Another With Questions :)

[Justin1989]

So I had the brilliant idea of setting up a fish tank last week. I don't necessarily know why, but now that I got started I like it. For the time being I have a 15 gallon tank (which will have to be up-sized), Marineland power filters penguin 100, Duetto submersible 50, and a Marineland stealth heater. I added the gravel, filled the tank, ran the pumps for 24 hours like directed. I added 2 Cichlids to the tank. Im not sure if there is any way to tell which are males to females, however one is dark which light spots and one is light with dark spots. The bigger Cichlid (dark, with light areas) eats up the flake food quite quickly. The other Cichlid, however doesn't even attempt to eat anything unless it slowly floats down. I'm not sure if the bigger fish is scaring him, or if he is just eating whats left over. I watched them for a while, however I couldn't see the little one eating anything. I bought Cichlid pellets, and of course the big one gulped them right up. Is there something I don't know about these fish here? Cichlid is a wide range as of what I have been told. The closest I can find if not the exact same is the Tiger Oscar Cichlid which I am reading is aggressive. The only fish I currently have are these two Cichlids and a Pleco. Ive watched them all together, and they do not seem to be having any problems together, just the simple fact of the small Cichlid not eating. It has also come to my attention of a Cycling matter that I did not know anything of. At this point the tank has been running for almost a week. I apparently need to do some tests, and change some water out from what I have read. Any advice?

Temps are kept at 78-79 degrees F.

 

[Justin1989]

Well just for an update. I left to go visit the gf, came back and the bigger black fish jumped out of the aquarium. Just my luck right? Looks like I will have to build a special cover for it..

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Justin. I am afraid the fish store has not done you any favors. If you are down to one oscar and a plecostomus then you will only need to upgrade to about a 75 gallon tank within the next year unless you want more fish. In your position I would return both remaining fish and do a fishless cycle on the tank. Once that is done I would buy fish better suited to the size tank that you have. There is a thread link in my signature area that will help you understand how to do a fishless cycle. It is a way to get your filters ready to take care of fish before adding in fish and is a method that has proven itself repeatedly to be a good idea.
While you are taking your time cycling the tank's filters, you could go to a local fish store and look over the fish they have. Talk to the people there about how big fish get to be that you like. Once you have a few ideas for fish that stay under 3 inches, come back and post your selections here so that we can help guide you into fish that would work in your tank. It will take from 4 to 8 weeks to get the filters ready for your fish so you will lots of time to think things over and make sure everything is OK before you actually buy any more.