20gal stocking

Question
Hello,

We have a new 20 gallon high tank for freshwater fish.  I was wondering if you could give a few stocking idea options as I've seen a lot of different people say different things. Preferably the most peaceful fish that will get along, and if there are any male to female ratios to be aware of, please let us know that as well.  

Thanks!

Answer
Hi Ginger

I have a 20 gallon high tank with a German Blue Ram, Dwarf Blue Gourami, 3 Black Mollies and a red Betta. The Betta does not bother any of the others and it is a very peaceful tank. I used a dark brown natural substrate with live plants and it is one of my more beautiful tanks to be as small as it is. This is just one suggestion. In this tank, all 3 Mollies are female. With most fish, especially Mollies and other livebearers, it is a good idea to have more females than males. I use the 2:1 ratio - 2 females for every male.

In a 20 gallon you're limited to quantity so I would avoid schooling fish that require groups of 5 or more. There are many community tanks you could do with a 20 gallon, just keep smaller fish that will be 3 inches or less as adults. Rather than list all of these here, I provided a link below with several community tank suggestions.

http://www.elmersaquarium.com/fish/freshwater/communitytank/main.html

The only other advice I can give is to avoid barbs and most tetras as these can be fin nippers.

Hope this helps you, good luck!

Richard