Hi guys! I'm brand new to the hobby and site and have never taken care of fish before except for a few glofish when I was little. I got a 20 gallon tank from facebook market place and I have a seachem tidal filter I got from my local fish store. There were two fish I saw that caught my eye at the fish store, the rummynose tetra and kuhli loaches. Do you guys think I could keep both of these fish together in a 20 gallon tank? The people at the fish store said I could definitely keep them together and the basic information I saw online said that I could as well. However, aqadvisor said that it would be overstock to keep a school of both fish in a 20 gallon tank, so I'm a bit conflicted on who is telling the truth. Thanks for all of the help!
My first tank set up
- Thread starter MuskieMartin
- Start date
Welcome to the forum!
Aquadvisor and other such sites don’t always give the most concrete advice, it’s a good starting point but often doesn’t give the full picture.
Both are a low waste, small schooling fish - I see nothing wrong with a school of both in a 20 gallon tank (of course this depends on what counts as a school).
I’m clueless with most loaches - M MultipleTankSyndrome is definitely the one to go for for them and how many can be together.
I’d say definitely go for a school of 6-8 rummies.
I’d also think you could get away with some small centerpiece fish like a honey gourami or betta (though labyrinth fish like them might not do well with the high flow of the tidal - though I think it’s adjustable) or dwarf cichlid.
Aquadvisor and other such sites don’t always give the most concrete advice, it’s a good starting point but often doesn’t give the full picture.
Both are a low waste, small schooling fish - I see nothing wrong with a school of both in a 20 gallon tank (of course this depends on what counts as a school).
I’m clueless with most loaches - M MultipleTankSyndrome is definitely the one to go for for them and how many can be together.
I’d say definitely go for a school of 6-8 rummies.
I’d also think you could get away with some small centerpiece fish like a honey gourami or betta (though labyrinth fish like them might not do well with the high flow of the tidal - though I think it’s adjustable) or dwarf cichlid.
Thank you! I'm excited to get started in the hobby. Do you think a school of 6-8 rummynose tetras would be ok on their own? I heard a lot of sources recommend having them in a school of 12+, some even recommended 20 or more.
With most tetras, the more the merrier. There isn’t anything wrong with having at least 10-12. I would think that by 20 it may start to look crowded though.
Ok thanks for the help. I'm concerned that having so many would result in them getting stressed out or producing too much waste. Plus adding loaches into the equation, I'm not sure how many of each fish I could realistically have in there without overstock my tank.
Rummynose and kuhli loaches would be fine in a 20 gallon. Sand would be much better than gravel for the loaches. 10 tetras and 4 loaches, something like that would be good. Would probably buy the fish in 2 groups and not go from 0-100 with the stock.
Biggest thing for a beginner is leaning about the nitrogen cycle. Can't put fish in a brand new clean tank without cycling, or if you do a fish-in you are likely to lose some. There are products like Dr. Tim's out there nowadays that make the cycle much quicker and easier.
Biggest thing for a beginner is leaning about the nitrogen cycle. Can't put fish in a brand new clean tank without cycling, or if you do a fish-in you are likely to lose some. There are products like Dr. Tim's out there nowadays that make the cycle much quicker and easier.
Ok, thank you for the help! I already have some sand in the tank for the loaches. I'm mostly just concerned about being able to get an adequately sized school of each fish because a lot of sources suggested 12+ of each fish to have them be happy. Would 4 loaches be happy just by themselves? The last thing I'd want is to get some fish and have them be unhappy.
Thanks for the summon!
The advice given by Deadeye and Gourami is sound. Here's my $0.02:
-You want a minimum of 5-6 kuhli loaches. More being better, if space permits.
-Agreed on 10ish being rummynose minimum.
-10 rummynose and 6-8 kuhli loaches are likely fine, AqAdvisor is a good starting point as mentioned, but it does not account for levels the fish swim, only footprint.
GL!
Ok, thank you for the help! Once my tank is cycled I'll go ahead and get some of them! I'm really excited because I loved seeing both these fish in the store.