Julienlore

Greetings,

Once my tank gets setup properly (been having some problems recently), I will slowly start stocking it. I've been doing some reading over the past few days and have a list of fish that I'm hoping will form a community in my 20 Gallon tank. I would like to know if there are any obvious mistakes I'm making, or any advice that would help the fish. My water is fairly soft, and pH is 6.7 at the moment, 76F.

5-7 Columbian Tetras depending on how big they get. A friend of mine has 3 and they're only 2". He's had them for a year and a half now.

2-3 Dwarf Cichlids. I'm hoping to find some Balloon Rams, male and female. If I add a third I would go for another female.

1-2 Bottom Dwellers. Not sure about this one yet. Maybe a small catfish?

Also, I want most of the back to be planted with some smaller plants covering part of the front. I will eventually get a CO2 injection kit (maybe make my own) and monitor the pH.

I'm new to the hobby so don't have any experience with fish. Any advice appreciated,

Julien

jsalemi

Yes, you won't go wrong with 3 or so Cory catfish as bottom dwellers. Check the cory board here for more info on these delightful little fish.

Julienlore

Thanks,

NOt sure about the COlumbian Tetras. Saw a few full grown ones in the store and they were quite big, some at least 3 inches...we really like the colours though.

Will look into the corydoras

Kevin

i would leave out the rams if you are a beginner, they are very picky about water conditions, and sometimes hard to keep...put once you get some experience under your belt, you could have 2-3 in a 10-15 gal. and you might get some to breed

your other fish would do okay...the congo tetras are also really colorful schooling fish, i would definently get some if i had a community tank

also, cories prefer groups of 5+, put 4 would to well together
this site has really good info on all sorts of fish, check it out!
www.liveaquaria.com

Julienlore

We saw some lemon tetras this evening and will probably go with that for schooling fish. Would 5 Lemons school with one Columbian Tetra?

Thanks,

Julien

Kevin

it might, i dont know much about tetras...but i dont think i would try it

MrWaxhead

not really, most tetras really only shoal with others of there kind, I do have my neon and cards shoal at times though, but they much prefer there own kind. And larger tetras especially can get nippy when there are only 2 or 3 of them in a tank. They really seem to calm down when they have enough of their own kind to shoal with, they then only bug each other at times for pecking order etc.

Also for size, I have a couple columbian blue reds that are only about 2 years old and they are about 2 3/4" not counting tail and about 1 inch in height not counting fins. I really badly want to get them out of my 50g as there are only 3 of them, and I have a 29g with 7 more. I planned on pulling the 3 from my 50 to add to the 29 for a little shoal in there but, they are very tough to catch in a planted tank. They vanish real fast if they think you are about to catch them. I have even tryed feeding at night under the moonlighting, but the second they see the net, they vanish into the plants.

The 7 in my 29 are very calm, the 3 in my 50 tend to hide and ambush similar sized tetras and have little spats hehe, nothing serious but other then them its a very peacefull tank.

Kevin

lol, my blue gourami was like that...it took me about an hour and a half to catch her when i turned her in

Isabella

I agree with all of the above comments. Get either Columbian tetras or Lemon tetras - you wouldn't have enough space for 2 schools (i.e. one school of Columbians and another school of Lemons). By the way, I am not sure what fish Columbian tetras are. Do you mean maybe Congo tetras? Also, I wouldn't be getting Rams for that tank either. Lastly, are you familiar with info on how to run a planted tank with CO2 injections?

Julienlore

I'm planning my C02 system right now. Going to go with the yeast sollution method. I brew beer from scrach and culture my own yeast so it's easily available. I'm going to use adiffuser of some sort. My LFS sells two kinds: glass and spiral diffuser. I'm not sure if I need a check valve?

What's the deal with the Rams? Both stores telling me they keep rams with Tetras in similar tanks with no problems?

Thanks!

Julien

Isabella

I myself don't know anything about CO2-injected tanks, lol Just making sure you know, lol The reason I am asking is that most fish tank beginners who would like a planted tank, go with a low-light non-CO2-injected tank at first, then they move to CO2 injections. But if you have your information and research done, you certainly can start right away with CO2 injections if you want to. What substrate and lighting will you use?

As for the Rams, there is nothing wrong with keeping Rams with Tetras. I personally believe Rams need a bigger tank than 20 gallons, PLUS they're quite sensitive fish and need very good water quality. Lastly, if you get Rams, you'll need to cut down a lot on the stocking levels of other fish in your tank. They can't be in an overstocked tank.

MrWaxhead

Hey hey Columbian blue reds are the following fish,

They are a fair sized tetra, little smaller then a congo though, but still a shoal of them will eat up his tank pretty fast, as they do like to swim. And are very nippy to similar sized tetras whiteskirts etc, when they are too few in numbers. Mine in a tank with good amounts of them are calm, in my 50 as I said with only 3 they are a bit of pain, they never bother smaller fish like cardinals or neons etc. I think they are just flexing there muscles for space with other similar sized fish being that they don't have a shoal to belong too. They seem to find peace though once they have numbers of there own kind.

Isabella

Can't see the picture

MrWaxhead

As far as planted tanks go, I found the opposite with research (I read for about a solid month on every forum I could find before I gave my first try at planted, I still started with the DIY end of c02 though) I found high light high fert and c02 tanks were fairly simple, and much easier to balance and achieve healthy plants and fish. I have a harder time with the learning curve of low light no c02 tanks. But then I know others that grow beautiful low light tanks and bomb bad on high light c02 tanks.

MrWaxhead

here is the whole page I STOLE that pic from hehe.

http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_H...olumbianus.php

MrWaxhead

Funny you mentioned congos though, my LFS store doesn't seem to really know what they have atm. I was in their the other day, and they had about 12 of them for 2.99 a piece (juvies just startng to poke fin shape). But I just don't have the room in any of my tanks for them atm. I was tempted to buy another tank and steal a filter off one of my other tanks, as I run two on all my tanks, plant it real heavy and drop them in. Wife would have killed me though hehe.

Isabella

Oh ... that fish! I've seen it before - very nice

MrWaxhead

Ya that one hehe, if you do keep them I have never seen a fish so crazy for peas in all my life. When I drop pea peices in my tank, they will outswim a danio for them, and then bolt away with a huge clump in there mouth, and go hide in the plants, doing the following. Sit with a clump in their mouth, spit it most of the way out and suck it back in until they have consumed it all. They seem to enjoy playing with them, they could easily suck back the size of the piece in there mouth, but they seem to savor them hehe.