New To Fish - Glofish Tank

[eduller]

Hi all,
 
I've browsed the good advice here over the past couple of weeks, but I think it's time to say hello, thanks, and see if I'm doing everything I need to do.
 
I'll admit it - I knew nothing about fish when we got this tank recently. My 3 year old wanted a fish. I didn't like the idea of a fish in a bowl, so I got a 5.5 gallon starter kit, some decorations, and went for it. Obviously I'm aware that this is really MY fish tank and my 3 year old will lose interest in about 10 minutes

 
Knowing nothing, I didn't know you shouldn't just add fish to a new tank. I did dechlorinate the water ahead of time. I got 5 glofish and 2 golden apple snails - actually, I realized when they were in the tank that it was 4 glofish and one regular leopard dania. One of the fish didn't survive the first day. I noticed another of the fish had a funky tail after we got them in the tank - I think it was just a mutant. It didn't look eaten, it was just stumpy. That fish lived about a week, but it wasn't a good swimmer and I think the competition for food was too much. The snails are fine and the remaining 3 fish are bright, lively, and seem to be doing well. I've had the tank about 3 weeks. I had some trouble with overfeeding and had to really clean the gravel and do a lot of water changes (doing about a gallon at a time). The water was kind of stinky, although I have been testing every other day and none of the levels were too outrageous. 
 
I just really want to check and be sure I'm doing everything I should be doing to keep these animals healthy. I've read that glofish like to live in schools of at least 5, so I'd like to get 2 more fish but I'm not sure if I should wait until the tank settles down or what. The largest fish (orange glofish name of Grandma) is kind of a bully and has started chasing the other fish around. It's not dramatically larger than the other fish. Barely bigger. I have no idea if that makes any difference in behavior. I'm thinking this is because there aren't enough fish to "school?" The bully fish doesn't bother the snails at all.
 
Here's the setup - 3 glofish, 2 snails, 5.5 gallon tank with a filter, heater (water hovers around 75), and I recently installed an airstone/tube which is bubbling very happily and runs the length of the tank. I have 5lbs of gravel, a couple of plastic plants and other decor and a couple of seashells from our recent trip to Florida. I've been still changing out a gallon of water every other day. I use Safestart (?) bacteria with each water change. I now feed the fish a small pinch of tropical fish food (the color enhancing one) in the morning and I do a pinch of dried bloodworms every other evening. I drop 1/4 of an algae pellet in for the snails every evening, and I sometimes drop them a piece of cucumber. The snails are developing a coating of green algae on their shells - I was considering getting a couple of shrimp to help with this? I did also just buy a cuttlebone for the snails for calcium - I'm not sure if I should just drop this into the tank or suspend it or what? The water is clear and there doesn't seem to be a buildup of gunk on any of the decorations, but the water has a very faint sulphur smell - which was very STRONG when I realized I had been overfeeding the fish. It's much better now but still not totally odorless.
 
I didn't realize that 5 gallons was not really an adequate tank size when I purchased the kit, but it will have to make do until I can find a cheap larger tank on Craigslist. 
 
 

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi there, eduller, welcome to the forum

First of all, what are you using to test the water and what results for ammonia and nitrite are you getting? You really need to be testing every day so you can do enough water changes to stop both of those toxins getting to over 0.25ppm.

Zebra danios can be very nippy in a shoal that's too small, but I don't recommend you get any more until you get a larger tank. I would strongly recommend you look for a tank that's at least two feet in length, and preferably three, as zebras are a very active fish that deserve a decent amount of swimming room.

I wouldn't worry about the algae on the snail's shells; that's most probably just a consequence of being in an uncycled, small tank tank. Small tanks are very much harder to keep stable than larger ones. Don't add any shrimps to the tank; they are very much more sensitive to toxins, like ammonia and nitrite, than fish are, so you need a properly cycled, stable tank before you can think of adding them.

If you have a look in our 'Cycle Your Tank' subforum, you'll find a lot of useful information in there

 

[FlyingSquid]

Just let it cycle. Don't add any new fish for a while. Otherwise enjoy the hobby, it's great.

 

[allydawn17]

The reason the one glofish is becoming more aggressive is because the school is too small, and it should be okay once you add more fish. What are your ammonia and nitrate readings? When your tank is done cycling, you can add a couple more fish. This tank is pretty small for glofish though, I'd recommend upgrading to a 10 gallon sometime in the future, when they get a bit bigger

 

[eduller]

Thanks for the responses. I am using the API 5 in one test strips and the API ammonia tests. I just tested, and the nitrate levels are between 0 and .2 and the ammonia is 1.

Is a 10 gallon tank sufficient to keep one small school of danios and a couple of snails happy long term? I believe the snails are the same sex because there haven't been any eggs (though they may be gay because they are constantly crawling on each other). And glofish are sterilized I believe for patent reasons? I never considered myself to be a "fish person" but now I am committed to this and certainly want the little guys to have a happy and healthy tank. I don't have a ton of space to put a large tank, but it looks like the footprint of the 10 gallon starter tank isn't dramatically larger so it will fit in the same spot. Although I better make sure that shelf can support 80 lbs of water plus the tank weight...

 

[eduller]

Ooh last question. Are there any fish that do well in a 5 gallon tank? If I were to get a new 10 gallon to replace this one and put the small one in my daughter's room (out of her reach). She does really like the snails. Can you do a snail only tank?

 

[Fishmanic]

what are you using to dechlorinate the water?   If you're using seachem prime,  you may be over treating the tank.  Seachem Prime has sulfphur in it and you can smell it.

 

[allydawn17]

Ooh last question. Are there any fish that do well in a 5 gallon tank? If I were to get a new 10 gallon to replace this one and put the small one in my daughter's room (out of her reach). She does really like the snails. Can you do a snail only tank?

An all snail tank is perfectly fine, or you could have a betta fish (in addition to the snails). Bettas are really the only fish i could recommend for a 5 gallon. Also, your ammonia readings are pretty high, you should do a water change. Basically whenever readings are above 0.25 you need to do a water change, at least 25%.

 

[FlyingSquid]

YOUR SNAILS DOE XD
 
You're doing a great job btw for your first tank. Congrats on your new tank

 

[eduller]

Thank you again everyone
 
I'm definitely going to get a larger tank -- now the question of the day is: should I switch to the new tank right away? Wait for the old tank to fully cycle first? Do a fishless cycle in the new tank before moving them over?
 
To answer a previous question, I've been using API tap water conditioner at 1 drop per gallon.
 
I did a 1.5 gallon water change which fixed the ammonia levels for now. It was pretty much 0 this morning, but I'll keep testing daily. I got a new test that tests for nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia in one which should be helpful.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Here is a link that might give you ideas for what is suitable for a 5 gal tank if you do get a larger tank for your glofish/danios.
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/418749-nano-fish/

 

[eduller]

Oh! I just saw the link. Thank you very much - that's very helpful!

 

[TallTree01]

Thank you again everyone
 
I'm definitely going to get a larger tank -- now the question of the day is: should I switch to the new tank right away? Wait for the old tank to fully cycle first? Do a fishless cycle in the new tank before moving them over?
 
To answer a previous question, I've been using API tap water conditioner at 1 drop per gallon.
 
I did a 1.5 gallon water change which fixed the ammonia levels for now. It was pretty much 0 this morning, but I'll keep testing daily. I got a new test that tests for nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia in one which should be helpful.

I'd put the new fish in straight away. See, the ammonia and nitrite ( poisonous t o fish ) will be more diluted in a bigger tank than a smaller one so the water will be cleaner. This doesn't mean you can slack off on the water changes though. I'd reccomend one 50% every 2-3 days til your tank is cycled. ( might take about a month )

Don't add any more fish to you new tank. This will just make more ammonia and nitrite from increased waste levels which is not good.

You'd want to be doing water changes on the snail tank as well. The same sorta thingas the new tank: a 50% water change every 2-3 days.

For the new tank a preferable size would be about 30 gallons or bigger. Bigger would be better of course.

Another thing is, those aquarium test strips aren't the best I found mine were giving different results to the API water test kit which uses drops. The one with drops is generally found to be more accurate. You can find a api master aquarium kit at most fish shops for around 60$.

Good luck with your tank/s!