Hello! I have a 20 gallon freshwater tank set up and ready to go (it was home to some zebras prior). It is currently empty and we would like to put in some pretty freshwater fish. I really like the puffers, but they need brackish if I'm not mistaken, and I don't know what fish to put in with them. We had one before and he was really aggressive.

The wife and I are looking for colorful and easy to get along with.

Suggestions?

How about a dwarf cichlid like a blue ram? Guppies can be colorful. Neon tetras would be good too.

The dwarf cichlids look really pretty! We will have to look at those! Are they hard to care for? Can they be in a tank with a cat, maybe an otto? We've not had good luck with guppies, sadly.

Most male Dwarf Gouramis are very pretty. You could only have one, but they are cool. They are peaceful to other fish, but aggresive toward each other. That is why I say only 1.

Thank you, could they be in a tank with a dwarf cichlid? Any tank mate suggestions?

Possibly....not sure on that.

Although the "purists" may object, my wife really liked the glofish.

my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

I keep rainbows of all sorts in my 90 gallon. To me i havent seen better looking freshwater fish. I dont think you can keep more than 2 or 3 dwarf neon rainbows in a 20 gallon tho.

Wild betta species are pretty and docile,though hard to find.You have a whole lot to choose from too,more than many people imagine.

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"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

I really like the look of celestial pearl danios a.k.a. galaxy rasboras. They're tiny schooling fish (never get bigger than 1"), delicate, and quite skittish however.

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

Threadfin Rainbow fish (aka Featherfin Rainbows) are gorgeous!

Long finned Serpae tetras are really pretty, but can be nippy sometimes.

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All good suggestions! But instead of german rams which can be quite picky in tank parameters I would suggest bolivian rams. Very pretty and not quite as sensitive.

There are several fish that are beautiful and can fit in a 20 gal. Even a single angel fish will work. If you go with something other than rams you can also add a small shoal of cories which are great to watch.

Bob, I like the glofish myself. I see nothing wrong in the way they were developed, they aren't dyed or tatooed fish.

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If you really like puffers there are some true fresh water puffers, including the dwarfs. As a whole they need plenty of room per fish and don't make very good community fish though so you really need to want puffers.

Dario Dario (Scarlet badis) is one of my personal favs. Nice small fish.
CPDs are always a nice choice too.