Hello! I'm New! :)

[Becca .x]

Hi! Am I doing this in the right place? lol.
My name is Rebbecca, i'm 13 and I got a 62 litre fish tank yesterday. Basicly, I want to do everything right lol .
I already have 3 plants in, and I have also got some snails that came with them. My dad has put some oyster shell for the water and a little bit of fish food in for bacteria. Here it is :

We have a 30 litre Bi-orb downstairs that we have had for a while, we have one neon tetra, 2 other tetras, 3 other tetras, 3 guppys, and one female fighter fish. I found one of the guppys dead this morn, we only got the Fighter yesterday, does anyone think that it has anything to do with the fighter?
All answers are appreciated

 

[TommySide]

Hi,

I'm no expert by any stretch but I'm guessing the fighter might have played a part. And to me what your dad has started seems right with the cycle. Just read on here and listen to these guys and you'll be fine, a lot of people know all there is to know on here.

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Rebbecca and welcome to the forum

Its a fairly rare thing when a 13-yr-old wants to "do it right!" You might want to see if your Dad wants to join in with you on a project to do what's called a Fishless Cycle. All the writeups are here in the Beginners Resource Center at the top of this forum. Its a fair bit of reading but you can break it up by asking questions and chatting with us. Your tank looks nice!

Real oyster shell will raise the water hardness and pH, so hopefully your Dad had a reason for doing that. Perhaps your source water is soft and acid, in which case that action would be appropriate. The problem with using fish food to "cycle" a tank is that the amount of ammonia it produces is extremely unpredictable. As the fish food breaks down, it is eaten by water-born bacteria that are "heterotrophic" and the little waves of ammonia produced will happen very irregularly, thus making it hard to understand what stage your cycle has reached.

In the 1980s, hobbyists figured out a better and more predictable way to accomplish the same thing. They figured out that pure clear household ammonia, which is sold in a few places for cleaning purposes, can help you perform a very controlled and predictable fishless cycle.

The term "cycle" comes from the "Nitrogen Cycle" used in environmental science. Its fascinating to learn about. I feel the science part provides lots of entertainment during the period (3 to 6 weeks, possibly 2 months) before you can have fish. The filter you got with your aquarium is the thing that will not be ready to support fish for these first weeks/months because it will not yet be a full "biofilter" and will not be able to process the toxic waste the fish and other things in the tank produce.

This is definately "the way to go" if your family is serious about doing it right, but let us know if that's the case and the members can continue to answer your questions. Its a great forum and you're really lucky to have stumbled into a forum of real hobbyists!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Becca .x]

Thanks guys!
Your alot of help,
We were planing on getting fish in next week like we did with the last fish tank if the water was ok. But I will have a look into the cycling thing

 

[Becca .x]

Hi Rebbecca and welcome to the forum

Its a fairly rare thing when a 13-yr-old wants to "do it right!" You might want to see if your Dad wants to join in with you on a project to do what's called a Fishless Cycle. All the writeups are here in the Beginners Resource Center at the top of this forum. Its a fair bit of reading but you can break it up by asking questions and chatting with us. Your tank looks nice!

Real oyster shell will raise the water hardness and pH, so hopefully your Dad had a reason for doing that. Perhaps your source water is soft and acid, in which case that action would be appropriate. The problem with using fish food to "cycle" a tank is that the amount of ammonia it produces is extremely unpredictable. As the fish food breaks down, it is eaten by water-born bacteria that are "heterotrophic" and the little waves of ammonia produced will happen very irregularly, thus making it hard to understand what stage your cycle has reached.

In the 1980s, hobbyists figured out a better and more predictable way to accomplish the same thing. They figured out that pure clear household ammonia, which is sold in a few places for cleaning purposes, can help you perform a very controlled and predictable fishless cycle.

The term "cycle" comes from the "Nitrogen Cycle" used in environmental science. Its fascinating to learn about. I feel the science part provides lots of entertainment during the period (3 to 6 weeks, possibly 2 months) before you can have fish. The filter you got with your aquarium is the thing that will not be ready to support fish for these first weeks/months because it will not yet be a full "biofilter" and will not be able to process the toxic waste the fish and other things in the tank produce.

This is definately "the way to go" if your family is serious about doing it right, but let us know if that's the case and the members can continue to answer your questions. Its a great forum and you're really lucky to have stumbled into a forum of real hobbyists!

~~waterdrop~~

We used the oyster shell because the pet store recomended it for the water of our other tank a while ago, to get the PH right. So we thought it would help the new tank. We always get our water tested at the pet store so im not sure if we get any of the info, I think they just tell us if we can get anymore fish. Im not sure if we need it or not now :\

 

[waterdrop]

OK, its beginning to sound like maybe they sold you a commercial chemical in the *shape* of an oyster shell? That would be what's called a pH adjuster and is generally not a good idea, although its hard to pass judgement without knowing any kind of real numbers for your water parameters.

We have so many beginners that have things start to go wrong, longer term, that we try to help them get started in a way that will keep their tank going for years without trouble.

One of the most basic things that good fishkeepers do is to have a good liquid-reagent based test kit for their water. Most of us use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit and like it. This allows us to test for the two most deadly things that kill fish, ammonia and nitrite(NO2). The problem with getting your water tested at the local store is that sometimes there are store helpers that don't quite do it right, or will just say the water is "fine," without giving you the actual numbers. Its also almost impossible to do tests that are frequent enough this way too. As hobbyists, we just find that store testing overall is too unreliable.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[BigC]

Hi Becky,
And welcome to TFF,
We hope your time here will be enjoyable and perhaps you'll learn a thing or two along the way.
One wee thing, surrounding safety. Please move those plug sockets (extension lead) Just in case of any mishaps.
All the best and Happy Fishkeeping
Regards
BigC

 

[Underwurlde]

Hello & welcome!

Good advice so far. To add my 2p's worth, get as many of those hitchhiking snails OUT of your tank... their populations can explode.

Andy

 

[Becca .x]

OK, its beginning to sound like maybe they sold you a commercial chemical in the *shape* of an oyster shell? That would be what's called a pH adjuster and is generally not a good idea, although its hard to pass judgement without knowing any kind of real numbers for your water parameters.

We have so many beginners that have things start to go wrong, longer term, that we try to help them get started in a way that will keep their tank going for years without trouble.

One of the most basic things that good fishkeepers do is to have a good liquid-reagent based test kit for their water. Most of us use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit and like it. This allows us to test for the two most deadly things that kill fish, ammonia and nitrite(NO2). The problem with getting your water tested at the local store is that sometimes there are store helpers that don't quite do it right, or will just say the water is "fine," without giving you the actual numbers. Its also almost impossible to do tests that are frequent enough this way too. As hobbyists, we just find that store testing overall is too unreliable.

~~waterdrop~~

Ok, I will get my dad to get a test kit . Its a tub of crushed oyster shell I just read the side of it and it is actually for birds But it did seem to help the old fish tank I think. It says on it 'Prevents calcium deficiency and other problems in pet birds'.

 

[always4lora]

Hi Becky,
And welcome to TFF,
We hope your time here will be enjoyable and perhaps you'll learn a thing or two along the way.
One wee thing, surrounding safety. Please move those plug sockets (extension lead) Just in case of any mishaps.
All the best and Happy Fishkeeping
Regards
BigC

mr observant ! well spotted

Regarding the beta in the other tank/// they can vary from being communial fish most of the time to really aggresive so depends on the fish's personality. just keep an eye on it . Also recommend you get your own water test kit as the shop may misleed you into getting more fish so they g4et the sale.

 

[Becca .x]

Hi Becky,
And welcome to TFF,
We hope your time here will be enjoyable and perhaps you'll learn a thing or two along the way.
One wee thing, surrounding safety. Please move those plug sockets (extension lead) Just in case of any mishaps.
All the best and Happy Fishkeeping
Regards
BigC

mr observant ! well spotted

Regarding the beta in the other tank/// they can vary from being communial fish most of the time to really aggresive so depends on the fish's personality. just keep an eye on it . Also recommend you get your own water test kit as the shop may misleed you into getting more fish so they g4et the sale.

I have moved them now
And thanks for the advice, the fighter hasn't really interacted with any other fish from what I have seen, she just swims round the tank all the time.

 

[Becca .x]

Hi Becky,
And welcome to TFF,
We hope your time here will be enjoyable and perhaps you'll learn a thing or two along the way.
One wee thing, surrounding safety. Please move those plug sockets (extension lead) Just in case of any mishaps.
All the best and Happy Fishkeeping
Regards
BigC

mr observant ! well spotted

Regarding the beta in the other tank/// they can vary from being communial fish most of the time to really aggresive so depends on the fish's personality. just keep an eye on it . Also recommend you get your own water test kit as the shop may misleed you into getting more fish so they g4et the sale.

I have moved them now
And thanks for the advice, the fighter hasn't really interacted with any other fish from what I have seen, she just swims round the tank all the time.

 

[Becca .x]

Hello & welcome!

Good advice so far. To add my 2p's worth, get as many of those hitchhiking snails OUT of your tank... their populations can explode.

Andy

I won't let too many be in there . We have quite alot of snails in the downstairs tank and they keep it really clean, so I think I will keep a few .
They don't do anything bad to the tank do they?

 

[jonp]

Like the tank - heres what I had done with mine, although its evolved as of Friday and I need to update the pics...

 

[Becca .x]

Like the tank - heres what I had done with mine, although its evolved as of Friday and I need to update the pics...

Haha! We got the same one!
Thanks well cool.