Darlene

I was looking up info to try and figure out what we want in our 20 gallon now. I read that you can have Angels in a 20 gallon, is that ok, or not? We have a 20 tall and there are no fish in there at all now... We are trying to decide between a convict or an angel, if it will be ok in our 20 gallon. Also we only plan to have one angel in the tank if that helps at all.

Oh and would Cory's be ok with an angel, or what else could I put in with them? Thanks for all your help.

kacie

I've only read that angels should go in 29 gallons or more. Maybe someone with more experience will give you a more complete answer.

capekate

Hi Darlene
Personally I think that you can keep one Angel in a 20TALL. Being a tall tank is important. They are so small when you start off with them that an Angel would be fine in that size tank. I had two in a 29g tall and even tho they are now large, and I have moved one out, there was still plenty of room. They do take awhile to grow so even if later on down the road you had to move it maybe you would be able to at that time. Even at six months an Angel is still small enough to live in a 20g tall IMO.

Darlene

Thanks Kate. We are trying to get approval from housing to get a 55 gallon tank also, so maybe we will be able to move it to a bigger tank if needed. I'm still not sure what fish we will go with, but we both like the Angels and the Convicts so we are deciding which one want.

On a side note I found Safe start in Kansas City, so maybe we won't have to wait so long before getting some fish.

Shawnie

I agree with kate....an angel and some cories in a 20 gal tall will be fine ...and fun....if you get juvie angels, you could have a pair...they will need bigger eventually but they do grow slow as kate saId ..goodluck and make sure you get us pics !!

Darlene

Thanks Shawnie, I think we may go with a convict, hubby likes them a little better. I guess we will see in the end.

Shawnie

I got convicts coming out me ears LOL ..those are fun fishies also..just not as personable ..either way dont forget pics

Barbrella

The only problem with convicts is that (unlike with angels) you can't put any other fish in the tank with it so that's something to consider.

Darlene

I won't forget Shawnie, I will get them out after we get everything else settled.

Thanks Barbrella, I guess they wouldn't get play well with corys then? That is the other thing we were thinking of getting for that tank...

Shawnie

my cories didnt do well with my convicts...they were picked on too much as long as you dont have a mated pair, they might have a chance and be ignored...but both scavage off the bottom ...

Darlene

Thanks Shawnie, I was afraid of that after reading about them. Hubby really likes the Convicts, but said we may be better off with the Angels if we want to have more than just the one type in there.

If you could fit an Oscar in the 20 gallon there would not be a decision to make When we were out yesterday looking at the different fish Wes saw an 8 year old Oscar and fell in love with them all over again. The only problem is we may not be able to get any now, we are trying to get approval from housing to get a 55 gallon, and I'm not sure that will be big enough for one.

Shawnie

Its big enough for one ...and maybe a bottom feeder..but thats about it..unless you have extra filtration and extra water changes....and eventually he will outgrow but it takes a bit....I have an overstocked 75 gal with prestine water but I do have 2 canister filters and I have to do water changes every 2 or 3 days ..but well worth it for me to keep my boys!

Darlene

Thanks Shawnie, it is something to think about...

Darlene

Do you think I could put one Angel and a dwarf gourami together with a few cory cats?

Shawnie

Yes I think you could.....

Darlene

Thanks Shawnie.

We decided to go with a couple of Angels with the cories in there also. We found a great little store 45 minutes from us who had two panda cories so we got them and a julii and another one I can't remember what she called it. They are doing great so far, the pandas are so fun to watch.

We will move the Angels to a larger tank when needed.

capekate

good morning Darlene
Sounds like you made a great choice! Cories are so cute and I personally love the panda's. Cant wait to see some photos of your tank and new fish!
good luck with them...

Darlene

Thanks Kate, we love them already! I will try to get some pictures out soon... I need to get some smoother red stone to go on top of our substrate we got now. We got the Flourite for the plants and I think its a little to rough looking for the cories.

DarkRevoultions

I'd say small sized angels would be fine. Medium to large, you'll need to have either 2 medium angels, and one large angel itself.

I have a 29 gallon, 200, and 350 gallon tank, my 200 doesn't have many large ones, more mediums.

And my 350 has more large.

My 29 gallon is kind of sick right now, so I might have to find a way to reduce the acidic level of salt in my water..

Darlene

Well we got the Safestart and the cories in our tank and yesterday the julii cory was dead at the bottom of the tank Now my pandas are acting funny also just laying there not really doing anything, when we first got them they were all over the place. We still have one cory that doesn't seem to be affected at all.

I know with Safestart you are supposed to wait a week to do anything with it like testing the water or water changes. Do you guys think I should go ahead with a water change with prime or just wait it out, it has only been 4 days since we put the Safestart in with the cories. At the same time we added the Safestart we also added some extra filter media from our 5 gallon.

capekate

Hi Darlene, What awful news.. Im so sorry to hear that you lost the cories.
I know that with Safe Start your not supposed to do a water change for about a week. Have you tested the water anyway? I know the readings will be out of this world and a lot of folks advise against it that first week, but I would be wondering what the ammonia levels are? Do you have another tank you can put the remaining cory in that is already cycled?
I dont know what else you can do? what a shame... Im so sorry.

Darlene

I just tested it and the readings are
Ammonia: .25ppm
nitrite: .25ppm
nitrate: 5ppm

I have my 5 gallon betta tank with Neptune, and I can put it in there, I was debating if I should do that already...I also have a extra sponge filter in the 5 gallon I could put into the 20.

The other thing I just thought of was that the julii and the pandas were in the same tank at the store, and the other one was in a different tank...maybe that is part of the problem

capekate

Hi Darlene, I would go ahead an move the cory to the betta tank too. Cories are sensitive to any uncycled tank and that may be the problem OR they did in fact bring something in from the LFS and were sick to begin with.
Even tho they are in different tanks at the LFS they all use the same central water system and the water is shared through all the tanks and can easily pass any disease that way.
I hope he makes it... good luck with the little guy!

Darlene

Thanks Kate he has been moved. Also one of the pandas seemed to have more energy last night, so I hope he is getting better, they were still alive last night, but the other is really still most of the day.

I'm still not sure if its the Safestart or not, but I won't be using it for our 55 gallon tank when we get it soon.

capekate

I'll keep my fingers crossed for the little guys! Maybe just doing the fishless cycle for the 55g will be best. I did that for my own 55 and it took about 3.5 weeks to cycle, but in the end it was worth the wait.

Fishzone08

Id think it would be fine to put a angel in a 20 gallon tank, I did and there was no problem. Maybe get some neon tetras to go with it.

Darlene

Thanks Kate, that is what we are planing on doing after the problems with our 20. We actually may be getting a bigger tank, probably 75 gallons now So hubby may get his oscar after all.

Thanks Walshy we are going to go with an angel or two and some cory cats...we already got the cories, but are having problems with them and the tetra safestart we put in the tank to cycle it.

Angelwhispers

Sorry to hear you lost some of your fishes. I just lost my Angel and my Betta earlier this week, and so ended up stripping the tank down and cleaning it out from top to bottom. Now I'm hoping I don't have to go through another cycle with it.

I agree with the people saying that a fishless cycle would be better for your bigger tank when you get it. Good luck!

Darlene

Thanks Missy. I only actually lost the one cory cat, the two pandas were not doing much at all for a few days and I thought for sure they were going soon, but they seem much better and more active now.

I checked the readings this weekend and they were Ammonia 0, NitrIte 0, and NitrAte 5 PPM. If we do use safestart in our new tank we will be waiting a week and just feeding the tank or using ammonia to make sure everything is good before we put fish in.