20 Gallon Cube stocking.

[dyjogibson]

I'm setting up a 20 gallon cube aquarium right now and I'm trying figure out what to stock it with. Right now what I want to do is have as many different fish as I can, while still doing it right. I can do up to 50% water changes weekly and am good at staying consitstent with this sort of thing. What stocking lists would you guys do?

 

[Jekyl]

I'm setting up a 20 gallon cube aquarium right now and I'm trying figure out what to stock it with. Right now what I want to do is have as many different fish as I can, while still doing it right. I can do up to 50% water changes weekly and am good at staying consitstent with this sort of thing. What stocking lists would you guys do?

20g with a good amount of rock and hiding spaces is still probably limited to 3 to 5 smaller fish. All will depend on size and temperament.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I would not put more than 4-5 fish in a 20 gallon. Its not about water changes, its about each fish having enough personal space to avoid stress, salt water fish are very territorial. Fishes like damsels will claim an entire 20 gallon to themselves.

Remember, if the fish get stressed and get disease, the tank needs to be fishless for 2 months for the disease to die off. Overstocking is never worth it.

 

[dmh41532]

I would not put more than 4-5 fish in a 20 gallon. Its not about water changes, its about each fish having enough personal space to avoid stress, salt water fish are very territorial. Fishes like damsels will claim an entire 20 gallon to themselves.

Remember, if the fish get stressed and get disease, the tank needs to be fishless for 2 months for the disease to die off. Overstocking is never worth it.

Two months? That’s extreme.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Two months? That’s extreme.

6-8 weeks sounds better?

 

[dmh41532]

6-8 weeks sounds better?

Still seems rather extreme.

 

[williamCreery]

I would do max 3 fish. In a 25g
I found later that once you have a very established tank after 3 years then and only then a system can take up one more fish.
If you’re not close to the mark of tank maturity you’ll end up having not a fiji crystal clear tank, but more like a very dirty lagoon. Due to the over stock, -the lack of microorganisms eating.

^tagging along

Now the good thing is you said 50% water changes a week! Lucky for you, if you can do that you can have 3 fish now but 4 fish once the tank actually sits in over a couple years with a well established micro microorganism/ bacteria to keep up with one more fish.

There are great fish for a 20g that are not territorial

•Firefish
•clowns
•1 single chrome
• flashing tilefish (tank of 2 fish only) heavy stocked with coral
• Royal grama (can be very territorial)
Etc…

 

[doubleshot00]

I have two clowns and a springerii in my sons cube. I tried a dottyback to but the clowns didnt like it.

 

[krollins]

Clown goby could also work.

 

[Jekyl]

Still seems rather extreme.

This is what he is referring to and is a recommended procedure to deal with illness in tanks.

45 Day Fallow periods

I've been doing some research into the "76 day fallow period". I never heard of that prior to coming to Reef2Reef this past summer. I had always used 32 days as the maximum time for a tomont to remain viable under tropical conditions, and then I would round up to 45 days to help ensure that...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[AlyciaMarie]

I have a 20g, and currently, we have a firefish and watchman goby. We'll get a small pair of clowns and be done until we upgrade.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I'm setting up a 20 gallon cube aquarium right now and I'm trying figure out what to stock it with. Right now what I want to do is have as many different fish as I can, while still doing it right. I can do up to 50% water changes weekly and am good at staying consitstent with this sort of thing. What stocking lists would you guys do?

Royal gramma's, watchman gobies, firefish, clowns. those are some good choices to start with