When can I put actual fishes in there?? (newbie here)

[atticus27]

Yesterday I got some gravel, and 2 java moss and 1 aracharis (think i spelled it wrong) and i put tap water in there then I threw in my feeder fish that my turtle didnt get for the past few weeks (it's about 2 inches long rite now)

My question is when can I get actual fishes like tetras and otos? Because I heard the water chemicals needs to settle down but when you add live plants it's okay or something?

Another question: the way i pictured my aquarium to be like is all plants in the back and in the center is an empty space where the fishes can roam around. Should i buy more plants or just let it grow and eventually it will fill up the space? THanks!!

 

[bluerose]

Did you add a dechlorinator such as Prime or NovAqua+? If not, the feeder fish may be toast in short order.

Move fishy back and read up on fishless cycling. 'Water chemicals' is incorrect; it's the byproducts of fish waste that you need to be concerned about: ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Only 3 plants will not cycle your tank (although they will help with consuming waste but not enough by ANY stretch of the imagination

You also need lighting for the plants; what lighting do you have now and what size tank is it?

 

[atticus27]

it's a 10g with 20w flora

 

[bluerose]

That's pretty low light, so you'll get pretty slow growth most likely, but you have low-light plants so you should be fine.

What about dechlorinator and fishless cycling? Do understand that a fishless cycle without used media takes several weeks. There are a LOT of threads on here on the subject.