Help! New tank/missing fish

[wallz_3157]

I am new to the hobby and I know I dove in too quickly. Trying to narrow down exactly what is going on because we’ve lost several fish at this point:
I have a 20 gallon tank, it’s been running for about a month and a half now (I actually started with a 2 gallon and a glofish tetra from the advice of the pet store and quickly realized this wasn’t fair so we upgraded). In it are:
5 glofish tetras (started with 1 but read that they do best in groups)
5 danios (lost 3)
5 harlequin rasporas
2 black mollys
2 male guppies
2 female guppies (died, unfortunately)
6 of the glofish Corydoras Catfish
We have about 5 cherry shrimp

We have a mix of real and fake plants, it’s about 50% planted.

We test the water regularly and have never had a problem with it, PH is around 7. Water temp is 75.

We had a few fish die after we set up the tank and I figured it was new tank syndrome, but in the last week I’ve lost 2 female guppies (like disappeared completely/were eaten) and 3 danios. One completely disappeared, and one I found in half at the surface of the tank yesterday .

I watch the fish CONSTANTLY when I am home. The tetras chase each other but don’t hurt each other. Everyone else just hangs out. What is going on in my tank? Too many fish? I kept adding because I thought the different schools would even out the chasing, but now I worry I went overboard.

Don’t go easy on me- please tell me what I am doing wrong! I’ve really started to enjoy this hobby, and I’d like to make things right.

 

[Aiken Drum]

What precisely are your water parameters?

How long has the tank been set up and running now?

What might be going on are the residual effects of the tank cycling. It may be that the fish are suffering from long term health issues from living in excess waste earlier on.

You do have a lot of fish for a 20 gallon.

 

[Airborne 82nd]

I just love when someone ask for help but doesn't follow up or did this get moved?

 

[Aiken Drum]

I just love when someone ask for help but doesn't follow up or did this get moved?

New members often put posts out on numerous platforms and dont always follow up the RFIs on them all. I often see an identical thread on another forum or quora. I dont do reddit or FB groups, but I bet you can find identical queries on them too. You can sometimes get some other info from another forum because they asked some different questions, or probed into different areas. Another forum may have some expertise that isnt available here, especially when you get into specialised topics.

Can get a little annoying when they play 2 different forums off against each other. "They said this on another forum. What do you think?" kind of thing.

 

[Andy Sager]

Can get a little annoying when they play 2 different forums off against each other. "They said this on another forum. What do you think?" kind of thing.

I like to answer that question with the follow up: " Try it their way. If/when it doesn't work, try it my way for better success. Sadly, imo, people get too much information from too many sources online so it's very easy to get BAD information or information that doesn't apply to them online. Even tho I am experienced enough to help people almost anywhere in the world because I am familiar with their water conditions, I still hold that the best information is LOCAL information.

 

[Aiken Drum]

People often want someone to confirm what they think or that they arent at fault rather than tell them something they don't know or what the actual issue is.

Professionally ive seen far too many people get into a lot of trouble because they wont admit they dont know what they are doing and wont ask for help. On the other hand ive been criticised at work for saying "i dont know how to do that" far too often, and that criticism is from people who also dont know how to do that or they wouldn't be asking me. Luckily i work with someone now, who we are both comfortable in our professional ignorance and we can support each other.

 

[Airborne 82nd]

RFIs on them all. RFIs what is this? I post on other forums just to get another point of viewpoint.

 

[Airborne 82nd]

I see what both of you are saying. But what I ment was it urks me that they don't come back and say what solved there issue so others could learn from there mistakes in case they might have the same issue.
@aiken what does RFI stand for?

 

[Andy Sager]

I see what both of you are saying. But what I ment was it urks me that they don't come back and say what solved there issue so others could learn from there mistakes in case they might have the same issue.
@aiken what does RFI stand for?

I get that. It CAN be frustrating because many people have the same issues over and over again. Do a search for " Is this ick?" or " Is my fish pregnant? " and you will see many, many, many threads on the same subject. If this was a paid site, you'd get people who would be doing more posting and follow ups imo. The internet is like the old wild west in that people come and go and don't set up roots anywhere ( I'm an exception to that. ) It's also annoying to me that I spend so much of my limited free time trying to answer the questions only to have them fall on "deaf ears " ( a.k.a. non returning people) when I could have spent that same time helping someone else who really needs the help. But I'm an old retailer so I'm also kinda used to that.

That all said, I'll say this: You ( the general you , not the specific you) may not want to just follow the answers given to and by someone online because many things within the hobby are case specific. Case in point: A hobbyist has a disease and is recommended a medication that saves the fish. Down the road your fish get that same disease only that medication you saw recommended does not cure your issue. Why? The answer is because water is not the same everywhere and in the case of say, antibiotics, they don't all work in every type of water. PH and GH can affect how well they work. And with THAT all said, a new poster may not like the response " What are your water parameters?" to their question because they don't know about medications and just figure it's a waste of time to continue with that group. So there are pluses and minuses to these threads as being the end all of information.


As for RFIs, I don't know for sure what it stands for. ( It's the curse of the texting generation. :^s ) "Real Frikin' Interesting" maybe? How about " Random Facts from the Internet? " ( I have to let Aiken answer this one. )

 

[Aiken Drum]

RFIs on them all. RFIs what is this? I post on other forums just to get another point of viewpoint.

Request for information

 

[Andy Sager]

Request for information

WOW!!! I wasn't even close.