im looking to get freshwater tropical fish for a 20 gallon tank?
September 3rd, 2010 | 
Author: im looking to get freshwater tropical fish for a 20 gallon tank and im not sure where to start, i have a water heater and necessary equipment but i dont know which kind of fish to add i want several fish that are colorful and look good. What should i get?
Posted in Tropical Fish Answers | Tags: gallon tank, kind of fish, necessary equipment, Tropical Fish, water heater
make sure to cycle the tank first which can take up to 2 months. you can use 2 zebra danios to cycle the tank. after the tank is cycled you can add fish 2 at a time a week to avoid death and disease and a mini cycle. you can get 1 or 2 more zebra danios with the first 2 and a school of 8 neon tetras. these are other stocking suggestions:
5 male guppies, 6 neon tetras, 2 ghost shrimp
5 zebra danios, 5 male guppies, 4 cory cats
6 neon tetras, 6 glo-light tetras, 2 ghost shrimp
1 male betta, 4 platies, 5 zebra danios
5 females bettas, 5 male guppies, 2 ghost shrimp
JUST KEEP NO MORE THAN 15 FISH PLEASE! hope this helpes:)
Before you do anything. Make sure you understand the nitrogen cycle and how to do a fishless cycle.
After that, 20 gallon tanks have a lot of options, and it all depends on what you want.
I suggest picking a schooling type and maybe a few center piece fish one for the bottom and one for the top as schoolers tend to be mid level swimmers. But keep in mind what sort of tank you want. Aggressive, semi aggressive, or peaceful community tank.
Not all fish are compatible and stocking a tank is a delicate balancing act and you have to be careful not to overload it.
What I suggest is finding some fish you like and doing some research to see what you can keep in your tank and which fish are compatible with each other
Bri is right. Since you seem to be a beginner, chose some of the peaceful, easy to care fish such as guppies, mollies, platys and such. Add 1 or 2 bottom feeders with your selection and there you go. Please do not over crowd your tank with many different fish. Select 2 or 3 species and pick 2 or 3 from them. That should stock up your tanks nicely and should get you started. After a month or two, you could chose to add a few fishes if you believe that your tank is not overcrowded.
I have a community 30 gallon I have in there some neon tetras, rummy nose tetras, plecos and corys. All these fish are tropical and require heaters.Tetras are some of the most colorful fish you can have because the different types of tetras range in colors. I also have angelfish in there which are nice intelligent fish. Angel fish and neons are typically not 2 fish you can mix together but i added the angelfish while it was still young so it grew up with them so it knows they arent food.
Good luck with your choice of tank setup.