Tandem
New Member
Hiya everyone! I'm Phoebe-Mae (or Tandem) and I'm 22 years old in Victoria, Australia. I have a 40L tank, a 10L and possibly a 12L? I'm not sure about the last one as I acquired it recently from my youth group and have just kinda thrown it together as a QT for my live plants.
I have absolutely terrible luck. I thought I came into owning my fish well prepared. I read up on tropical fish for months. How to cycle a tank, clean a filter, which ones get along well etc.
We all know that it has totally gone down like gasoline in a dumpster fire though, let's be real.
I've got 4 guppies, a female and 3 males (yes I know I messed up, the book and website I was referring to said to keep a higher ratio of males to females, I have since learnt that it was WRONG) kept in the 40L tank with my sucking catfish and 2 blind tetras.
It gets so much worse from here. Buckle up.
Originally I had the four guppies in the 10L tank, all was going well-ish. Dealing with my first guppy and my first guppy pregnancy, being proud of a well-cycled tank after three months of dedication, just enjoying my own pets, really.
Then the fire nation attacked.
I added a live plant. I didn't know you were supposed to quarantine them and the aquarium lady said just throw it in and it'll grow, no biggie right?
Wrong. So, so wrong.
I ended up with snails everywhere as you'd expect. Still pretty calm about it. Then the damselfly nymph hatched. Since then, it's been downhill. A mass brown algae bloom tanked my filter and the tank crashed. Female (and pregnant, obviously) guppy has ammonia poisoning, red gills and a small red spot. One of my males is a little uncomfortable, no red gills but stressed and clamped up. Moved them all to the 40L and start treating them, ensuring they can recover. Then the tank starts bubbling. Like soapy, foamy, non-disappearing bubbles. Apparently that's normal in Melafix. Wish I'd known that before losing my mind this morning.
And now, here we are. A month and a half into owning fish and I have three tanks and absolutely nothing to show for it. I'm currently sitting in my rocking chair, facing them, watching the female. She's showing signs of both labour and ammonia poisoning and I can't tell which is which. She's perking up since I've put her in her birthing box but before she was leaning into the filter and then the heater, sometimes chilling on the gravel. Wasn't showing much interest in food. Now she's in the box she'll nibble at the surface and I'll give her a little food and she'll happily eat it all before resting at the bottom again. Hopefully that means she's just about to drop because gosh darn it, I'm attached to them.
One day I hope to be able to raise guppy fry beyond the two week mark. Her last brood was three weeks ago to the day and unfortunately she must've eaten all of her young because I could only find one baby. They made it to two weeks and a day in a little container with daily water exchanges and vigilant watch before they passed.
Before y'all eat me alive, I was making do. Next time I'll have a tank available and ready. Not this time though. This time I'm throwing a bubbler into a bucket and hoping for the best, if I get any alive.
Long term goal-wise, I think I'd work towards being a good guppy breeder. And finding a pink guppy. With more tanks. And bigger ones, too!
Anyway, I'm sure you're sick of my rollercoaster ride so I will leave this post as is and hopefully make some new friends!
I have absolutely terrible luck. I thought I came into owning my fish well prepared. I read up on tropical fish for months. How to cycle a tank, clean a filter, which ones get along well etc.
We all know that it has totally gone down like gasoline in a dumpster fire though, let's be real.
I've got 4 guppies, a female and 3 males (yes I know I messed up, the book and website I was referring to said to keep a higher ratio of males to females, I have since learnt that it was WRONG) kept in the 40L tank with my sucking catfish and 2 blind tetras.
It gets so much worse from here. Buckle up.
Originally I had the four guppies in the 10L tank, all was going well-ish. Dealing with my first guppy and my first guppy pregnancy, being proud of a well-cycled tank after three months of dedication, just enjoying my own pets, really.
Then the fire nation attacked.
I added a live plant. I didn't know you were supposed to quarantine them and the aquarium lady said just throw it in and it'll grow, no biggie right?
Wrong. So, so wrong.
I ended up with snails everywhere as you'd expect. Still pretty calm about it. Then the damselfly nymph hatched. Since then, it's been downhill. A mass brown algae bloom tanked my filter and the tank crashed. Female (and pregnant, obviously) guppy has ammonia poisoning, red gills and a small red spot. One of my males is a little uncomfortable, no red gills but stressed and clamped up. Moved them all to the 40L and start treating them, ensuring they can recover. Then the tank starts bubbling. Like soapy, foamy, non-disappearing bubbles. Apparently that's normal in Melafix. Wish I'd known that before losing my mind this morning.
And now, here we are. A month and a half into owning fish and I have three tanks and absolutely nothing to show for it. I'm currently sitting in my rocking chair, facing them, watching the female. She's showing signs of both labour and ammonia poisoning and I can't tell which is which. She's perking up since I've put her in her birthing box but before she was leaning into the filter and then the heater, sometimes chilling on the gravel. Wasn't showing much interest in food. Now she's in the box she'll nibble at the surface and I'll give her a little food and she'll happily eat it all before resting at the bottom again. Hopefully that means she's just about to drop because gosh darn it, I'm attached to them.
One day I hope to be able to raise guppy fry beyond the two week mark. Her last brood was three weeks ago to the day and unfortunately she must've eaten all of her young because I could only find one baby. They made it to two weeks and a day in a little container with daily water exchanges and vigilant watch before they passed.
Before y'all eat me alive, I was making do. Next time I'll have a tank available and ready. Not this time though. This time I'm throwing a bubbler into a bucket and hoping for the best, if I get any alive.
Long term goal-wise, I think I'd work towards being a good guppy breeder. And finding a pink guppy. With more tanks. And bigger ones, too!
Anyway, I'm sure you're sick of my rollercoaster ride so I will leave this post as is and hopefully make some new friends!
