What is a good combination for my new 20H?

Question

What is a good combination you can get easily find for a 20H (25 gallons) tank. I know everyone will say thets your prefrence, so I like tropical fish. Frogs are ok,but no snails. Bright colors are great. Iwant a sucker fish too.

Answer 1

Cichlids are very interesting, but not necessarily a good beginner fish. Plus, they require a lot of space/water. But, then, I'm not a fan of the "beginner" fish either like danios and killifish! Barbs are colorful and easy to take care of and don't get as big and aren't quite as aggressive. Platys and swordtails are colorful, easy and don't require as much space/water. Gouramis are a moderate level fish and don't require a lot of space/water. I personally, would avoid livebearers unless you want more baby fry than you know what to do with. "Sucker" fish are more specifically called loaches or plecos and then there are catfish. Loaches and plecos get large, so you may want to consider small catfish instead. For this size tank with one cory catfish, you could have maybe 3 other smaller bodied fish. Don't forget to learn about cycling water and water changes, maintenance and testing.

Answer 2

What ever you chose,keep the bioload low,a 20H doesn't have a lot of surface area compared to it's volume so the 1"/gal. rule could easily get your fish in trouble. The choice of species should be in accordance with your tap water chemistry. If you have soft water the Southeast Asian or Amazon fishes will thrive for you. If your water is harder,with a higher pH,then you should choose Rift Lake fishes or The live-bearers from Mexico or Central America,or maybe some of the smaller rainbow fish, there are lots of choices. Stock the tank slowly as it cycles, don't dump a bunch of fish into an uncycled tank all at once. Add a couple of fish then wait two weeks before adding more. Be patient and also make sure that the sucker mouth cat is one of the small varieties, the common brown and black marked ones get really big.---------Good luck.----PeeTee

Answer 3

Dwarf frogs are ok, but no clawed frogs or albinos (they get softball sized) make sure you know the difference if you get them. A bristlenose pleco will be OK in a 20, but most sucker fish get too big for your tank. Livebearers, tetras, rasboras, barbs, killifish and minnows are good fish to get. Number of fish depends on which species you go with.

Why, may I ask, do you have 25 gallons in parenthasis? A 20H only holds 17 actual gallons of water.

Answer 4

I would go with african cichlids if your looking for some colour in your tank