3-Gallon Disaster

[GuppyGoddess]

Hi everyone,

Back in July, I began fish keeping. My mistake was picking out a 3-gallon for my son (as a b-day gift from grandma - I did the shopping and she paid me back). . .I didn't want to get rid of the tank because of it being a gift, but now, I've run into too many issues and realize it's flat out ridiculous to keep this charade going. Basically it's overstocked AND probably because of this, the tank still has not cycled. I constantly change the water to keep ammonia levels low so I don't know if that's made things worse or not.

At any rate, the biggest I can go is a 5-gallon, due to not having a place for a larger tank. The tank will have: 2 pygmy cories, two male guppies, and a female fry guppy. Also, today, I had to add a platy because I had tried keeping her with my female betta and after a few days the platy attacked the betta and she has ripped fins. The tank is just crazy with activity and I am thinking it may be best to keep the light off to settle them down. (good idea or not?)

Tank has four live plants and gravel with lots of algae. The tank is an eclipse with a biowheel.

How do I best transfer. . .put all the gravel and plants in. . .then should I float the biowheel in the water to hopefully extract a bit of beneficial bacteria? What about the tank water? I will add 2 more plants before sticking the fish in.

Any advice would be great. I desperately need help with this one (aka my major disaster).

 

[fatheadminnow]

A 3 gallon tank will be, as you have found out, hard to maintain good water quality. In a small tank, ammonia can very easily spike, due to the fact that the tank is just too small to disperse ammonia like my 55 gallon tank does. Say a fish dies in your 3 gallon. Your ammonia will probably spike very quickly because the ammonia coming off from the decaying body has no where to go. But lets say a fish dies in a 55 gallon tank, the ammonia coming from the decaying body is going to disperse a lot more, thus, the ammonia spike will be delayed and probably not as severe.

I would try to get at least a 10 gallon if you can! They are not that much bigger than a 5 gallon and will offer better living conditions for your fish.

The algae is from the constant higher levels of ammonia, and until your tank cycles and your ammonia level drops to 0 ppm, I am afraid that algae will always be an issue.

Since you have live plants in the tank, turning the lights off is not really an option as the plants need the light to live. Plants normally do not recognize light unless it is on for four(4) hours or more. I would reduce the time your lights are on to about 6 hours a day.

When you get your new tank, set it up how you want. First put all the fish in bags or in a bucket of a sort during the change over. Drain all water out of the 3 gallon and take out substrate and place into new tank. Refill with dechlorinated water and the appropriate temp. For the filter, you should get a new one. Place, if you can, all the or most of the old filter media within the new filter, this will ensure that if there are any beneficial bacteria that they get transferred to the new filter. Then just set the new tank up like the old and place fish in the tank.

Changing water will not slow down a cycling tank, as the bacteria colonize in the filter and not in the water column.

-FHM

 

[Redrum]

Keeping the lights dimmed should calm the fish down. When i add fish to a tank i keep the lights on off. But your probably going to kill your plants...

 

[GuppyGoddess]

Hi,
Thanks. . .I meant I was going to keep my lights off for a few days until the fish adjust. However, I turned it on this morning and gave them plenty of food and they're doing fine aside from not having enough swimming space.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Yeah, definitely don't turn the lights off for a couple days if you have live plants.

I would just focus on getting a larger tank, try to aim for a 10 gallon tank at least!

-FHM

 

[GuppyGoddess]

Yeah, definitely don't turn the lights off for a couple days if you have live plants.

I would just focus on getting a larger tank, try to aim for a 10 gallon tank at least!

-FHM

Right now, I'm sitting here trying to figure out what to do (calculating which route to take) - of course a 10-gallon would be better, but I do not think that it would be safe to have that large of an aquarium on my son's dresser. I would be nervous that it would get bumped into to. I *do* have an empty 10-gallon though. . .tough call.

 

[fatheadminnow]

I see where you are coming from.

Is there anywhere else in her room that a 10 gallon tank can go?

A dresser should be able to a 10 gallon tank just fine, but having bumped off is a different story.

-FHM

 

[GuppyGoddess]

I see where you are coming from.

Is there anywhere else in her room that a 10 gallon tank can go?

A dresser should be able to a 10 gallon tank just fine, but having bumped off is a different story.

-FHM

I just called a LFS and they're going to take the 2 pygmy cories I have so that the 5-gallon I'm going to get will accommodate the fish better. . .also, I can take the live plants out and put silk in.

Right now, I already have a 10-gallon and it's located in the only place my husband and I thought would be safe. Last time the kids had a group of friends over I broke out into a cold sweat watching them wrestle around. (I have two boys, not a girl. . .lol - see where I'm coming from? They're both in elementary school.) Right now, the dresser has a betta 2-gallon bowl w/heater on it and I think that fish would be happier in a room with more activity (near our kitchen). She loves to people watch. She'll be moved into the soon-to-be-empty 3 gallon tank so she'll also has a filter.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Well, sounds like you got every thing pretty much squared away then.

Glad to hear your LFS will take the fish off your hands for ya!

-FHM