Any Ideas ?

[Mr Morning Glory]

i currently have a 90 litre tropical aquarium with 2 male 1 female guppy, 1 male 2 female swordtails and 1 male 2 female Mollies black/dalmation. The tank looks rather empty and i was wondering what other fish i could introduce that are easy to keep with my others. My tank has not fully cycled yet and i am not going to introduce any other fish until the nitrite/ammonia levels are correct, that explains why i have lost some previous fish. Any tips on what could speed up my cycle? Cheers

 

[KittyKat]

How far into the cycle are you?

Make sure that you are able to find homes for the Livebearers' fry. The females will give birth every 3-5 weeks to 10-100 fry. So assuming your water parameters are suitable for the fish, the tank is planted and you are able to find homes for new fry, I suggest the following stocking:
* 2m 4f Guppies
* 1m 2f Swordtails
* 1m 2f Mollies
* 1m 1f Bolivian rams
* 1m 2f Bristlenose plecos (OR, if you have sand, 6 Corys)
.. + controlable number of fry

Although personally, I would cut down on the Livebearers to only one species and do the following:
* 1 species of Livebearer (stocking as above)
* 15 schooling fish of one species (tetras/rasboras/something similar)
* 1m 1f Bolivian rams
* 1m 2f Bristlenose plecos (OR, if you have sand, 6 Corys)
.. + controlable number of fry

So, what are the water parameters?

 

[Mr Morning Glory]

How far into the cycle are you?

Make sure that you are able to find homes for the Livebearers' fry. The females will give birth every 3-5 weeks to 10-100 fry. So assuming your water parameters are suitable for the fish, the tank is planted and you are able to find homes for new fry, I suggest the following stocking:
* 2m 4f Guppies
* 1m 2f Swordtails
* 1m 2f Mollies
* 1m 1f Bolivian rams
* 1m 2f Bristlenose plecos (OR, if you have sand, 6 Corys)
.. + controlable number of fry

Although personally, I would cut down on the Livebearers to only one species and do the following:
* 1 species of Livebearer (stocking as above)
* 15 schooling fish of one species (tetras/rasboras/something similar)
* 1m 1f Bolivian rams
* 1m 2f Bristlenose plecos (OR, if you have sand, 6 Corys)
.. + controlable number of fry

So, what are the water parameters?

im 3 weeks into the cycle and i started the cycle with (6 zebra danios)and various live plants which i kept in the tank for a week before getting the water tested at pets at home the test was fine and they aloud me to get some more fish so i purchased my 3 mollies 3 guppies and 3 swordtails, i informed the (staff) that this was a new setup and would this be fine for the cyle, they told me it would be. But i thought it would be to much fish to put into the tank and the ammonia levels would rocket, i left it for a week and when i took another sample in it came back with; PH normal, ammonia (high) Nitrite (high) and i cant remember the other element, but that was also fine. I asked what i could to to correct this and he told me to do a 10% water change every day until saturday then bring it back for another sample. The chemical bit is hard to understand but i am learning !

 

[KittyKat]

You should get your own tests, even strips would be better than nothing (liquid tests are considerably more accurate) and they are cheap (I just bought 50 by JBL for £10). At least then you would be able to follow the general trend of the changes.

Quick aside, most toxic to least toxic: ammonia becomes converted to nitrite, nitrite becomes converted to nitrate, nitrate is (in extremely oversimplified terms) is plant food.

So first you have an ammonia spike (high ammonia reading), then a nitrite spike (high nitrite reading) and finally the nitrate increases. Ammonia can easily harm fish long term (and even kill them) so it is good to keep it under 0.25ppm (parts per million) while doing a fish-in cycle. Generally it is contained by doing water changes every day to bring it down. Nitrite comes next, but you haven't gotten that far yet. Next time you go for a test, please write down the exact numbers.

Basically putting fish into a toxic soup is not nice (which is what you were told to do) and most definitely is not "fine". This is common advice given by a lot of shops, P@H were even renowned for giving the worst advice at one point. So now you're so far in the deep end that there's not much you can do to speed it up. I advise to get liquid ammonia, nitrite and nitrate tests (or at least test strips) and keep up the water changes. Because you are doing a fish-in cycle, I expect it will be at least another 2-3 weeks before you can even consider new fish.

 

[Mr Morning Glory]

great advice, i am going to purchase some of those little tests.. Hopefully i wont loose anymore fish :\, i also added some aquarium salt, in the meen time i will keep doing water changes. thanks

 

[OldMan47]

Aquarium salt is not an answer to poor water chemistry. It can be used as a medication for specific illness but it is also not a tonic or a preventive. Please leave it on the shelf until you have identified a disease where it is useful. If you still have the zebra danios in your tank you need to be doing at least 20% daily water changes with your present fish population. If you have the store test your water again, please get the numbers for ammonia and nitrite. "A little high" doesn't tell us anything at all.

 

[Mr Morning Glory]

Aquarium salt is not an answer to poor water chemistry. It can be used as a medication for specific illness but it is also not a tonic or a preventive. Please leave it on the shelf until you have identified a disease where it is useful. If you still have the zebra danios in your tank you need to be doing at least 20% daily water changes with your present fish population. If you have the store test your water again, please get the numbers for ammonia and nitrite. "A little high" doesn't tell us anything at all.

The Aquarium salt was actually used as a medication and most fish like the ones ive got prefer it, because where they come from naturally they do have salt in there water, i did not use it to treat the water, also the zebra danios are not in the tank and i am doing a 15% WATER CHANGE daily, The tests do not have numbers on them, it was used on a colour chart and the ammonia was "A little high" sorry i cannot tell you the shade of the colour.

 

[the_lock_man]

most fish like the ones ive got prefer it, because where they come from naturally they do have salt in there water,

Just wondering, was it Pets At Home that told you that as well?

 

[OldMan47]

Sorry to need to disagree with your LFS.
Guppies and swordtails are not found in salty water except in people's homes. Some species of mollies are found in everything from pure fresh water to pure salt water, but not in water containing aquarium salt. When a molly is found in salt water in the wild, it is because it is living close to the ocean and the salt mix is the kind the saltwater keepers on the forum would use to make up a tank mix for their fish, not the un-iodized table salt that is sold as "aquarium salt" at the LFS.

 

[Mr Morning Glory]

most fish like the ones ive got prefer it, because where they come from naturally they do have salt in there water,

Just wondering, was it Pets At Home that told you that as well?

Yep

Sorry to need to disagree with your LFS.
Guppies and swordtails are not found in salty water except in people's homes. Some species of mollies are found in everything from pure fresh water to pure salt water, but not in water containing aquarium salt. When a molly is found in salt water in the wild, it is because it is living close to the ocean and the salt mix is the kind the saltwater keepers on the forum would use to make up a tank mix for their fish, not the un-iodized table salt that is sold as "aquarium salt" at the LFS.

i asked a question that has nothing to do with the things your are talking about, so i dont want your (EXPERT) advice because it is no use what what i am asking.

 

[the_lock_man]

Mr Morning Glory, the reason I asked my question is that Pets At Home give notoriously bad advice. If you think about it, they have huge stores in locations where rent and rates are sky-high. They need to make lots of profit in order to pay those huge overheads. They will tell you what they think will make you buy lots more products from them. They also have so many staff that not all of them can be experienced fishkeepers. Their assertion that guppies and swordtails prefer salt in their water is just not true, they come from pure freshwater streams and rivers. As Oldman said, some mollies will accept salty water, but mine are kept in freshwater without issue.

What disease do your fish have, that you were told to add aquarium salt? I must admit that I jumped to the conclusion from what you had posted, that you had added the salt as a means to combat the toxicity of ammonium and nitrite in your tank.

I suffered bad advice from my fish shop (not Pets At Home) and went through a fish-in cycle. You don't need to add anything to the tank in a fish-in cycle, you just need to do large regular (daily) water changes, in order to reduce the levels of ammonium and nitrite to negligible levels. May I suggest that you take a look in the Beginners Resource Centre of this website for a detailed explanation of how to do it. It is so detailed, that I didn't need to post any questions on here whilst going through it.

The advice on this website is pretty much as good as you'll find anywhere, the people on here have no "axe to grind", they have no vested interest in making profit out of you, they just want to help newbies like you and me keep fish in the best possible way.

I hope this helps.

 

[VaegaVic]

i asked a question that has nothing to do with the things your are talking about, so i dont want your (EXPERT) advice because it is no use what what i am asking.

You would be wise to listen to advice given to you relevant to the welfare of your fish.
Regardless if you asked for it or not.

 

[OldMan47]

There is no reason to coerce Mr Morning Glory. Listen or not is really up to each of us. I will continue to stick up for free speech as long as things stay civil.

 

[fluffycabbage]

crikey, you're only being given advice which will help your fish! if you dont want to take it thats up to you, but oldman47 knows exactly what hes talking about, whereas you...

 

[the_lock_man]

There is no reason to coerce Mr Morning Glory. Listen or not is really up to each of us. I will continue to stick up for free speech as long as things stay civil.

What he said to you bordered on uncivil, IMHO.