Ideas and questions about converting a 10 gal to 20 gal aquarium!?

Question

Right now I have a 10 gallon tank with the following:

Betta fish
3 Cory catfish
5 Neon Tetras
Heater
Thermometer
Air Stone
20 Gal Filter
3 fake plants
Fake Rock setup
Gravel

I would really like to house my fish and more fish into a 20 gallon tank. I have a tank in mind and its measurements are perfect for my room.

I plan on getting rid of the 3 fake plants and putting in real plants. I don't need to buy a new filter since my current one filters up to 20 gallons.

Here are some ideas on what I might want to get:
More Cory Cats
More Neon tetras
Loaches
Freshwater sharks
Ghost Shrimp
Apple Snails
Java fern
Java Moss
Anubias Nana
Anubias barteri

If you have any suggestions on what else I can add or anything on converting to the new tank would help. What would you do if you had these fish and supplies already and were upgrading to a new 20 gal tank? Thanks to all that answer!

Answer 1

the first thing i have to say is wow! detail!, the only detail you didnt mention is the size of your heater, a 20g tank requires a 100w heater and a 10 only a 50, so you probally do need a new heater. the loaches depend on what type of loaches your thinking of, try a kulli loach, theyre pretty cool, but a lot of the other loaches get fairly sizable and are kind of agressive. i would also avoid the sharks for the agression and size reasons. the shrimp would be fine but expect them to randomly disapear periodically. i dont know much about apple snails except theyre usually used in ponds, ive had mystery snails in my tanks with great success however. the plants all seem fine but the java moss and fern generally do better when securred to driftwood to take root rather than planted in gravel, some of my favorite plants are water wisteria and the different varieties of cryptocorn, the only thing that makes live plants more complicated, is you have to make sure you leave your light on for about 12 hours a day and replace your light bulbs every six months. the plants will also do better if you get a spacific plant grow light and add fertalizer. for other fish ideas try mixing cardinal tetras, glow light tetras, albino glow light tetras, and/or black neon tetras into the school. ive had great experiance with all those types schooling together, makes for an interesting look, just becarful not to put too many fish in the tank total, personally i wouldnt recoment more than 13-16

Answer 2

I agree with everything Ghapy said, and it's sound advice. The only thing I'd like to tack on to that, IF you have the space available, why don't you just keep your 10 gallon tank, seed a new 20 gallon tank with a cup or 2 of the gravel from your ten, and start up a brand new 20, keeping your 10. By keeping your 10, when you begin to get those new fish you want, you can quarenntine them in there, make sure there aren't any diseases, and down the road in the future, if someone gets sick, you have a place to put them so you can treat them, and not have to treat your entire 20 gallon tank. I just set up my 180 gallon tank, and I didn't consider this myself last week. I moved all my populations out of my 15 and 20, and realized, I left myself no hospital or breeding options. It's always good to have a reserve tank, space permitting. And your 20 should cycle out much faster then your 10 did because you'll be using the bacteria from there, starting out with a live culture this time. JV

Answer 3

Although you have chosen low light plants,you might want to consider up-grading the lighting system a little,it will help the plants bunches.
Also ,if it were mine,I'd lose the sharks,and maybe go with something like Marble or Silver Hatchet fish. They hang around the surface and will sort-of fill in that area without running up the bio-load too much.
One last item,go slowly, and don't add too many fish until the new tank is well cycled. You should consider "fishless" cycling. It's much more humane,and doesn't risk harming your pets.

Answer 4

Take the 3 fake plants out and get live plants...And that is tooooooo much stuff in a 20 gal tank. Fish need space! Too much stuff streeses them out especially other fish

Answer 5

You really don't wanna over do it, 20 gallons isn't too big and eight fish is plenty for one tank. I would stay away from sharks as they need 30+ gallons and really just more fish..try a shrimp, really not ghost as they are feeder shrimp and might not live long. Mystery snails are sexual reproductive so will not multiply unless you have two.....

Some java moss would look nice, but leave plenty of space to swim so one or two decorations and a few plants will be enough.

A small community frog and a fiddler or red claw crab may also be a nice addition that will be suitable for your tank.

Bubble wands are longer and provide a nicer effect than air stones in my opinion. Try one of those and perhaps a different colored gravel to mix things up.

Good luck!

Answer 6

i would skip the snails...they multiply like crazy! why not try a plecostomus instead. and be careful with the shrimp...they will attack and eat anything they can catch. if you're going to do sharks, you will need lots of cover...plants, rocks they can hide in, etc. platys are nice and they are live bearers. i personally like albino cory cats. mollys are good too and they also are live bearers. danios are cool, especially leopard danios. and tetras come in many varieties...black, glo-lite, head and tail light, cardinal, etc.
have fun!