Angelfish?

Lupin

What are the dimensions of your 20g? If this is a tall tank, one angel should be fine. I would suggest you reconsider the strain you are selecting. DD blacks are quite fragile for starters. Stick with gold, zebra, marble or Koi.

You can add a pair of blue rams but forget any shrimps if you want the angelfish.

1077

I would keep in mind should you decide to try blue rams, That they prefer soft acidic water and temperatures of 82 to 84 degrees. In my expierience with them, They are not fish that adapt well to parameters much over Ph of 7.0 and Kh of much over five.Many retailers will advertise these fish as Tank raised but this is NOT the norm. Most of these fish are shipped from fish farms in the far east, and many are subjected to hormone injections and swim in waters that are loaded with antibiotics while awaiting shipping. Once removed from this water ,and the added stress from shipping ,and acclimation to dealer tanks and then yours or mine, many of these fish succumb.
I would suggest frequent water changes (twice a week) temp84 degrees,oxygen rich water,variety of prepared foods along with frozen foods as well And NitrAtes below20.

Guber

Hm I usually keep my temp at around 80 for the barbs I have now, I'm sure I have plenty of oxygen, my bubbles are going nonstop on high. I have flake food and I'm going to go buy some brine shrimp or bloodworms soon i think, not sure which i should get. Also I've heard fish can/will eat veggies? If so, what kind and how often should i do that?

I think my tank dimensions are 24'' L x 13'' W x 17'' H

Guber

I decided I'm not going to go with an angel because i'm pretty sure i obviously don't have a big enough tank for one. I seem to get brown algae on my glass pretty often, i'll get a small spot and the snails will take care of it but then it will show up elsewhere the next few days etc. I still definitely want to get a pair of blue rams. I recently did research on oto's and they seem like quite the entertainment. For a stock how does this sound:

Cherry Barb x 5 (Have these now)
Blue Ram x 2
Oto x 2 (3?) (or more?)

And maybe a pair of ghost shrimp..

Byron

This looks fine to me. 2 otos will be OK at first, you can always add another if the algae warrants it. Remember, they need algae to feed on or may not last, as someone earlier mentioned and this is my experience too.

Guber

Yeah and I know if algae supply becomes short they will eat fresh zuchini and possibly flake food right? Also I think i may be getting false ammonia readings because right after i did a water change it said i had .50...I read that using Prime may cause this? I do use prime to treat my water.

Byron

I'm not familiar with "Prime" but assuming it is a water conditioner I wouldn't expect it to increase the ammonia. Perhaps others have experience with this.

Otos will eat alternates to algae when hungry, but as they spend all their time grazing algae from the plants, wood, tank walls, etc, they'll feel pretty isolated without any algae. I've always managed to have enough algae to keep them busy, but I think others have said that they can waste away without it.

Your tank is a 20g, was running 1 month (fishless cycle), then just over a week since you added 5 cherry barbs. As long as you don't overfeed, the ammonia should be down now i think.

Guber

Yeah i've had the barbs for a couple weeks now. When would it be safe to get a pair of otos?

Byron

When your tank is billogically settled. Each time you add fish the bacteria have to multiply accordingly. Monitor your ammonia and nitrite, and when they are 0 you're balanced (assuming something doesn't upset it, like a dead fish or overfeeding). Add the two otos together, but wait until the tank is again balanced before adding the next fish (rams I think it was). A new tank takes 2-3 weeks to first balance, but once it is, it is only a matter of not adding to the bioload beyond what it can manage.

Lupin

Prime is indeed a water conditioner that removes ammonia, chlorine and chloramine while detoxifying nitrite and nitrate as it claims. This product is widely used by aquarists in USA and Canada and has gotten plenty of good reviews. I just received my own from Canada sent by a friend. It smells of sulfur though which it naturally is.