20 Gallon Tank....Too Many Fish?

Hi! So I've had horses, dogs, cats and birds all my life. Now that I've moved into the city, no apartments take dogs/cats so I got a 20 gallon aquarium. Right now I have 1 betta, 2 mollies and 2 platys (sorry for the spelling). Everyone has been getting along great, but I wanted to get some snails, shrimp and clams. Possibly some neon tetras too. I know this is an extreme amount of fish and the tetras are definitely debatable but I was really interested in snails, clams and shrimp. How many can go into my tank at this point? Does the whole 1 gallon for every inch rule still apply? Thanks guys!

Welcome to our site! I hope you find it fun and informative. As for your tank, have you completed the nitrogen cycle? If not, there is a blog in the blog section and you can research it too. The nitrogen cycle is critical to maintain a good aquarium along with water changes. Your ok with the fish right now and the 1" rule is a very rough guideline to how many fish you can keep. There are other factors too, such as surface area of the tank, the size of the fish, its waste output, special needs for an individual fish and etc. Since the tetras are slim bodied and the mollies and platies stay small, you can follow the 1" guideline. I would advise against shrimp as they will get eaten and clams are generally hard to keep because they have specific feeding requirements feeding on microscopic organisms unless you have an established tank already with many free floating microorganisms. As for the snails, make sure you get the kind that don't breed like rabbits such as Black Mystery's and etc. Hope I didn't overwhelm you. Fish keeping is a fun and rewarding hobby if you get to know the basics.

Happy fish keeping!

Thank you so much! I like snails a lot and know someone the apartment a few doors down that has a couple trapdoor snails that seem to do ok. The clams, if in a tank, should be supplimented with invertebrate food, right? I don't know why but I really like the idea of having a clam, . The shrimp are off my list now, but am curious about the clams and snails. Any sites that may help out? I've looked around on the internet, but none really give accurate info such as how many snails for ____ size aquarium, etc. Thanks so much again!

Yes I guess you can supplement the clams with invertebrate food and I think I have seen live plankton that come in a bottle for sale. You can try risking the shrimp. If you get the rather large shrimp on the market, the other fish might leave it alone but I do not have any experience in that area. For the amount of snails, it really does not matter the amount as long as you don't go overboard like putting a hundred snails or something. I guess you can put maybe 20 or a little more if you want. Snails are small and produce minimal waste but make sure you don't skimp out on the water changes. Planetinverts.com is a good site if your maybe going to put shrimp.

Thank you sooo much! I think the shrimp are out of the picture for now, but the snails are in for sure!

Snails are huge waste producers, believe me from experience. If i was you, i would go with a golden or black mystery snail. You could even get one of each or aomething. Plus they are fun to watch :]

Please read the post, "Nuisance snails".

That might give you some information.

Welcome! I got most of my snails by accident and yes, they are the kind that breed like rabbits. Your pretty much at capacity with the fish you already have, but some snails probably won't hurt if you keep up with weekly water changes. Also, the 1 inch of fish per gallon rule really only applies to the smallest fish; and even then you should be careful. Larger fish like angelfish, discus, plecos, and goldfish need about ten gallons per fish to be happy. Once again welcome, I sincerely hope you enjoy our forum and stick around for a long time.

hm it is very important to say you that pls don't detouch with this forum.this forum is lead by a numbers of good members.

achintya, what?

LOL, I think he means don't leave the forum. It is a good place with many good members.

I'm late, but WELCOME to our forum. It's great to have a PhD in our membership. Mystery snails are a good pick, because they spawn out of the water, so their population is easy to control. They do, however, like hard water with plenty of calcium; some people even add a cuddle bone like they have in a bird cage. The fish will probably not like it. If you want the snails to spawn, the aquarium should be covered to keep the air above it moist, and it will need one or two inches of head space.

If you want to raise crustaceans, you can try what they call a blue lobster. In the American South, they call them crawdads. They will multiply like crazy and will prey on fish, so they need their own aquarium. The jist of the story: compatibility is an important issue.

ya rightly you said megham....

Hi John! I'm not a MD/PhD yet, but its definitely T minus 6 more years and counting! Anyways, back to the snails. I purchased a couple and I love them! Every spare minute I have is spent in front of my tank just observing them! I'm really happy that I went with the snails instead of the shrimp which was what I was leaning towards before I joined this forum. This really is a great place to learn everything you would ever want to know about aquarium life!

As you indicated, aquariums and their occupants are endlessly fascinating. All of us here have spent hours watching aquarium critters. Angelfish fry are my favorites.

A career in medicine is a very admirable pursuit, and I wish you luck.

Oh so that's what a MD/PhD is. Wow six years sounds like a long time. Aquarium keeping will also teach you another thing that will help you in life and that is patience. Good luck on your journey towards your career! And again happy fish keeping!!

Thanks for your good wishes! Its very motivating!

aquarium keeping is all about a learning process...now a days you love snails,may be with in a few days you love angels or discus or some other fishes..whatever........yes it is very true that in this forum there are so many well educated members those always help you...
thank you...

Just ran across this one week old post. My 2 cents: I have 2 Glass shrimp in my 24 G community tank. They are quite happy and everbody gets along. They are definitely not colorful but interesting to watch and are supposed to be good algae eaters.
Mechanik

I thought about maybe dedicating a corner of my apartment to an invert tank. I like the idea of shrimp, etc but I've heard they get eaten alot or just die a lot when with fish. Any suggestions on an invert only tank?

Sorry, can't help there
mechanik