Help needed! I'm very new to fish care.

[Amphitrite]

I'm very new to fish care and havn't really a clue on what to do.

 

[Torrean]

guppies

edit: you should have two with boring fins for every pretty finned one. That's 2 females to every male.

take a look here

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=34091

 

[Amphitrite]

I've got two males so that means.. I should get four females? Sorry, I'm not very good with maths.

 

[Torrean]

yes I believe so. If you don't mind my asking what size is your tank
also how long has it been set up

edit: did you take a look at the link I left in the last post? it's about guppies

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=34091

 

[Amphitrite]

Yes I looked at the link, thanks. I'll be looking up guppy sites in a while to find out more information.

It's a 10 gallon and I set it up this morning, bought it yesterday and have had the fish sitting in their bags in the water for around five hours now, just recently let them out.

Here's a picture of the tank..

 

[Torrean]

hmmm

did you use dechlorinator?
do you know what cycling is?
do you have any test kits?
do you have a filter?
do you have a heater?

new tank syndrome
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=10099

general help
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showforum=52

 

[Amphitrite]

Dechlorinator: Don't think so? I don't know what that is but I have an idea.. we've got this gel stuff that cleans the tapwater that we put into the tank.


Cycling: Nope.

Test kits: No again.

Filter: Yes.

Heater: Yes.


Err.. I read those links and I'm worried now. Does this happen to every new tank or is it just tanks with real plants or what?

 

[a1wonder]

It happens with all tanks big and small. The ammonia cycle is a naturally occuring process I'd do a bit of research and refrain from adding more fish for a few weeks (meaning around 3). Do reduce the stress of the amonia build up on your fish (since the ones your purchased are fairly sensitive to ammonia) do a 30% waterchange every two days for about 2 weeks. I'd also purchase water testing kits (don't bother with the ph just go for the ammonia and nitrate one). And make sure to read and ask plenty of questions. Welcome to the adictive cult of fish keeping we have you hooked now.

 

[Torrean]

first of all can you take back the fish that you bought today

second does this gel say that it removes chlorine chloramines and nuetralizes heavy metals

third you should really buy a ph, ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte, test kits as soon as possible.

Your fish are producing ammonia. There will soon be bacteria in your filter that will break down ammonia into nitrIte. then another form of bacteria will colonize your filter. They will break down the NitrIte into NitrAte. Nitrate is relatively harmless but should be kept below 40ppm. You can keep down nitrate by having live plants and performing 25% waterchanges bi-weekly.

First your tank will experience an ammonia spike, then a nitrite spike, then as your nitrates build up your ammonia and nitrite will reach zero, this means that your tank has cycled. You should perform 1 gallon water changes every day until your tank has cycled. This will help your fish cope with the poisons in there water. You almost deffinitly will lose fish over the next two months.

Look into BIO Spira

BTW don't feel too bad it happened to me but much worse.


edit: welcome to the fish forums btw, It's nice to meet you and feel free to ask any questions that come to mind.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I would actually rehome the neons if i were you if you can, neons are very fragile fish and they are unlikely to survive a cycle- there are some good easy to read articles pinned at the top of the beginner section and i suggest you read them as they will explain what is going on in your tank and why.
I'd say doing realy regular water changes is the best thing you can do right now as you don't want ammonia building up too much as this'll kill your fish, the guppy species you chose is not very hardy and i'd keep a close eye out on all your fish realy- as soon as they start going pale/becoming lethargic/flicking and rubbing themselves on objects etc do a 30% water change with dechlorinator added even if you have just done a water change. Although if the neons are pale when you first turn the tank lights on in the morning don't worry about this as this is normal as long as they soon recover their color.
Don't clean the filter out for at least the first 2 weeks and even after that only partially clean it out in water from water changes or dechlorinated water.
Do NOT buy anymore fish mainly because your tank won't be able to handle the waste load they produce and if you make it any harder for the filter to do its job while cycling, its most likely all your fish will die.
Dechlorinator is basically stuff that removes things like chlorine and other dangerous chemicals to bacteria from tap water and if you don't use it, good bacteria which lives in your filter which breaks down waste that fish produce cannot grow and the waste in turn poisons the fish- when you cycle a tank you are basically doing this to help grow this bacteria in your filter(you must also add the right dose of dechlorinator for the amount of water you have for all this to work).
Good luck

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Ah Torrean got there before me

 

[Torrean]

yup I'm a speedy one. I'm thinking of typing out a big post for beginner's so I can just cut and paste it.

Tokis, The more people who tell him something the more likely he is to believe us. Also I didn't think about how sensitive the neons were. So keep on posting

 

[Amphitrite]

It's 9:50PM at night.. I can't take them back now. Plus I don't think the store will do refunds but I'll check. I'll look into the test kits tomorrow, is there a basic price range that they usually cost?

Jee.. I didn't know there was so much to owning a fish..

Can anyone give me a link to a website on what I should do cause I'm pretty much lost and on my own here, my mom doesn't even know about this kind of thing. My dad has owned fish in the past, I'm not sure if he knows about it either but I'll ask tommarow.

 

[Torrean]

you've found it. The website that is. TFF is the best resource i've found yet. Just ask a question here then confrim your answers with searches on the net and through any books you might own.

Most people don't realize what a second job fishkeeping really is.

EDIT: If the store won't do refunds but will only take them back ask if they would give you store credit or hold your fish for you until you cycle your tank. If not then I'd suggest asking if they will take them back without any reembursement. The neons will probably die during the cycle anyway, I don't know about the guppies but I'd not be too optimistic. Ask about BIO Spira first thing though.

Another Edit: I almost forgot do you have any friends who have fish tanks? If so ask them for some gravel or a bit of filter media. This can "clone your tank" speeding the cycle exponentially.

edit edit edit: if you want to see how my first experience with tff went then visit this thread. It should enlighten you a bit. It's a good bit of reading but it may be worth it.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=83058&hl=fool

edit edit edit edit: btw your dad will probably tell you we are all stupid. Believe whoever you want to. My sister rinses her filter in tapwater once a week (BAD IDEA) and says that TFF (tropical fish forums) is FOS (figure it out on your own this is a family website) but she also let me buy 4 rainbow sharks for a 29 gallon tank (BAD IDEA)

 

[Amphitrite]

Okay *deep breath*

First off, just to let you know I'm easily confused and it may take me a while to actually understand something said.

So first thing I need to do is take the fish back tommorow, ask about BIO Spira and fish cycling, get the test kits.. then? Hopefully my LFS will be able to tell me what to do but if not..

Also, my dad was very good about his fish, I don't know if he knows about it or not but if he does and doesn't think the same as y'all I probably wont listen to him.