Advice Needed: My First Planted Community Tank (20g long)

[thankspup]

Hello all! After half a decade of constant moving, I’ve finally settled into a long term home and started my first community tank ever! I did not aquascape the tank either because it is my first time growing plants and I’m happy just making sure I don’t kill them immediately.
Currently the 20 gallon long tank is around 3 weeks old and home to:
2 Cory Catfish
2 Kuhli Loach
2 Hillstream Loach
3 bumblebee shrimp (the ones they sell in petco)
5 Amano shrimp
1 Nitrite snail
1 Bamboo shrimp

A few questions:
1. How often/how much should I feed Hikari sinking wafers/algae wafers/shrimp cuisine so no one goes hungry? I am mostly concerned about my bamboo shrimp and hillstream loaches because I’m not sure how much nutrients they’re getting from the environment.
2. Currently my water parameters are doing well. Do I risk overstocking the tank if I get more fish? I really don’t want to have to cull any fish if my tank gets overstocked. Here is what I was considering getting in the future:
- increasing the cory, kuhli, and hillstream loaches populations to 3+
- colony of cardinal tetras (maybe around 6?)
- A giant betta
- Two more nitrite snails
- Any additional suggestions? Very interested in any other unique species of any type.

I also plan on adding pothos and more red root floaters.
Any other advice or suggestions are welcome! Thanks!

 

[Aiken Drum]

If the fish are fed daily, the inverts will scavenge bits of leftover food. A 3 week old aquarium won't have established enough biofilm, algae etc to support the inverts on its own though. You typically want to add inverts to a 2 or 3 month established aquarium.

You have a handful of small fish and some inverts in a 20g aquarium, so thats quite a low stock. From a bioload POV you could add the fish and inverts you plan.

However, corys are social fish and do better in groups. Similar for the khuli loaches. I think bringing the numbers up of the fish you currently have to where they should be, and then adding the tetras and betta might be pushing it a bit. Personally I'd have done one of the loach species or the corys rather than the 3 different species, and then a schooling free swimming fish like the cardinals.

The betta would be risky. They are territorial, and you never know when it might react with extreme violence. Might be tomorrow or next year, but there is always a risk you wake up to a tankful of dead fish. It might work, it might not, it will depend on the temperament of the individual fish, and the only way to know is to try. Keeping bettas with tank mates is for your benefit, not the bettas. They are perfectly happy on their own. The shrimp are also at risk, bettas are predators and shrimp are on the menu.

Nerite snail, not nitrite snails.

Be prepared for the plants to grow out and fill your aquarium. I think you've over planted it to be honest, it will turn into a jungle in a year or two if the plants do well and establish. But if thats the look you are going for, it's fine. Adding pothos will strip the water of nutrients, and your other plants may suffer. You may need to use a plant fertiliser with a lot of nitrogen in it to keep the other plants healthy, which kind of defeats the purpose most people are adding pothos.