Need Advice 2 Fish Dead Already!

[kelvinrankin767]

So to start off my tank was cycled for 2 weeks with no fish, Then i put a catfish (removed bacause was getting quite big) and a corydora in the tank and they were doing well so i decided to add some more fish so i added

7 Guppie's
4 Sordtail's (2 male 2 female)
3 Corydoras
2 Glowlight tetra

So the problem i had and am still having now is my two female Swordtails have died because one of the male Swordtails attacked them and caused them so much stress all the females done was hide behind the filter because the male was harresing them so much, He is now attacking the other male who probally wont be here much longer, If i would of added more females would this of not happened like if i bought 2 male swordtails and added 5-6 females would there be no problems? Because i am wondering if i want to get any more swordtails or will this male keep atacking them?

All other fish are doing excelent and are eating, swimming and looking well, Water quality is very clear, I plan to buy another 10 glowlight tetras because the shopkeeper actindently caught 2 when she was catching the cory's, Also plan to buy more guppies about 5 more females bacuse there are 5 males and 2 females but the thing is there is no fighting betweent them i have been watching them since i got them and they all get on relly well, And am also going to buy about 4-5 more albino corys i relly love them

 

[fishnovice]

So to start off my tank was cycled for 2 weeks with no fish, Then i put a catfish (removed bacause was getting quite big) and a corydora in the tank and they were doing well so i decided to add some more fish so i added

7 Guppie's
4 Sordtail's (2 male 2 female)
3 Corydoras
2 Glowlight tetra

So the problem i had and am still having now is my two female Swordtails have died because one of the male Swordtails attacked them and caused them so much stress all the females done was hide behind the filter because the male was harresing them so much, He is now attacking the other male who probally wont be here much longer, If i would of added more females would this of not happened like if i bought 2 male swordtails and added 5-6 females would there be no problems? Because i am wondering if i want to get any more swordtails or will this male keep atacking them?

All other fish are doing excelent and are eating, swimming and looking well, Water quality is very clear, I plan to buy another 10 glowlight tetras because the shopkeeper actindently caught 2 when she was catching the cory's, Also plan to buy more guppies about 5 more females bacuse there are 5 males and 2 females but the thing is there is no fighting betweent them i have been watching them since i got them and they all get on relly well, And am also going to buy about 4-5 more albino corys i relly love them

With livebearers you generally need to have more females than males to stop the males hassling them to death as you sadly discovered. So yes do get more female guppies and 4 female swords. You should also increase cory numbers to at least 4-5 of each species as thye like to school with their own kind though this would probably result in overstocking so perhaps it's best to decide on and stick to one kind of cory.

 

[kizno1]

You need atleast 1male to every female with livebearers. The corys and the glowlight tetra need to be upped to atleast 4 but 6 would be better. Where are you i have 6 glowlight tetra and 5 pepper corys im going to try and sell.

 

[Gilli]

Your swordtails are the least of your worries - your tank is not cycled at all!!! For goodness sake dont add any more fish or you will loose the lot! A tank does not cycle in 2 weeks ! Did you cycle it with ammonia? Even with fish in it takes at least 6-8 weeks and even then you cant add as many fish as you have in such a short period of time. Even in a cycled tank you have to add more stock very gradually over a period of a few weeks or the bacteria wont keep up with the bio load you are heaping on it.

You say your water quality is very clear but it will not be good - your ammonia and nitrates will be off the scale and this will slowly kill the fish! Buy yourself an API freshwater liquid water testing kit if you dont have one and get testing asap!

Have you checked your stocking size for your tank? You already have around 42" of fish (when fully grown) so you wont be able to add that much more

Start doing large immediate water changes and read this thread on cycling a tank with fish in!

Cycling and how to avoid New Tank Syndrome

 

[kelvinrankin767]

Your swordtails are the least of your worries - your tank is not cycled at all!!! For goodness sake dont add any more fish or you will loose the lot! A tank does not cycle in 2 weeks ! Did you cycle it with ammonia? Even with fish in it takes at least 6-8 weeks and even then you cant add as many fish as you have in such a short period of time. Even in a cycled tank you have to add more stock very gradually over a period of a few weeks or the bacteria wont keep up with the bio load you are heaping on it.

You say your water quality is very clear but it will not be good - your ammonia and nitrates will be off the scale and this will slowly kill the fish! Buy yourself an API freshwater liquid water testing kit if you dont have one and get testing asap!

Have you checked your stocking size for your tank? You already have around 42" of fish (when fully grown) so you wont be able to add that much more

Start doing large immediate water changes and read this thread on cycling a tank with fish in!

Cycling and how to avoid New Tank Syndrome

I have done this several times and its called a fish in cycle and as long as i test the water every day and make regular water changes untill the water has balcened out i will be fine i put a mature filter, sand from another tank and all the ornments are from the other tank so the tank is just about done its cycle and the fish are very healthy and happy will try to get pics but very bad camera BTW update i took out the aggresive male swordtail and the other male swordtail is doin much better now

 

[kelvinrankin767]

You need atleast 1male to every female with livebearers. The corys and the glowlight tetra need to be upped to atleast 4 but 6 would be better. Where are you i have 6 glowlight tetra and 5 pepper corys im going to try and sell.

yea i plan to add another 10 glowlight tetras and 4-5 more albino corys So that would make a total of 7-8 Tank size is not a issue when the fish get bigger i will just buy a bigger tank simple as that, I know they need to be in a group and would not get any if i was only going to get 2-3 same as glowlights, I live in northern ireland Londonderry so if in the area i would be intrested in buying, How big are the fish and are they in good health and disease free.

 

[kizno1]

You need atleast 1male to every female with livebearers. The corys and the glowlight tetra need to be upped to atleast 4 but 6 would be better. Where are you i have 6 glowlight tetra and 5 pepper corys im going to try and sell.

yea i plan to add another 10 glowlight tetras and 4-5 more albino corys So that would make a total of 7-8 Tank size is not a issue when the fish get bigger i will just buy a bigger tank simple as that, I know they need to be in a group and would not get any if i was only going to get 2-3 same as glowlights, I live in northern ireland Londonderry so if in the area i would be intrested in buying, How big are the fish and are they in good health and disease free.

There all in perfect conditions but to far im in East Anglia in England.

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

I don't wish to sound daft (though I may, it's 1.37am and I just drove home from Sudbury after playing cards for around 6 hours) but when you say you left your tank empty for 2 weeks, was the mature filter running it at that time? Just curious.
P.

 

[My Buddy As A Shield]

I'm surprised no one has asked this.... or did I miss it?


How big is this tank? Yes, the tank isnt cycled, dont add fish, now you're pretty much stuck cycling with the fish unless you have another system allready set up.

 

[Gilli]

You cant cycle a tank for 2 weeks with no fish in it, the bacteria in a mature filter have nothing to feed on and will die off! You cant just add a load of fish - you need to do this gradually even if the tank is fully mature which yours surely isnt or your readings will be very high. What are your water stats???

 

[kelvinrankin767]

I'm surprised no one has asked this.... or did I miss it?


How big is this tank? Yes, the tank isnt cycled, dont add fish, now you're pretty much stuck cycling with the fish unless you have another system allready set up.

read the title 120 L

I don't wish to sound daft (though I may, it's 1.37am and I just drove home from Sudbury after playing cards for around 6 hours) but when you say you left your tank empty for 2 weeks, was the mature filter running it at that time? Just curious.
P.

yea of course it was

 

[Lawdy Lu]

Ooohhh I'm sorry to hear that you've had to go through this. In my experience, adding the corys, catfish, and a handful of mollies cycled the best (since mollies are poop machines, and all are very hardy aka can handle Ammonia spikes very well). With that may female swords, perhaps the male is going through some stress? If you plan to keep say... less than 7 swords, I would only have one male. The guppies are different as they don't seem to pose a threat to the dominant male sword (although he does lol). The female swords have probably (and this is just my assumption) shown attention to the other male, and so the dominant male has retaliated. I love corys too, little blinky eyes!!!!! Plus, they don't take any grief from other fish, not even the big cichlids. In my opinion, the cory is one fish that is underrated. The albinos also click well with other species of cory as well. I have three albino females, two schultzei males and two chultzei females. They all huddle together and follow one another. Hehe cory males get down in the dumps when there isn't a lot of girls around, but what guy wouldn't? lmao it's just precious.

Well, good luck!!!! I hope all turns out well

Lu

 

[kelvinrankin767]

You cant cycle a tank for 2 weeks with no fish in it, the bacteria in a mature filter have nothing to feed on and will die off! You cant just add a load of fish - you need to do this gradually even if the tank is fully mature which yours surely isnt or your readings will be very high. What are your water stats???

i havent added all the fish i wanted yet did you read my full post i added 2 hardy fish after 2 weeks fishless cycling then a week later i added 7 guppies, 4 swordtails, 3 corys, 2 glowlight tetra's i am planing to buy more on thursday so that will nerly be a month since i first set up

water stats are from tetra test 6 in 1
0.10 NO3
0 NO2
16 GH
6 KH
7.6 PH
0 CL2

 

[OldMan47]

OK, you are using a 6 in one paper test strip for water testing. Placing the 2 fish in the tank may have been a good start to a fish-in cycle but the next weeks huge stocking is not a good move. Please stop adding fish until your tank has a chance to get cycled. When things do settle down, as measured using a liquid type test kit, you could slowly add in a few more swordtail females.

 

[BethK]

As above, stripes are not a reliable source of testing.

Please purchase an API freshwater testmaster kit and please please please do not add any more fish, until your tank is cycled.

Also, you should read the 2 below links, considering that you're in a 'fish-in cycle';

What's cycling
fish-in cycle


Out of interest, what filter are you using?

Tetras aren't the hardy fish that they used to be, if your stats aren't correct, you could see yourself losing a few.

Livebearers should be in a ratio of 1 male to 3 females, the more females the better

Please have a read of 'the livebearers FAQ' for more information.

Remember, we are here to give helpful advice x