Im New To The Hobby

[adammichael]

Thought id get myslef an aquarium its only a small one but youve got to start somewhere. I bought a tetra tank with filter and heater 60l which comes as a package they do for £80.
I filled it with gravel and a rock and bought four guppies.
3 week later i bought some plants
Now ive bought 2 clown roaches, a dolphin cichlid, a fighter fish, a clam & a cherry shrimp which has been eat

 

[rdd1952]

First, welcome to the forum . Unfortunatly, you have way too many fish in your tank and they aren't compatible.

First, bettas and guppies don't go together. The betta will view the guppies as other bettas because of their fancy tails and will kill them.

Second, the clown loaches will grow to over a foot long while the blue dolphin will grow to 6 to 9 inches. They both need a minimum tank size of at least 50 gallons and preferable 100. Also, both being bottom dwellers, you may have aggression problems with the dolphin.

Third, and most important, you are terribly overstocked. A 60l tank (about 18 gallons) is suitable for only small community fish like guppies, tetras, platties, etc and 6 to 12 is fully stocked. Have you tested your ammonia and nitrite levels? If not, you should do so immediately. They are most likely off the chart and you will start losing fish very soon.

 

[vinylman]

I know it's not entirely feasible in every shop, but can't LFS ASK people what size of tank they're buying fish for?. In my LFS, the first thing the fish guy asks people when they ask for a certain fish is ''What fish and tank do you have?''. I know the buyer could always tell a few porkies, but at least if the seller asks for info, he has some comeback if the buyer comes back with ''You sold me these fish and they're not right for my tank''. It still amazes me that some people invest considerable sums of money without having a clue what they're doing. Sorry, this rant has been building for some time...............

 

[rdd1952]

I know it's not entirely feasible in every shop, but can't LFS ASK people what size of tank they're buying fish for?. In my LFS, the first thing the fish guy asks people when they ask for a certain fish is ''What fish and tank do you have?''.

That would be great but unfortunately it doesn't happen. So many people buy their fish and equipment from stores like Walmart (should be banned from selling fish IMO but that's another story), Petsmart and Petco. Those stores are generally a lot cheaper than the true fish stores. Most of the time, the employees in those stores don't have a clue about what fish are compatible with what and how many fish are needed. In WM, you usually have to go find someone in the housewares dept. to come net the fish and they half kill them just netting them (never bought fish there but have seen it done). That's why they sell someone a tank setup and 10 goldfish the same day. The fish don't have a chance. Some of those stores are good. There was a Petsmart near where I used to work that was great. Two people that worked in the fish dept. had tanks and were very knowledgeable. They left though so it may be like the majority now.

And even in the true fish stores, you may get bad advice. A couple years ago, I went in one that I had never been in before. It was small and in an area I rarely go to. The tanks didn't look great, lots of algae. The owner came over and I started asking some questions. He didn't have a clue to most of them. He had false siamese algae eaters and said they were flying foxes and were the best algae eaters you could get...wrong. My wife was looking at the bettas and he told her that they really were happier in a small bowl and didn't like being in a larger tank. Needless to say, I never went back. I just learned that the name has changed on it. Hopefully, he sold it to some with a little more knowledge.

Sorry for another rant.

 

[adammichael]

ive only got myself to blame really as i bought the fish from an online shopso they dont ask questions il probly sell the dolphin on ebay

 

[Tessla]

Even online shops really should have care info, unfortunately a lot of them don't. Had the boyfriend come home out of the blue with a couple of clown loaches for a similar sized tank. They're very active fish and will quickly outgrow it, I had an excuse to get a larger tank but I'll likely have to rehome them soon. I also had a freshwater clam for about a year and wouldn't suggest keeping them. They're very difficult to feed since they're filter feeders and you likely won't be able to provide enough food for him. You could try getting some special liquid food for filter feeders and squirting it at him with a pipette, but unfortunately, they often slowly die of starvation.

Here's what I'd do to sort out your stocking:

Rehome both the clown loaches and the dolphin, you should be able to find a LFS near you that will take them, but you can't expect to get much if any of your money back no matter what you do. I've had to rehome several $20+ fish before and never got any reimbursement though I do know that they all found happy homes.

If you want to keep your betta (fighter fish), get yourself a container that holds at least one gallon of water to house him, the bigger the better. You'll want to do frequent water changes on an unfiltered bowl and could technically keep him in there though you may want to consider getting a 2.5 or 5 gallon filtered tank to house him in eventually.

With your four guppies, you have a few options in a small tank like that. This is a good thread to give you some idea of species to look for. I'd go for one type of bottom feeder and possibly a honey gourami or a trio of sparkling gouramis (one male, two females). If you went with all guppies or similar sized fish, you could also keep some algae shrimp like the cherrys or amanos.