New to forum 20G ideas

[tonysharks]

Hello everyone. I'm getting back into the hobby after a few years. I have a 2 month old cycled 20G H tank. I currently have 4 Zebra Danios 2 Molly's and 2 platies. It is a palnted tank and the water conditions are as follows
PH 7.6-7.8
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 5ppm
Very hard water
Temp 78
At this point I'm debating on adding 1 more centerpiece fish. I had thought about a dwarf blue gourami or a German blue ram. After doing some research and getting some advice here someone mentioned that the gouramis are known for health and behavioral problems. If anyone has any advice or suggestions on what to add if anything I would appreciate it.

Here is a picture of the tank

 

[FinalFins]

Hi there, over a german blue ram maybe a pair of bolivian rams? They are more temperature compatible with your current stock.

 

[tonysharks]

Also I had some dwarf high grass but it did not do well at all and died in the first month. Does anyone have suggestions for ground cover or short plants for the front section of the tank?

Hi there, over a german blue ram maybe a pair of bolivian rams? They are more temperature compatible with your current stock.

I will look into those and do some research. Thanks for the suggestion

 

[redmare]

I'm having luck growing micro sword in a fairly low tech setup, so maybe consider that for a carpeting plant? also, if you like gouramis, maybe consider one or a few honey gouramis. I'm pretty sure the dwarfs are the ones with the most issues and many others are pretty good. You could also consider getting a few more platies instead, to make a more entertaining group

 

[tonysharks]

I'm having luck growing micro sword in a fairly low tech setup, so maybe consider that for a carpeting plant? also, if you like gouramis, maybe consider one or a few honey gouramis. I'm pretty sure the dwarfs are the ones with the most issues and many others are pretty good. You could also consider getting a few more platies instead, to make a more entertaining group

Would I have room for the honeys and 2 more platies or one or the other? I don't want to overstock.

 

[redmare]

Would I have room for the honeys and 2 more platies or one or the other? I don't want to overstock.

I think if you did one honey and two platies you would still be good. That, three honeys, or four platies would be what I would do. Although I'm going of research and intuition, not experience, so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[Danny002]

Would I have room for the honeys and 2 more platies or one or the other? I don't want to overstock.

Honeys like company so I'd do 3 honeys first and see how that goes.

 

[Kitcatkady]

Being fairly new at this, I don’t have any advice. However, I too have 20g high with a Groot bubbler. So, great tank!!

 

[tonysharks]

Being fairly new at this, I don’t have any advice. However, I too have 20g high with a Groot bubbler. So, great tank!!

Thank you. Normally I only like to put natural rocks DW etc in my tank but I set this one up with my kids so I couldn't say no to a baby Groot lol. Besides I made myself feel better about it by using his head as a planter for my anubias haha

 

[Kitcatkady]

Lol. My kid is the reason baby groot is in my tank as well.

 

[tonysharks]

Honeys like company so I'd do 3 honeys first and see how that goes.

When stocking do you guys go by the inch per gallon rule or do you play it by ear and experience?

 

[Danny002]

When stocking do you guys go by the inch per gallon rule or do you play it by ear and experience?

Ear and experience. The inch per gallon rule has a lot of flaws and things like activity level, how well the tank is planted, and other factors will all effect how stocked a tank can be.

 

[tonysharks]

Ear and experience. The inch per gallon rule has a lot of flaws and things like activity level, how well the tank is planted, and other factors will all effect how stocked a tank can be.

Based on the picture I posted above would my tank be considered well planted? If not what plants should I look to add?

 

[Danny002]

Based on the picture I posted above would my tank be considered well planted? If not what plants should I look to add?

I think it's a little sparse in the way of plants. If you're looking for some easy plants, hornwort sucks up nitrates really fast and grows like crazy, but it may drop it's needles which can make a big mess, so that depends on if you're willing to risk that. Swords are always good, they do get big though and it already looks like you have 2 so I wouldn't add more. It also looks like you've got some anacharis in there. I would add more of that if you like the look.

You could also look around on a site like buceplant (I've bought from them before- would recommend) and hover over the tab that says "all aquatic plants" and then to the left there should be a thing that says "low tech" click that one and just look around. Anything there would probably work well for you, just make sure to read the little description just to catch anything that may not work for you.

 

[StarGirl]

I agree on the Anacharis, Bacopa and Vals fill in really nice too. There are a lot of people who sell plants on the forum. In the Buy/sell/trade/free section.

 

[tonysharks]

I think it's a little sparse in the way of plants. If you're looking for some easy plants, hornwort sucks up nitrates really fast and grows like crazy, but it may drop it's needles which can make a big mess, so that depends on if you're willing to risk that. Swords are always good, they do get big though and it already looks like you have 2 so I wouldn't add more. It also looks like you've got some anacharis in there. I would add more of that if you like the look.

You could also look around on a site like buceplant (I've bought from them before- would recommend) and hover over the tab that says "all aquatic plants" and then to the left there should be a thing that says "low tech" click that one and just look around. Anything there would probably work well for you, just make sure to read the little description just to catch anything that may not work for you.

Thanks for the advice. I will do some research on the plants you mentioned and see which ones would fit my tank best

I agree on the Anacharis, Bacopa and Vals fill in really nice too. There are a lot of people who sell plants on the forum. In the Buy/sell/trade/free section.

Thanks I'll check out the buy and sell section here once I do some research and figure out what I want