 amanos.

I would also add some other algae eaters to the mix. Not every fish/snail/shrimp eat same type of algae. Amano shrimp are good but they won't snack on everything. Others you may consider are, nerite snails ( but females lay eggs everywhere which don't hatch), Hillstream loaches/borneo suckers, panda garras, otocinclus, etc.

Edited May 27, 2023 by Lennie

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/27/2023 at 9:04 AM, riioKen said:

About fish quantity, which stock sounds better

1) cpd (12/16), ember (8/10), honey gourami (2), pygmy corydoras (6),

2)cpd (12), ember (8), honey gourami (1), corydoras panda (6)

3)cpd (16), 2 Honey gourami, 6 panda corydoras, oto affinis (6).

4) idk, maybe can you give me an input? I like cpd, ember tetra, honey gourami, amano shrimp, corydoras (pygmy, adolfoi, panda). I'm open to suggestions. I'd like a rich and colorful tank.

A website like aqadvisor is helpful for levels of stocking. I don't know if it has the newer filters in there but you can always input the specs into the website and it works.

The main thing I wanted to comment is to keep an eye on temperature. CPDs are a danio species, so other Cyprinidae will go well with those fish. Something like CPD+white clouds would be fantastic, other rasbora species, etc.

I haven't kept CPDs before, but it's a common thing people miss. Some of the species you have might opt for 72-74 long term whole other fish like the tetras might opt for 78 degrees as a base.

 

In the above list, I'd start with #3 and see if gourami is ok at the cooler temps (and verify all of the other fish).

Other fish to look into apart from the whole cloud might be the chili rasbora, emerald green rasbora, there is a runnynose rasbora (not tetra one) and a few others.

I am a fan of silvertip tetras and others that have unique patterns. Green neons, cardinals, etc.

[riioKen]

About the flow of the water, I heard that the filter is too strong for my aquarium. If I can't reduce properly the flow, considering that I have lily pipes which redirect the flow to the top of the tank, is it ok, or I really need a less powerful filter?

 

if needed I can change the filter with a less powerful one. Is the oase Biomaster 250 or 350 good? Or an eheim 2275?

Edited May 27, 2023 by riioKen

[jwcarlson]

@riioKen I highly suggest you rethink the filtration.  That filter is probably big enough for a 125. 

Otherwise, I don't see anything wrong with your stocking.  I dont necessarily see my CPDs as schooling fish so much as hiding fish. 

 

[riioKen]

On 5/28/2023 at 2:01 PM, jwcarlson said:

 I highly suggest you rethink the filtration.  That filter is probably big enough for a 125. 

You mean that I should get rid of Biomaster thermo 600, and buy a smaller one? Maybe like Biomaster 250 or 350?

[jwcarlson]

I am assuming the 600 is the gallons/hour rating?  If so, you would be turning over the water 30 times an hour which is, frankly, pretty insane in my opinion.  I think when I was keeping bigger fish like oscars we shot for 9 or 10 times an hour, unless I am mistaken.

I wouldn't use a canister, personally.  I would put a $10 sponge filter in there and call it good.  CPDs are not your standard danio, so far as I know.  Meaning they don't like higher flow. I only have them in tanks with sponges, so I cannot speak to flow exactly, but by their behavior I think they don't strike me as a fish that's interested in fighting 30x turnover. 

But, even with high flow fish, I think what you have is way way too much flow for a 20 gallon.  Have you done a test with just the tank and filter?  Does that filter have a "tank size rating" on the box?  Those numbers are bunk, but is a good sanity check maybe. 

[riioKen]

On 5/28/2023 at 2:34 PM, jwcarlson said:

I am assuming the 600 is the gallons/hour rating? 

No, @jwcarlson, this filter is around 1200 L/h, around 300? 330gph, without any biomedia.

600 in the name is the "suitable for aquarium up to 600 litres".

 

I would like to have a canister due to CO2 injection with Lily pipes, so it gave a cleaner look of the tank.

 

There is a test made by MJ aquascaping, he have Biomaster 850 (1550L/H), with alle the media in, and the reactor for CO2 he has around 700-800L/h, which is half the flow. I'll surely do a test, before adding any fish.

Edited May 28, 2023 by riioKen

[riioKen]

On 5/28/2023 at 3:53 PM, Pepere said:

With CO2 , I definitely feel powered flow is an advantage over just a sponge filter.  I agree though that the Biomaster 600 might be too much flow for intended use in a 20l.

A thing that maybe could work, is to aim the Lily pipe to the glass and let the flow bounce on the glass. This should stops the flow a lot. Surely I'll do test before buying fish 

[MattyM]

On 5/27/2023 at 9:59 AM, Lennie said:

Honey gouramis are super peaceful.

Unless the dominant male has a female in the tank, and kicks into breeding mode. I had a trio, which I eventually discovered was 2 males and a female. I feed quite a bit of live/frozen food. Once they settled into my tank (also a 20g long, which neon tetras, platys), the dominant male started building nests and really flared up - I was like "wow cool" - but then the other male got sick and died (prob from stress), and the dom male just started attacking anything near him. He would be chilling in the plants, and then come out and just start harassing whoever was near, pause to flex a bit, and go back to his spot. I separated him into another tank where he's the only gourami - and all good since then. 

That's just my experience - but thought I'd chime in. 

[riioKen]

Great, then only 1 gourami in the tank ahahaha 

[ktk4beees]

In am also looking to set up a 20 long with schooling fish but was thinking about pea puffers as a center piece fish. Any thoughts as to filtration and tank mates? I prefer hang on back variety since they are easier for me to handle with my disability.  

[Lennie]

On 5/28/2023 at 8:45 PM, ktk4beees said:

In am also looking to set up a 20 long with schooling fish but was thinking about pea puffers as a center piece fish. Any thoughts as to filtration and tank mates? I prefer hang on back variety since they are easier for me to handle with my disability.  

basically species only tank and no tank mates really

On 5/28/2023 at 8:36 PM, MattyM said:

Unless the dominant male has a female in the tank, and kicks into breeding mode. I had a trio, which I eventually discovered was 2 males and a female. I feed quite a bit of live/frozen food. Once they settled into my tank (also a 20g long, which neon tetras, platys), the dominant male started building nests and really flared up - I was like "wow cool" - but then the other male got sick and died (prob from stress), and the dom male just started attacking anything near him. He would be chilling in the plants, and then come out and just start harassing whoever was near, pause to flex a bit, and go back to his spot. I separated him into another tank where he's the only gourami - and all good since then. 

That's just my experience - but thought I'd chime in. 

good info!

As I mentioned I also dislike the number two by any means. Either alone or at least 3. And for sure, I refer to two males or two fish in general in this scenario when the fish are potentially territorial or aggressive.

A single one sounds more guaranteed. My centerpiece is also a male and he had a breeding dress before but didn't get aggressive vs other fish in the tank. But he was the only gourami in the tank

Edited May 28, 2023 by Lennie

[riioKen]

I'm a bit more convinced to get 12 cpd, 10 ember tetra (or maybe chili rasbora?) And 10 pygmy cory with 1 mystery snail and some shrimp. How it sounds? Without the gourami, I'd like to let the aggression out of the tank.

[Bev C]

 Welcome to the forum I have 12-16 pygmy cories and red cherry shrimp along with 2 nitrite snails and 2 mystery snails in my 20 gallon the best wishes enjoy your fish and the hobby plus I hav extra 10 gallons to put the extra shrimp in if it gets crowded, but all are getting along together … And I have plenty and extra filters in all my tanks 

Edited May 29, 2023 by Bev C