Please help with 20 gallon tank glofish

[Brianna]

Hello. So last weekend I bought 3 glofish tetras and 1 barb (red starfire). I put them in a 6g tank with tetra safe start. I realized that these fish would be unhappy despite what the idiot at pet smart told me and immediately bought a 20 gallon tank so that I could add 2 more tetras and 5 more barbs so that they could school which i didn't know they did until i researched myself.

Upon reading I realized I messed up trying to start my new 20 gallon. I tried to do the right thing and let it cycleand I put in tetra safe start plus with the intention of running a fishless 24 hr cycle and then going to the store and combining them all in a safe tank . Here are my questions:

1. What do i do now that i already put safe start in and have no fish inside ?

2. When i get this tank cycled properly with your help, do I add the new fish in first and then the ones I already have from my 5 gallon another day? Or add them all in at once.

I'm trying to do this right, please help me and tell me what to do from here.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

If the 20 gallon tank is set up with water and a filter, then put the 3 glofish into it. Take the red starfire barb back and trade it in for 3 more glofish, the same species that you already have. Don't add any more fish after that until the filter has cycled.

Feed them a little bit of food once every second day.

Monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels and do a 75% water change any time you have ammonia or nitrite in the water.

The filter will take about 4-5 weeks to develop the beneficial filter bacteria. After that has happened, you can add some more fish.

Avoid the starfire barbs, they are tiger barbs and all tiger barbs are fin nippers that need to be kept in big groups. Ruby barbs look similar to tiger barbs but are less inclined to nip fins. However, they need to be kept in groups too and I would not add them until after the filter has established.

 

[Byron]

I agree with Colin. The barb is absolutely not going to work in this small a tank as it must have a group of at least 8 but 10-12 is better, and that means at minimum a 30 gallon tank just for the groups of barbs.

 

[Sarah73]

Not going to repeat what the others have said but you should maybe look into removing the tiger barbs and adding more tetras as they do best in numbers.