# What is compatible with 20g Sorority?



## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

I have a 20 gallon long cycled aquarium. It has four girls right now, but it will be going up to possibly 7. What would be an appropriate species? I like plecos, and would love to try cories, but I am open to all suggestions. 

Thanks!


----------



## Sweeda88 (Dec 6, 2010)

Maybe some guppies? The fancy ones would be fine with female Bettas. They're REALLY pretty! Make sure you get a group of at least 5 guppies. I would suggest getting all one sex, unless you want fresh food (fry) for your girls!


----------



## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

I love guppies 
I will definitely consider those. I have four female guppies but they are with my male betta so I had to get sort of plain looking ones. Fancy ones would be awesome. The LiveAquaria ones are gorgeous, and I am about to check Aquabid .

So does this mean that shoaling species are okay in a sorority?


----------



## Sweeda88 (Dec 6, 2010)

They should be fine! Plenty of people mix Bettas with schoolers.


----------



## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Okay cool


----------



## shinybetta (Jul 3, 2010)

As for plecos don't get commons. They get huge! Find a bristlenose (Ancistrus Sp.) or clown pleco, or any other pleco under 5 inches. There are some cool bristlenose varietys! Albino, normal, calico, starlight, super red.....


----------



## Thunderloon (Feb 6, 2011)

Pristella/Gold Pristella, small tetra, male mollies, bloodfins/green fire, specialty bottom feeders, guppies of both sex is fine... can only reference the types I have experience with but none have ever given me a problem.

My guppy combo is one flamboyant male and a selection of females. Most fem gup don't get huge but you will get some superguppies. My betta girls will enforce the no fighting rule brutally on non betta, often they've badly harmed a second male guppy so I don't do more than one anymore.

Male mollies on their own are happy energetic schoolers, females on their own are a little lethargic and shy. My pair move around almost as much as the pair of bloodfin.

Remember to look up shoal and school sizes as well as maximum live length of the fish you consider... You can go with what looks good instead of using what fits inside the gallon rating of your tank if you set up a sump style system with overflow skimmer, etc, you can increase your water and plant space without having to have a larger footprint of tank, this lets you have a higher number of fish "in view". Most overflow skimmers are a wee bit HYOOGE for betta and company, tho. You can rig Tom's surface skimmers into a siphon overflow arrangement with some piping work and you can also use five gallon jugs as "sealed" sumps with some work on them. Depends on what you want. Modest sumps are handy for keeping tank level up and expand the water volume by ten gallons easily.


----------



## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Unfortunately I don't think I would be able to set up something like that, but I am willing to stay within the requirements for the fish lol 

Hmm why do female mollies get lethargic when in same sex groups? Could I keep both sexes together? I don't remember who it was but they said their bettas ate some of the fry and died because of all the toxins in the fry.

If I keep guppies and they breed is it okay for the bettas to eat the guppy fry?

Lol another question.. I am super interested in the corydoras pygmaeus. Is there a high chance of them breeding? I wouldn't mind but I just don't have the space if the tank gets overcrowded, my other 20g already has a pleco (small tiger pleco about 4-5 inches).


----------



## baylee767 (Nov 5, 2010)

I'm getting pygmies too!

But, if you haven't seen them, then you most likely wont. They are pretty rare, luckily a place over here sells them. But if you can't find them local, you might find them online. Not sure on the breeding rate, but I heard guppies eat cory eggs.

The bad thing about your females eating guppy fry is being bloated from having too many Lol. I think you should get all males, they're prettier IMO and no overcrowded tank! Good luck with what ever you choose!


----------



## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

My lfs has pygmies, but they seem expensive. What is a reasonable price for a cory?


----------



## shinybetta (Jul 3, 2010)

A normal corydoras is reasonable at 1-3 dollars. A pygmy, or other semi-Rare cory is reasonable from 3-15 dollars, though 15 is really high. A rare corydoras can be 20+, I've even seen some newly developed color morphs go for 40!


----------



## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

The ones at my lfs are about 8 dollars. On aquabid I can get 10 for $25 plus $15 priority shipping. So it would be four dollars per cory. Not sure if the shipping stress is worth it. Can they handle it?


----------



## Sweeda88 (Dec 6, 2010)

I wouldn't put a fish through shipping if you can find the same thing at your LFS. Cory's aren't as hardy as Bettas, I think.


----------



## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Okay. I will just see when they will have them in stock. Last time I was there they had just run out.


----------



## shinybetta (Jul 3, 2010)

The thing with corydoras is they have a poison they release when stressed. Normally just irratating to a fish, in the bag it is deadly!


----------



## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Oh that is scary! I will definitely purchase locally.


----------



## shinybetta (Jul 3, 2010)

Remember, it only takes a few moments to kill them. The best thing is to make sure they get stressed when being caught, so they release all of the poison.


----------



## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Okay. That is so creepy lol.


----------



## Thunderloon (Feb 6, 2011)

Molly will breed like mad, continuously and even two of the fry is too much.
Molly are also messy like goldfish.

Guppy don't drop fry anywhere as quickly as molly, they're more of a slow production line.


----------



## tsoto80 (Nov 26, 2010)

I heard guppys were not safe becuse their tails are like bettas (mistaken identity) I have a lot of ghost shrimp and 2 ADF in my 20 gallon sorority/communty tank I did have danios but had to move them because they are pigs lol


----------



## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Guppies are okay when kept with females, and can be kept with males too depending on the male's demeanor and how fancy the guppies are. I have four guppies with my male betta and they are fine.


----------



## Thunderloon (Feb 6, 2011)

I put two guppy males in with one of my gentlest boys... they were tail-less and dead within 10 hours.

I had one tiger-spot with vertical inch of tail with the girls and nobody ever nipped at him.


----------



## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Thunderloon said:


> I put two guppy males in with one of my gentlest boys... they were tail-less and dead within 10 hours.
> 
> I had one tiger-spot with vertical inch of tail with the girls and nobody ever nipped at him.




I started with two boys and four girl guppies. My two males were also killed quickly. Only the girls were left alone. The boy guppies were very pretty though, so that is probably why the male attacked them.


----------



## Thunderloon (Feb 6, 2011)

Did I forget to say "money" is compatible with a 20g sorority?

Get a back-up filter and get the bio in it running too. Most are incredibly reliable but $10.00 at walmart to save $40.00 of fish and to avoid thirty gallons of water changing per day...

Watch the intakes, sponge em over or something.


----------



## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

thunderloon said:


> *did i forget to say "money" is compatible with a 20g sorority?*
> 
> get a back-up filter and get the bio in it running too. Most are incredibly reliable but $10.00 at walmart to save $40.00 of fish and to avoid thirty gallons of water changing per day...
> 
> Watch the intakes, sponge em over or something.


+100


----------



## scootshoot (Oct 11, 2010)

tsoto80 said:


> I heard guppys were not safe becuse their tails are like bettas (mistaken identity) I have a lot of ghost shrimp and 2 ADF in my 20 gallon sorority/communty tank I did have danios but had to move them because they are pigs lol


Guess it varies. I have a male fancy guppy in mine, bright red gorgeous tail. All 5 of my female betta's ignore him.


----------



## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Female bettas are generally okay to have with guppies. It is the males that are iffy lol.


----------

