# Ideas for 20G long



## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

I think I asked this before anyways, 

in the next 2 or so weeks I can set up my 20G long and I am not sure what to put in it. Gonna have sand substrate...I might just go and get a 29 or so gallon tank. I am not sure I trust this one. It was in the back of a U haul truck for 10 days. I dont see any cracks or anything but still kinda leary of it.

All I know is I have hard water. If anyone knows how to look online and find out the PH and all that stuff the town is Warrensburg, NY 12885 (not warrensburg. missouri).

No goldfish
I do not like tetras - except diamond tetras
thinking of putting a male betta in it
dragon fish are kinda neat but they are brackish, right? what else could i put with it? 
locahes are neat as are corys


are there any coldwater fish I could have besides goldfish?


----------



## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

Is there a reason that you need coldwater fish? If you can heat the tank it obviously opens up a whole world of possibilites for you.


----------



## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Unless your house temperature is very stable you'll need a heater anyways. 
But a good coldwater option is white cloud mountain minnows.. Not the feeder ones, white clouds are pretty nice looking, you could do a school of them easily.
For a bottom feeder if you ever found hillstream/butterfly loach you could have a pair of them with some good aeration as well.
The good thing about them is that they need hard water.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

I agree with Olympia. A heater really is a good idea. I even have one with my goldfish tank. I highly recommend one even with fish that like temps in the lower 70's and upper 60's. It will also open up a lot of possibilities. 

For finding your water hardness, if you can't find it online it will probably be best to call your local water treatment plant. They will have the dGH and dKH or ppm written down. 

Well the good news about hard water is that most tetra don't like it. All of the livebearers are hard water. In a 20 long you could have males and females. Guppies are a bit overdone, but endler's livebearers are rather unique. There are some goodeids that might be able to fit in a tank that small. The redtail splitfin could. My favorite the tequila splitfin might be able to fit, but they are rarely found in captivity because they are critically endangered in the wild. Goodieds are also known for not eating their young. 

Dragon fish, sometimes called violet goby or dragon goby, need rather large tanks as they get to be quite big. Seriously fish says 48" or longer. Gobioides broussonnetii (Violet Goby) - Seriously Fish I'd kinda like to have them in a tank with black mollies and archer fish one day. /dream

Cichlids are also hard water fish, but I know basically nothing about them. 

Depending on how hard your water is, some cory cats could work. Most loaches (Cobitidae) that I know are soft-water fish. You would have to research which ones are specifically hard water fish. Some of the hillstream loaches (Balitoridae) might be. I've never kept them, so I'm not familiar with them. But if you do decide to go with hillstream loaches, you could look at a riverine tank setup.


----------



## sparkyjoe (Feb 27, 2012)

Oh my gosh, hillstream loaches are adorable!! My lfs has had them and it was amazing to watch their little hearts beating as they clung to the glass at the front of the tank. I thought about them but it seems like they prefer a higher current to their water, but I could be wrong.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

> Is there a reason that you need coldwater fish? If you can heat the tank it obviously opens up a whole world of possibilites for you.


I do have a 100 watt heater but I was just curious if there were any cold water species I could keep. I do not know of ANY non tropical species besides goldfish and I don't really want to go that route - I would like more then 1 fish in my tank. 

I am trying to remember what I have seen locally at petco and walmart but both have a small selection and I don't really trust anything from either store that id from a community tank.

neon tetras
some kind of skirt tetras
black tip shark
dragon fish
glo fish
otos
khuli loach
dojo loach?
corys -i think they are emerald and albino?
mollys - dalmation?
bamboo shrimp

I should make a list of what they have and then ask you guys which would work. 

what about kilifish that hatch from eggs? do the eggs actually hatch?


----------



## Fabian (Dec 16, 2011)

> what about kilifish that hatch from eggs? do the eggs actually hatch?


They will hatch but will eventually die because they are very fragile.
I suggest keeping cichilds(i love them!!)


----------



## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

There isn't enough room for cichlids in a 20 gallon, maybe a breeding pair of a small species...
You could do mollies. Dojo loach need huge tanks. Bamboo shrimp need heavily planted tanks. Tetra no, sharks no, dragon fish no. Glofish you could do. Otos can be a pain but if you want. Kuhlis no.. Cories would work out.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## helms97 (Sep 21, 2011)

A school of tiger barbs, i keep mine with mollies and it works out great.. But maybe im just lucky? I dont know to much about them but rainbow fish are really cool too! I believe the minimal tank requirement is 20 gals


----------



## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

Fabian said:


> They will hatch but will eventually die because they are very fragile.
> I suggest keeping cichilds(i love them!!)


That depends entirely on the species of killifish. Golden panchax are extremely hardy, as are fundulopanchax gardneri gardneri, which are what I have.
They are gorgeous.  Very cute, huge mouths, good community fish.


----------



## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

They don't live very long, do they? I think I read about a year for killifish


----------



## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

Again, depends on the killifish. There are some species of killi (the best known-ones, it seems) called annuals, which only last a year, but the two species I mentioned are longer lived.


----------



## Fabian (Dec 16, 2011)

Substrate spawners usually live very short whereas plant spawners will live up to 5 years.


----------



## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

For annual killifish do you have to dry out the eggs yourself or will they just hatch in tank?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------

