Beginner Advice And Help Please

[vickyb17uk]

Hi all

We are new to tropical fishkeeping and are looking for some advice. We have had a tank set up now for a week and yesterday we added some fish. Just for starters we added 2 tiger barbs (1 adult 1 smaller baby) and a bumblebee catfish. Yesterday they seemed quite shy which is to be expected. We have however noticed that they all seem to like the dark and seem much more lively in the dark, when we have the tank light on the catfish hides under the rock we have and the tiger bars seem to sit really still towards the bottom of the tank. We are also a little bit concerned as we have not seen the catfish or the bigger tiger barb eat atall. the tank is currently set at 26c and the tank we have is a marina 35 litre with a sun glo light.

If anyone has any advice or can give us any help we would appreciate it. little concerned as nothing has been eaten.

many thanks

vicky and pete

 

[Fishy friend2]

First of all did you cycle the tank? I'm guessing, no. And second of all your tank is not big enough to house those species of fish IMO. They are probably not eating because they are getting adjusted to their environment. For a tank that sie I would reccomend fish like guppies, endlers, Betta fish, platies, Pygmy cories, galaxy rasboras, neon tetras, and rummy nose tetras..... But you can't get any fish until you cycle your tank.
Read bout cycling in the bigginers section, in my sig (under this post)

 

[dh058977]

I can assume from how quickly you added fish to your tank that you have not cycled your filter. This means that your filter hasnt built up the required bacteria to handle the waste created by your fish. You are now in a fish in cycle situation, have a read of the beginners section and read up on fish in cycling or return the fish if you can.

The fish are most likely suffering from Ammonia poisoning, you can help by doing regular large water changes, be prepared to do at least 80/90% daily.

Also, Tiger Barbs are shoaling fish and should be kept in large groups. Once your filter is cycled you should think about adding more however IMO your tank isnt really big enough for them.

Do you have a testing kit?

 

[Prime Ordeal]

Hi Vicky,

You're now doing what's know as a fish-in cycle. When you have fish in your tank they constantly excrete ammonia which is toxic to them and if left to accumulate will kill them. Fortunately your filter will remove these toxins but only after a colony of bacteria have been established. This can take anything up to two months (but hopefully quicker) and in the mean time you HAVE to make frequent water changes to reduce the toxins. You'll also need a liquid test kit to measure these toxins, API make one that is popular. Also you need to add a dechlorinator to the water you put in the tank as chlorine kills the fish.

Read the beginners section on this forum about cycling, that'll fill you in on the details. Until you get the test kit make daily 20% water changes (with dechlorinator).

 

[Wills]

Hi there welcome to the forum Quite a few issues with the tank but its okay you have come to the right place. Waiting a week before adding fish is not long enough and I though the shops suggest it, it is a little pointless in all honesty - to have fish in the tank you need a colony of bacteria in the filter to deal with the waste created by the fish (poop etc). Other wise a chemical called ammonia builds up which is really really toxic to fish.

Two ways of dealing with this - fish in cycle and a fishless cycle. You need a source of ammonia to build up your bacteria in the filter to keep the fish alive and they need a source of ammonia from day one otherwise there is no reason to have the filter on. Right now that is being created by your fish but to keep the balance up between there being low levels of ammonia in the tank and the fish living and being unaffected by the ammonia you need to be doing daily water changes of around 50%. The other method (fishless) is to add liquid ammonia to the tank in very small doses when no fish are present in the tank this is exactly the same chemical as is created by the fish but no fish are harmed in the process of building up the bacteria in the tank.

This is a link to the beginners resource section and is well worth a read. There are some great articles in there on the Nitrogen Cycle and the Fishless Cycle as well.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

Right so hope that has helped - the further bad news is the fish you have are not suitable for your tank. Tiger Barbs are quite big fish when adult especially when this size of tank is in question they are also a schooling fish which means they need to be in groups - tigers actually need larger than average groups (average being 6) but tigers need about 10 or 12 which would never work in your tank.

The other problem is your catfish, there are a few species of bumble bee catfish in the hobby one is significantly bigger than the other but even the small one will outgrow this tank.

In this size tank your ideal fish are whats called micro fish like galaxy rasbora and chilli rasbora which are small schooling fish that you can have a good sized school of in this size tank with maybe a male Betta or Sparkling Gourami.

My honest advice would be to take the fish back to the shop and start a fishless cycle, I hope what I have said has not come across as rude or harsh, genuinley trying to help. The situation you are in is very common and there are quite easy ways to sort it out just hang in there

Wills

 

[mattyd1701]

yes do read up on the beginners section as it helped me out alot when i first started as i did the same as you did and i found that everybody on here where very helpful to help me sort out my problems so hope they are the same for you

good luck with the tank