Beyond confused & new here

[Dragooness]

Your tank cant hold that many tetras, that will not end well.. That is why I suggested the danio version, they are smaller. The tetras are simply TOO big for that tank. I tend to stock high density in my nano tanks but even I wouldn't put that many fish that size in a 9!

Oh any time. I love seing people get panted tanks and such, its the best part of the hobby. I currently use sechem gravel in black, I am sure fluval makes one as well! I suggest checking out a few of the vendors here to get plants from, I have actually ordered from a few and had GREAT experence!

 

[kimunaffected]

My email this morning from Amazon that my delivery has been delayed until Thursday so I did my partial water this morning & did a dip test here are my readings is there anything you can see from this tell me whether the seeded or upgraded tank is heading in the right direction so I’m not a worry wart until my test kit gets here?

 

[Dragooness]

Keep on top of your water changes and you are fine. You results don't look terrible at all. Unless I have a heavy planted tank or am fiddling with co2 I rarely test my tanks, I do small water changes almost daily anyways.

 

[kimunaffected]

Thanks so much
I absolutely will.
So the only reason I considered adding more was for them to ultimately be less stressed and in a group As they would prefer
. Without being able to convince the family to return the ones we have I am trying to come up with a short list of what we could ultimately add instead.
Obviously not too much more of anything. but the skirt tetras are new to me entirely. And trying to balance what dad and the kids have while wanting to what’s best. I would happily take opinions on a short list that I can take to them. Of our current options moving forward

 

[Dragooness]

All you can add in that tank as it is, is more skirts. They are a larger tetra and known to be nippy. They will die early, may last a year. They are too big for that tank. Even adding a snail is a bad idea, and shrimp cant take the bad water quality or the abuse.

 

[kimunaffected]

Ok what would be the total amount of skirts you would have total? I did some looking at the brands of substrate and I did see those two brands. I found a great article and was looking at the pros and cons and hoping to figure out the easiest way to dive in after reading I am kind of surprised I have done this well. Probably the variety I have.
I have two types of plants one is I believe a foxtail and Anubia ? ( spelling ?) I would love to have more
I will peek around vendors.

 

[Dragooness]

You need about 5 for their security, the tank size honestly allows for three. My honest opinion is get the five but feed a TINY TINY BIT every other day. I don't care if they beg, they don't need but a bit the size of their eye. Most fish are overweight!

Anubis, you where close. It comes in some neat strains. Look at the "wisteria" java fern. Easy to grow and looks fancy!

 

[kimunaffected]

Ok that seems like a great plan. And the kids and dad get what they want .
Thanks again. I will look into some more plants when I get some substrate. I am so eager for my kit to get here.

 

[kimunaffected]

You need about 5 for their security, the tank size honestly allows for three. My honest opinion is get the five but feed a TINY TINY BIT every other day. I don't care if they beg, they don't need but a bit the size of their eye. Most fish are overweight!

Anubis, you where close. It comes in some neat strains. Look at the "wisteria" java fern. Easy to grow and looks fancy!

Ok yesterday we talked about an upgrade and I have a friend of a friend bringing me one.
It’s fully cycled active and ready.
It’s a 20 long and I would absolutely love your opinions on how to move forward ...
The tank will be here tonight and I can answer specific questions

However i believe this tank has some compatibility issues anyway. I have friends I can rehome to. But can you help me work this out?
Keeping in mind my skirt tetras

This tank has

about 7 guppies, female and male.
1 wh cloud and 3 golden clouds. And 2 random shy fish that I was given on Fb. All are very good and like to school together. & two African dwarf frogs
Agh lol help

 

[kimunaffected]

Honestly I’m not even opposed to temporarily having both tanks running while I work on finding homes for all of the inhabitants.If I have to Ultimately hubby wants just one tank

 

[Dragooness]

My first thought? tell hubby they can mess up the 20 all they want and make the 9 your personal tank Then again.... I am partial to nano planted tanks!

Stocking suggestion
5 glowtertas
Remove all but one male guppy, keep all females
Either rehome the clouds, or get a few more for security from the tetras
Rehome the frogs OR put them in the old small betta tank
If you rehomed the clouds get 3 or 4 cory cats
Get 4-5 mystery snails (they get big)

Get me a picture of "random shy fish" that could be so, so many things!

Please do not get a pleco.

That's my suggestions. Or at least what I would do!

 

[kimunaffected]

They are on their way
I will update in a bit, Thank you so much

 

[kimunaffected]

I am trying to get some good photos while partially filling the tank. These are the fish in the container I will post a couple more
I have the tank 3/4 full and did a test strip I will post it too.

 

[kimunaffected]

This tank also doesn’t seem to have an under ground or hob filter just a sponge I believe

 

[kimunaffected]

They all appear to be guppies & white cloud minnows with the exception of this fish I don’t know what it is

 

[kimunaffected]

Here is another pic

 

[Dragooness]

A sponge filter as long as it has enough flow is actually okay. I would set it upright. Unfortunately you will have to treat this as a new tank. Rehome the fish you wish and add NO MORE FISH. Not even the tetras for two weeks. Do small water changes daily. Yes I realize its a pain. But you are going to do a fish in cycle and that is going to be ROUGH.

I would use the 9 gallon for a quarantine for now. When the two weeks are up, transfer the tetras and go buy your snails/tetras and house them there. Always quarantine! After that, I say keep the nine as a personal project. Grow some pretty plants, stock it with shrimp and some pretty little nano fish and make the fam wish they had listened!

I can honestly say I am not quite sure what fish that is, I hope someone will chip in. If I had to hazard a guess, I wold say a poor rainbowfish!

 

[kimunaffected]

Ok, This is gonna be kind of rough. At least the kit will be here today.
It is essentially seeded though correct? It’s not quite like a bran new tank Fish in cycle though right? And I what about plants or substrate? Those need to stay separated too? I did already add the floating plants to the 9 gallon.
And I am working on finding homes for the fish and frogs. While also trying to be a fortune teller and decide if we would want any of them later haha I think the frogs are gonna be a hard match and am hoping to find a home soon. The kids thing they are cute but I am not sure I am ready to take on that as well.

 

[Dragooness]

I do not know how carefully it was moved. You do not know if the tank was in good shape before you moved it. Treat it as a new tank, things will go better!

Plants well... Its a it late but plants should honestly QT too, things can be on them. Frogs aint hard to keep at all. If you do, I would keep them in a species only tank though!

 

[kimunaffected]

Ok, Thank you so much