I started my fish keeping journey 3 years ago… I went into it with zero knowledge and of course pulled a rookie move (a bad one) and got a male betta from a big chain pet store and bought a stylish little 1 gallon rimless cube tank … put him in it uncycled and tried to cycle it -fish in. Let’s just say he didn’t like it very much and he jumped ship and took his own life after about a year of terribly harsh and unstable water conditions.
I learned ALOT since then. Researched a bunch. Upgraded to a 2.5 gallon… still was difficult to cycle and keep stable. Upgraded again to a 5.5 gallon and got it right.
Then my conscious kicked in and finally went for a big one. Despite my parents giving me dirty looks because they don’t like how much space I’m occupying in their house with a fish tank- I said f&@) it and bought two 20 gallon long tanks
Seeded the bacteria from my 5.5 gallon and supplemented it with pre-seeded nitrifying aquarium sand substrate and pre seeded bio balls for the filter and it’s cycled after only 2 days of setting it up))
Full spec led light bar, heater, air driven corner sponge filter, and internal power filter with spray arm , one small live java fern on wood decor, plastic plants for temporary until I figure out how I want to scape it…
And the occupants are 1 black skirt glo tetra, 2 long finned black skirt glo tetras, & 2 glo zebra danios! (I know the glofish are not natural and are frowned upon but my 8 year old daughter wanted them so badly ) . I ordered online yesterday 3 additional danios to make a total of 5…. And I ordered 9 more long finned tetras (I couldn’t order less because the purchase needed to be a certain dollar amount minimum) so I’ll have a total of 12 tetras. Ideally I was wanting a total of 5 or 6 …
Is 12 too many tetras for a 20 gallon long ? If so, I might split them and do 6 in the 2nd 20gal tank that I bought. .
Just wanted to share that I’m finally in the 20 gallon tank club
I learned ALOT since then. Researched a bunch. Upgraded to a 2.5 gallon… still was difficult to cycle and keep stable. Upgraded again to a 5.5 gallon and got it right.
Then my conscious kicked in and finally went for a big one. Despite my parents giving me dirty looks because they don’t like how much space I’m occupying in their house with a fish tank- I said f&@) it and bought two 20 gallon long tanks
Seeded the bacteria from my 5.5 gallon and supplemented it with pre-seeded nitrifying aquarium sand substrate and pre seeded bio balls for the filter and it’s cycled after only 2 days of setting it up
)) Full spec led light bar, heater, air driven corner sponge filter, and internal power filter with spray arm , one small live java fern on wood decor, plastic plants for temporary until I figure out how I want to scape it…
And the occupants are 1 black skirt glo tetra, 2 long finned black skirt glo tetras, & 2 glo zebra danios! (I know the glofish are not natural and are frowned upon but my 8 year old daughter wanted them so badly ) . I ordered online yesterday 3 additional danios to make a total of 5…. And I ordered 9 more long finned tetras (I couldn’t order less because the purchase needed to be a certain dollar amount minimum) so I’ll have a total of 12 tetras. Ideally I was wanting a total of 5 or 6 …
Is 12 too many tetras for a 20 gallon long ? If so, I might split them and do 6 in the 2nd 20gal tank that I bought. .
Just wanted to share that I’m finally in the 20 gallon tank club
