Re-doing 20 gallon

otter

I have a 20 gallon tank that previously has held many things, at the moment it is the home of my betta sorority, though I would like to do something new with it.

At the moment, my idea for the tank is black substrate, silk plants/fake plastic, Driftwood and Granite rock.

I'm not sure what to do with it though, stock wise.
I was thinking of getting 6 corys and maybe a plakat betta from aquabid (one of those gorgeous ones) But I have kept betta for a few years now and would like to mix it up a bit.
I am most definitely up for challenges because I am down to 2 tanks at the moment. Does anyone have any fun stocking ideas or any tips on the layout?

squishylittlefishies

Add some live plants! They're really not hard to keep usually, and are good for your fish. I really like cories, and a school of 6 would be nice. For the top: If you want something unique looking that's not a betta, you could look into hatchetfish. Make sure you have a tight lid though as they'll try to fly away...litterally. For a more colorful idea you could have a large group of small schooling fish like tetras and rasbora. For algae eaters you could get a bunch of cherry shrimp or Oto Catfish.

otter

Thank you!! Those are great ideas I will look into them

Unfortunately I have tried having an aquascape and the plants all got overrun with algae that wouldn't go away and I gave up on live plants :c now I have a few moss balls and an Anubis, but I am on the brink of killing even those :c
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JDM

The algae is an independent thing from plants in that having plants did not cause your algae. Things like too much light(seems to be the largest factor), or too much fertilization will do it. If everything is balanced for the plants, the algae would just not grow.

What are you using for light?

Jeff.

otter

It was definitely too much light
I know that plants didn't cause the algae, but at the time, I had no idea on how to take care of them.
The reason there was a sudden algae bloom in the tank was because I introduced an Anubias that had a ton of "green beard" algae on it, and everything went downhill from there. I switched the plants into a tank that had no sunlight, just a 20 watt fluorescent bulb, but many didn't make it.

Sooo now, I try to stay away from live plants because they are quite expensive if you are wanting an aquascape.

It sucks, I know I wish I had more botanist confidence, so for now I am just sticking to moss balls and an Anubias that live in my 3 gallon betta tank.

I use "plant food" fert on them, and it has an LED light, which just barely is enough for the Anubias.

JDM

Even just adding a plant every once in a while you can get a full planted tank pretty cheaply. Even just get fastest growers first and they fill in and propagate quickly. I bought a bunch of Dwarf Hygrophila , (fastest grower I have of 12 varieties) nine stems in the bunch. A month later I have three times that and they are all 10 to 12" tall... I cut them when they reach 20-22" and plant the ends. Pretty cheap plants when they do that and they don't need a lot of light.

Jeff.