10 Gallon

[amritboy]

i have recently unearthed my 10 gallon tank and set it up. i have just added 2 live plants and 3 fish. the fish are, 1 black molly, 1 mickey mouse ?platy?, and a golden lyretail molly. the lady at the store wasnt very helpful, and i just had afew questions. after a few weeks, im planning on adding a sunburst wag and maybe a cory cat. i dont know what the filter size is i know its a whisper power filter 20, if that makes a difference. i know it has a carbon media. also an anyone tell me an easy way to clean gravel and make water changes? thank you!

 

[fishnoob88]

I think corys prefer to be in schools? of atleast 3-4? Not positive

 

[Rediahs]

Have you cycled the tank? From the way you word it it sounds like you haven't which means you and your fish are in for a rough time! If you have cycled, please ignore my advice, otherwise pay attention carefully, it could mean life or death for your fish! They might live but they proabably won't. If I were you, I'd return those fish back to the store and read up on fishless cycling!

If you've cycled... that sounds like a pretty bunch of fish. What are the plants?

To answer your questions, I don't know much about filters, sorry, but to do water changes and clean the gravel, you get some airline tubing and use that to suck the water into a bucket. You place the sucking end just above the gravel so that it picks up all the light stuff like fish waste and uneaten food, and hopefully, leaves the gravel there. Even if it sucks up some gravel you can just toss it back in afterwards.

 

[Bobtastic]

It's a bit harsh with the doom and gloom! If you are able to take the fish back to the shop it would be easier on them. If you can't or don't want to (the later in my case ) go to the Beginners Resource which is pinned at the top of this section and go to the Fish-in Cycling. This will tell you what you need to do to do to cycle your tank with your fish in it.

You will need a water testing kit that tests for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates and pH so that you can keep track of your water conditions to keep your fishies alive. Get yourself a Gravel Clearer/Syphon so that you can clean the gravel whilest you do water changes (which you will be doing very regularly, potentially daily). You need to keep on top of your Ammonia and Nitrite levels as they are toxic to fish and if left will kill them very quickly.

 

[waterdrop]

Good advice by Bob there - one of the great things about stumbling across this forum if you're a beginner is that folks like Chrissi and Bob will give you the jolt and start re-aligning your priorities in the direction of what they've found to be the important and timely information - its a really cool thing. The LFS didn't have the right advice for you but this forum is teeming with hobbyists who keep passing "the right stuff" around among themselves. They'll get you fixed up.

Figuring out the "Fish-In Cycling" info will be pretty urgent for you unless you figure out you can re-home the fish. Using the correct water change techniques will be important if you keep the fish and are performing the fish-in cycle. They'll be plenty of time to figure out about new fish during the weeks you are getting fixed back up from the situation the wrong advice has put you in.

~~waterdrop~~