I'm A Beginner At This :/

[Cookielici0us]

Well, I wouldn't call myself a TRUE novice, but there are somethings I have yet to explore!

I started out with a 1.5 gallon tank with two mollies, a pelco, and a ghost catfish...because the store owner told me they would get along JUST FINE in my tiny tank...eventually...i realize that my catfish was getting fin rot....and then ich....and then the whole tank died....but well all was well... just tossed them out was kind of sad for the last molly that was living though... I kept on giving it medication daily and giving it doses and it never seemed to get better began to give it half doses maybe it was just... too much medication and stressing it out...and its scales were peeling off...and it was truly...horrible to watch... I couldn't do anything...I wanted to touch it and tell my poor molly, "It's okay D: I'll save you!" but in about two months it died a slow and sad death... Felt kind of sad... because all that effort trying to bring it alive was futile....

Then my friend gave me his 5 gallon tank and I got 3 platies, one pelco, a ADF, three rasorbas, and i don't quite remember the rest.... I had a few plants in there too I don't remember their names... but they did quite fine until i bought a floating plant and apparently they kept sick fishes with the plants and so i had this ich out break...and luckily I only lost the rasorbas... because I guess they were tiny enough...to die first... or something....
Then i got a 10 gallon and switched them all over because one of my platies had fry...and me and my friend had some crazy idea to stick a leggo castle in there! D and i got a guppy, one octo, two ghost shrimp, a snail, and two blind cave tetras... and stuck them in there too.... and my pelco got stuck in the leggo castle... even though it was a open space it got stuck under the roof in between two pieces of legos and died...and i didn't see it for a few days and the tank started to cloud up...I had just thought it was hiding....and then my fishes started to get fin rot so I just added some medication... and before i knew it there was ich and I don't know how long my beloved pelco was dead for but i had always assumed it was hiding since every forum told me that they RARELY if ever see their pelco... and so i kept on changing the water and vacuuming the gravel but the water would always be cloudy so... I decided after two days of having cloudy water to take all the fishes and find the source of the cloudy water and found the poor pelco in the leggo castle, and I AM NEVER putting another LEGGO CASTLE in my fish tank again....

I had to take the snail out and put it in the 5 gallon with the fry... and the snail DIED randomly and I didn't know it died...until i was cleaning the tank and it smelt like SOMETHING DIED. I deduced it to being the snail...
I didn't think ghost shrimp would eat fry....so I put it in there too because I was reading how they can't handle medication...
Both the snail and the shrimp killed off a lot of FRY!

Since a lot of LFS are technically in bad quality or have closed down around here, I usually go to petsmart or petco... because they give you a warranty if the fish dies... I've learned to research... and RESEARCH....and REEEESEARCH! because petsmart/petco doesn't always have the most knowledgeable people that sell fishes... i can't tell you how many times they've told me i couldn't buy fish because my tank can't hold too many fishes... and I need a gallon for every inch on the fish... and though it is true... I've had these fishes for a span of 5 months and all the troubles was in the first two months because the "experts" would always give me half an explanation on how to raise fishes... well, anyways, my fishes haven't grown...and have been living 3 months except for the ones in the quarantine tank which I've had for two weeks....and i have 3 platy fry-s still living in that 1.5 gallon tank :3 they look happy, and that makes me happy.

I do wonder if my 10 gallon tank is overstocked or if my 5 gallon tank is too small to be a quarantine tank...but all is well because...
TODAY I GOT A 55 GALLON TANK!!!

I also have this bad experience with mollies...they're big bullies in my eyes D picking on my poor platies D:

I'll remember to keep bacteria alive! D
I'm not going to loose my fishes...
Though before I move them over... Any tips?
I'm a half sure about this...
a 10 gallon to a 55 gallon is a big jump for a novice like me...
I'm very afraid.

Right now I have...

10 Gallon tank

• 2 octos
• four platies
• one male guppy
• two blind cave tetras
• three scissortail rasorbas

5 Gallon tank (quarantine for NEW fishes)

• three black skirt tetras
• two black kuhli loaches
• one ADF

 

[Chad]

Well...that's quite a journey you've been on!

I feel that the 55 gallon tank will be a great stop along the way for you.

Welcome to TFF!

Just a quick note on the the smaller tanks:

10 gallons makes a fine hospital tank for most fish and a 55 gallon is big enough for what you have in the two tanks (5, 10). While you might not have too many fish in your tanks it's not really the right size for some of them. For example the tetras in the 5 gallon really need more room to get about and platies also like a bit of room.

 

[Cookielici0us]

Well...that's quite a journey you've been on!

I feel that the 55 gallon tank will be a great stop along the way for you.

Welcome to TFF!

Just a quick note on the the smaller tanks:

10 gallons makes a fine hospital tank for most fish and a 55 gallon is big enough for what you have in the two tanks (5, 10). While you might not have too many fish in your tanks it's not really the right size for some of them. For example the tetras in the 5 gallon really need more room to get about and platies also like a bit of room.

oh I know about the tetras... I just wanted to make sure they weren't going to infect my main tank and give me another "bad" experience...and let alone I don't think they can fit in my 10 gallon...with all the stuff forgot to mention i have a silver dollar in here o_o;;
Well as for the platies and what not I thought about that too felt like maybe they were getting cramped and the only thing keeping them from killing each other were the various of hiding spots in the plants
I'm very excited o_o;;
I had a female guppy too ._.;; that died... after giving birth to half baby fry...

 

[Chad]

This forum is a great place to learn what to do with that new tank of yours!

 

[crazyforcordoras]

I suggest giving all your fish back that are sick and start fresh with a cycled tank, healthy fish and a different Lfs.

 

[Cookielici0us]

I suggest giving all your fish back that are sick and start fresh with a cycled tank, healthy fish and a different Lfs.

Well my fishes are well and happy now :3 and have been for quite awhile now...there's no reason to return anything and no reason to start fresh D: because i couldn't bare breaking away with my babies :3

 

[crazyforcordoras]

Sorry, i thought some were still sick. In this case, up the Kuhlis to 6. You might not want the Blind Cave tetras, they do best in a species tank, or one with dark lights. All the other tetras, and the Otos will be happier in bigger schools too.

Cfc

 

[Cookielici0us]

Sorry, i thought some were still sick. In this case, up the Kuhlis to 6. You might not want the Blind Cave tetras, they do best in a species tank, or one with dark lights. All the other tetras, and the Otos will be happier in bigger schools too.

Cfc

Just a question...What's a species tank? and well, they seem happy... I think... I tried to put caves in there so they could hide or whatever they're meant to do but they never really...went into them maybe during the first day i had them while they were exploring but other than that they like free swimming in odd circles around each other. I don't use an aquarium light at all so I guess they get their time in the dark... and I was thinking to up the kuhlis but I wanted to wait until i got my 55 gallon set up because I'm not a sure if that 5 gallon could support them all... and will do for the black skirt tetras...but is it normal that they nip on each other?

also I haven't seen my otos dont even get near each other... they hang on the plants that are far away from each other...and slightly avoid each other at all costs...but possibly because they like to hang on different plants... (is that normal? )

 

[Chad]

A species tank is a tank that has just one species (sometimes two) in it. Normally this is because that species doesn't get along well with othes. Good examples are tanks with larger puffers in them.

 

[snazy]

Horrible experience for a start but it's a learning cave.
I'd just advise that you buy liquid test kit, like the master test kits from Api. If any sign of problems, test the water to make sure there is no ammonia or nitrItes.
In the case with the dead pleco, the fish got fin rot from the ammonia caused by the decomposing body. It's not advisable to medicate without knowing the cause because there is a difference between bacterial/fungal infection and fin rot caused by ammonia present in the tank. Ammonia caused fin rot will heal straight away if you fix the water quality and medication in a tank with bad quality and ammonia present will not do a thing. The returning ick is because you never cured it the first time. The fish should be spots free for 7-10 days during the medication period to maybe be sure it's all gone.
Ammonia->burns and fin rot, difficulty breathing->very stressed fish->medication in a tank with high ammonia/nitrite levels->no cure and highly stressed fish->ick, columnaris, etc..., whipe out of the tank for most beginners.

 

[basboi85]

I've got atleast 20 adult mollies in my tank and 13 Mickey Mouse platys and not one of my mollies bullies the platys if anything I've seen one of my boy mollie having a pop at my gourami who is double the Molly's size so not sure what that's about.

And I would move all you fish over to your 55gal personally once its cycled obv as they will get a fair bit of room and your babies I would keep in the smaller tank till they are big enough not to get eaten.

Hopefully you have a better experience and less completely less trouble with your new tank

 

[Cookielici0us]

I've got atleast 20 adult mollies in my tank and 13 Mickey Mouse platys and not one of my mollies bullies the platys if anything I've seen one of my boy mollie having a pop at my gourami who is double the Molly's size so not sure what that's about.

And I would move all you fish over to your 55gal personally once its cycled obv as they will get a fair bit of room and your babies I would keep in the smaller tank till they are big enough not to get eaten.

Hopefully you have a better experience and less completely less trouble with your new tank

Oh! Thank you...and I have yet to clean out the 55 gallon...though i haven't had the time. I'm not really sure how to approach cleaning it either...and I only have 3 fry living so I keep them in a small jar so i can keep watch of the food they do not eat and well... I guess I always got the aggressive mollies and they were always female D:

I was thinking of getting a gourami but I was afraid that it was going to be aggressive...How do your platies and gouramis work together? well generally my tank set up... do you think a gourami would be a good idea?

 

[Cookielici0us]

Horrible experience for a start but it's a learning cave.
I'd just advise that you buy liquid test kit, like the master test kits from Api. If any sign of problems, test the water to make sure there is no ammonia or nitrItes.
In the case with the dead pleco, the fish got fin rot from the ammonia caused by the decomposing body. It's not advisable to medicate without knowing the cause because there is a difference between bacterial/fungal infection and fin rot caused by ammonia present in the tank. Ammonia caused fin rot will heal straight away if you fix the water quality and medication in a tank with bad quality and ammonia present will not do a thing. The returning ick is because you never cured it the first time. The fish should be spots free for 7-10 days during the medication period to maybe be sure it's all gone.
Ammonia->burns and fin rot, difficulty breathing->very stressed fish->medication in a tank with high ammonia/nitrite levels->no cure and highly stressed fish->ick, columnaris, etc..., whipe out of the tank for most beginners.

Oh~ I didn't know ammonia could do that... and I usually take some of my water to the store and get my water tested for free and the returning of ick depends on which "chapter" of my fish raising...and I will keep that in mind not to medicate my fishes with out knowing the cause... I was a bit naive thinking my fish was just hiding D: but at least i got it figured out...and got my tank to normal again

and I'll be honest...but I just put rid ich in there until the water turns blue-ish (I think I was over dosing them...) and I would do 10% water changes daily by vacuming the bottom until the water turned clear again (so it would be about 3 days until the water turned clear)...and dosed them again and then do the same thing and I waited for 4 days without any signs of ich... and raised the temp to 78 and thats what got rid of ich for me (I know I'm probably doing this wrong and please tell me if you know the consequences for doing it this way D

I do agree its a learning cave D: I had to go through a few fishes before actually learning something

A species tank is a tank that has just one species (sometimes two) in it. Normally this is because that species doesn't get along well with othes. Good examples are tanks with larger puffers in them.

I'd feel bad to take them out because they seem to get along with my non-blind fishes (haven't seen them attack anything but their food)...but it might be because of their social order that the blind tetras hunt for their food (i feed them ghost shrimp and sinking pellets) and my non-blind fishes which find their food as flakes or freeze-dried.

._.;; Is that bad? D:

 

[crazyforcordoras]

Black skirt tetras are nown for nippiness.

As for the blind tetras, they will do fine in with othet fish, but are best observed in a species tank.

 

[Cookielici0us]

Black skirt tetras are nown for nippiness.

As for the blind tetras, they will do fine in with othet fish, but are best observed in a species tank.

How do i prevent nippy fish from nipping? D: