New here..just a few questions :)

Hi everyone, my daughter and I are venturing into the tank life for the first time and through most of my research im pretty excited so far. My main questions are, are there any freshwater sharks that can fit in a 20g tank, How many fish fit in a 20g tank as I don't want to cramp them, my daughter wants tetras so how many do I need for a school?

 

Confusion. Everyone has thrown out all sorts of fish at you! And half of us say half of those fish can’t be in that tank! Haha, fishkeeping is certainly not a black-and-white hobby.

Live plants are amazing. Add them all! I picked low tech plants so I don’t have to do anything but squirt some liquid in there once a week.

Oh i see lol yes it can all be a little confusing at times.

 

New question! I just added a piece of driftwood and a java fern! I love it, my question is, do I feed it or anything like that?

 

New question! I just added a piece of driftwood and a java fern! I love it, my question is, do I feed it or anything like that?

You can certainly use liquid ferts, something like Thrive C is plenty for a low tech plant like java fern. I have never had plants without having fish so maybe someone else will say you’ll be fine without ferts, but I tend to think everything does better with food, right? And I’m sure you’ll want to add tons more plants soon anyway!

Just a warning the driftwood can leach tannins. These tannins are beneficial to fish and will go away on their own after a while, but it will turn your tank water a bit brown. Some people add tannins on purpose for the benefits but some people don’t like the look so they pre-soak the driftwood til all the tannins are gone.

 

You do not need to feed the java moss, but doing so is not bad.

Okay, so, for some stocking ideas... I am a little confused right now, but you could have glowlight tetras or black neons. I would suggest otocinclus but they are a hit or miss, I now only have a single one as the other one I got suddenly died. You could do corydoras with some sand for them to sift through, they look cute and interesting. For suggestions, I recommend looking videos up on youtube and seeing if you would like the fish. I also suggest finding out parameters(you can use a test kit or look on your water providers website) so you can stock more around that.

 

Alright everyone you’ve been a big help but my wife and daughter made a boo boo, I told them the water was safe for fish now and not thinking they’d run out and buy fish immediately and I came home from work and there’s 3 glofish in the tank. My question is one of them seems to like the top of the tank, he looks like he’s looking for something. I have a pump in the tank so I can’t imagine it’s oxygen the other 2 glofish aren’t they’re kinda hovering by him but not swimming at the top like he is. Should I be concerned ?

 

Alright everyone you’ve been a big help but my wife and daughter made a boo boo, I told them the water was safe for fish now and not thinking they’d run out and buy fish immediately and I came home from work and there’s 3 glofish in the tank. My question is one of them seems to like the top of the tank, he looks like he’s looking for something. I have a pump in the tank so I can’t imagine it’s oxygen the other 2 glofish aren’t they’re kinda hovering by him but not swimming at the top like he is. Should I be concerned ?

Is he gasping? You can look up a video of a gasping fish to check. It’s pretty obvious. He could just be super stressed from the move though. Do you have an ammonia liquid test kit yet? If not, I would do a large water change immediately, and then turn the lights off for the night. Any time you add new fish you should turn off the lights and decrease the noise around the tank to let them de-stress.

 

Is he gasping? You can look up a video of a gasping fish to check. It’s pretty obvious. He could just be super stressed from the move though. Do you have an ammonia liquid test kit yet? If not, I would do a large water change immediately, and then turn the lights off for the night. Any time you add new fish you should turn off the lights and decrease the noise around the tank to let them de-stress.

he doesn’t appear to be gasping, for air it looks like he’s just looking at it, occasionally opening his mouth. I’ll test for ammonia

Is he gasping? You can look up a video of a gasping fish to check. It’s pretty obvious. He could just be super stressed from the move though. Do you have an ammonia liquid test kit yet? If not, I would do a large water change immediately, and then turn the lights off for the night. Any time you add new fish you should turn off the lights and decrease the noise around the tank to let them de-stress.

No ammonia no nitrite and no nitrate in the water

 

Outside of wafers and different food to target the plecos diet, the main reason they fail in newer tanks is from starvation. Id wait on the pleco

 

he doesn’t appear to be gasping, for air it looks like he’s just looking at it, occasionally opening his mouth. I’ll test for ammonia


No ammonia no nitrite and no nitrate in the water

He doing any better today? If it was 0,0,0 he’s probably just stressed

 

He doing any better today? If it was 0,0,0 he’s probably just stressed

Unfortunately no 2 have died, the 1 left seems fine but idk. He seems to be swimming around with his mouth opening constantly but not at the top of the tank. Could it be bacteria in the water? The water is cloudy and someone said it’s a biological bloom

 

Unfortunately no 2 have died, the 1 left seems fine but idk. He seems to be swimming around with his mouth opening constantly but not at the top of the tank. Could it be bacteria in the water? The water is cloudy and someone said it’s a biological bloom

No, the bacteria would be the beneficial bacteria you want for the cycle. More than likely these fish came from a chain pet store and were already sick. Although, did you acclimate them at all? With new fish, you are supposed to float the bag on top for a while so the temp matches the temp in the tank. Then you put a tiny bit of tank water in there every like 10 ish minutes. This mixes the store water with the tank water. When The bag’s getting full, you can dump some water down the sink and keep adding more tank water. After probably 2 hours it’s safe to take the fish out and put it in the tank. Do NOT put the bag water into your tank. ONLY the fish. Lights off, no food til the next day.

That said there are many people here who say only temp matching is fine and dump the fish in. I guess it depends on your preference.

There’s also a QT. Quarantine means to put the new fish in a quarantine tank for a month to make sure you are not introducing sick and diseased fish into your main tank. You don’t have to worry about this now because currently your tank is empty, so there’s no fish to infect with diseases yet. But it’s something to consider for later. Again, some people don’t do this at all, some refuse to add anything without QT first. If you want to set up a cheap and easy QT, grab a $5 container with a lid at walmart. Put a small heater in it and a small air stone. Run a sponge filter in the main tank (with the hob too) and then any time you need a qt tank, you can just plop in the already-cycled sponge and boom you have a cycled bucket for fish!

Sponge filters are amazing. They are safe for baby fish and shrimp and everything that could get sucked up into a HOB filter. They are quiet and easy to clean. I have a HOB and a sponge in my own tank just in case my fish ever get sick and need a QT setup.

 

No, the bacteria would be the beneficial bacteria you want for the cycle. More than likely these fish came from a chain pet store and were already sick. Although, did you acclimate them at all? With new fish, you are supposed to float the bag on top for a while so the temp matches the temp in the tank. Then you put a tiny bit of tank water in there every like 10 ish minutes. This mixes the store water with the tank water. When The bag’s getting full, you can dump some water down the sink and keep adding more tank water. After probably 2 hours it’s safe to take the fish out and put it in the tank. Do NOT put the bag water into your tank. ONLY the fish. Lights off, no food til the next day.

That said there are many people here who say only temp matching is fine and dump the fish in. I guess it depends on your preference.

There’s also a QT. Quarantine means to put the new fish in a quarantine tank for a month to make sure you are not introducing sick and diseased fish into your main tank. You don’t have to worry about this now because currently your tank is empty, so there’s no fish to infect with diseases yet. But it’s something to consider for later. Again, some people don’t do this at all, some refuse to add anything without QT first. If you want to set up a cheap and easy QT, grab a $5 container with a lid at walmart. Put a small heater in it and a small air stone. Run a sponge filter in the main tank (with the hob too) and then any time you need a qt tank, you can just plop in the already-cycled sponge and boom you have a cycled bucket for fish!

Sponge filters are amazing. They are safe for baby fish and shrimp and everything that could get sucked up into a HOB filter. They are quiet and easy to clean. I have a HOB and a sponge in my own tank just in case my fish ever get sick and need a QT setup.

I didn't quarantine but i did acclimate the fish, not quite exactly as you put it but i did acclimate them. Well I have 1 left hes still going. Hes not swimming at the top but hes swimming around the tank opening his mouth, that's whats weird to me the 2 that died didn't do that but the 1 alive looks like hes gasping but not at the top? 1 of the fish that died seemed totally normal

 

I didn't quarantine but i did acclimate the fish, not quite exactly as you put it but i did acclimate them. Well I have 1 left hes still going. Hes not swimming at the top but hes swimming around the tank opening his mouth, that's whats weird to me the 2 that died didn't do that but the 1 alive looks like hes gasping but not at the top? 1 of the fish that died seemed totally normal

He could be stressed, he is new and alone. Do you have lots of hiding spots for him?

 

He could be stressed, he is new and alone. Do you have lots of hiding spots for him?

I have a castle, 2 fake plants and a real plant

 

Just an update for everyone. As I said two died last night and I have 1 left, she’s still going but is now swimming at the top of the tank and not eating she has white poop. I tried a water purifier that was safe for fish to clear up the cloudiness and pretty much did nothing lol. Tried to feed her and she wouldn’t eat. Could the cloudiness be from the tank decor or the rocks?

here’s a video I uploaded so you can see what I’m talking about

 

Looks like she’s gasping. Are you using liquid ammonia tests or test strips? Liquid is more accurate. The best I can say is do more water changes. And don’t get more fish til tje cycle is complete.

 

Looks like she’s gasping. Are you using liquid ammonia tests or test strips? Liquid is more accurate. The best I can say is do more water changes. And don’t get more fish til tje cycle is complete.

I use liquid testing, I use the master test kit. There is no ammonia in the water or nitrite or nitrate

 

I use liquid testing, I use the master test kit. There is no ammonia in the water or nitrite or nitrate

Maybe a bad batch of fish, honestly these fish are mass produced and cheap. I don’t want to sound awful or insensitive, but even if you do everything right sometimes fish just are unhealthy. Like guppies. Let your tank cycle, look for a LFS, and go examine their tanks. No dead fish, no sick looking fish. Healthy fish are colorful and fat and chase each other and constantly looking for food and moving. If you see one just sitting there doing nothing, probably don’t get that fish. Eventually you’ll get a hardy one that survives and basically nothing can kill it, haha