Inherited Newbie

[Maxx]

Hi,

Thought I should say hello after having referenced these forums for the past couple of weeks and found out loads of useful info.

We recently moved house and "inherited" 2 x stocked 35+ gallon tanks. Prior to this I have never even owned a Goldfish, so was completely dropped in it at the deep end.

The previous ownder did explain a little of what was in the tanks and some very basic "maintenance" advice but this was well short of what I really needed to now. Luckilly, we knew a couple of people who had a little knowledge and we have gotten by.

Had a scare the last couple of days though as we had what turned out to be some whitespot/velvet infection, plus a little fin-rot. We got a local guy round who runs a small aquatics business who has put us right. I did read stuff in the forum and probably would have done the right thing but I thought it well to get an expert to come around and give us his opinion.

Anyway, I digress. Thought I'd share with you what fish we have inherited and added over the past couple of months.

Tank 1 - 35galls [correction, 44galls UK]
3 x Tin-Foils, 8"
6 x Pictus Cats, 5" to 6"
4 x Color Tetras, 1.5" (at least I think they are, guy today called them Barbs)

This tank originally also had 1 x Leopard Loach (6") and a Skunk Loach (2") which we have since moved into ..

Tank 2 - 35galls (Community Tank) [correction, 44galls UK]
3 existing Neon's (about 1 to 1.5")
14 New Neon's, about 3/4" now.
2 x Black Molly's (m/f), 2"
2 x Silver Molly's (m/f), 2"
3 x Angel Fish, 1.5"
1 x Clown Loach (5", was in here when we moved in)
3 x Clown Loach (new, 2")
1 x Leopard Loach, 6" (see above)
1 x Skunk Loach, 2" (see above)
6 x Sunset Platty's, 2" (3m/3f)

I think our problems came with the 3 x new Clowns, I know (now) that any new fish should go into quarentine first but at the time I thought the quarentine done at our local LFS (which is v.large + well established) was sufficient.

back to the Tank. The Silver Molly is heavilly pregnant and having read up on this have now bought a floating breeder unit, not sure how we'll do with it but we can but try. Also, all 3 platty's are pregnant, once of them quite heavilly by the look of it.

So, it's been a bit of a bewildering time for us, I hope we've sorted our infection problems out (we've used Protazin, first application this afternoon).

I'll no doubt be popping up from time to time to ask questions and seek advice.

M.

 

[Maxx]

Just a bit of extra/updated info :

I recall on Protazin container it had a formula for measuring actual tank capacity. Using that it appears that the tanks are both around 44 galls.

The fish with the problems are, all the Clown Loaches, one of the smaller ones in particular seems quite poorly, also, the big fella that has been there since we inherited the tank is well below par and quite powdery. The LFS guy did say that he felt they would all recover as he has seen much worse recover, so hopefully they will. We also have 1 x Angel Fish with it as well, quite powdery all over the fins but still quite active and generally looks reasonable.

Perhaps I might also pose a small question here as well, perhaps it should go in the breeding section but I'll ask it for now and post there if need be.

As I said, I have a Silver Molley and a Sunset Platty which appear to be heavilly pregnant. The LFS guy said they are very close, also I know from reading the breeding forum. They are both quite "big" and starting to look a little square, both have visible "dark" areas, esp the Platty.

We bought a floating breeder box which has 2 x compartments with "drop-down safety chambers" for the fry. It's difficult to know when to put the mothers in the top chambers as they are quite small (about 6" x 4" x 4") and I don't want to stress them too much. We did manage to catch the Molly and she has been in there now for a couple of hours and looks a little agitated (also, she is "poo'ing for England"). The Platty is prooving more difficult to catch.

We felt the Molly was close a couple of days ago and used a breeder net "safety net" type thing and left her in it overnight then let her out. My feeling was, to reduce stress, it might be better to aclimatise her to the net, should I perhaps do the same with the breeder box? i.e. let her out soon, then pop her back in tomorrow for a few more hours, is this likely to be MORE stressful? are they any more likely to give birth IN the box than out, or vice-versa?

Guess we'll find out soon enough.

M.

 

[Rusty_S]

Hi Maxx, phew that's a lot to take in, looks like you've got a couple of nice setups there It'll be a nice challenge getting into the hobby, but once you've had fish, you never go back

Have fun with the molly when she gives birth

 

[Maxx]

Oops, seems my 2nd post was dup'd here - don't seem to be able to delete so edited it to this.

 

[Maxx]

I posted some pics of the tanks and some of the fish in the "Member's Aquarium and Fish Pictures" forum here :
http/fish.orbust.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=45950

M.

 

[havoc_crazy]

wow... good luck with your tanks i myself havent seen too many cases where that many fish came with the house

 

[Nina7777]

 

[Tropicana Man]

Good day to ya......Enjoy the forum!