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I got a free 20 long today, great tank in fantastic condition

I'm not in a hurry to set it up but would like to get some ideas. What I currently have:

75g oscar
30g angels, rummynoses, kuhliis
29g pearl gouramis, platies, BN
20g breeding pair of cons
10g QT
5.5g betta and cherry barb
5.5g pair of rams
3g female apisto
2.5g betta and micro rasboras

Thanks

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Looking at your list of fish - how about something...odd...like an African butterfly fish. Drop the water level a few inches, have a glass lid with internal filter, add a trio of upside catfish, and you'd have a nifty W. African biotope tank.

Eric

If you want something really different why not dwarf puffers? They are strictly fresh water and you could keep several males with an abundance of females in the tank provided that there are enough plants etc to break sight. Recently, there was a very nice report about keeping and breeding these fish in such a set up in TFH.

You could try what I am doing with my 20 tall:

10 or so small tetras
a pair of rams or apistos
OR
8 small tetras
one ram
5 cories

There is less fish in the first one because of the rams being territorial if it's a breeding pair.

Other suggestions: one big shoal of tetras; a pair of pearl gouramis with some other fish...that's all I could think of for now. HTH


~Morgan~

What happened to your africans? Didn't you have some multies and some stapps?

A 20 long is a great size for any small community. Do you have hillstream loaches available near you? A 20 long would possibly be long enough to create a river tank with small powerheads at one end and sponge filters at the other. Add lots of java fern and algae-covered rocks, and get a bunch of hillstream loaches, butterfly loaches, and some whiteclouds or other coldwater minnow.

You could create a larger home for your lone female apisto?

What about rainbowfish? They are very active and would appreciate the length offered by a 20 gallon, and the little neon rainbows would form a nice school.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

How about a planted shrimp tank?

You could go with some amano or red cherry shrimp, or both. Red cherry shrimp breed with alacrity (as I'm learning - I got my juveniles in last Thursday, and already 3 of the females are carrying eggs, in a month there's no telling HOW many more than 20 shrimps I'll have) and a 20g long would be a great home for them. Give them a nice variety of driftwood pieces, rocks, moss and plants and you'd have a wonderful playground of shrimp to watch.

A small heater and a small corner, ugf, or sponge filter (or an adjustable-rate HOB with a sponge over the intake) and light, and you're all set!

You could start out with two groups of 15-20 RCS and maybe a group of 5-10 amano, yellow, or blue shrimp for variety. In a couple of months, you'd have presents for friends, or bagfulls to sell off.

Or if you can find them, you could even go with tiger shrimp, which are gorgeous. And if you DO find them, LET ME KNOW!!!!! I'm still on a tiger shrimp hunt.

Listen! Do you smell that?

Looking at your list of fish - how about something...odd...like an African butterfly fish. Drop the water level a few inches, have a glass lid with internal filter, add a trio of upside catfish, and you'd have a nifty W. African biotope tank.

I was going to say african butterfly fish but I guess I'll have to think of something else. How about some puffers? I'm guessing you could put at least 6 dwarf puffers in there or a couple of figure 8's.

You seem to have quite a bit of S. American fish...how about some more asian ones. Maybe harlequin rasboras and some dwarf chain loaches.

How about a big shoal of Aplocheilichthys normani Lamp Eyes?

Those guys are STUNNING - take a look at the pic on Fihbase of this species and see what I mean!

In a 20 long, you could have 12 with ease, and they'd make a fantastic display alongside dark green foliage such as Ludwigia or some Aponogetons. You could pop in some sidthimunki Loaches as bottom feeders, 6 would fit in there easily with the 12 Lamp Eyes, and the resulting display would be marvellous to behold!



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002