20 gallon tank useless???

[fishballer]

i have a 20 gallon tank...
i know it's small....
what can i do with it?? (fish related stuff please)
thanx...
i'm trying to get into this hobby, and any suggestions would be useful.
thanx.

 

[craigj]

I have a 20 gallon tank and i'd say its not useless. There is a lot of cool fish you can have in a 20, but no aggressive fish. I currently have a tomato clown and strawberry basslet in mine and am going to add a pygmy angel soon. The thing is though that if its your first time in saltwater, a small tank is not a good one to start with because they are much harder to keep stable.

 

[king triton]

My LFS have a couple sea horses in it. They are really neat!

 

[dlight692000]

you could go reef, but that isnt for newbies, i would go with small wrasses and damsels . yellow coris wrasse, six line wrasse, blue chromis damsels

 

[mark-24]

Seahorse are really cool, and all, but very deicate animals. But in a 20 gallon tank, you could buy a small school of green or blue chromis, maybe 3-4 of them.
-Mark

 

[fish_kisses]

Contrary to popular belief you don't need a huge tank to start this hobby...We started in a 20 gal. then graduated up.. It is a great way to start this hobby without plunking down a huge wad of cash for a huge tank & equip. You'll just have to check your levels more often and you're VERY limited in what you can put in the tank. However if your patient and content to have a limited fish supply than Good Luck to you and just remember it isn't impossible you just have to be more careful than say someone with a 125 gal. tank..It CAN be done..Some of the prettiest tanks are no bigger than a 5 gal. tank!! In other words...TRY IT!!!!

 

[ll206]

Clowns are always cool to get. I have a yellow watchman goby that I love to death. Remember, its not the size, it's what you do with it.

 

[lobstervac]

I started with a 10 gallon when I accidentally caught a 1" common octopus. I brought it home to show my kids and kept it in a bucket for a week.
The day I planned to let it go I went to Walmart instead of the water. I just wanted to "watch" the octopus for a while in a better setting. I put grass shrimp and some small hermits in, (all caught), with it. That night I watched it eat for the first time. It was incredible.
Anyway, you can have a few small creatures and keep them happy for a long time.
Have fun.

 

[redhermit]

I have a 15 gallon with a coral beauty, red squirrel & red crab. The tank is easy to maintain and it's a joy to look at.

 

[devante]

I started out with a 20gal. tank. I still have it. I have a Lemon peel angel, Sharp-nose puffer and a catilna gobby. I have no problems with it. I check my water maybe once a month and do H2O changes bi-weekly. I've never lost a fish and in that tank either. I say start with a small tank. You don't need a big set-up to enjoy the beauty of this hobby.

 

[bizkit]

I have a 20gal long with LR and few a corals. Also have a pseudochromis,Flameback Angel and A ArcEye Hawk Fish living in perfect haromny. Also have a clean up crew and do changes on the water every other week. It can be done!

 

[blueberryboomer]

We have a 20 gal tall, we used to have a mantis shrimp in it til it died, then we bought 4 pairs od damsels, 2 lemon, 2 black and yellow stripe, 2 sergent,and 2 chromis. They added color and activity to the tank...Lisa

 

[ksheely]

i started my first saltwater tank with a 20 gallon and it is great i have atomato clown a damsle and a coral beauty, it is a reef it is great just watch your levels

 

[economic]

Being new to the hobby also, I started with a 5 gallon setup. With some slight modifications to the filtration, everything is going great.
I have 2 tiny percula clowns and 2 cleaner boxer shrimp.
I do a water change once a week. it takes about 20-30minutes. I let the new water run into the tank slowly so that the temperature does not fluctuate.
I will move to a bigger tank in the future, but for now, this small tank beside my bed is brilliant!
regards,
Economic.

 

[nanoreefer]

I started off with this hobby about 6 months
ago. 10-Gal long and made it into a reef.
It's got a false Perc, BTA, Blue Damsel,
Emerald Crab, 2 Turbos, a feather duster,
and a Fairy Basslet.
I had a 1 inch Green spotted PufferFish in
there for a week while I had to find a foster
home for it. Surprisingly he didn't bother
anything in the tank. But I just couldn't
risk him attacking my BTA or something.
[ October 03, 2001: Message edited by: nanoreefer ]

 

[blutang]

I think that your 20 gallon is an adequate set up for a saltwater tank, however I do not believe that it is something positive for a beginner, simply because you have to make everything perfect sense you don't have many gallons for error (if you will). However on the other hand I have seen people put together 10 gallon saltwater aquaruims with much success. It really all depends on how much work you are willing to put into taking care of it and monitoring it.