New Tank 7 Fish

[krazie2004]

Hi i have just discovered these forums and find them great!

I was looking for someone to help me. I got a relatively new tank that is about 4 weeks old, Tank is a fluval duo deep 800 i think its 120 litre about 31USG, i got 3 mollies, 2 white sailfin and 1 black molly after 3 days of turning my filter on. i know i shouldn't have but i admit i didnt do my research, 1 week later i got my water tested again at my local aquarium and ammonia was 0 but nitrite was slightly high, the guy at the aquarium said it would be ok and so sold me some more fish, 2 silver tip tetras and 2 platys.

Well its been two more weeks since then and all fish are still alive in the tank. i feed them once every other day. last week i got my water tested again and the ammonia crept up along with the nitrite, so they reccomended i used bactinettes and come back i a few days.

I got my water tested today again and all was good, but i didn't want to get any more fish as i have read these forums and the dangers with adding too many fish too soon.

To the point, is it ok for me to get more fish? am i doing anything wrong? i am a newbie at this and any help will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[AndyOleszczuk]

Hi Krazie, welcome to the forum. Did you cycle the tank first ?.

 

[mommyof2bettas]

1 tetras need to be in groups of 6 or more
2 you NEED to cycle your tank
3 the fish are still alive but they are probably under stress and might get ammonia burns.
4 you shouldn't trust fish shops right away, they usually just want to make money and don't care about your fish.
5 do not get anymore fish until your tank cycles, and if you can, rehome them.
I hope this helped just thought it would be easier to write it in a list

 

[krazie2004]

Hi Krazie, welcome to the forum. Did you cycle the tank first ?.

No my tank wasn't cycled, it was just left on for about 3 days, then i did a 25% water change and got the 3 mollies. and also to add i added bacteria suppliment on the first day.

 

[krazie2004]

1 tetras need to be in groups of 6 or more
2 you NEED to cycle your tank
3 the fish are still alive but they are probably under stress and might get ammonia burns.
4 you shouldn't trust fish shops right away, they usually just want to make money and don't care about your fish.
5 do not get anymore fish until your tank cycles, and if you can, rehome them.
I hope this helped just thought it would be easier to write it in a list

Thanks for the advice, but i test my water almost daily ( the aquarium tests it for me, i will buy my own tomorrow) and have never had any ammonia spikes (well at the time tested) and one of my platys is pregnant, which has confused me because i was told that fish only breed when they are not stressed. lol.
I didn't know that tetras need to be in groups, i will re-house them, i know a friend who has about 5 tetras.

I think the shop is ok, because they wouldnt sell fish to my mate becuase he had slightly high ammonia, they told him to com back in a week. lol.

i know im impatient but surely my water should have cycled by now? especially with fish living and breeding in it right?

 

[DarkEntity]

It can take up to and in some cases 4 weeks or more to cycle a tank.

 

[ghostchoir]

Cycling isn't a fast process. Mine ended up taking 6 weeks. I wouldn't ask advice from that fish store anymore either, they clearly sold you a lot more than your tank could cope despite seeing the levels.

 

[ghostchoir]

Cycling isn't a fast process. Mine ended up taking 6 weeks. I wouldn't ask advice from that fish store anymore either, they clearly sold you a lot more than your tank could cope despite seeing the levels.

 

[krazie2004]

Hey thanks for the advice guys and gals , how do i know when my tank has finally cycled? i will buy a test kit of my own tomorrow so i will be able to test everyday from now on.

 

[mommyof2bettas]

your ammonia and nitite will be at 0, and your nitrate will be at about 10.

 

[krazie2004]

your ammonia and nitite will be at 0, and your nitrate will be at about 10.

ok thanks, will keep you posted on what happens tomorrow.

 

[honneebee]

Even though your platy is pregnant, you probably will not get any fry from it. If platy's are stressed they will abort their pregnancies and you wouldn't even know. In order for livebearers to give birth they need to have perfect water conditions. They will mate in less than perfect conditions but the chances of them giving birth in them is slim at best. Your tank needs to be cycled and has to have the right PH. Just so you know, platy's as well as other fish will eat the fry. So you will need to get some breeding equipment or a nursery tank ( that also needs to be cycled) if you plan on sucessfully breeding platy's or other livebearers.

Cheers

 

[gsta13]

Even though your platy is pregnant, you probably will not get any fry from it. If platy's are stressed they will abort their pregnancies and you wouldn't even know. In order for livebearers to give birth they need to have perfect water conditions. They will mate in less than perfect conditions but the chances of them giving birth in them is slim at best. Your tank needs to be cycled and has to have the right PH. Just so you know, platy's as well as other fish will eat the fry. So you will need to get some breeding equipment or a nursery tank ( that also needs to be cycled) if you plan on sucessfully breeding platy's or other livebearers.

Cheers

Hey mate welcome to the forums,

first off [topic="http/www.fishforums.net/Fishless-Cycling-t113861.html"]here[/topic]
a link on how to cycle a tank.
And a few other pointers, if you can move your fish do, if not i wouldnt worry to much, not everyone has the resource to do so. Now the fish willbe stressed if the tank isnt cycled (which it probly wont be ) However its not true that livebearers need perfect water conditions, so if you do get som babies its not a sign that everything is ok And soon u will have alot of babies, a good way to reduce there numbr is t not feed the other fish for a day or two. This hobby isnt as daunting as alot of people make it out to be, dont worry about getting nursery tanks set up just yet! But and its a BIG BUT, have a read around at stuff search the forums for a day or two, before making any other decisions. One more thing budd, ask the fish shop that test your water for the exact numbers of the readings, write em down, hell even put em in a graph see how your tank is cycling, plus if u ask for numbers every time, they will respect you a litle more as a keeper bcause they think you know your stuff!
Anyway Peace out, and good luck
Greg

 

[krazie2004]

Hey mate welcome to the forums,

first off [topic="http/www.fishforums.net/Fishless-Cycling-t113861.html"]here[/topic]
a link on how to cycle a tank.
And a few other pointers, if you can move your fish do, if not i wouldnt worry to much, not everyone has the resource to do so. Now the fish willbe stressed if the tank isnt cycled (which it probly wont be ) However its not true that livebearers need perfect water conditions, so if you do get som babies its not a sign that everything is ok And soon u will have alot of babies, a good way to reduce there numbr is t not feed the other fish for a day or two. This hobby isnt as daunting as alot of people make it out to be, dont worry about getting nursery tanks set up just yet! But and its a BIG BUT, have a read around at stuff search the forums for a day or two, before making any other decisions. One more thing budd, ask the fish shop that test your water for the exact numbers of the readings, write em down, hell even put em in a graph see how your tank is cycling, plus if u ask for numbers every time, they will respect you a litle more as a keeper bcause they think you know your stuff!
Anyway Peace out, and good luck
Greg
[/quote]

Thanks for the pointer mate, will do some hardcore research now! lol.

 

[krazie2004]

Hi guys, just to keep you informed of what happened.

My water was tested 2 days ago (btw this tank already had 7 fish in it for 4 weeks)
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10

Well my sister went out today without me knowing and bout some more fish . the fish which she bought were:

2 x Serpae tetra
2 x ram cichlid (although thats what i think they are)

Before i got home she had introduced them to the tank and they were swimming around. The reason why i didnt take the fish back was because i believe by now that the tank has cycled, been 4 weeks since the introduction of fish.

Test results at 14 hours after new fish added today:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0.3 (tested twice to make sure)
Nitrate: ~15/20

I will proberbly test tomorrow again and do a 25% water change aswel.

So now i have:
2 x White molly
1 x Black molly
2 x Platy
2 x Silver tip tetra
2 x Serpae tetra
2 x Ram cichlid

Is this ok now? From now on i will test my water everyday. Are these fish okay?