20 Gallon Tank New to freshwater community tank and need help!

I am new to keeping fish (just started a week ago). I have watched and read about tank cycling and have some ideas of what I should do.
Here are my water parameters and temperature:

• PH: ~7.4-7.6
• Amonia: 0 - 0.25 ppm
• Nitrite: 0
• Nitrate: ~50 ppm
• Temperature: 78-80F

Fish in my tank:

• 3 barb cherries (2 male, 1 female)
• 4 albino barb cherries (2 female, 1 male, 1 female died last night)
• 2 dwarf gourami flame
• 1 fancy guppy
• 2 panda cory (1 died last night)

I feed all my fish twice a day [early morning (~8-9AM) and late night (7-10PM)].
I have been feeding my fish frozen brine shrimp since the beginning and recently introduced tropical flake.
Either 1/4 of frozen brine shrimp cube per feeding sessions or 2 pinches of tropical flakes every session when I introduced it. Not both at the same time.

I dropped in 1 algae wafer for the corys but doesn't seem to eat it (maybe too shy when I added the wafer during the day) so I thought they didn't like it. From then on I never gave them the wafer and thought the flakes and brine shrimp that sink to the bottom would be enough for the corys.

Fast forward a week, one of my albino barb cherries and panda corys died. Am I feeding them too little? Especially the panda cory since I feel like the other fish scavenge for food all the time. Not sure if all the other fish want to eat all the time so I try to avoid feeding too much.

I know my ammonia level should be 0 and I have added the recommended amount of imagitarium ammonia remover to the tank 2 days ago. Tested the water with API water testing kit and I think ammonia level was less 0.25 (can't differentiate between yellow and yellowish green too well). I do have live plants and mopani wood in the tank.

Am I feeding my fish too little or is the water parameter killing my fish? Fish were bought from Petco.

 

The problem is likely the tank and filters are not properly cycled. I don't think ammonia remover helps in this regard. Feed less often and do more water changes. Keep testing for ammonia and nitrite levels. Change water and dose with Prime water conditioner. Don't buy more fish yet. More detailed info is sure to come from others.

 

I have had 6 panda cories for about 3 months now.
Plus 12 pygmy cories and 20 chillis and shrimp all over the place. 120L, 25 plant species. No fatalities so far. I am still learning.

Here is what I feed the tank every day, I don't know if that's too much or not enough but it seems to work so far. Every day at around 3pm:

Monday: 1 spoon of Tetra Micro Granules (the tiny spoon comes with the product) + 1cm of Dennerle Shrimp king complete (or a piece of fruit like banana etc..)

Tuesday: 1 spoon of Tetra Micro Granules

Wednesday: 1 spoon of Tetra Micro Granules + 5x Hikari sinking wavers

Thursday: 1 spoon of Tetra Micro Granules

Friday: 1 spoon of Tetra Micro Granules + 1cm of Dennerle Shrimp king complete

Saturday: 1cm of Dennerle Shrimp king complete + 1 Tropical Supervit Tablets B

Sunday: 1cm of Dennerle Shrimp king complete


I also add Bacter AE on mondays and fridays.

And every single fish and shrimp go like crazy when it is feeding time as I they knew the exact time it is.

 

Hello, and welcome to the forum.

• I agree with KingOscar. Hold off on getting more fish (though I don't think you said you're planning to anyway). I'd start feeding half the amount you are now, at least for a while; either half as much twice per day or the same amount but just once.
• I'd also not use any kind of chemicals to try to fix your water, other than treating for chlorine of course. Instead change out some of the water; at least 25%. There's no substitute for fresh clean water.
• Corys are primarily carnivores, so while they may pick at algae wafers they don't get much nutritional value from them, and in any case a whole algae wafer is too much for just one or two of them. As you indicated, your single remaining cory should do fine on food that gets past the other fish, but take care that there isn't too much of that since it will foul your water. Fish really don't need much to eat.
• You didn't ask for stocking advice, but if you don't mind some anyway, two dwarf gouramis often (probably usually) ends in disaster. As males get older they will seldom tolerate another gourami in the tank with them, and they will typically fight until one is dead, either from injuries or stress. I would highly recommend returning one of them. You might like to review My thoughts on Dwarf Gourami/Trichogaster Lalius, which was written by jinjerJOSH22, one of our resident gourami experts.

 

I have watched and read about tank cycling and have some ideas of what I should do.

Fish in my tank:

• 3 barb cherries (2 male, 1 female)
• 4 albino barb cherries (2 female, 1 male, 1 female died last night)
• 2 dwarf gourami flame
• 1 fancy guppy
• 2 panda cory (1 died last night)

You didn't mention what size this tank is.

The feeding has nothing to do with the deaths. You have an uncycled tank and your fish are swimming in poison. If someone told you to put all those fish into a new uncycled tank you should stop taking their advice.

From your research you know that you are doing a fish-in cycle which is a lot more work. You need to be testing the water daily (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) and doing daily water changes depending on the test results. Keep the ammonia below 0.5. Same for nitrites. I keep nitrates 0-20ppm. Others allow a bit more. So if your ammonia is 2.0 you would do a 50% water change which would bring it to 1.0 and require a 2nd 50% WC to bring it to 5.0 etc.

Stop using chemicals to remove ammonia. Ammonia is removed with water changes when doing a fish-in cycle as are nitrites and nitrates. You have to do it to protect your fish. Also, ammonia is needed for your tank to cycle.

This is a several week process.

 

You don't need to feed twice a day. Fish can live a week without eating. I feed mine once every other day. One of my skirt tetras died the other day after being in my tank for over 5 years.

 

You didn't mention what size this tank is.

The feeding has nothing to do with the deaths. You have an uncycled tank and your fish are swimming in poison. If someone told you to put all those fish into a new uncycled tank you should stop taking their advice.

From your research you know that you are doing a fish-in cycle which is a lot more work. You need to be testing the water daily (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) and doing daily water changes depending on the test results. Keep the ammonia below 0.5. Same for nitrites. I keep nitrates 0-20ppm. Others allow a bit more. So if your ammonia is 2.0 you would do a 50% water change which would bring it to 1.0 and require a 2nd 50% WC to bring it to 5.0 etc.

Stop using chemicals to remove ammonia. Ammonia is removed with water changes when doing a fish-in cycle as are nitrites and nitrates. You have to do it to protect your fish. Also, ammonia is needed for your tank to cycle.

This is a several week process.

I have a 20gal on tank so it’s not too small

Hello, and welcome to the forum.

• I agree with KingOscar. Hold off on getting more fish (though I don't think you said you're planning to anyway). I'd start feeding half the amount you are now, at least for a while; either half as much twice per day or the same amount but just once.
• I'd also not use any kind of chemicals to try to fix your water, other than treating for chlorine of course. Instead change out some of the water; at least 25%. There's no substitute for fresh clean water.
• Corys are primarily carnivores, so while they may pick at algae wafers they don't get much nutritional value from them, and in any case a whole algae wafer is too much for just one or two of them. As you indicated, your single remaining cory should do fine on food that gets past the other fish, but take care that there isn't too much of that since it will foul your water. Fish really don't need much to eat.
• You didn't ask for stocking advice, but if you don't mind some anyway, two dwarf gouramis often (probably usually) ends in disaster. As males get older they will seldom tolerate another gourami in the tank with them, and they will typically fight until one is dead, either from injuries or stress. I would highly recommend returning one of them. You might like to review My thoughts on Dwarf Gourami/Trichogaster Lalius, which was written by jinjerJOSH22, one of our resident gourami experts.

One of the guarami is a little bit of a bully to the other. I haven’t seen fin nipping yet but he does chase the other around the tank sometimes. Could this add a lot of stress to the other guy and cause him to die in the future?

 

If you've got 50ppm of nitrate after 2 weeks I suspect you have nitrates in your tap water. I would test your source water.

I do agree that ammonia remover is a bad idea. If the tank is cycling or all ready cycled either way it's not right to try to fix it that way. 0.25 ammonia reading could be a false 0 reading bit hard to say if your using products.

 

One of the guarami is a little bit of a bully to the other. I haven’t seen fin nipping yet but he does chase the other around the tank sometimes. Could this add a lot of stress to the other guy and cause him to die in the future?

Yes, that's likely to only get worse as the fish get older.

 

I have had 6 panda cories for about 3 months now.
Plus 12 pygmy cories and 20 chillis and shrimp all over the place. 120L, 25 plant species. No fatalities so far. I am still learning.

Here is what I feed the tank every day, I don't know if that's too much or not enough but it seems to work so far. Every day at around 3pm:

Monday: 1 spoon of Tetra Micro Granules (the tiny spoon comes with the product) + 1cm of Dennerle Shrimp king complete (or a piece of fruit like banana etc..)

Tuesday: 1 spoon of Tetra Micro Granules

Wednesday: 1 spoon of Tetra Micro Granules + 5x Hikari sinking wavers

Thursday: 1 spoon of Tetra Micro Granules

Friday: 1 spoon of Tetra Micro Granules + 1cm of Dennerle Shrimp king complete

Saturday: 1 spoon of Tetra Micro Granules + 1 Tropical Supervit Tablets B

Sunday: 1 spoon of Tetra Micro Granules


I also add Bacter AE on mondays and fridays.

And every single fish and shrimp go like crazy when it is feeding time as I they knew the exact time it is.

LOL I copy pasted the wrong lines on my list for sat. and sun. sorry fixed