First Fish Choice

[iG_]

Hey everyone, as you can see im new to the forums myself, but I've been following the progress of my friend, Gelo_USA, ever since he first got his aquarium, so I decided to join your community as well.
I have a 20g long tank and would really like to put some fish in it for a change (Usualy I only keep Reptiles), but I have no idea what to pick, given there are so many different species/sub-species out there. I am a fan of predatory fish, but i guess a community aquarium would be cool with me as well.
Could I get some sugestions on some predatory Fish for a 20g? ( I was considering a Dwarf species of SnakeHead Fish.)
What about for a Community aquarium... what species could I keep in a 20g long tank?


Thanks in Advance! thumbs2:

[*Sarah*]

Well, I don't know much about predatory fish, but I have community fish. If you like the idea of breeding fish, Platys, Swordtails and Guppies are VERY easy to breed. Basically at a ratio of 1 male to 3 females will get you lots of babies. If you decided to keep one of each, a predatory and community tank, the babies from the community could easily be food for the predatory tank ;).

What types of fish you keep can depend on what kind of water you have. My water is pretty hard with a fairly high Ph, so Platys and Guppies are good for me. Cichlids also like hard water. Tetras, Rasboras and Barbs tend to like softer water. Now, this is a generalization and some fish can adapt to any type of water. There are SO many different kinds of fish out there, and I'm sure you'll find the perfect fish for you.

Someone else will be able to help you with your question about predatory fish.

[Drumachine09]

Most predatory fish get large, and are very hard to take care of, so i would stick with a community tank. Example.

2 Dwarf Gouramis
7 Neon tetras
4 Albino corydoras
1 Bristlenosed pleco
4 Guppies/platties/mollies. 1 male:3 females.

That should be fairly easy to keep. Do you have a tank cycled yet?

[Glasstapper]

I have just the thing for you: a pair of convict cichlids. Many people keep them in a 20 long to breed babies to feed to their jags, doviis, etc.

The males develop a nuchal hump (head hump) and can grow to about 5 or 6 inches. Females will be about an inch smaller but much more colorful than the male. They come in all kinds of varieties like black striped, pink, and marbled. You would get to see their breeding behavior (they make excellent parents), and they are quite smart.

They are extremely hardy and recommended for beginners. You fill the tank with water, fishless cycle, then voila! Your tank is ready for two convicts. All you would need for decoration is some gravel and a clay pot or two. A piece of artificial driftwood might also look nice.

As for all the babies, I'm sure a store around you would be happy to take them off your hands. They might even buy them from you. You never know.

[Glasstapper]

If you like predatory fish because they eat other fish, the convicts also will eat smaller fish (except for their babies, of course!). If you planning on feeding live foods, though, I would recommend a seperate smaller tank (oh, about a 5 or 10 gallon) to breed some livebearers of your own like guppies. That way, you know they are disease free since most of the fish in the store could be carrying diseases and/or parasites. Just remember that live foods won't get them all the nutrition they need, so you'll need some high quality pellets as their staple food, and make the live foods a treat once a month.

That's just a suggestion, though. A lot of people have different feeding regimines.



Dwarf snakeheads wouldn't be bad, but I don't know much about them to say if they are good for beginners or not. here's a couple of places you can get more info on them:

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/encyclopedia-318.html
http://iglnl.netfirms.com/Artikelen/Channa_gachua_artikel/Channa_gachua_artikel.htm

[Sasquatch]

Hi there and welcome to the AC.

First thing, take a look at the E-book on this site (It's on the menu to the left of the page). There is loads of information in there, including something you might want to try out, fishless cycling. Gelo told you about cycling right?:wink2:

As to the aquarium, there's no reason you can't have a community tank with predators in it. As long as you have small species (or dwarf varieties) that are too small to munch on your other fish, it should be ok.

Take for example our tank. It's only a 10g, but we have 5 platies and a small catfish. The catfish won't get more than 3" long and he doesn't bother the adult platies. But he's a predator anyways and keeps the population in check by eating the fry that the platies produce.

Scale that up to a 20g tanks and you can add tetras or guppies, have a couple of catfish or another small type of predator.

[cocoa_pleco]

convicts are nice and breed like crazy!

[iG_]

Thanks for all the replies guys!
to answer the cycling question... yes Gelo did explain to me about the fishless cycle and all I have to do, and the things I should expect to see happening to the aquarium... Im also following the steps of Fishless Cycle on my Downstairs Neighbor's 40 Gal tank, so Im kind of getting the hang of it all.
I might consider some small predators as I was sugested, or just go with the Convict Cichlids. Once again, thanks everyone! I will post updates on my status soon...

Edit: I wonder, at about what point the Cichlids would start breeding? (Age/Size-wise)

[jeffs99dime]

welcome to a.c. iG

[cocoa_pleco]

no prob:1:

[iG_]

welcome to a.c. iG

Thank you.

Ill repost my question just in case you guys missed it on the edit:

"I wonder, at about what point do the Convict Cichlids start breeding? (Age/Size-wise)"

...and I would like to add, are there any reliable caresheets on the net?

[cocoa_pleco]

yeah, just type covict cichlid info into google.

Convicts breed at almost any age, and are like all the pimps in the world.

They breed like CRAZY

[iG_]

I have been looking at some of their pictures... Can't say its exactly the kind of fish I like, their Colors aren't really what im looking for, but who knows, I might stick with them.

[bettaboy691]

dwarf or figure 8 puffers are a good fish to have i thibk. they are freshwater i belive and will eat bloodworms, snails, shrimps, livebearer fry, etc etc.
try looking around a few fish shops, noting down the names of fish you like, then come home and research them online and ask questions on forums.

[cocoa_pleco]

puffers are nice. Try only a species tank as theyre aggressive, though i had no trouble with 2 in a community tank with small and big fish.

Mine really liked bloodworm and live cricket, but flakes were okay

[Severus]

Welcome to AC

[wijnands]

I was in an office a few weeks ago where they had a rather long tank and shallow tank 4, maybe 5 foot long and at most a foot high which had just a single large group of cardinal tetras in it. Lovely effect to see a whole school of those suddenly change course. Only other fish where a couple of clown botias