20 Gallon Tank New Idea for 20 gallon long

[Revan]

Ok so I was going to get 3 honey gouramis for my 20-gallon long, but I've started looking at clown killifish and they look really cool as well. They apparently also are OK with shrimp, which seemed dubious to me, so I thought I'd check it out here. I've also heard they have a short lifespan from a friend, but I'm not sure how real that is either. I was thinking about getting 2 killifish (same gender) and then getting 8-10 WCMM's, and getting rid of my tank heater. The only thing is I live in Texas so temperatures can change decently from summer to winter. Any ideas, advice, or critiques about the plan?

 

[Gudgie]

Heads up that clown killies are suuper tiny - they only get up to an inch or so (but beautiful fish!). Two might be lost in a 20 gallon (they'd likely love the tank - you just might have trouble spotting them sometimes) - you could easily add several more. They'd probably be fine with adult shrimp, but I think they might pick off baby shrimp- might be able to get around that if you have heavy plant cover.

When I kept clown killies years ago, I had them with CPDs and never saw any problems between them. Can't comment on the WCMMs, other than that an adult WCMM will look giant next to the killies.

 

[Revan]

Heads up that clown killies are suuper tiny - they only get up to an inch or so (but beautiful fish!). Two might be lost in a 20 gallon (they'd likely love the tank - you just might have trouble spotting them sometimes) - you could easily add several more. They'd probably be fine with adult shrimp, but I think they might pick off baby shrimp- might be able to get around that if you have heavy plant cover.

When I kept clown killies years ago, I had them with CPDs and never saw any problems between them. Can't comment on the WCMMs, other than that an adult WCMM will look giant next to the killies.

Ah, so they're about as big as CPD's then. I used to have CPD's, and they'd always be hard to enjoy in the 20 gallon lol. I might just get a bigger type of killifish and abandon the whole shrimp plan. I have a nerite and an infestation of Malaysian trumpet snails anyway

 

[Gudgie]

Length-wise, yes fairly similar to CPDs. Much smaller body mass though

If you're looking for larger killies, australe or gardneri are relatively hardy and easy to keep. My orange Australe killies have been some of the easiest fish for me, and readily breed even though I don't have particularly soft water. If you don't want to bother to raise fry, the adults will eat all/most of the eggs/fry if you haven't pulled them out, so it's easy to keep the population where you want it. But yup, I'd definitely scrap the shrimp with them.

Edit to add: neither of the species I named are annual killies. Australe have been known to live 3-5 yrs, and I think gardneri around 2-3 yrs (no experience with the latter though).

 

[Revan]

Interesting, maybe 1-3 gardeneri killifish along with 12 WCMM's. We'll have to see budget-wise. Then again, I could always just go for a few honey gouramis and keep my heater.