20 long stocking ideas

[Mississippi fish guy]

I recently found that samurai gouramis are more of a blackwater species. Would corydoras and green fire tetras do well in a blackwater setup? Also I found that samurai gouramis are social and like to be in groups and I’m not sure what would be a good group size since 6 would cost 120 which is a lot for my brother and he doesn’t want to spend that much on one type of fish.

 

[knee]

I'd skip the samurai gourami specially if he's not too experienced with them. They require a bit of special care to thrive. There is a paradise fish that can work with smaller fish called Spike Tailed Paradise fish (Pseudosphromenus cupanus). They are peaceful and can work with CPD's or even other smaller schooling fish like emerald eye rasboras (these are cheaper than the CPD and exhibit better schooling behavior). The spike tail is a bit smaller tho but they will be perfect for a 20 long. You can keep them in a pair or as a group or just one male if t hat's what your brother prefers. 

For top dwellers you can do some dwarf hatchetfish, but only if the tank is 95-100% covered. There's also wrestling halfbeaks (Dermogenys pusilla), they're a livebearer and look like mini baracudas. Super fun to watch and they're easy to hand feed. Pseudomugils are fine too but I'd do either gertrudae or luminatus. The forktails could work too but they get bigger than the other two and can outcompete the other fish for food. 

[Mississippi fish guy]

On 10/4/2024 at 12:22 PM, knee said:

I'd skip the samurai gourami specially if he's not too experienced with them. They require a bit of special care to thrive

I have found out more about the samurai gourami lately but is the something I should know other than they need live/frozen foods, black water, and are social?

[Mississippi fish guy]

My brother has decided he doesn’t want to try to maintain a black water aquarium so he will not be doing samurai gouramis. He is wondering what some centerpiece fish would be?

the spike tail paradise fish or a group of sparkling gouramis are considerations but what are some other options?

[knee]

On 10/4/2024 at 2:50 PM, Mississippi fish guy said:

I have found out more about the samurai gourami lately but is the something I should know other than they need live/frozen foods, black water, and are social?

I was about to buy a group of 7 and put them in a 20 long but I decided against it because of the extra work needed.

Is your brother open to cichlids? There are plenty of dwarf cichlids that he can keep alone or as a pair in a 20 long. There's apistogramma (plenty to choose from in this genus), laetacara curviceps (there are other types too but this is the most common), Bolivian ram, GBR (kinda finnicky and needs temps at 80+), nannacara anomola, and kribensis.

 

Sparkling gouramis will not be a good centerpiece fish for a 20 long because they're too small but they can be good tankmates. There's a slightly bigger and similar looking gourami called Croaking Gourami. They don't get as colorful but you'd be able to see them better in a 20 long.

[Mississippi fish guy]

On 10/4/2024 at 5:37 PM, knee said:

Is your brother open to cichlids? There are plenty of dwarf cichlids that he can keep alone or as a pair in a 20 long. There's apistogramma (plenty to choose from in this genus), laetacara curviceps (there are other types too but this is the most common), Bolivian ram, GBR (kinda finnicky and needs temps at 80+), nannacara anomola, and kribensis.

I think so just be sure they can handle soft water.

 

On 10/4/2024 at 5:37 PM, knee said:

Sparkling gouramis will not be a good centerpiece fish for a 20 long because they're too small but they can be good tankmates. There's a slightly bigger and similar looking gourami called Croaking Gourami. They don't get as colorful but you'd be able to see them better in a 20 long.

I found that out when researching them. I’m not sure how croaking gouramis would do with green fire tetras since croaking gouramis have longer fins and some tetras can be a bit nippy.

On 10/4/2024 at 5:37 PM, knee said:

Bolivian ram

He also was wondering if you can keep a pair of these in a 20 long with tank mates?

[Mississippi fish guy]

On 10/4/2024 at 5:37 PM, knee said:

kribensis.

He wants to try kribensis but our water has 0 kh and about 40-80 gh. Would he have to mix the water or would it be fine?

[knee]

On 10/4/2024 at 3:51 PM, Mississippi fish guy said:

He also was wondering if you can keep a pair of these in a 20 long with tank mates?

One pair with tankmates will be fine in a 20 long. They do prefer having tankmates because they do get a bit skittish if kept by themselves. If he's gonna do a pair I suggest getting some top dwelling schooling fish like lampeye killis or emerald eye rasboras and some pygmy corys for the bottom. You can also add a few sparkling gouramis with them. They are more comfortable if they can see other smaller fish swimming all over and exploring tank.

On 10/4/2024 at 5:25 PM, Mississippi fish guy said:

He wants to try kribensis but our water has 0 kh and about 40-80 gh. Would he have to mix the water or would it be fine?

Does the ph fluctuate? Kribs are normally found in slightly soft and slightly acidic waters. I do think they prefer to be in the middle when it comes to water params.

[Mississippi fish guy]

On 10/4/2024 at 5:37 PM, knee said:

kribensis.

How do you care for those? Are the soft or hard water?

[Tony s]

On 10/4/2024 at 8:25 PM, Mississippi fish guy said:

He wants to try kribensis but our water has 0 kh and about 40-80 gh

Kribs are great, But for how soft your water is. Look at apistograms. They can be just stunning. one of the showiest is Apistogramma cacatoides. It can also be one of the most forgiving. 

orange flash

triple red

 If I had the water, I'd do this in an instant

look at dansfish under apistos

[Mississippi fish guy]

On 10/4/2024 at 7:47 PM, Tony s said:

Kribs are great, But for how soft your water is. Look at apistograms. They can be just stunning. one of the showiest is Apistogramma cacatoides. It can also be one of the most forgiving

I brought that up to him but he says he would rather mix water for a krib. He seems to be very interested in those but he may or may not change his mind.

[Tony s]

On 10/4/2024 at 9:04 PM, Mississippi fish guy said:

He seems to be very interested in those but he may or may not change his mind.

🤣  yep. I have seen this before. Little brothers 😂

You technically wouldn’t need to mix the water. You could use a product to add a bit of kh every water change and you’d be good. Something to raise kh and ph just a touch. Relatively easy as long as he’s consistent 

 

I am trying to use softened water and have to add gh to my guppies. It’s not hard. But testing and consistency is the key 

[Tony s]

On 10/4/2024 at 8:35 PM, Mississippi fish guy said:

How do you care for those? Are the soft or hard water?

Kribs do mostly neutral to slightly soft. But are mostly adaptable to what they're in. You can do them around here, and we're definitely hard water

[Mississippi fish guy]

On 10/4/2024 at 8:22 PM, Tony s said:

You technically wouldn’t need to mix the water. You could use a product to add a bit of kh every water change and you’d be good. Something to raise kh and ph just a touch. Relatively easy as long as he’s consistent 

That’s a relief.  I don’t like the idea of mixing water though if he needed to I would help him until he did it a time or two.

would seachem equilibrium work?

[Tony s]

On 10/4/2024 at 11:38 PM, Mississippi fish guy said:

would seachem equilibrium work?

equilibrium for raising gh. For raising ph and kh, alkaline buffer. It really wouldn't take much. maybe a tablespoon to start. Then a maintenance amount with each water change. A bit more kh will stabilize your ph as well. prevent it from swinging. Seachem has a dosage calculator on their site.

Kribs really can handle a large range of parameters. So maybe try them with what you have first, before adding anything. With the low to no kh, all you really need to do is make sure there are no extra organics in the water. Organics break down to different organic acids which lower the ph. If he can keep it very clean that should minimize ph swings just as well as extra kh. But if it builds up, you can always add alkaline booster to help stabalize

[mynameisnobody]

From the sound of this, I’d suggest something very hardy, and with very little guess work. With more experience you and your brother can venture into other species. If I were you, I’d suggest to him to get White Cloud mountain minnows, black neon tetras, or even smaller danios. The problem with kribs is if they spawn, aggression gets turned up and then you have fry to consider. The problem with some beginners is they give themselves a tall task because it’s what they want. Then they quit the hobby when discouragement sets in. 

Edited 14 hours ago by mynameisnobody

[Mississippi fish guy]

On 10/4/2024 at 10:53 PM, Tony s said:

equilibrium for raising gh. For raising ph and kh, alkaline buffer. It really wouldn't take much. maybe a tablespoon to start. Then a maintenance amount with each water change. A bit more kh will stabilize your ph as well. prevent it from swinging. Seachem has a dosage calculator on their site.

 

I got gh and kh mixed up. The water at my house has a stable ph just and 40-80 kh and no gh. I’m still new to testing for these.

 

On 10/5/2024 at 5:59 AM, mynameisnobody said:

If I were you, I’d suggest to him to get White Cloud mountain minnows, black neon tetras, or even smaller danios

He wasn’t interested in those ideas earlier otherwise the stocking plan might would be paradise fish and MCMMs.

 

On 10/5/2024 at 5:59 AM, mynameisnobody said:

The problem with kribs is if they spawn, aggression gets turned up and then you have fry to consider

We were planning on just getting one. Do they need to be in pairs?

[mynameisnobody]

They don’t need to be in pairs, but the breeding colors are the bright photos of them you’ve seen. With only 1 Krib, there’s no breeding so no breeding colors. 

[Mississippi fish guy]

On 10/5/2024 at 8:19 AM, mynameisnobody said:

They don’t need to be in pairs, but the breeding colors are the bright photos of them you’ve seen. With only 1 Krib, there’s no breeding so no breeding colors. 

That makes sense. I will have to see what he thinks about the possibility of finding that the kribs spawned and are harassing his other fish.

[Mississippi fish guy]

My brother decided he didn’t want to deal with a pair of kribs if they spawned. He has decided that he wants to try a pair of Apistogramma cactoides “triple red”. He also wants to try black phantom tetras instead of green fire tetras. If the Apistos spawned would they be a little less aggressive than kribs? Also would black phantoms work in a this tank? Also would he need to not keep the corydoras since the Apistos would be closer to the bottom?