20 gallon long

[blue moon]

ok so i just got a 20 gallon long and i was wondering what fish i can put in there i know i have soooooo many opinion but i would like a big fish there not that there is anything wrong with small fish i just like having a fish and watching them grow so if anyone can tell me what big fish can i put in my 20 long but still can have a lot or a good amount of small fish swimming around ??

[PaulO]

Well besides the ultimate betta sorority there are a lot of types of tanks you can do from tropical, to community, to saltwater (if that's your thing) ,an ultimate goldfish bowl :P. I also plan to set up a 20 gallon (in my dreams) and for some reason I want to have a red tail shark, these guys are gorgeous the only thing is they need a lot of horizontal swimming room and are tropical semi aggressive ( so a wee on the touchy side). Another thing you could do is dwarf gourami's but I think they are a bit territorial so 1 to a tank or 2 if male and female (I wonder if a gourami sorority would be possible, not sure if females would be less aggressive to each other.) Point being the way I usually set up a tank is start with a main fish and slowly build (add) other fish around him.

[PaulO]

Also you can use this website to help stock your tank. Its really good the only thing is that they usually underestimate filters so they only give filters around 65% of their fitration capacity which you could easily fix with a sponge filter or even sponge pre-filter (bb colony magnets) anyway here's the site. Just fill out the info and it will help you stock your tank. http://www.aqadvisor.com/AqAdvisor.php Good Luck :)

[thekoimaiden]

There aren't many fish bigger than a betta that can live in a 20 gal long. You'll be looking at the smaller gourami like honeys and dwarf gourami (but only one unless you can find females), and a school of either substrate fish like cories or small tetra/rasbora/danio (depending on your water parameters). Alternatively, you could do a larger school of tetra/rasbora/danio and have a bristlenose pleco as the substrate fish.

When you think about it, that's not a very big tank. The largest fish you could comfortably house in there is about 3-4 inches long. And only one that doesn't need a school. This basically limits you to gourami.

[PaulO]

Sorry about suggesting the red tail I guess I sort of jumped the gun like always :/. I'm glad there are at least experienced forum members who caught that mistake while it was budding. Anyway my bad for suggesting that, guess it's time to go back to the drawing boards :P.