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i just got a new tank, its a 20 gallon. i would like some fish suggestions. just reply and tell me what kind of fish i should get. thanks!

What came first? the chicken or the egg? No really.....

Well a 20 pretty much limits you to a small shoal or two of tiny community fish, like tetras etc, or maybe a pair small cichlids, a small shoal of cory cats and few feature fish like gouramies etc. Anything over 3 inches long is pretty much out, so for an algae crew its down to ottos and shrimp etc.

What do you have a yen for?

Pick a fish thats nonaggressive , preferably genuinely suitable for community, under 3 inches, and doesnt need high shoal numbers and work from there.

Better yet , choose a biotope that will have such species, like a small amazon, asian or african tank, and work it out from there. Far fewer disease issues that way, and if you choose fish that would naturally cohabit, youre immediately at an advantage. It generally makes life much easier if the fish like exactly the same temperature ranges and ph, etc.

Dont forget, if you need fish treatments to go in and need to hike the temps to help combat disease at any point, it helps to have fish with the same tolerance limits, so a cooler water tropical fish wont founder under the heat required to make something like an apistogramma for example , well again. Choose a river, a lake , a swamp or a stream habitat, and stick with it. Much easier in the long run. You can even take it as far as authentic planting.

Have a look through the profiles, maybe browse fishbase, or look through an atlas or two and see what tickles your fancy. Choose a fish you love the look of that meets the size and temperament requirement, and start building the rest of the tank around them. To genuinely adore at least one fish in the tank saves boredom, and you'll love your tank for longer.

Choose easy to medium difficulty species, and both you and the fish will be happier in the long run. Avoid too many specialist feeders, fin nippers, and go for the fish that are easiest. Omnivores are easiest to feed, and in the confines of a 20 dont choose fish that go insane when they breed, or breed in great profusion, you may for example wish to avoid livebearers unless you know you can sell the young.

Theres several basic ways. You can have a small aggressive pair and not much else, and youll have to do all your algae scraping. You can have a shoaling community and a few maintenance fish, or you can have a few chunky but not large feature fish, and have a varied community of scavengers.

Take advantage of the 3 basic layers of a tank, the top, the midwater and the bottom, and have just a few fish in each strata, thusly avoiding overcrowding, but maximising the variety of fish.

Even with a 20 theres plenty of scope, but the stocking has to remain sensible..

Tell us what you love, and we'll help you make a community of it. Dont forget to tell us what filter you have, what substrate you chose, etc, and we can make it as easy to do as possible, and keep your stocking within reasonable limits for your tanks performance.

I am definitely in agreement with longhairedgit on the research/planning front. My 5 yr old son and I got into fishkeeping last month, and we began with a bit of a tough species: Tiger Barbs. They are really fun fish and look great, but they are pretty agressive fin nippers, and so that places limits what we can put in our 20g with them. So, my suggestion to you is go with research and planning and not with "oh man, those look really kool!!" lol

The various fish profiles on the site are very helpful when considering stocking options.

i made a list of fish that i may want. i need to know if they can all be housed together. Can u check it out?

What came first? the chicken or the egg? No really.....