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Hello everybody! My 20L plans...

14K views 103 replies 10 participants last post by  Al Slick 
#1 · (Edited)
First I'd like to say hello to everybody!

I'm a college student currently and am getting back into the aquarium hobby. I have had tanks for about twelve years or so now and had many tanks from FO freshwater of many sizes to 55gallon and nano reefs! At the moment I have my 55gallon reef at my parents home and a small 2.5 in my room at school that house s some anubias nana and wisteria as well as one male guppy. My reef requires no attention (I don't even feed these fish) and the 2.5 has been running for about two weeks. I love aquariums but one thing that I realized I have never had is a successful planted aquarium.

I have a very busy schedule as I am a full time student and hold a part time job as well as work for my university. I have decided to create a tank that will have a decent amount of stability and self-sustaining qualities. I want a very naural set up that is both very beautiful as well as comfortable for the future inhabitants. I have a lot of details of this setup already planned and set in stone but I come to this community to help me fill in the details to ensure my success!

I am looking to house a group of what I believe to be Corydoras Bilineatus. I also want to add another group of schooling minnows, possibly Inpaichthys Kerri (Blue Emporor Tetras). I want to provide proper space, habitat, filtration, water flow, diet, temp, water params, etc for these fish to survive. You may have notied that both these fish are South American species and they both happen to be from the Madeira River. I would like to create a close biotope for these guys but I am not very familiar with this area of the world. The reaon that I came to this forum is that I want to include a full garden of plants in this tank as well. This is where I am unfamilliar. I want to create two seperate growing areas seperated by a large open sand bed for both species to swim freely.

With all that being said, here is what I have compiled (and already possess) so far:

20gallon long 30"x12"x12"
Hagen Aquaclear 50 power filter
Hagen theo 100w submersible heater
Retrofit 2x28w PC 6500K hood with reflectors
Some light timers and power strips
Misc. items i.e. thermometer, algae magnet, etc.

Now here are my stocking stats:

2 Corydoras Bilineatus
1 Male guppy
1 dwarf oto
2 amano shrimp

Anubias Nana
Hygrophilia
Rotala stems
Cabomba stems (Some silvergreen! Thanks fisherman)
crypts
java moss
unknown stems
Stargrass
dwarf lily
just to name a few!
 
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#75 ·
I always wanted to kick for my high school team but I'm a musician and I always stuck with band. It's really paid off for me in the long run. Biology and zoology classes have been really good and I think majoring in biology or ecology would be really fun.

I have a lot of updates with the tank but unfortunately I left it for a few days and I'm at my parents' house. I do have a couple of crappy cell phone pics but I'll post them up just for the heck of it.

I received an awesome raok from thefisherman this week! It was a great package that included so many neat plants. He sent me his mother lily bulb, some rotalas, some stargrass, some cool hygro stems, and a few other awesome plants! They came a little rough due to a long shipment, but they are recuperating in my tank at the moment.

Here's a fts I took last night:


I finally broke down and bought some fish too... I really wanted those kerri tetras but I went with these instead!

7 bloodfin tetras, I really like these guys


They school very tightly and my corydoras finally feel comfortable coming out and foraging when people approach the tank!
 
#76 ·
Beautiful! All it needs is a pair of GBRs, Nannacara anomala, or Dicrossus filamentosus. Do you have more cories? I think a school of six-eight would look awesome. I think you could add a few guppies (male and female) to brighten the upper areas and provide the other occupants with a live food source. It's really fun to watch a fish stalk its prey!
 
#77 ·
I would love a pair of rams actually and have really been considering getting one! That dicrossus is cool and I've actually never seen one. I only have the two cories at them moment! My lfs has been waiting to get them in forever but my eventually goal is a minimum of six, maybe eight depending on other inhabitants and filtration. I was thinking about giving my boy tarzan a girlfriend, plus my girlfriend would like that too! I figured the babies would just get eaten and woudn't be a problem in the long run. I'm going to see how everything balances out before I add anything else. I definitely want more cories though.

Do you have a tank thread?
 
#78 ·
+1 on the GBR pair Al! i absolutley adore this fish. of course my
little lady GBR is all alone now due to a bizarre love triangle.. i recommend not more than one pair for the 20L.

also usually they are juvies at the LFS which makes it super difficult to sex, let alone guess if they will become mated. i've read of purchasing at least a group of 6 (2:4 M:F ratio) and let them grow up in a community together. when they mature you will know right away which pairs become mated.

this of course requires another tank(s) specifically
for breeding, as it is required to remove the mated pair from the community in order to breed.

the bloodfun tetras are gorgeous and definately a choice in my tank if i didn't have the cardinals or rasboras :)


- thefisherman
 
#79 ·
I used to love rams and always wanted some but I forgot about them

until I saw your little man wanted thread :D

would a pair of rams get very aggressive if they were breeding? I never want my fish to kill each other! Also I have a couple Amano shrimp and want them to be safe.

Thanks again for all of the plants, they are going to look great when they fill in!
 
#82 ·
I think fully adult amano shrimp would be perfectly safe with GBRs, Checkerboards, and Golden Dwarf Acaras (the suggested species). I've seen a few of Takashi Amano's (great guy) tanks with all three and amano shrimp living side by side. Many gouramis are on growth hormones that speed their growth rate because they are slow growers. These fish usually only last a matter of months in aquaria. They are also unpredictable; you could end up with either a wonderful new addition or hell in scales.

Rams are aggressive to a point in breeding. They will not tolerate invaders of their territory (usually no bigger than 6-8 sq. inches). But they're not like many of the bigger cichlids, who will relentlessly chase and sometime murder other fish in the defense of their brood.

Another fish that is cichlid-like but smaller than even the dwarf cichlids is the scarlet badis. These would definitely not fail to please.

You have a LOT of cover in your tank. Keep it that way, for it provides the fish with a huge sense of security and it'll dial down the aggression with breeding cichlids cause they can't see any predators.
 
#86 ·
i'm not saying that they will definately anihilate each other lol people say as long as the shrimpies have enough cover they can coexist. shrimps know they are on the bottom of the food chain lol.

but then again the same peeps might have 100g+ tanks... its just my personal experience in such a small footprint like my own 20L the critters cant help but bump into each other.

as juvies i think they will be fine, but they're still cichlids and that predatory instinct is definately there. when they breed, they are hands down more territorial and aggressive. to the point that they used to attack my hands during maintenance lol


- thefisherman
 
#85 ·
I honestly don't know. Juvies raised with them might work. The rule is 'If it fits in the mouth it goes in the mouth'. Does your LFS take returns? Experiment with one and if it works, you know what to do, if not, return it.

...Praecox Gang? Now that's just not fair pitting them against amanos...
 
#93 ·
Yeah, I'm dying for a 75g but my mom is still in charge here.... I need a ton of vals first to do anything really great.
 
#95 ·
Yeah, I think we'll never be fully rid of them, but then again, that's what they're here for. Making sure we don't pull the wrong strings. I've quite a few plans for when I move out, though. All of them have to do with aquariums.
 
#97 ·
Hey check out this absolutely terrible vid I posted on youtube. I was feeding my fish, whipped out my phone... My hands shake pretty badly all the time, but it was the best I could do!

Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_on0eqC-E4&context=C396eb33ADOEgsToPDskKKM8wxw7eLOoR0qCHCnpI-
i love your video al! your tank looks great! i love those bloodfin tetras, they're soo active i want to get a bunch now lol.

i only saw the vid trough my iphone but the plants look really healthy as well... great job! :)


- thefisherman
 
#98 ·
Thank you very much! I have your lillies planted on the left side of the tank and they're sprouting new shoots. I can't wait for them to grow in. I also removed most of the floating plants as they block light so badly. I also noticed that I've been making a fairly dumb mistake this whole time! I have been using a 1mL syringe to dose liquid ferts.. I thought it was a 10mL syringe this whole time! So I have been dosing 1/10th of what I thought, not to mention using 1/10th the dechlorinator that I thought :/
 
#99 ·
Well, everyone's fine, so I don't think there's anything to worry about, but definitely up the dechlorinator...
 
#100 ·
Ha yeah luckily I do small frequent water changes so I have never had a very large amount of chlorinated water in my tanks at once. After adding an actual dose of fertilizers, increasing light levels, and upping my CO2 my plants were pearling again today which they haven't done in a few weeks.

I'm thinking about grabbing some spinach tomorrow and seeing if my otto will snack on it. He seems to be eating constantly and pooping once in a while. His belly looks a little round but I just want to be safe.
 
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