Recommend fishes for my 20 gallon tank

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lilcam

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Jul 17, 2004
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Inspired by my buddy's tank (29" wide) who has an oscar and a couple of chichlid, I wanted to follow in his footsteps. Well, now I'm starting to realize 20 gallon is way too small. So, what does everyone advise?

Note - I used to have goldfishes, angels, swords, guppies when I was in grade school (about 10 years ago). I'm looking into getting back into this hobby, but I dont want to raise community fishes. Are there any fishes besides oscars (gonna wait) that I can put into a 20 gallon? Maybe 3-4 fishes. I would like something unusual.

How about the following?

Blue Acara
dwarf cichlid
rainbow cichlid
 
Blue arcara would get too big IMO, I don't know about the dwarfs or the rainbow cichlids though. Cichlids being messy fish 20 gallons won't hold a lot of cichlid and provide a good environment. If you want to avoid community fish you might try some of the smallish shell dwelling cichlids (once again, These are out of my experience range) or maybe some very minute but not so common species like some of the killefishes.
I personally would go with dwarf gourami's and some oddball tetra but then you are borderline on common community fish.

Not sure if your buddy is aware, but he is heading for dissaster with an Oscar in a 29" tank. He'll need 75+ gallons of water in 2 or 3 months.
 
here's what im thinking. start small and work my way up. After seeing what my buddy has, I was inspired to go get oscars right off the bat, but now i know not to.

Anyways, he's had his fishes for over a year now. No problem whatsoever and they are very beautiful fishes. He says he's been breeding fishes for over 30 years now so i sort of trust his words. He did state that a 20 gallon tank is stretching it.

So, maybe I'll get community fishes for now and then later on get a bigger tank and experiment with cichlids. I'll stay away from oscars for now.

Also, my tank has been running since Thursday evening. it looks cloudy right now. All i put in there are some gravel, rocks to build shelter and a cave that I bought from the store. I rinsed everything so i dont understand why it's cloudy. I added some ph up solution because I wanted to get the ph level a little hgher. Could the warmth of the water be causing it? I'm trying to get it at 82 degrees for the fishes. The room temp hovers from 75-80.
 
how would i get the ph level up if i cant use the ph solutions found in the local pet store?

Im going to go buy my betta fish today, and i'll start the water cycle again later tonight. i want to get this right!
 
A) Fish are adaptable to pH. Constantly changing pH they don't like. You never said what your pH. It's probably ok for hardy fish.

B) I'd cycle first then get the betta.
 
pH was @ 7.4.

I went and bought a betta for my 2.5 gallon tank. the thing doent move and just sits at the top corner. even when i tap the tank, he doesnt budge. is he sick?
 
He says he's been breeding fishes for over 30 years now so i sort of trust his words. He did state that a 20 gallon tank is stretching it.
Click to expand...

Please understand that everyone is entitled to their opinion, and many folks do things that others don't approve of.
That being said, a 12+" fish in a 20g tank is not stretching things a bit it is inhumane IMO and IME. I imagine the oscar is stunted, and very unhappy, he will not be able to exibit the bahavior that makes these fish fun to own, and he will die young either from disease or from the internal effects of stunting.
55g would be stretching it a bit, 75 would be the minimum good home for an oscar. I have known many LFS employees with 30 years experience that couldn't describe the nitrogen cycle, and happily sell oscars to people with 20 gallon tanks. Years of experience don't always equate to years of good experience. I am not reccomending you discount your friends opinion, but I would highly reccomend you do a lot of research on anything he or anyone else tells you. Get the facts then form your own opinion. Even if you could somehow make an Oscar live happily in 20 gallons of water, you as a pet owner will never know the true enjoyment of having an Oscar, it would be no different than keeping a ST. bernard in your bedroom closet.

BTW. 7.4 would work quite well with almost any Freshwater fish in existance. There are ways to carefully raise and maintain PH, with crushed coral of Baking soda. But if it isn't necessary, I wouldn't mess with it.
Dave
 
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