Fish for 20 Gallon High Aquarium

[Leopardess]

Eh, that's okay. The angels won't work for that tank anyway

There are instances where neons/cardinals *may* be safe - when they are raised with baby angels, but even then I know some people have had problems with their adults eating them later on :/

 

[Weather11am]

What fish would really stand out against the hatchetfish and tetras? First i though mollys and sharks, then swordtails, and finally angelfish. What fish(s) would stand out?

 

[Weather11am]

Here is what I have planned so far:

8 Cardinal Tetras
5 Hatchet Fish
6 Cory Catfish (assorted)

Does that sound good? What about a dwarf Gournami? They are small and they would really stand out in that tank.

 

[TPIRman]

Originally posted by Weather11am

6 Cory Catfish (assorted)

You'll probably have a better time of it if you find one variety of cory that you like best and get six of those. These guys like to be in groups. I've seen tanks with "little of this, little of that" for cories, and tanks with all one kind of cories. The schools of a single type of cory always exhibit more interesting behavior than the scattered singles/pairs. It's tempting to get different breeds, but there is only so much a 20-gallon can reasonably support (esp. a 20H).

I don't have any cories myself (yet), so I'm just going from what I've seen in others' tanks, but I bet you'll find the conventional wisdom is to stick with one type of cory.

 

[Leopardess]

It would be acceptable to get several different types, but I'd vote for either one type or two kinds, three each.


I do have the mix tpirman is talking about though o) in my 55g:

3 albinos
2 pandas
2 bronze
1 emerald

They do get along just fine, though. But I also think its because there are 8 of them. I'm not sure it'd have the same effect with, say, 2 albinos and 2 bronze....

 

[brookelyn]

Actually, bronze and albino corys work well even with just two of each. I can't speak for any other combination, though.

And I could be wrong, but I believe a dwarf gourami would work if maybe you had just six tetras instead of eight.

 

[TPIRman]

LOL -- I concede to Lep's superior fishy intellect!

 

[Weather11am]

After going to my local Petsmart, to my dismay, I found out that they don't have hatchet fish AND cardinal tetras. For the Hatchet fish I think I'm going to get to 3 Dwarf Gouramies. For the cardinal tetras I'll get neon tetras instead. I also like the emarald cory catfish. Here is what I'm going to get instead:

8 Neon Tetras
3 Drawf Gouramies
5 Emerald Cory Catfish

How does this sound?

Thanks

 

[Leopardess]

Too many.

Firstly, emerald "Cory" cats are actually brochis splenden and get a lot bigger than "normal" cories. Mine is 3.5" (and big in girth) and still growing. They can reach 4-5"

I'd find different cories. Esp. because its a 20g TALL and not a 20g LONG.

As to the gouramis, males are territorial (and you won't find females around) and will nip and fight with each other. Get one of those instead.