Never done this before

I haven’t posted in a long time.
Let me start with my reason for posting.
Skirt Tetra care Glo Tetra care and stocking info.
We have recently made a change in aquariums & I need some help making this work.
The hubby and kids finally got what they wanted and got glo tetras.
We have a fluval flex all in 1 tank.(9gal)
In the past I have done 29 gallon tank with mostly community livebearers.
A move downsized me to a 5 gallon betta tank.

I really enjoyed that tank. Even planted some live plants.
After 3 years we lost him when that happened I did a partial water change and kept the tank running with normal maintenance ( test strips water change occasional fish food )

I assumed I would be going community again and grabbed 3 neon tetras to keep the tank active and waited another week or so until I had the time to go shopping for more neons & more test strips & could spend a whole day “scuba diving “.
At the store all the fish were gone from the tanks I seen the weeks before.
But the glow fish tanks were separately filtered & stocked. The hubby and kids were stoked!!.... We went ahead and grabbed 3.

I used the 5 gallon established tank and everything in it, to do the upgrade.

Then the glo tetras were introduced.
The original neon tetras purchased 1st didn’t last through the night. But everyone else is fine.

Now I will stop right here and say I may have had some blind assumptions here and I could be totally wrong.
I thought by doing so with such a small upgrade I was essentially cycled. The old filter is in with the new filter and all the deco gravel and plants are from the 5 gallon & I bought one more bag of gravel and one new fake plant.
My new test strips are only 5in1 so I ordered a master kit on amazon To verify.
Just in case & since I added fish I am changing water %25 per day until the kit gets here.
But I honestly think the neons who with my experience are super easy to stress ( and I was pushing it with only 3 anyhow ) then Being put in with the glo tetras and then chased too. Probably was the cause of death?
maybe Something at the pet store,Or is it ammonia spike?
The day they died
I did 50% water change and 25% daily until my kit gets here.

I am hoping I am making sense to at least someone who can help me moving forward.

I don’t mind being wrong I just want to understand what and why.

I can’t upgrade yet. Not until hubby gives the approval and I don’t want to overstock.
I did suggest returning the glo tetras if we wanted a small community and that didn’t go well,
They would rather do a Mini school of these.
I am a complete newbie to live plants and I need better substrate for them to thrive. So that is on my list. But any other tips would be welcomed and appreciated.
thanks in advance.

Please clarify as I am confused, what size tank is the GloFish tank? 29g, 9g, or 5g?

JuiceBox52 said:

Please clarify as I am confused, what size tank is the GloFish tank? 29g, 9g, or 5g?

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I apologize it’s a fluval flex 9gallon all in one
I will copy and paste the info I have from the website

• Aquarium Size: 14 L X 13 W X 13 H IN (34 L X 33 W X 33 H CM)
• Aquarium Capacity: 9 US GAL (34 L)
• LED Watts: 7W
• LUX: 1900
• Number of LEDs: 36 + 3 RGB
• Colour Temperature: 7500 K
• Pump Output: 230 L/H (61 US GAL/H)

Kimunaffected said:

I apologize it’s a fluval flex 9gallon all in one
I will copy and paste the info I have from the website

• Aquarium Size: 14 L X 13 W X 13 H IN (34 L X 33 W X 33 H CM)
• Aquarium Capacity: 9 US GAL (34 L)
• LED Watts: 7W
• LUX: 1900
• Number of LEDs: 36 + 3 RGB
• Colour Temperature: 7500 K
• Pump Output: 230 L/H (61 US GAL/H)

Click to expand...

Awesome thanks, how many GloFish do you have in it? These fish grow to three inches and need a shoal of at least 6, with 8-10 being preferable so your aquarium may not be large enough also, what is your GH? You can usually obtain this info from your water provider

I have 3 glo tetras in this tank and nothing else. Ok , This Is probably silly but here goes GH
Is that the hardness level?

If so this is from the county website, If not I am so sorry and probably look real silly

Kimunaffected said:

I have 3 glo tetras in this tank and nothing else. Ok , This Is probably silly but here goes GH
Is that the hardness level?

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No its not silly at all! Yes GH stand for general hardness

Okay so if I am reading this correctly you have soft water perfect for tetras, but not other fish such as livebearers and many rainbow fish
The reason I asked is so I could be sure the fish you have were suitable for your water, and they are

Great thanks so so much. So my next question would be balancing my options moving forward. Do I try and get as close as I can to number they are happiest without going over And get one or two more glo tetras ? Or keep them at three and find another variety of fish for the final addition ? Or even just keep it at these 3? Ultimately I am balancing what the kids already talked dad into and the healthiest option going from here I appreciate all your help.

If you get any more fish get more GloFish, or other skirt tetras of the same species (not GloFish) to shoal with them. I personally do not buy GloFish because of the way they are bred and modified, so in my opinion I would just do non GloFish of the same type, but you can do what you want The tank is fully stocked with just the three, so if you can talk your family into a 20 gallon+ that would be best. If you upgrade the tank be sure to cycle it prior to adding the fish

If you upgrade, the 9 gallon would make and awesome shrimp or betta tank

I haven’t ventured into shrimp yet. I did some cool snails for awhile. But those buggers kept escaping and I am a little timid since then.
I was thinking 1 or 2 more skirt tetras & I see white and black varieties are what they use to do their thing with.
I thought it might be cool to have it in the tank for the kids to see. And then give them something to read about and make their own decisions about.
since Dad has been the biggest kid about them and wanted them for years.
And I don’t want to be negative about it .But the kids are at a great age for this type of learning. & having the side by side comparison could be a great talking point?!
are both ( or any) skirt tetra variety’s ok to consider?
Like I said I don’t want to overstock and if I am stocked now ,Is just 1 more the more appropriate choice?

I would think any skirt tetra would be fine. They all seem to have the same body shape, but I cant be sure. I will do some research and get back to you I would definitely not get more than one without upsizing your tank

I am in no rush.
we’re not looking to add anytime soon.

Black skirt tetras, white skirt tetras, blushing tetras etc can school with the GloFish tetras