# Fish suggestions for 20 gallon long



## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Don't have any suggestions but wanna say nice tank


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## PishInTank (Jul 5, 2017)

Nigel95 said:


> Don't have any suggestions but wanna say nice tank


Thanks!  This is actually my first planted tank.


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## requiem (Oct 25, 2008)

Hello and welcome! Your tank is very nice yes 

If you're looking for a 'showpiece' fish that has lots of personality like the blue rams, look into apistos, another small south american cichlid. One pair would be quite comfortable in there. Add a second schooling fish (like hatchet) and poof - nice community.


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## PishInTank (Jul 5, 2017)

requiem said:


> Hello and welcome! Your tank is very nice yes
> 
> If you're looking for a 'showpiece' fish that has lots of personality like the blue rams, look into apistos, another small south american cichlid. One pair would be quite comfortable in there. Add a second schooling fish (like hatchet) and poof - nice community.


Thanks for the suggestion! I think I'll be getting 2 blue rams as I would like to have some blue in the tank   I read online though they can be aggressive when breeding?? Will this really be a problem? Or can I just get 2 females to prevent breeding??


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## GrampsGrunge (Jun 18, 2012)

Cannot say I'd recommend Hatchet Fish for an open top tank, they are supreme jumpers and are one of the only genus' of freshwater fish that can actually fly by vibrating their oversize pectoral fins when they jump. They're better off in a tank with a cover and floating plants. 

Some deep bodied tetras would be a good alternative like Tet von Rio, or for a color contrast, Green Neons or Columbian Tetras.


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## kyle3 (May 26, 2005)

I'm a huge fan of having one large school or shoal - what if you added a few more rummies and the rams to encourage them to group up?

I loved the bamboo shrimps I had years ago - very cool creatures!

I'd also caution you about hatchets in an open top. They are neat fish though, if you have your heart set on them some folks are using mesh lids that don't block light and are very low profile to achieve the look of open-topped without the risk of carpet surfers. I found this idea on some reef forums but I've since seen some planted tanks with them too.

Food for thought : )


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## PishInTank (Jul 5, 2017)

GrampsGrunge said:


> Cannot say I'd recommend Hatchet Fish for an open top tank, they are supreme jumpers and are one of the only genus' of freshwater fish that can actually fly by vibrating their oversize pectoral fins when they jump. They're better off in a tank with a cover and floating plants.
> 
> Some deep bodied tetras would be a good alternative like Tet von Rio, or for a color contrast, Green Neons or Columbian Tetras.


I'm actually planning on putting a top for the tank. So no problem there 

Thanks for the suggestions on the tetras! I really like how the columbinan tetras look!! I'll definitely research on them.


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## mkiker85 (May 7, 2017)

I have 7 neon tetras, and 3 apisto's in my 20 long. May add some more neon's and maybe something else as well

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk


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## PishInTank (Jul 5, 2017)

kyle3 said:


> I'm a huge fan of having one large school or shoal - what if you added a few more rummies and the rams to encourage them to group up?
> 
> I loved the bamboo shrimps I had years ago - very cool creatures!
> 
> ...


My Rummies actually hide all the time now that I have added them to the Planted Tank. It doesn't really bother me since I know they're happy, but would adding more rummies encourage them to go out more??

I'm actually planning on adding a screen top, so I won't trap heat and to block less light. what type of screen mesh or net should I use??


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## GrampsGrunge (Jun 18, 2012)

PishInTank said:


> I'm actually planning on putting a top for the tank. So no problem there
> 
> Thanks for the suggestions on the tetras! I really like how the columbinan tetras look!! I'll definitely research on them.


Just note that like Bleeding Heart Tetras, the Colombians can get pretty largish, so you wouldn't be able to keep many.

Which is a shame because they're really pretty in a subtly colored way.


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## PishInTank (Jul 5, 2017)

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!! I think I'll just go with 8 Rummies, 8 Hatchet fish, 2 Blue rams, 1 Bamboo shrimp, and maybe some Columbia Tetra and Otto'S


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

PishInTank said:


> Thanks everyone for the suggestions!! I think I'll just go with 8 Rummies, 8 Hatchet fish, 2 Blue rams, 1 Bamboo shrimp, and maybe some Columbia Tetra and Otto'S


I never saw the appeal of hatchetfish, but 18 or so Rummynose would look cool. A pair of German Blue Rams. Check to make sure Columbian Tetras don't eat plants. I believe they do... and that's one nice scape! Yep... just checksed... They eat plants... steer clear my friend


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## kyle3 (May 26, 2005)

Sounds like a lovely group. Getting just a tad crowded, so keep up with those water changes 

Yes you'll see more of your rummies the safer they feel, which will improve with number and probably more time in the new tank. 8 is a decent minimum number, though, so if you are going for variety then I think you have a large enough group. (On a side note: Rummies are dear to my heart because I once had a rummy with severe scoliosis. He was easily one of my favorite fish ever and he was totally the leader of the pack-- wherever he went bobbing around the tank the rest of the rummies would follow. . . he had an entourage :>) 

I bought my screen supplies on amazon, but any good size hardware store should have everything you need: netting, window frame, and spline. I got clear 1/4" mesh, but it was overpriced. you can get a better deal if you opt for black mesh. I haven't put mine together yet, so I'm not sure if I'm going to like the clear-- it may reflect more light than the black does and be more noticeable as a result, but we'll see . . . 

Have fun fish hunting!


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## germanblueramlover (Jun 9, 2013)

I definitely recommend German Blue Rams! I kept mine with rummies and never had any problems - they get more territorial when they're breeding, keeping all the other fish away from their nest, but none of the pairs I have kept have been overly aggressive or hurt any of my other fish. Usually a ram suddenly flaring and darting towards the others is enough to get them to back off for a bit!
The main issue I've noticed with my rams is the male killing the female after a few unsuccessful broods, but your tank looks very nicely planted, so I'd imagine she'd have plenty of cover.

My rummies were hiding more until a recent rescape I did - I think they feel a bit exposed under a bright light, so for me adding some floating plants and creating a few areas of very dense planting helped a lot. They cluster around the areas of cover, but spend a lot more time exploring the rest of the tank now, too.


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## VSA (Jun 13, 2017)

Just my opinion but I would double the number of rummynoses and add the GBR. The rummynose are beautiful schoolers and with double the numbers would add nice movement and colour to the planted tank and the gbrs would add nice colour at the bottom as well as personality. 

Just my opinion though. When I looked into stocking for my 20 gallon I initially wanted to schools but then doubling the number of Harlequins in one tank and rummynoses in the other has made the tanks nice and clean in terms of mid level movement


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## Omar EAZi (Aug 5, 2015)

Very nice tank.. I think adding more rummynose tetras, with some electric blue rams, and the shrimps you mentioned. I always recommend having atleast 6~10 otocinclus, they look cool and they help a bit with the algae and all. good luck with your tank and keep us updated.


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## TankPlanter (May 31, 2015)

Just seconding the rummynose larger school. One large school vs the Noah's Ark approach makes for a lovely tank, but everyone has different preferences. You might also consider some large snails (nerite, mystery if you have about algae for them), some hardy dwarf shrimp... If you want a second small schooling fish, I just got 12 of these on sale: https://aquaticarts.com/collections/freshwater-fish/products/glowlight-rasbora

The blue Rams sound perfect though


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## PishInTank (Jul 5, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> I never saw the appeal of hatchetfish, but 18 or so Rummynose would look cool. A pair of German Blue Rams. Check to make sure Columbian Tetras don't eat plants. I believe they do... and that's one nice scape! Yep... just checksed... They eat plants... steer clear my friend


I really like how the Hatchet fish looks very unique  so I think I'll still go with them. Thanks for the heads up in the Columbian tetra! It's such a beautiful fish though 

Bump:


kyle3 said:


> Sounds like a lovely group. Getting just a tad crowded, so keep up with those water changes
> 
> Yes you'll see more of your rummies the safer they feel, which will improve with number and probably more time in the new tank. 8 is a decent minimum number, though, so if you are going for variety then I think you have a large enough group. (On a side note: Rummies are dear to my heart because I once had a rummy with severe scoliosis. He was easily one of my favorite fish ever and he was totally the leader of the pack-- wherever he went bobbing around the tank the rest of the rummies would follow. . . he had an entourage :>)
> 
> ...


Thanks! I'll definitely kepp up on my water change  For the screen mesh, wouldn't black repel light??

Bump:


Omar EAZi said:


> Very nice tank.. I think adding more rummynose tetras, with some electric blue rams, and the shrimps you mentioned. I always recommend having atleast 6~10 otocinclus, they look cool and they help a bit with the algae and all. good luck with your tank and keep us updated.


Thanks for the suggestion!! I though of adding about 6 ottos before, but notice my tank has barely any algae on it. But my tank is fairly new (1 month), so we'll see  

Bump:


germanblueramlover said:


> I definitely recommend German Blue Rams! I kept mine with rummies and never had any problems - they get more territorial when they're breeding, keeping all the other fish away from their nest, but none of the pairs I have kept have been overly aggressive or hurt any of my other fish. Usually a ram suddenly flaring and darting towards the others is enough to get them to back off for a bit!
> The main issue I've noticed with my rams is the male killing the female after a few unsuccessful broods, but your tank looks very nicely planted, so I'd imagine she'd have plenty of cover.
> 
> My rummies were hiding more until a recent rescape I did - I think they feel a bit exposed under a bright light, so for me adding some floating plants and creating a few areas of very dense planting helped a lot. They cluster around the areas of cover, but spend a lot more time exploring the rest of the tank now, too.


Ohhh thanks!! Will definitely get a pair of German blue rams!! I think my rummies are also hiding because of the high light, but now that it has been 1 week, they've been starting to come out more 

Bump: Thanks VSA and Tankplanter for the suggestion!! I'll definitely keep it in mind


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## Koenig44 (Aug 19, 2016)

PishInTank said:


> So recently, I just added 8 rummynose tetra to my planted tank (after quarantining). They look healthy, and I was thinking of adding more tankmates. Some of the fish I'm looking into are: Blue Rams, Hatchet Fish, Bamboo shrimp. Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated!!
> 
> Tank:
> 20 gallon long (36" by 12" by 12")
> ...


WOW! Love your tank. How'd you get your 'pathway' to stay like that, and not allowing anything to take it over?

I would go with some Neon Tetras.


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