Getting fish tank clearer

[chrisfagan16]

hi, i havnt posted for a while, i have a 30 gallon (UK) fish tank and i have 2 internal filters running but my fish seem lifeless and when i go to see tanks in other peoples houses the fish seem alot more playfull can someone please help me as i want to have a happy, healthy tank. Thanks Chris.

 

[canarsie11]

Water parameters?

Do you have alot of plants? (hiding Spaces)

What kind of fish do you have?

What temp are you running at?

 

[chrisfagan16]

i havnt got a clue what water parameters are. There arent any plants in the tank, i have 2 jack dempsies, 2 kribs, and a black ghost knife fish also i have 3 plecs and a lobster, do i need to get a new filter? thanks chris.

 

[guppymonkey]

Well your tank is going to be massively overwhelmed when all of those fish are full size, especially the demseys and the knife. How long has the tank been set up? If its only been going for a month or two then I would guess that you have a free floating bacteria problem and only time will solve that. After the bacteria catchs up to the waste levels the water clears up. But it might never clear up if you overload your tank with massive fish.

 

[blue_ram]

i havnt got a clue what water parameters are. There arent any plants in the tank, i have 2 jack dempsies, 2 kribs, and a black ghost knife fish also i have 3 plecs and a lobster, do i need to get a new filter? thanks chris.

You can pretty much say good bye to your kribs. Eventually, Dempsies and the lobster will tear them apart... if the poor water quality doesn't get to them first. Do a little research on fish keeping first. Never buy fish on impulse. You can save quite a bit of money and fish that way. By the way, all but the Kribs get to be about 10-12" in aquariums.

But for now, get an ammonia and pH test kit, and test the water parameters. High ammonia concentration will easily kill the kribs and the lobster. Return all fish/lobster except may be the kribs. Ask your lfs for beginner's fish. Small (but too big for the kribs to eat) shoaling fish are preferred. Then choose the fish from there on. Some of suggested fish are: 5-6 corydoras (bottom feeder/scavenger), 6-8 danios (top/mid water feeder), and two clown pleco (SMALL algae eater). This way, the kribs will be the "center piece" of your aquarium, and things won't get ugly if they becomes territorial. Don't forget to do some research on feeding habbits and behaviors of the fish you've purchased. Add the fish SLOWLY (5-6 small fish every month or so, until desired stocking limit is reached).

Also, to keep the fish happy, get some LOW LIGHT plants, rocks/drift wood. On second thought, forget the live plants, get plastic ones instead. Most fish don't seem to differentiate plastic vs. live plants.

By the way, kribs aren't exactly a beginner's fish, but they aren't fragile by any means.

 

[chrisfagan16]

well ive had all the fish in together for about 4-5 months now and they are fine so all i really want to do is put some fish in that will be more active than the ones i have at the moment?

 

[Erised]

I dont think that would solve anything I'm afraid, except that adding more fish will only make your problem worse. I think that the reason they're not that active is simply because they're not feeling happy/comfortable in the tank.

I think the main reasons the fish dont feel too comfortable will be because
1. Its too crowded (this depends on the size of the fish right now, but I'm guessing they're not all too juvenile anymore, meaning the tank would be crowded)
2. The dont have hiding places or any places to get away from the other fish.

A 3. might be the water levels not being ok making your fish feel sick. But I dont know about this one seeing as you dont have test kits yet If you've kept up with your water changes though (about 50% a week) they will probably be fine.

The best thing to do I think is to take back all the fish to a shop near you (if they'll have them back) and start pretty much from scratch. Do some research on what types of fish you want (for example, if you want to keep the rams, do a search either on this forum or google, and find out how many gallons of room they need and how big they will get ... these are the 2 major questions you want to be concentrating on).

I'm sure that if you add some plants, wood and/or rocks to create a more "wild like" feeling for them, they'll be doing a lot better as well However, sooner or later the fish Will grow to big and die coz of stress or because their insides got too big to fit inside their body.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

What size is the tank? I am expecting it to be huge from the fish you listed. Lobsters should really go in with any fish at all and the kribs are at risk from the maturing JDs.

Check you parameters, I would be surprised if all is well unless your tank is huge. Do not get more fish until yopu have sorted what's wrong with the ones you have.

 

[Erised]

Cheesy, he said its a 30G (UK)

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Cheesy, he said its a 30G (UK)

Sorry, thanks.

30UK gallons, oh dear oh dear. Sounds like a recipie for disaster to me. I have a tank that's a little bigger and I would never put those fish in it. It's not big enough to balance out the aggression and so the fish will be afraid to move for fear of being terrorised.

What kind of plecs to do you have?

 

[chrisfagan16]

hi thanks for all your replies, i have taken my Kribensis, lobster JD's BGK all back to the fish store and they swapped them for 5 piranhas so now i have 3 plecs which will be moved out of the tank in about 2 weeks and the 5 piranhas. So is this ok also i did a water change and now the fish are moving better. ALso i have taken all the sand out that was in the tank and now i have small gravel libing the bottom of the tank. The Fish seem so happy, also could you reccomend some good easy and cheap food sources i could give to my piranhas e.g. Prawns, shrimp. Thanks Chris.

 

[Erised]

I'm afraid I dont know anything about piranahs at all!
I'm glad to hear that you brought the fish back though However, if you can keep 5 piranahs in a 30UK Gallon I dont know either ... but thats up to someone else to figure out. I think it will help people if you tell them what type of piranah though (seeing as there are more than 1 type) ... if you dont know, you might be able to get a picture of them and post it in the aquarium pictures section here and then start a new thread, linking to the pictures and asking all the questions you've got

Good luck with your fish