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my 20 gal long is needing restocked.
currently just 6 albino cories, dark sand, black background, moderate light, moderatley planted with low light plants. running 2 aquaclear hob filters for a 20 gal on the tank, plus a 5 in bubble wall for the cories to play in.


option 1- make it a cory only tank, and fill out the school of cories, and maybe add one dwarf gourami or a pair of cherry barbs for color- if so about how many cories do you think i could add?

option 2- move my 2nd school of 6 young danios, and the young molly that thinks it a danio ( and the head of the pack) from the 55 into the 20. my original school of 8 danios, and the new ones arent interacting well- no fights, just not schooling together.the old danios KNOW the molly isnt a danio, they arent any fun. heheheh

option 3- any ideas?

I remember the story of that Molly. Entertaining to say the least.

I like the Danio-school option. The Danios will stay on top, the Cories will mostly stay on the bottom, and you'll have activity all over the tank. Plus, it'll get the lone Molly away from the second school of Danios.

I personally wouldn't want to found a tank on bottom-feeders, since you're likely to run out of physical space before you run out of bioload. For me at least, six fish at the bottom of a 20-high looked kind of odd and fairly crowded, while the top of the tank is almost always empty except when the Tetras are looking to feed. It's just not very space-efficient to leave one region of water empty.

i was thinking that silverlight, and the only reason for that was to get the molly away from the other danios, poor girl doesnt understand why they dont want to play with her..., just dont want it to get over stocked

1 molly
6 danios
6 cories
that gives me 35 potential inches of fish in a 20 gal...
anyone see any problems???

Since your tank is a 20 long you should be fine with all of those fish. Just keep up on maintenance.

yeah she's a sily girl, and very friendly, i guess ill just watch water qualit closly.

I think 6 cories is plenty for a 20L. If you are hard-pressed to get more, then it'd be prudent to cap the school at 8 (2 more).
That's a lot of fish on the bottom and nothing in the middle or top, which might lead your take to look a bit unbalanced. Of course, if properly landscaped with rooted wood going to the surface and some nice low- to mid-sized plants (20L is only 12 inches high), it'd make a smashing species tank.
You did not specify what type of danios you had. Zebras? Danios are nice top-dwellers and you fill out the tank. Good luck trying to catch a danio!
Cherry barbs a gorgeous fish. The males are a beautiful blood red. Though rather shy and certainly not a schooling fish, they would do well in filling the mid-layer of the tank. Bloodfins would be another nice choice. Schooling, active, inexpensive, and hardy. Good compliments to the corys.

-Wayne