First Time Water Change And Gravel Clean....

[Fruba]

I cleaned my gravel and changed my water for the first time yesterday, after 4 months (slight miss understanding )

And it was all going really well untill when i was topping back up i was messing around with the filter, then to my horror, found my lady swordail crushed to death was genuinly uspet and miffed by my stupidity, it was her favourite hiding place (under the filter)


I also use to have a sailfin molly but he passed away when i stupidly cleaned my filter sponge in tap water

So.... tommorrow, i was going to go to the shop and get another female swordtail and a male molly, will they get on with the male swordtail and female molly i still have?

Also, in my tank i will then have, Male and female swordtails, male and female mollies, two flame tetras and a fighting fish. Are they all ok together? they seem happy enough?

Thank you!

 

[ox5477]

don't be too hard on yourself. All these things seem to happen to everyone and everyone feels like a dumba$$... so no worries. Just get used to your fish and hiding spaces they have, so the next time you go to clean something or move something, you can shake them or scare them out into the main water column

What size tank is this?

And with the swordtails and mollies, they are livebearers (I think...) so they should have no prob pairing up as all livebearers are pretty unpicky when it comes to mating

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Fruba,

Congrats on your first water change. Better late than never!

I would recommend that you should aim to change around 25% per week, and see how it goes. You should notice a big difference in the colour and vitality of your fish once they start getting clean water to swim in.

Sorry for your losses.

As Ox says, these things happen to everyone. Just learn from it and move on.

Your fish sound fine other than the fighter. They will attack anything with long fins as they tend to see them as a threat. If you have male swordtails, this could obviously be a problem in the future.

Cheers

BTT

 

[8inary]

just a suggestion, how about getting an external filter, I am sure you can pick one up cheaply on ebay, and yes, you could potentially leave that 4 months before you clean it.

 

[Fruba]

Should i have removed all my ornaments before cleaning?

I cant remember if its 40 or 60 litres? its 2ft by 1ft by 1ft?

The fighter seems fine with everyone, though a bit of my swords tail did go missing!? and now a bit of my mollys tail has !

 

[ox5477]

a 2x1x1 is 10G so how many ever liters that is.. I think liters are four times the gallonage (about) so I would say 40L.

You don't need to remove the decorations when cleaning. But make sure atleast everyother water change or at the least, once a month, move the ornaments in the tank to get any waste underneath them. My two pieces of bogwood are usually filthy after two weeks as my pleco and JD both sit all day under each piece of wood and just poop away...

The swordtails tail is prob missing because of the betta. They are slow compared to other fish because of their finiage.. but that doesn't mean they can't deliver a wallop when the other fish meander just a little too close... prob just best for both the betta and your other stocking to rehome the beta to it's own 5gallon tank

 

[Fruba]

Is the betta my fighting fish?

I went and got another molly and swordtail after work and when i got back i have noticed a white spot at the base of my old male swordtails tail, i havent put the new fish in just yet, any suggestions??