What To Do With 20 Gallon High

[Freshwater-Freshman]

My friend dumped his 20 gallon high in my a few months back, I much prefer longs, but free tank right?? It's been a nice QT but I'm struggling to agree on a permanent stock for the shape, I think most fish prefer to have more swimming space so I'm torn on what to do with it.

I originally wanted to do an "alien" type aquascaping with lots of bright green plants and orange wonder stone. Fish I liked for this build were Pseudomugil Gertrudae, CPDs or any bright colored nano fish.

I could still go along with something like that. Or I could upgrade my brothers 7 little ember tetras to the 20, they are incredibly social for only being in a group of 7, and have really surpassed my expectations of keeping them.

I'm also just wondering what type of fish enjoy 20 talls over the longs, as I've tried my best to make their scapes as natural as possible

 

[Bigfella]

My friend dumped his 20 gallon high in my a few months back, I much prefer longs, but free tank right?? It's been a nice QT but I'm struggling to agree on a permanent stock for the shape, I think most fish prefer to have more swimming space so I'm torn on what to do with it.

I originally wanted to do an "alien" type aquascaping with lots of bright green plants and orange wonder stone. Fish I liked for this build were Pseudomugil Gertrudae, CPDs or any bright colored nano fish.

I could still go along with something like that. Or I could upgrade my brothers 7 little ember tetras to the 20, they are incredibly social for only being in a group of 7, and have really surpassed my expectations of keeping them.

I'm also just wondering what type of fish enjoy 20 talls over the longs, as I've tried my best to make their scapes as natural as possible

You could always try endlers in a tank that size...

 

[Aqua Hands]

Saltwater!

 

[Freshwater-Freshman]

You could always try endlers in a tank that size...

If I could get a hold of them it could be an option, but my LFS store is always out of them, and I say local, but it's an hour a way

Saltwater!

Hoo boy, I've sworn id never do salt water because it seems like some mysterious dark magic, but maybe someday!

 

[maggie thecat]

I had a 25 gallon show tank that offered a similar challenge. I finally was happy with a shoal of cherry barbs, another of lemon tetras, plus my usual extras of snails and shrimp.

 

[Aqua Hands]

Hoo boy, I've sworn id never do salt water because it seems like some mysterious dark magic, but maybe someday!

I know the feeling! I just announced the fact that my Biocube 29 is cycled. I wanted to make sure everything would be okay.

 

[Fanatic]

Congratulations!

 

[Fahn]

@OP with some taller pieces of driftwood and a bunch of moss I think you could do a really nice looking shrimp colony. The taller walls of the tank give plenty of space to install some sponge filters or Matten filters. 20 gallons is a good size as it gives plenty of room for error with shrimp and would easily sustain a couple of hundred long-term.

 

[Freshwater-Freshman]

I had a 25 gallon show tank that offered a similar challenge. I finally was happy with a shoal of cherry barbs, another of lemon tetras, plus my usual extras of snails and shrimp.

I do have some Cherry Barbs, they are by far my least behaved fish they eat everything from their food to the veggies and pellets that are for the SNAILS. Pretty tho

@OP with some taller pieces of driftwood and a bunch of moss I think you could do a really nice looking shrimp colony. The taller walls of the tank give plenty of space to install some sponge filters or Matten filters. 20 gallons is a good size as it gives plenty of room for error with shrimp and would easily sustain a couple of hundred long-term.

That's an interesting idea. I've always been a little scared by shrimp because they are so fragile, but I recently warmed up to the idea of just having a few in a five gallon grow out for an experiment. If I could pull it off I'm sure 100 would be much more impressive in the 20 lol

Knowing my stubborn self, I'd probably want those $7 yellow ones at my LFS

 

[Fahn]

That's an interesting idea. I've always been a little scared by shrimp because they are so fragile, but I recently warmed up to the idea of just having a few in a five gallon grow out for an experiment. If I could pull it off I'm sure 100 would be much more impressive in the 20 lol

Knowing my stubborn self, I'd probably want those $7 yellow ones at my LFS

Just let the tank run for a month or so before actually adding shrimp. Not only does this give ample time to cycle it, it also gives time for algae and biofilm to grow, which is the bulk of the diet of most shrimp.

$7 sounds about right for many of the more colorful shrimp. You should check out the metallic purple bee shrimp on Flip Aquatics... $499 each

 

[Freshwater-Freshman]

Just let the tank run for a month or so before actually adding shrimp. Not only does this give ample time to cycle it, it also gives time for algae and biofilm to grow, which is the bulk of the diet of most shrimp.

$7 sounds about right for many of the more colorful shrimp. You should check out the metallic purple bee shrimp on Flip Aquatics... $499 each

Haha I've seen those! It's insane. Also yeah this tank has been running for 2 months with 2 cycled sponge filters, my Neon Green Rasboras have been chilling in there while they are being QT, and they are finally all colored up, so I think the tank is doing a stable job. I just need to actually scape it lol it's just spare decorations and plants really, oh and a big piece of manzanita

 

[MargaretMurphy55]

A big school of golden barbs!

 

[fishaholic87]

to answer the original question what to put in fish but serously endlers, guppies or shrimp i have a ten gallon shrimp tank i keep at 68 (carbon rili shrimp) their nice

 

[Freshwater-Freshman]

A big school of golden barbs!

How do I not know what those are? I'll look them up

to answer the original question what to put in fish but serously endlers, guppies or shrimp i have a ten gallon shrimp tank i keep at 68 (carbon rili shrimp) their nice

I guess some male guppies would be nice, I haven't kept them since I was in high school and even then it was my moms fish lol, I'll see if I can find some good color varieties in my LFS same for the endlers, they are so pretty

 

[Bigfella]

How do I not know what those are? I'll look them up



I guess some male guppies would be nice, I haven't kept them since I was in high school and even then it was my moms fish lol, I'll see if I can find some good color varieties in my LFS same for the endlers, they are so pretty

If your LFS doesn't have them check on aquabid or ebay. Or ask your LFS if they will order you some and hold them for you when they come in. My local store has a huge catalogue of fish they don't carry, but can special order if requested.

 

[Freshwater-Freshman]

If your LFS doesn't have them check on aquabid or ebay. Or ask your LFS if they will order you some and hold them for you when they come in. My local store has a huge catalogue of fish they don't carry, but can special order if requested.

My store will do the same, they got me my Neon Green Rasboras that I've dreamt of forever, and are searching high and low for some Asian Stone Catfish for me. AND they offered to hold my Ryukin for a month while I was on a trip. I feel like that's pretty unheard of.

 

[Albifrons]

You could do something like a pair of honey gouramis and a bunch of shrimp, that's something I'm been thinking of doing but just haven't gotten around to.

 

[Bigfella]

If you are still thinking of as alien theme you could put kuhli loaches and yellow neocaridina....

 

[Freshwater-Freshman]

If you are still thinking of as alien theme you could put kuhli loaches and yellow neocaridina....

I'm definitely letting the idea of shrimp only roll around in my head, but I've never owned them! So I'll have to do plenty of research while I scape the tank

 

[fishaholic87]

I feed my shrimp 1 time a week a pinch of pellet food and I've got three times what I started with granted the whole tank if full of guppy grass its so thick you can't see the back and it's a ten gallon