What else do I need for fish?

[Daalamist]

It’s my first fish tank and it’s a 5 gallon low tech with Tetra plant substrate and will be planting dwarf hairgrass then hopefully introducing small fish. I haven’t added any of these things yet it’s all just rock.

I’ve learned a few things to help about fish so far but I don’t want to miss anything ...
Wait 2-8 weeks to cycle the tank so the ammonia and nitrates are low enough.
Using floating plants like duckweed will speed up the process.

That’s really all I’ve learned about the fish side of things. Is there anything else I can do to help them? Like anything I can add under substrate or to the water? I saw a guy putting some sort of bacteria growth powder under his substrate in a video but I wasn’t sure if that was for the plants or the fish.

 

[foxfish]

You can do regular water changes but 5 gallons is a small amount of water to keep stable so you will always have to be vigilant and watchful!

 

[Edvet]

I would advise to start growing some live food. This is fun and healthy for the fish but has the added benefit of not mucking up your tank that fast, it stays alive and doesn''t rot ( at least as long as it is alive). Put some buckets outside with some leaves in it and put in some live daphnia, mosquitolarvae will appear. It is late in the season but as long as theyt dont freeze solid stuff will survive in there. Also you can start some grindalworms culture, and or white worms (enchytraeae). You might have to shop around a bit (local fish socireties, kili clubs, ebay) but you should be able to get startercultures.