I Dont Know What Fish I Have!

[newcastlelas]

Hello, I recently bought 8 fish for my 28L tropical tank,

when i was choosing my fish i asked the assistant if all the fish can go into the same tank and she said yes. All i know is that I bought 1 dalmation molly 1 balloon molly, 2 female guppies and 1 male guppy and the others am not sure what they are. (only from looking on the internet at similar photos)

In the past week we have had 4 deaths.. the 2 female guppies (1 i found stuck in an ornament so i removed it) and then the male (which the day before lost all its colour and when it had died had no tail left!) then another fish which i think was a platy.

I now have 1 balloon molly 1 dalmation molly and the other 2 i dont really know what they are, they also look like molly's but they also look like platy's am very confused about this as now. since the other fish have left the tank all my fish seem to chase eachother or what looks like they chase there reflection on the glass, but i noticed before that the dalmation molly was very territorial and was nipping the guppy's. I have been reading on the internet about trying to sex them and i think that my balloon molly is male, my dalmation molly is female and the other to fish am not sure about, but am sure that 1 is male and the other is female.

Am starting to give up all hope now, and me and my husband have no faith in that these fish will live very much longer, if anybody has any idea what is or has been happning i will love to hear from your expericences and advice. if anybody wants to see videos of these behaviours i have a few videos that i could show you (even if its just to identify what sort of fish i have!).just get intouch and i will be able to send you them.

thanks
Leann

 

[locust267]

How long has the tank been set up, have you completed a fishless cycle?

The ammonia or NitrItes may be killing them.

Also I would say you have too many fish for a 28litre. I believe you have around 10US gallons (maybe under), going by the 1" fish per gallon rule with the previous stocking you were over and with the current stocking you would most likely still be over as female mollies can grow to 5". Alough they are probably still small if they survived they would get alot bigger.

Mollies generally are not good fish to keep as they "tend" to prefer brackish conditions plus if you do have one male and one female they will breed like mad!

I would say it's best to take back any fish that will grow too large in your tank such as the mollies and swap them for smaller fish you can keep more of such as Harlequins or corys. You could also keep a male siamese fighter in there with a few corys?

I would most certainly get a liquid test kit (if you haven't already), the API freshwater master test kit is very good as it contains both ammonia and nitrite plus others. Also read the fishless cycle thread pinned in this forum.

If you can get pics of the fish it will really help us tell you what they are, either that or ask the shop where you bought them.

Vicki

 

[Efren]

Leann,

Did you cycle your tank?... If NO -
then it would be best if you return the
FISHES to your LFS - - -
and cycle your tank first - -

you can Risk cycling it with Fish in it -
but IMO the Fish wouldn't be happy about it...


there are ways of cycling..
and this forum can guide you through it.

these threads will help you a lot:

http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...ease-Read-Here/

http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...shless-Cycling/

-goodluck-

 

[guppy fan]

Your fish might be chasing eachother because they are trieing to mate. Males don't really know witch fish are females so they will chase anyone. All of the types of fish you named are live bearers witch means that they give birth to thier babies live instead of laying eggs. Live bearers only really have one thing on thier minds, live bearing. This is why your males chase the other fish around a lot. In order to reduce this behavior it is best to keep two or thee females to one male. This also means you may end up with a lot of baby fish. The adults will eat the fry (babies) if they are not separated from them soon enough.

I also think your fishes health problems are probubly due to not cycling your tank. Don't worry, we can help you through that. Most new fish keepers run into problems like this. The articles sujested above are good reads and will help. I would also read the recomendations for a ten gallon article pinned at the top of this forum. It will help you correctly stock you new tank.

Good luck