Hi all! Try to put together my first community tank with a 20 gallon long I picked up on sale. My previous fishkeeping experience as an adult is just a single betta in a 5g tank, so stocking is definitely an area I have no experience in. While I get my tank set up and wait for it to cycle I've been trying to plan ahead for my stocking. I've been reading up on fish that are fairly hardy and using aqadvisor for planning, but wanted to post my plan and get people's thoughts (especially since I have no sense of what fish are truly compatible). My plan is 2x Bolivian Rams 6x Guppy 2x Nerite Snail 1x Bristlenose Pleco 1x Dwarf Gourami OR 6x Leopard Danio (no preference) According to aqadvisor these fish should be compatible and would put me at ~100% stock level and would be fine from a filtration standpoint (Aqueon Quietflow 50, most likely). What do people think?
Welcome to Fishlore! Aqadvisor isn't that accurate, so I wouldn't trust it completely. I'd leave out the BN pleco - they get up to 6" long and they're quite messy. A bigger tank, like a 29 gal, would be more suitable for them. I'd keep only male guppies - females will breed and overrun you with fry (no, not all of the fry will be eaten).
Thanks for the advice! I will definitely leave out the BN pleco -- was a little hesitant on it anyways because it seems like they need driftwood which can be tricky to deal with. Definitely male guppies only, don't need any baby drama.
I agree with leaving the pleco out. You don't want it to outcompete your nerites for food anyway. The only other thing I have a recommendation on is the gourami. It seems like a lot of people, especially here lately, have had problems keeping them alive for very long due to the dreaded iridovirus. Being that your guppies would provide you with a splash of color, you could instead do a couple honey gouramis. People say they stay on the smaller and docile side. Oh and if you can, make sure you can either get a male and female or two female bolivian rams. Apparently two males can get pretty testy with each other.
Wow, I just read up on iridovirus after your post... Going for the honey gourami instead is a great suggestion. Also appreciate the tip about the ram gender, probably wouldn't have given it much thought otherwise. Thanks!
