About to set up a new tank...tell me what you think!

HI everyone. Great forum! I'm about to set up my first tank. It's only 20 gallons, but somebody just gave me the aquarium and top so I can't complain too much. I've done a lot of research and everything, and know all about cycling, but I'd like your opinions on the fish I've finally decided on. I'm thinking 3 glofish, 6 tiger barbs, a red-tailed shark and some nerite snails. I'm hoping this will cover the top, mid and bottom regions of the tank, and the nerites are supposed to eat algae. I will also have live plants.

Do you think I could get away with adding a couple more barbs? Could I split them up between regular tigers and albinos? What if I added a couple more glofish instead? From what I understand, tank capacity is mostly based on how much waste the fish will produce. Are barbs "dirtier" than glofish, since they're not as thin?

There are no nerite snails at the local pet store, so I'm going to have to order them. I've found a couple places online but if you've had success with a particular company please let me know.

I think this tank will look sharp. I'm using red gravel and a black background. The glofish will be the pink kind, and of course the shark and barbs will have red highlights. I'll post pics when it's all finished. 20 gallons is frustrating! I look forward to the day when I can afford a much larger tank.

 

Welcome to fishlore Batman

First of all is your tank cycled, you want to make sure it is so you don't expierence problems and fish deaths. Do you mean by glofish as dyed fish , if so please don't buy them, if not can you explain what you mean to me. A red tail shark will get too large for you tank, gets to be 6" as for the tiger barbs they nip fins so if you want them you need to be careful choosing tank mates. With your size tank I wouldn't suggest the tiger barbs, especially since it's a tall tank, it also will drastically limit what other fish you could get in there. My suggesion would be a community tank with some tetra's or rasboras, dwarf gourami, and some cories and otos.
atm

 

I wanted to just chime in here long enough to let you know that if you have 2 or more Nerita Snails, you will soon have 200. They breed like little rabbits and have hundreds of offspring.

Rose

 

ATM: No, my tank is not cycled, it is not even put together now. I still need to buy a few things. I'm familiar with cycling and do not plan on adding all those fish at once. I'm just thinking about the tank after it's completely set up and fully stocked.

I do not like the idea of dyed fish and would not buy them. Glofish are zebra danios that are genetically altered to have brilliant pink, yellow or orange colors. They're supposed to glow under blacklight, but I've only seen them under a regular aquarium light and they are very pretty. Their care is the exact same as for regular zebra danios. The difference is the cost ($9 each at my local store.) From Glofish: "The fish are as healthy as other zebra fish in every way. Scientists originally developed them several years ago by adding a natural fluorescence gene to the fish eggs before they hatched." They have them cheaper at Wal-Mart but I've talked to too many people whose entire tanks were wiped out by the addition of a single, unhealthy Wal-Mart fish.

Chikadee: Ugh, that's too bad about the snails. I wanted them specifically because I read somewhere online that their eggs only hatch under specific conditions (brackish water, I think?) and that because of this they don't multiply like crazy. Just marketing, I guess. Are there any snails that don't? I really like that they're algae eaters. I want some kind of algae-eating creature that's not a pleco. Any suggestions?

 

Depends on the algae, I had a mystery snail and he didn't eat any algae yet some people say they do, my oto's eat my brown algae and my pleco won't touch it, certain fish eat certain algae and there are many types of algae. O ok ya I'v seen those, they are pretty fish, though what's the surface area of your tank, they like the top?

atm

 

I just measured the top, it's about 24 in. long by 12 in. deep.

I did consider a community tank, I just never found anything I was terribly impressed with. However, I LOVE tiger barbs, they have lovely colors and I like how active they are. I figured having at least 6 would keep them picking amongst themselves and that a red-tail could hold his own against any bullying. Also I've been told danios do well with semi-aggressive fish as they are fast enough to avoid the aggressors.

I've been getting a lot of my information off the fish species section of fishlore.com. For instance, it says for a red-tail shark you need at least a 10-gallon tank, and for the barbs a 20 at minimum. Do you not feel this is accurate? Is there another site you would recommend with species info?

I think I will hold off on any snails for now.

Thanks for the replies!

 

You could do just Tiger Barbs. You can split them up. I have read mixed reports that sometimes they all stick together and sometimes they split up it to 2 groups. either way get just make sure you get like 4 of each so if they do split one group does not pick on the other.

 

No fishlore also says 10 gallon minimum but no they need a bigger tank and if you want tiger barbs and danios your tank will already be pretty stocked so I would go with 6 glofish and 6 tiger barbs and go from there, add the glofish first though.

atm