Hello all,
I am restarting my 20 gallon tank. My biggest question is fish stocking. Right now im planing on 7 CPDs and 3-5 Scarlet Badis. But I still feel like I have room for more I'm just not sure what. Some things to keep on mind: This tank will be moderately to heavily planted. My water is pretty hard. Im looking for this tank to be fairly peaceful. I may add shrimp at some point. Im not a beginner nor an expert when it comes to fish keeping. Thx
You could easily fit more CPD's in there...in fact, if you don't, the tank might look a tad empty. More scarlet badis might also work, though do make sure you can feed them before purchasing them.
I would add some algae eater like Otos, but they hide so much they hardly count as a 3rd species.
A 20 long is so shallow it really does not have 3 distinct areas (top, middle, bottom), but you could try!
Guppies tend to stay somewhat at the surface, and thrive in hard water.
Endlers are shrimp safe, smaller than Guppies, and travel all over the tank.
Sawbwa resplendens (Asian Rummynose) is good in hard water.
There are several Rainbow fish relatives that are smaller, and good in hard water. Look into the Pseudomugils.
If you have enough plants/hiding places and buy several otos you will see them plenty once they settle in. I bought 6 from petsmart a few months ago, 50% survival rate.. have 3 now they have no problem hanging out in the open. When they were in the 20g long (before I moved them to a 12g long) they would even stupidly play around the siphon when I was cleaning, darting under and around it, following it around the tank... I think they got a more gutsy attitude from the betta they shared the tank with then.. Now they won't move when I clean or stick my hand in the tank but they don't hide either, just happily bounce around from plants to glass to rock and munch away at diatoms and such.
Get otos in a group not just 1 or 2, drip a acclimate (don't just float bag and dump in), and give them plenty of places to hide. In two weeks they should be very comfortable and visible if not sooner.
I have a new set of otos I got Tuesday (8), still no deaths *fingers crossed that lasts* in quarantine. Though they are not a "schooling" or "shoaling" fish they do hang out together and feel more comfortable in larger numbers... Now I just need to convince them blanched lettuce and zucchini is yummy food..
I'd avoid adding that many Badis. They are very territorial in the tanks at the shop. Especially since it's virtually impossible to get females.
Some fun things to add to a 20 long. Briggitae Rasboras, Pygmy Corydoras, Pygmy spotted rasboras, Norman's lampeye killi, kuhli loaches, reticulated hillstream loach, rosy loaches, virtually any other corydoras species, longfin white clouds. For a focus fish in the tank I'd recommend a choice betta.
so badis tend to just lurk around the tank and you probably wont see them that often in a 20 gallon long expecially if its heavily planted. but you should get a bunch of nice schooling fish not sure if CPD school but in a tank like that a bunch of neons or rasbora would be really nice. serpae tetra or harlequin rasbora are nice
I was going to recommend apistogramma as well but I'm not sure how well that would work with the badis. I have never heard of them being mixed and I'm not sure it would turn out well.
Here is a small and pretty schooling fish. The phoenix rasbora.
I know some might say I am overstocked, but I have been doing this for years and have had many successful tanks both fresh and salt 10gal to 225 gals. I am currently running a 20L with a Marineland Penguin 350 for filtration with two standard filter pads and 2 carbon pads. The tank is fairly heavily planted with muiltiple aquatic plants.
As for my stock I have the following
15 Micro/Small Neon Tetra
6 Micros/Small Green Neon Tetra
2 Albino African Dwarf Frogs
2 Skunk Corys
1 Neon Blue Dwarf Gourami
5 Harlequin Rasbora
1 Gypsy Tiger Pleco
1 Singapore Flower Shrimp
I run a biweekly 2 gallon water change and the rest is history
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