Stocking questions...

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fishwish34

Medium Fish
#1
Jun 27, 2010
84
0
0
#1
Well, a few of my fish have died (while I was away, of course). I have a little space in my tank now, though, so I have some questions about stocking.
I HAD 2 guppies, 5 zebra danios, and 2 otos. 1 guppy and 1 oto have unfortunately passed on. My tank is 20 gallons, and is cycled. I was thinking I would get another oto or two, and then another guppy or two. The remaining guppy is male. If I got 2 female guppies, how many guppy fry might I end up with? I figure that some will fall prey to the other residents of the tank, but maybe not.
What other fish do people like that are good for beginners? I was looking at rams, but they seem more difficult to take care of than I'm looking for. Also, AQ advisor says that they wouldn't be compatible temperature-wise with the danios, which makes sense. Someone mentioned scarlet badis in another thread recently--does anyone know anything about taking care of those?
Thank you for any advice!
 

lauraf

lauraf

Superstar Fish
#2
Jan 1, 2010
2,181
0
0
Vancouver, British Columbia
#2
Getting another two otos is good - they like company - do you have enough algae for them to munch on?
You could add another danio or three, the bigger the school, the happier they are and less likely to nip at anyone else in the tank.
If you end up with guppy fry, most fish stores will take them back from you and give you a small credit. You're right to think about getting two females, not just one, as then the male's attention will be divided between the two females and they aren't as likely to literally be harrased to death. If you don't want the problem of fry, you could just get more males - and they are prettier anyway.
I wouldn't worry too much about the temperature with danios - they are very hardy and can withstand a range of temps. No, you don't want a temp of 80F or higher, but lots of other fish are comfortable in the 73-77F range. Easy to keep and interesting community fish that would work in your 20g include platies, cories and certain gouramis. You could do, for example, a dwarf gourami as a 'centrepiece' fish, eight danios, two male guppies, three otos, four panda cories.
The tank is a 20g long, right? Not 20g high?
 

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OrangeCones

Elite Fish
#3
Feb 27, 2009
4,395
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#3
I wouldn't add any fish until you figure out what caused the deaths you just experienced. What are your readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? What is your water change schedule like?
 

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fishwish34

Medium Fish
#4
Jun 27, 2010
84
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0
#4
Laura--the tank is a 20 G high. Sorry I forgot to mention that! I'm not sure I have enough algae for more otos. I put 1/2 an algae wafer in the tank once a week for the otos, but all the fish end up snacking on it. Also, the temperature in my tank gets a bit high in the summer (no air conditioning), sometimes up to 80, 82 degrees.

OrangeCones--Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates somewhere between 5 and 10. I try to change 4 Gallons once a week, but occasionally it ends up being two weeks between changes. I did a water change yesterday, but there were 3 weeks between it and the previous change because I was on vacation. The guppy started to look a little funny before he died: kind of lumpy. He also stopped coming up for food.
 

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fishwish34

Medium Fish
#9
Jun 27, 2010
84
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#9
Not at the moment. One zebra danio (longfinned) has a split up his tail, though. He's had it for a little while now, but seems to be doing fine. I've had other guppies that started out fine, and then their spines bent and they had some trouble swimming--their whole body would go back and forth as they swam.
 

ZackLanduyt

ZackLanduyt

Large Fish
#10
Jun 18, 2010
135
0
16
Lima OH. USA
#10
How many danios do you have? The split fin could have been from fin nipping either interspecies, or from someone else in the tank, or could be fin rot hard to say without pictures or a more descript explanation
 

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fishwish34

Medium Fish
#11
Jun 27, 2010
84
0
0
#11
I have 5 danios: 3 regular, 2 longfinned. I'm guessing the split came from fin nipping, as it hasn't gotten any worse with time. It looks like someone took scissors and cut the middle of his tail, between the two points.
 

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