Guide
Good setups for an 80 litre tank
80 litres is about 21 US gallons, and it is where a genuine community tank starts working rather than being a compromise. Test your combinations with our stocking calculator.
- This is the threshold size: around 80 cm of length is where a school, a cleanup crew and a centrepiece all fit without anyone being squeezed.
- Three setups work well: a classic tetra-and-corydoras community, a rasbora tank with a bristlenose, or a dwarf cichlid pair with dithers.
- Full-size corydoras are back on the menu: unlike a 50 litre, you can keep C. sterbai or paleatus properly here.
- Bristlenose plecos become viable at this volume - but common plecos never do, at any tank size you are likely to own.
- Still no angelfish: a standard 80 litre lacks the height. That starts at 125 litres.
- Roughly 65-70 litres of real water once substrate and hardscape are in.
What an 80 litre tank actually gives you
An 80 litre is usually around 80 × 35 cm with a height near 40 cm. That 80 cm of length is the number that matters. It is roughly the point where a school of tetras can behave like a school rather than a queue, and where you can add a bottom-dwelling group without stealing the swimming space of everything else.
Real water volume lands near 65-70 litres after substrate, wood and equipment. That is enough thermal mass that the tank no longer swings with the room, which makes it a substantially more forgiving tank than a 50 litre - the first size at which a missed water change is an annoyance rather than an emergency.
Volume tells you about waste dilution. Length tells you whether your fish can actually swim. At 80 cm, most community species stop being cramped.
Eighty litres is the size we would push most beginners towards if space and budget allow. It is large enough to be stable and stock interestingly, small enough to water-change with a bucket, and it fits on ordinary furniture. Most of the frustration people attribute to "fishkeeping being hard" is actually the frustration of keeping a tank under 50 litres.
Setup 1: the classic community
One mid-water school, one bottom-dwelling group, one centrepiece. It is the standard formula because it works.
A proven combination
Twelve Paracheirodon innesi (neon tetras) or Paracheirodon axelrodi (cardinal tetras) as the main school. Six to eight Corydoras sterbai or Corydoras paleatus for the bottom - full-size species, which a 50 litre cannot properly house. One Trichogaster chuna (honey gourami) or Trichogaster lalius (dwarf gourami) as the centrepiece.
Cardinals want the warmer end, 25-28°C, and hold their colour better in soft, slightly acidic water. Neons are more tolerant and cheaper, and do fine at 23-26°C. Pick one or the other rather than mixing - a mixed school of two similar species tends to split into two loose groups rather than forming one tight shoal.
Water parameters for this community
Target pH 6.5-7.2, hardness 3-12 dGH, temperature 25-27°C (77-81°F). Sterbai corydoras are the useful pick here because they tolerate the warmer end better than most corydoras, which matters if you are keeping cardinals or a dwarf gourami.
Buying six neon tetras and calling it a school. Six is the minimum at which they stop hiding; twelve is where they actually shoal and display. In an 80 litre you have room for the larger group, and the difference in behaviour is the single most noticeable upgrade you can make to a community tank.
Setup 2: rasboras with a bristlenose
A quieter, hardier variation that suits harder tap water. Twelve to fifteen Trigonostigma heteromorpha (harlequin rasboras), eight Corydoras aeneus, and one Ancistrus sp. (bristlenose pleco).
Harlequins are among the most forgiving community fish in the hobby - they accept pH 6.0-7.8 and 22-27°C without complaint, and they hold a tight shoal. Bristlenose plecos stay at 10-13 cm, actually eat algae, and are the only pleco most people should ever buy.
A bristlenose is not a common pleco. Pterygoplichthys species - the ones usually sold simply as "pleco" at 5 cm - reach 40-50 cm and produce an enormous waste load. They are unsuitable for an 80 litre, a 300 litre, and almost every home aquarium. Check the scientific name before you buy.
Setup 3: a dwarf cichlid pair with dithers
If you want behaviour rather than numbers, 80 litres is the entry point for a dwarf cichlid pair. A pair of Apistogramma cacatuoides or Mikrogeophagus altispinosus (Bolivian ram) with a dither school of ten rummynose tetras or harlequins above them.
Bolivian rams are markedly easier than German blue rams (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi), which need 27-30°C and very soft, very stable water. If you have read that rams are difficult, that reputation belongs to the German blue, not the Bolivian.
Give a cichlid pair a broken-up floor: caves, wood, a flat stone or two. Territory disputes in a bare tank escalate because there is no line of sight to break.
Two pairs of dwarf cichlids in 80 litres will fight over the same territory. If you want a second pair, you want a second tank.
What to avoid in an 80 litre
Angelfish: Pterophyllum scalare reach 15 cm in body and considerably more in fin. A standard 80 litre is around 40 cm tall, which is not enough vertical space for adults. This becomes viable at 125 litres with a 50 cm height.
Goldfish: a single fancy goldfish needs 100-150 litres with heavy filtration, and common or comet goldfish are pond fish that reach 30 cm. Not an 80 litre proposition.
African cichlids: mbuna need aggression spread across a large group in a long tank, typically 200 litres and up. In 80 litres a group cannot dilute aggression and individuals get killed.
Mixed livebearer breeding colonies: mollies reach 8-10 cm and are heavy waste producers; guppies and platies breed faster than an 80 litre can absorb. One species, one sex, or a plan for the fry.
Filtration, cycling and maintenance
An internal or hang-on-back filter rated for 100-150 litres gives useful headroom without excessive flow. A small canister works too and keeps equipment out of the tank. Aim for gentle-to-moderate current unless you are keeping a species that specifically wants flow.
Cycle before stocking. An 80 litre gives you more buffer than a nano, but an uncycled tank still exposes fish to ammonia and nitrite for weeks. See how to cycle a fish tank for the fishless method.
Weekly 25% changes suit a normally stocked 80 litre. Keep nitrates under 20-25 ppm between changes, and vacuum the substrate rather than just replacing water - most of the waste in a community tank is sitting in the sand, not dissolved. More detail in our water change guide.
Logging your tests is what turns a weekly ritual into useful information. App-aquatic records water tests and change reminders, which makes slow trends - a nitrate creep over three months, say - visible in a way individual readings never are.
Track your parameters and get care reminders with App-aquatic.
Get the free appHow many fish can I keep in an 80 litre tank?
A practical, sustainable load is one school of 12-15 small fish, one bottom-dwelling group of 6-8, and one centrepiece fish or a single dwarf cichlid pair. That is roughly 20-25 fish under 6 cm adult size, and it is a comfortable stocking level rather than a ceiling. Waste output, adult size and territory matter far more than the fish count - run the combination through our stocking calculator before you buy.
Can I keep angelfish in an 80 litre tank?
Not comfortably. Angelfish reach about 15 cm in the body and much more in fin length, and a standard 80 litre is only around 40 cm tall. They need vertical space more than volume. A 125 litre tank with a 50 cm height - the Juwel Rio 125 footprint - is a realistic starting point for a pair. See our 125 litre setups.
Can I keep a pleco in an 80 litre tank?
A bristlenose pleco (Ancistrus sp.) yes - they stay around 10-13 cm and genuinely eat algae. A common pleco no, at any size you are likely to own: Pterygoplichthys species reach 40-50 cm and produce a waste load no home tank absorbs comfortably. The two are sold at the same size as juveniles, so check the scientific name on the label.
Is an 80 litre tank good for a beginner?
It is one of the best beginner sizes. It holds enough water to be thermally and chemically stable, which forgives the mistakes every new keeper makes, while still being small enough to maintain with a bucket and fit on normal furniture. Most people who find fishkeeping frustrating started with a tank under 50 litres.
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