Getting back into the hobby and would welcome some suggestions

[dfadler]

Around five years ago I stopped keeping fish, at the time I had a 75g planted aquarium with an assortment of community fish. Recently I've decided to get back into the hobby and in preparation for that I ordered a UNS 60U which is a 20 gallon aquarium. I need to confirm what my office temperature range is, but at the moment I'm considering running the aquarium without a heater. I did a little research and found that Rainbow shiners, Celestial Pearl Danios, and Cherry shrimp may be good candidates for this aquarium. Another suggestion is the Hillstream Loach, but I am likely to keep the algae growth on the front and back to a minimum since I would like to keep a nice aquascape with a light background.

Are there any other suggestions for fish? 

[Tony s]

White cloud mountain minnows. and zebra danios. Panda corys are fun

[dfadler]

On 9/3/2024 at 6:40 PM, Tony s said:

White cloud mountain minnows. and zebra danios. Panda corys are fun

Panda corys look great, but I will probably need to confirm my office stays within an acceptable temperature. 

[Tony s]

On 9/3/2024 at 7:49 PM, dfadler said:

but I will probably need to confirm my office stays within an acceptable temperature. 

Lower end of pandas is around 68. 

[MWilk]

Definitely would recommend the use of white clouds as a primary schooling fish. They are great looking, super hardy fish and cheap. Rainbow shiners can be hard to find, expensive, and only color up part of the time. 
 

a hillstream loach would probably crawl out of that tank. 
 

I keep Flagfish, a paradise fish, and white clouds in my unheated tank.  I also have Pygmy cories though I can’t say how well they take the lower temps. Mine is in right at 70F. 
 

 

[lefty o]

the vast majority of community fish do fine in unheated aquariums. typically an unheated tank in a home or office wont see any big temp swings.

[mynameisnobody]

All great ideas but keep in mind rainbow shiners will decimate shrimp with gusto. 

[dfadler]

On 9/5/2024 at 2:03 PM, mynameisnobody said:

All great ideas but keep in mind rainbow shiners will decimate shrimp with gusto. 

I've been doing some more reading on the Rainbow Shiners and it does seem to be that they can get aggressive. I may just add Celestial Pearl Danios and cherry shrimp. I read that Celestial Pearl Danios like daphnia which I've never tried to raise. I have had a lot of luck with scuds in the past, but they may be to big to fit in a Celestial Pearl Danio mouth. I see that there is a guide to raising daphnia and I can probably fit a 5g under the stand, maybe I'll give that a try once I get closer to purchasing fish.

[Woowala]

Get cpds if you want a fish that hides anytime anyone in the office thinks about maybe walking near the tank.

Get some blue eyes if you'd like to actually enjoy the tank.

[dfadler]

On 9/5/2024 at 3:01 PM, Woowala said:

Get cpds if you want a fish that hides anytime anyone in the office thinks about maybe walking near the tank.

Get some blue eyes if you'd like to actually enjoy the tank.

@Woowala Are you talking about Forktail Blue-Eyes? I would like to go with something a little smaller to have a larger stock.

[Woowala]

gertrudae or luminatus imo

cyanodorsalis maybe if the pH is above 7

[mynameisnobody]

Cyanodorsalis would be amazing, but most of these are kept in salt/brackish water. 

[Woowala]

Yeah, kind of a judgment call. I think they can do well in pure freshwater, but do better with salt. If pure freshwater is doable, they'd like the alkaline, slightly hard water the neos would like. Just figured I'd add a 3rd option.

[mynameisnobody]

@Woowala I adore that fish, but can never pull the trigger when I see them available. There’s always something I like just a bit more, plus the easier maintenance. 

[Woowala]

It's the added maintenance for me, since they'd like different water than everything I currently have. They are really great though. Once I've kept all the smaller Pseudomugils I'll probably just have to get them and deal with it. 

[madmark285]

On 9/3/2024 at 7:36 PM, dfadler said:

I need to confirm what my office temperature range is,

Assuming you live in a cold climate, does your office turn the heat way down in the winter during the weekends? 

[Tony s]

On 9/5/2024 at 9:23 PM, madmark285 said:

Assuming you live in a cold climate, does your office turn the heat way down in the winter during the weekends

Exactly what I was thinking. Or the air conditioner temperature way up in the summer weekend. @dfadler if the answer is they keep it steady at room temperature. Then like @lefty o said. Most fish will function just fine at room temperatures. The limiting factor then becomes tank size. And water parameters. Hard or soft water. Either is doable. But it’s easier to keep a tank you don’t have to mess with. 
 

and the question after that. Probably should be the first question. What do you really want to keep?

Edited September 6 by Tony s

[dfadler]

On 9/5/2024 at 8:23 PM, madmark285 said:

Assuming you live in a cold climate, does your office turn the heat way down in the winter during the weekends? 

Home office, but it is in my basement and the temperature is significantly colder than the rest of my house

On 9/5/2024 at 9:06 PM, Tony s said:

Exactly what I was thinking. Or the air conditioner temperature way up in the summer weekend. @dfadler if the answer is they keep it steady at room temperature. Then like @lefty o said. Most fish will function just fine at room temperatures. The limiting factor then becomes tank size. And water parameters. Hard or soft water. Either is doable. But it’s easier to keep a tank you don’t have to mess with. 
 

and the question after that. Probably should be the first question. What do you really want to keep?

I'm thinking fish 1.5 in and below since it is a smaller tank and that size would allow me to keep a larger stock

[Tony s]

On 9/5/2024 at 10:22 PM, dfadler said:

but it is in my basement and the temperature is significantly colder than the rest of my house

Ah, okay, you’re the boss then about the climate. Well, probably anyway 😁  so, what’s the normal room temperature? And the question remains on water hardness. But it’ll be much easier to manipulate it there than an office. 
 

for normal room temperature of 70.  You could do kubotai Rasboras, green neons. For 72 or higher, a big school of Chili Rasboras. 
 

for a Centerpiece. A honey gourami

If you want to go a little bigger. @madmark285’s odessa barbs would be stunning in a 30g

[AtomicSunfish]

Another great room temperature/cooler water fish is the variegated platy (Xiphophorus variegatus). They’re closely related to spotted platies and swordtails, but naturally come from higher elevations in Mexico, and are comfortable with temperatures in the 60s. They’re actually established as a non-native fish in the creeks and canals of Gainesville, Florida, where they thrive, even though winters get relatively chilly there (compared to sub-tropical South Florida).

And of course, you could go with North American native fishes, like small sunfishes (Enneacanthus spp.), or pygmy sunfishes (Elassoma spp.). They’re gorgeous! 😁

[gardenman]

A home office is good. You have more control. I might still recommend a minimum/maximum thermometer to see for yourself what the temperature range is, but it's not like in an office building where the heat sometimes gets turned way down overnight. In my limited experience, basements tend to stay pretty stable in terms of temperature. They're typically always a little cooler than the rest of the house since hot air rises and the ground temperature controls the temperature in a basement more than the outside air temperature and the ground temperature tends to stay a bit cooler unless you're living on a volcano.

[Scaperoot]

Are you ok with adding a 30W heater? I keep 20 long aquariums at about 76 degrees with Bettas, white clouds, guppies, tetras, rasboras, various snails, and Corys. If you'd rather not, I recommend cherry barbs or white clouds. I keep those in a tank that runs at about 72 degrees.

[johnnyxxl]

My tank is unheated with Tiger Barbs, black ruby barbs, cherry barbs, Panda Cory cats and kulhi loaches.  

[AtomicSunfish]

BTW - If you want big fish in an unheated aquarium, you could go with the common pleco catfish, which can grow to 1-2 ft long. They are from tropical South America, but are also established in Florida, where they are found as far north as Tampa, so they can tolerate cooler temperatures. Other cichlids established in Florida are in the same boat, like oscars, Mayan cichlids, spotted tilapia, and a few others. Again, these are tropical species, but they can tolerate subtropical temperatures.

[dfadler]

On 9/5/2024 at 9:44 PM, Tony s said:

Ah, okay, you’re the boss then about the climate. Well, probably anyway 😁  so, what’s the normal room temperature? And the question remains on water hardness. But it’ll be much easier to manipulate it there than an office. 
 

for normal room temperature of 70.  You could do kubotai Rasboras, green neons. For 72 or higher, a big school of Chili Rasboras. 
 

for a Centerpiece. A honey gourami

If you want to go a little bigger. @madmark285’s odessa barbs would be stunning in a 30g

Been running a a monitor for the last few days and it looks like a low of 65 and a high of 70. I imagine there will be a lower low and high once we get into fall and winter.