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Help Me Stock My 20 Long


seaj

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I'm setting up a 20 Long, 2 actually, one for some shrimp, and the other for some fish. I love shrimp, but I want some fish other than guppies.

 

I was hoping to set up a community type tank with nano/small fish. The two fish I am most interested in are Dwarf Habrosus Corydoras, and Kuhli Loaches, ideally both.

 

Do you think there'd be any space left for anything else? I was thinking a school of Ember Tetras would be nice, but that may be pushing it for a 20 Long. I would like 10 of the dwarf corys, and 6 of the kuhli loaches to start, but something for the upper part of the tank would be nice.

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That's a fun tool! I didn't think there'd be enough room for a school of all 3 species, but I guess they are all pretty small. I've never set up a peaceful community tank like this before, since most of my tanks in the past usually turn into breeding tanks for cichlids. I've always loved the dimensions of long style aquariums, and I'm hoping the length of this tank will be enough to display the schooling type behaviors that I'd like to see. I would totally prefer a 33 long, or 40 long, but those aren't included in the Petco dollar per gallon sale. Even 15 gallon tanks would be nice too. 

 

The filter will be a Hamburg matten filter, and I might run a small kaldnes filter on the opposite end. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd set up the hmf as a corner hmf. I'd like to keep the tank simple with only driftwood covered with anubias, java ferns, and maybe some buce. To provide more shelter, I'd like some round pellia clumps, and some concealed planters or barricades to support vallisneria and crypts towards to back. I always love floaters too.

 

I love dark substrates, but I think I may go with a thin layer of sand for the fish. I plan for a similar setup for the shrimp 20 long, with with SL Aqua Nature Soil instead. The light will be a LED shop light.

 

I have yet to situate the tank on my rack, but I think I'll move my guppies over to this tank to get the new filter seeded/cycled this week.

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They sell 40 breeders at Petco, just not the 40 long, which I like better. It's similar to a 55 gallon, but not as tall. The next sale wont be for a few months. I actually got this 20 long from Petsmart because I missed the Petco sale. I got it for $22 by buying it during an online promotion.

 

I'm still finalizing the tank stocking, I may just make it a corydoras species tank. I just bought more Malaysian driftwood, gonna need more plants.

 

I would like some black diamond blasting sand, but I don't think they sell it near me. I may just use pool filter sand.

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Chilli raspboraras - totally nano fish.  And Threadfin Rainbowfish dance!

 

Small schoolers are really fun.  I have a 40g breeder with my Bloody marys, panda cories, pseudomaguil gertrudae ARU IIs, cardinal tetras and threadfin rainbowfish.  My favorites are the threadfins.  They display a lot!  The males will swim alongside each other and pop up this fin on their backs.  They're so graceful!  Here's a video: 

 

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I like all of those choices! I do love me some panda cories, but I figured it would be easier to accomdate a greater number of a smaller species. The seller I'm thinking of buying from has also listed threadfin rainbows before (as well as the kuhlis and embers, hence my initial stocking plans), though they look very pretty. They are good contenders. I have always liked chili rasboras, since their small size really works nicely in regards to the scale of the aquascape, but keeping their tiny mouths fed seems like a challenge. I don't think I've ever kept schooling fish before, at least not in sufficient numbers to support that behavior. All of these suggestions will require some further research, as I haven't kept any of these species before. It's always been livebearers and cichlids for me.

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Threadfins are my favorite because of that little dance that they do.  They add an interesting activity to the tank, and are really elegant little fish.  I love to watch people look at my tank just for their reaction to the threadfins.  They're behavoir is unexpected to most people.  I can't count the number of times someone has been looking at the tank and suddenly they'll jump back a little and exclaim "ooo!  That fish just did something!"  It always makes me chuckle.  Someday, I'm going to have a 40 breeder stuffed with them....

 

They have tiny mouths also.   I bought a little mini mortar and pestal that I use to crush up flake very small.  It works great for the other small fish as well.  And I like to raise grindle worms because as live food, they're the perfect size for them.  You can also feed frozen blood worms cut up very small.  I take the cube of bloodworms and literally shave of a section with a small sharp pair of scissors while it's still frozen.  Then I leave larger peices for the cardinals and pandas.  Got to think small foods for small fish.  They also make tiny pellets, but I've never tried them.

 

I know a lot of folks like to feed peas to their fish once a week, but cutting them up small enough for all the smaller fish was tough.   So I got a jar of Gerber Peas baby food and spread it out on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and baked it in the oven at a very low temp.  Just long enough so it was dried...  It peeled off in big flakes and i use that in the mortar and pestle too.  That way all the little fish get veggies as well.  The pea flakes are heavier than regular flake, and sink, but very slowly so it catches their attention and they have plenty of time to eat.  And you can store it in the baby food jar.

 

Yeah, all little fish need little food.  Except for the tetras.  They're little piranhas with big mouths!

 

They also have the pygmy cories....  They're really cute.  Cories are clowns and hysterical to watch en mass....

 

:)

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2 hours ago, TheGlassBox said:

I know a lot of folks like to feed peas to their fish once a week, but cutting them up small enough for all the smaller fish was tough.   So I got a jar of Gerber Peas baby food and spread it out on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and baked it in the oven at a very low temp.  Just long enough so it was dried...  It peeled off in big flakes and i use that in the mortar and pestle too.

 

Have you tried just freezing the gerber baby food after spread out on parchment paper.  I saw someone on utube do this and it looked really easy.  I havent tried it yet though

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I haven't tried that, wouldn't it just turn back to mush when you thawed it?   It was really easy and quick to 'dry' in the oven, and because it was just 'dried' it keeps for months at room temp in a jar.  I just used a low enough setting on the oven to dry it, not cook or brown it...  I can't remember the temperature but it was pretty much the lowest setting on my oven. And I watched it, and took it out and checked it to make sure that it was just 'dried' and not browned and cooked....

 

I have frozen 'pea food' that I've mixed with gelatin to make larger sinking pellets for my goldies.  But because that batch had gelatin, and no preservatives, I didn't feel comfortable storing it at room temp.  So that I keep in the freezer.  I used a potato ricer to squeeze tubes of gelatin/babyfood pea mix out, and then I froze them as the long strands that came out of the ricer.  After they froze, I cut up the strands into appropriate sized pellets, bagged them and kept them in the freezer.  You could also use children's play dough equipment to do it.  Or a garlic press for smaller pellets. But for flake, I like drying it....   Easy peasy, keeps forever at room temp and doesn't take up space in the freezer.

 

:)

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 I'd like to make a a suggestion because I'm keeping them and I really like 'em.   Celestichthys Chopra, Glowlight Danios are the kit.

 

  Really, really subtle but pretty coloration when they mature, and yet when young they look a little like Glowlight Tetras.  They stay around an inch in length and if well fed they don't bother their young if they've been spawning in their tank. They remind me a lot of White Clouds in this regard.

 

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQWlUyZno3gMjg3rwDPMbW

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The tank is set up now, at least the filter. All of those guppies were cramped in a 10 gallon. I moved them, and their two sponge filters, to this tank to get the new HMF going. I also threw in some plants, probably a bad idea since they are infested with riccia, hair algae, and bladdwort, but I wanted some green in the tank. The large jetlifter that came with the HMF is incredibly strong, considering it is powered only by air. The sponge is actually too tall, and it prevents the lid from sitting on the tank properly. I'm still not sure what substrate I want to use,and I think I want a black background . I will add the driftwood once the guppies are out, and will try out aquascaping the tank, something I've never done before. Nothing fancy, just driftwood covered in plants.

32958702335_01ac199ff3_c.jpg.3188a6d859470103eabac26391384293.jpg

 

I squeezed out the two sponge filter in the tank to help seed the matten filter. It sucked everything up, so I hope it's on it's way to maturing. I plan on removing one sponge filter in two or three weeks, and the other one soon after that. Hopefully by then, the HMF will be established, and the new fish will be here. I was planning on placing two 5 gallon tanks next the the 20 long, but  I didn't have quite enough space to do that.

 

I'm still not sure what to put in the tank. The guppies love the tank, but I think I will find them a new home. Part of me wants to start a breeding colony of corydoras, like what is mentioned here  http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28130, another part of me wants this to strictly be a display tank. This is the biggest tank I have, but it sorta seems small. I thought it'd be nice for a school of small fish, but it seems like the best behaviors are exhibited in longer tanks with 10+ fish per school. Corydoras are still the priority, though I'm not sure if I want habrosus, hastatus, or pandas. I still not sure if I want kuhli loaches for this tank. I like the threadfins, though I'm leaning more towards ember tetras still. Rachel O'leary has a nice video of glowlight danios, and they look fantastic as well. The way they school so tightly is exactly what I'm look for. She also recommends dadios/Indian hatchetfish since they stay at the surface of the tank. I think glowfish are pretty cool, mostly because of the way they were created. I always wanted to get the pink skirt tetras, and cross them with the longfin ghost version, just to see if I could make an even freakier fish. I need to retest my tap water parameters to see what is suited to my water. I buy RO water for my shrimp, but I don't think I want to do that for this tank.

 

 

 

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