My Aquarium Is An Epic Failure!

[mizzdance33]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum but I'm hoping you can help me out!

I have a 10 gallon aquarium.. with a heater and aquarium salt and all that stuff..

I started out with one african dwarf frog, one male Balloon Belly Molly.. and one female Red Swordtail. One day I came home from school only to find that the Molly had EATEN the swordtail.

So I went back to the petstore and they said to get another male Balloon Belly Molly, aswell as a pair of Powder Blue Guaramis (spelling may be off). So I did.. and when I brought them home the first Molly started nipping at all the fish! So I decided he needed to go.. and we took him out of the tank.

The remaining three fish were fine for the last few days and just today I noticed that the NEW Molly is nipping at the tails of the Guaramis... and the Guaramis are fighting like crazy! I don't know what to do.. I don't want to come home to three dead fish tomorrow.

Also, my little frog.. doesn't eat? Atleast not that I see... I put in freeze dried bloodworms for him but he just floats around and ignores them. How can I take better care of the frog? (The people at Petsmart are NOT very helpful) PS. Does the frog need something to float around on?

Ok, so there's my aquarium sob story for you! HELP!
Thanks,
Laura

 

[smegforbrains]

Your tank is way too small for Gouramis - you need a tank at least twice the size in all dimensions.


Take them back ASAP before you have more dead fish on your hands and find another LFS.

 

[minxfishy]

Hi and welcome, can I ask how was the tank cycled, are you cycling with the fish in the water or did you perform a fishless cycle with a source of ammonia? If you are cycling with the fish in the tank, there aggressive could be due to the ammonia and nitrIte levels in the tank, it will make them very stressed and will cause them to fight amongst themselves. Please take a look at the links in my signature (above the fish picture) to read up on tank cycling and what it means for your fish.

As already mentioned, the gouramis do need a larger tank, especially for two males (which I assume they are), they can be territorial fish with their own kind and in a tank that small, space is an issue for them.

Mollies also require a small amount of aquarium salt, however the other fish dont, they can live without it but they prefer slightly brackish water to thrive.

Have a good read thru those links or go to the 'New to the hobby' part of the forum and read the pinned topics to give yourself a better idea of what could be happening in your tank and if you can, get the water tested or invest in a good quality liquid based test kit so you can test the water youself.

 

[mizzdance33]

Thank you for the advice!
I'm not going to go back to that petstore.. because they clearly don't know what they're talking about! Umm.. still not sure what you mean by aquarium cycling.. so I'm going to read those links now.

(I'm only 16.. and I just wanted one fish lol.. but somehow I've gotten into this confusing tropical community thing)
Any suggestions about my frog??

Thanks again!
laura

 

[minxfishy]

It can be confusing when you 1st start out, especially as the petstores will not inform you about cycling a tank, they usually advise to put the water in, turn the filter/heater on and leave it standing for a few days before adding fish, unfortunately that does nothing to get the tank ready for fish. Have a good read of those links, hopefully they will help you understand more what we mean by cycling the tank, if you have any questions afterwards, please dont hesitate to ask for help, everybody here will be happy to help advise you on making your tank a good environment for your fish and keep your fish happy and healthy

With regards to the frog, have you tried putting the food directly in front of him? I know its not easy with fish about as they usually rush to top and eat everything, other people have used small tubes to place the end by the frogs mouth (or thereabouts) and then drop the food down directly to them.

 

[mizzdance33]

It can be confusing when you 1st start out, especially as the petstores will not inform you about cycling a tank, they usually advise to put the water in, turn the filter/heater on and leave it standing for a few days before adding fish, unfortunately that does nothing to get the tank ready for fish. Have a good read of those links, hopefully they will help you understand more what we mean by cycling the tank, if you have any questions afterwards, please dont hesitate to ask for help, everybody here will be happy to help advise you on making your tank a good environment for your fish and keep your fish happy and healthy

With regards to the frog, have you tried putting the food directly in front of him? I know its not easy with fish about as they usually rush to top and eat everything, other people have used small tubes to place the end by the frogs mouth (or thereabouts) and then drop the food down directly to them.

Yes, I drop the worms right infront of him but he completely ignores them. He either hides in behind the filter or he floats around.. I'm worried that I'm doing something wrong?? The pet store didn't give me ANY information about them!

 

[rdd1952]

Basically, cycling is the process of building up a colony of nitrifying bacteria that process the ammonia from fish waste.There should never be a readable level of ammonia or nitrite in your tank. It takes a few weeks for the bacteria to develop. While that is going in, you have to keep and eye on the water stats (ammonia and nitrite in particular) and do water changes to keep them low (.25 ppm or lower). Have a read if this thread about cycling with fish.

As for the ADF, although I've never kept them, I would think they would be sensative to the aquarium salt. While it's true that mollys prefer brackish water or water with at least some salt, freshwater fish and inverts don't need salt. Actually, in the long run, it's not good for them.

 

[Darkerwhite2]

I agree with all of the above posts, And they have pointed you in the right direction in terms of your tank. Now ill try to do the same about your frog. I have kept a couple of these guys, i really enjoy them and hope to get some more in the near future. My experience with the feeding of these little guys is that they seem to be hard of seeing. I don't think he's ignoring your food he just might not know its there. My suggestion is to use either your finger or tweezers to put the food right in front of his face and wiggle just a little so that he will notice it more. When he lunges if he lunges and gets the food release and let him enjoy.

As for needing an object to sit on. You do not need anything the frogs will swim up to tank if they require a breath. Actually this is one of the reasons they are so cool always darting up and down from top to bottom. Sometimes they will float themselves in a corner for hours just chilling, other time they will dart up get a gulp and then slowly float down similar to the way a sheet of paper will float swaying back and forth on its way down. A cool sight it is.

Hope that helps in terms of the frog, Welcome to the wet world of aquariums and take your time reading those threads the people above mentioned it will help you out tons in the future.

Good luck