Stocking a 20 gallon tank
 

Howdy all

I'm in the process of cycling a 20 gallon standard tank. I'm not going to pretend to be knowledgeable about this subject at all. I'm a car guy that just happens to have a free fish tank sitting around and I've always liked fish from my child hood.

Anyway, I'm cycling the tank with two Mollies, the whole point of the tank is to have Glofish. It's nothing special, fake plants, gravel, a rock, 20-40 gallon filter, heated, and of course a black light. So my question to you smart fish people is.....

What to stock the tank with? How many Glofish? What would go well along with them? What "support" fish would you put in? Corys? Bristlenose?

Oh and the Mollies will come out to cycle another tank once mine is done, and I get ready to add my fish of choice.

Thanks in advance for your help.

You could probably about 8-10 of them in a 20 gallon tank, but if you want corys gravel isn't gonna be good for their barbels. And a bristlenose pleco would do just fine.

Ok, Cory wouldn't be good, would you suggest something else you'd use? or would Bristlenose and regular cleanings of the gravel be acceptable?

i find otos to do really good, a pleco would quickly outgrow a 20gal though so thats a no no.

Ok, no pleco, so an oto would be better/best?

I've been messing around with the AqAdvisor, seems like a great program, but I'm concerned with it's stocking density. On a 20 gallon High, 20-40 filter, it's saying I could do 1 Oto, 6 Zebra Danios (Glofish), 6 Black Neon Tetra, 6 Cardinal Tetra. How overstocked is that?

um well i would take six of one of the tetras/danios out and add 1 more oto and i think that would be good. i hope u know that glo fish are altered so they glo, its like torture. i wouldn't support it, just my opinion.

Yup, I know they are altered, that's your choice, thanks for advice

That is one of the worst statements anyone could actually make. The DNA is altered in the initial ovum stage and the glowing gene is inserted using enzymes. this is before the ovum is actually a fish!! They're not dyed, they're genetically modified.

you CAN get a pleco like a bristlenose, rubberlip or something small that doesnt get any larger than 4-6 inches. Plecos are not the best algea eaters, they really need a good diet of fresh veggies and driftwood, yes driftwood, some plecos are driftwood munchers. ottos do best in a tank with a well established algea supply......without algea ottos dont do well with supplimented diets. if you want cories you can easily switch out your gravel for sand....i did it in my 20 and i like the look of the sand over gravel, IMO. at the bottom of the aqadvisor has a % of how much you are stocked and tells you any problems you may have with any of the inhabitants....

Just want to make one comment of this... :-)

The species you selected are super low-bioload species. So from bioload-perspective, you are ok but still very close to the limit. On the other hand, aqadvisor.com is not taking into account one thing (yet). All of those species live essentially in the same water column. So your tank will look crowded and they don't have much swim space as a result of that. The fish DB actually has internal information that divides each species into B, M and/or T (bottom/medium/top) but aqadvisor.com isn't using it completely yet. It does for species that uses "B" area, for now. Look for it to show up eventually on all levels of water columns.