The thing I don't see people asking is the most obvious things...
How often do you do your water changes/gravel cleaning? What percentage?
How often and how much do you feed?
Save your money and don't buy carbon. With any ammonia or nitrite levels, you should perform more frequent water changes. Keeping the water clean, maintaining the tank and filters, etc. is the key to keeping the most sensitive fish.
When you feed fish, you should only put enough for the fish to consume within a few minutes. Since the only bottom feeder you have is the pleco, it's not going to get allot of the left over food.
The fan shrimp (aka bamboo, singapore bamboo, wood shrimp) gets it's food by fanning the water column picking up food there. So when you feed with fish flakes, crumble them between your fingers so they become fine.
IMO, you're tank is not that bad. I would just watch out for the livebearers (Guppies, mollies, platies), since those would multiply rather fast.
Skip the skimmer, it doesn't really do much in a freshwater tank. There's hardly any protein buildup compared to a saltwater tank. The skimmer isn't really adding on O2. The agitation of water (fish swimming, bubbles from air stone breaking the water, etc.) oxygenates the water.
If you want to move fish out, take any of the livebearers out. They are not shoaling fish. The other fish you have in there are and prefer to have a longer tank. Ghost cats will outgrow your smaller tank.
How often do you do your water changes/gravel cleaning? What percentage?
How often and how much do you feed?
Save your money and don't buy carbon. With any ammonia or nitrite levels, you should perform more frequent water changes. Keeping the water clean, maintaining the tank and filters, etc. is the key to keeping the most sensitive fish.
When you feed fish, you should only put enough for the fish to consume within a few minutes. Since the only bottom feeder you have is the pleco, it's not going to get allot of the left over food.
The fan shrimp (aka bamboo, singapore bamboo, wood shrimp) gets it's food by fanning the water column picking up food there. So when you feed with fish flakes, crumble them between your fingers so they become fine.
IMO, you're tank is not that bad. I would just watch out for the livebearers (Guppies, mollies, platies), since those would multiply rather fast.
Skip the skimmer, it doesn't really do much in a freshwater tank. There's hardly any protein buildup compared to a saltwater tank. The skimmer isn't really adding on O2. The agitation of water (fish swimming, bubbles from air stone breaking the water, etc.) oxygenates the water.
If you want to move fish out, take any of the livebearers out. They are not shoaling fish. The other fish you have in there are and prefer to have a longer tank. Ghost cats will outgrow your smaller tank.
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