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Hey all,

I was recentaly offered a 20gallon tank by a friend. Iam not sure about wheather it is High or Long but either or this is my plan for it. Let me know if iam going wrong somewhere and how i should correct it. And any tips or advice is welcomed as well:

-Not going to be a planted tank at the start....
-Medium sized gravel maybey an the smaller size...
-Heater of course....
-Plastic plants everywhere...
-A few rocks...
-And a bubble wall...

-Now for my favorite part....stocking....iam planning on stocking this as if it were a 20g high so incase it is i can leave it and if it isant i can add if i want:...

-a m/f pair of bolovian rams...
-and a school of 6-7 corydras...maybe peppered or trilenious....

Thats it as of right noe and this isant until probably after christmas when i hit the jackpot of cash and gifts

20 GALLON LONG CURRENTLY EMPTY ~~~~ 10 GALLON W/ STRIPPED CONVICT

I would go for Live Plants & some Driftwood, instead of Plastic Plants. Rams & Corydoras are really cool, but if you want some more fish, just add a school of 6 Tetra's, like Rummynose, Glowlights or Cardinals.

Goodluck with your Christmas gifts.



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I'd highly recommend sand instead of gravel if you're going to keep Bolivian Rams and corys. They love digging through the sand to find any leftover munchies. My Rams actually love munching on the sand. And if you get a breeding pair like mine they'll make little depressions in the sand to place the hatched frys (wrigglers).

And definitely live plants if you're up to it.

-P

What do u guys think about half sand and half rocks?....iam just kind afraid of sand....ive never dealt with it and am not that up to the challange....i was thinking of really small gravel...plus....isant it better for plants to be in gravel...?


Peter

20 GALLON LONG CURRENTLY EMPTY ~~~~ 10 GALLON W/ STRIPPED CONVICT

Hey,

I just found out that it is a 20g long....iam so pumped...iam gonna try and set it up before the christmas festivities...also iam thinking about ground up gravel...not up to sand and i think that the rams will be just as happy...so this means that i am gonna get the folowing:

- Ram pair...bolovian's
- A school of cories...6-7
- A candy stripped pleco
- A small school of tetras...5-6 probably cardinals or another small species....

I plan on having it be planted but not until after christmas because of the cash shortage...


Is this good?

20 GALLON LONG CURRENTLY EMPTY ~~~~ 10 GALLON W/ STRIPPED CONVICT

You can also use 1mm gravel instead of sand, but IME it's easier to plant in sand (at least washed river sand) than the 1mm gravel. The half sand/half gravel may work depending on the layout (i.e. they need to be separated instead of layered on top of each other).

-P

ok, well how expensive is sand?


Peter

20 GALLON LONG CURRENTLY EMPTY ~~~~ 10 GALLON W/ STRIPPED CONVICT

A pleco would be overkiil - serious overkill...
And, in my opinion, cories are a bad choice with rams in a smaller tank. Rams themselves stick to the bottom alot, so you're not going to have much going on in the upper and middle layers except for 6 little neons. IMO a better schooling fish combo woud be hatchetfish (topdweller) neons (middweller) and rams (bottomdweller). Also, cories will harass the rams. If your rams or breeding or just plain nasty, you might wind up with a couple of blind cories.

Not sure where you are, but here in Australia sand is pretty cheap. Certainly it shouldn't cost more than gravel. I've heard pool filter sand is a good and economical choice.

I have a breeding pair of Bolivian Rams and 7 corys in a 23g and the Rams don't bother the corys unless when they're protecting frys. Actually it's more the other way around - the corys were the ones bugging the Rams as they were trying to eat the Ram frys. But it also depends on the personality of the Rams, I suppose.

-P

Sand posses some extra challenges but is about the same as gravel if you are informed on how to clean it and care for it.

I recomend frequent gravel vac just pinch the tube a little to reduce suction and prevent the sand from suctioning out, also make sure to stir sand to prevent bacteria build up that can cause amonia (I do this once a week with the end of my net) also stir softly, not enough to possibly have sand float to the surface. My ram and corys love the sand, the corys dig in it a lot in order to find left over food.

As for price mine was 5$ a bag for a small bag but it only took 3 bags to cover my 10 gallons bottom with 2-3 inches.

Really sand is just a matter of preference, one of my tanks has gravel the other has sand I like the sand look better for the little more work it takes to care for it.



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