Newbie tank questions.

[p8ball4life]

Hey guys.

I'm starting my first tank soon (just set it up today). Here are the specs:

Tank: 20 gallon tall
Filter: Bio-wheel 200 gallons/hour
Stealth heater
Air pump w/ 6" air stone

My goal, after cycling, is the following:

Clown Pleco
2 Dwarf Puffers
2 Bumblebee Gobys
Neon Tetras


My questions:

1. Will the puffers get along with these other fish? Are there any foreseen problems with the tetras being picked on? I know puffers are not a typical community fish.

2. Is my tank overstocked with this setup?
Following the inch rule of thumb:
20 gallon tank
-15%
17 gallons

Pleco - 4 inches
Puffers - 2 inches x 2 = 4 inches
Gobys - 1.5 inches x 2 = 3 inches
Tetras - 1 inch x 6 = 6 inches
17 inches = 17 gallons

3. Can the gobys and puffers both have a diet of blood-worms in most cases?

4. The pleco is a fairly hardy fish, would you recommend getting him/her for the cycling process?

5. Is it worth having two mechanical filters in my bio-wheel? It has the option to do so, but I'm not sure if it is really worth it.


Any help, suggestions, or comments would be appreciated. Please forgive me if I have said anything that has been covered elsewhere.

Thank you for your help.

-Tyler

[Dr_House]

Greetings, Tyler. Congratulations on the new aquarium. Setting up a new aquarium has to be one of the most exciting things for any fish-keeper, and it's good you are doing the research first, rather than just buying things, waiting for calamity to strike, and then trying to find out what went wrong.

That being said, unfortunately, I don't feel your tank has a great chance of success for the following reasons:

First, Dwarf Puffers tend to be very nippy and and tend to do best in a heavily decorated species-only aquarium.

Secondly, the Bumblebee Goby is actually a brackish fish, and not well suited for the freshwater aquarium.

Now that the bad news is out of the way, let me see if I can answer some of your other questions.

4. I would recommend doing a fishless cycle. During the cycling process the water may not look disgusting, but from the perspective of the fish, it definitely is. I recommend fishless cycling. You can find a good article on the subject here

5. One should be fine, though I'm curious what type of mechanical filtration you are using. As I understand it, the bio-wheel by itself is just that and must be connected to another filter, typically a canister, or maybe a powerhead. If you are using the Emperor or Penguin filters, the bio-wheel is attached to the filter and you can't really change that.

In terms of further suggestions, I would say this. You've obviously done a fair amount of homework on the tank. Do a little bit more and find the one fish that you can't live without. Then build the tank around that fish with compatible tankmates. Some popular choices for your size tank include blue rams, a female betta, cardinal tetras (which of course you already have some interest in).

Sorry I didn't have much good news for you, but again, I'm glad you're asking the questions and doing the research up front. Once you decide what that fish is that you must have, get back to us and we can make some better suggestions. I hope that helps somewhat.

[Blue Cray]

If youre going with puffers get a planted speices tank. In a 20g you can have up to around 5 dwarf puffers which are 100% freshwater

[p8ball4life]

Thanks for the fast response!

From my research online, I've found that the gobbies are indeed brackish fish, but that they survive quite well in well-filtered freshwater environments. I've also read numerous posts of people using gobbies in their freshwater tank.

As for the tank setup, the pleco is probably the one fish I want to build around. I know it's very common, but it's my favorite by far. I really like the gobbies and puffers, and the tetras were decent fillers, but also very common.

It seems like my choices are: A. Puffers or B. Everything else

Given that I'm interested in the gobbies/puffers to go with my pleco, could you guys reccomend some unique and fun fish for my tank?

Thanks,
Tyler

[Blue Cray]

YOu can keep a pleco with puffers. If you have a tight fitting lid and it is indeed a 20g you can get pea**************** eels, african butterfly fish, small loaches, for a unique pleco you can try an albino bristle nose pleco.

[JustOneMore20]

I would choose either the Puffer setup (with maybe a few Otocinclus and maybe the Gobies) or the community setup with the Pleco, Gobies, and some other fish. While the puffers and pleco may get along, you never know until you put them together and IMO its best to just avoid that situation. The pleco will hide most of the time, but when and if he does come out of hiding, the puffers are prone to nipping. Plecos have a nice, tempting tail on them.

The Gobies may or may not work with the puffers. In a heavily planted setup, you should be fine. I would just add some Otocinclus to the mix if you are looking for something else. They are usually fine with DPs.

I'd go with 5-6 DPs, 3-4 BB Gobies, and 3-4 Otos....heavily plant the tank and you are set. Perhaps you could get some feedback on keeping DPs with plecos and if you find people have had success, then you could replace the Otos for the Pleco.

If you would rather have a setup revolved around the pleco, then I suggest some other peaceful bottom feeders, like Cories, and a school of small tetras/rasboras/rainbowfish/pencilfish (your choice, just stick with something that stays under 2"). You could even add a small gourami to that stocking if you choose a peaceful and smallish schooling fish.

[p8ball4life]

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Thanks!