New To The Fourm, Trying To Get Better At This

[aidas_fish_tank]

hey we have a 20gal tank
red gravel
bio wheel
tetra heater
a few things in there
i have a black and orange molly-mick
2 zerbra
2 big eye goldfish-neo and guppy
1 fish that i dont know-sophie
oh also a huge alge fish-known as star

i fieed my gold fish oranges
and tropical flakes
plus the gold fish flakes

i noticed that my tank gets dirty alot

can some one tell me the safe way to clean a tank
and do you really put salt in a tank? 1tsp per gal?!

i had my ph/nitrate checked at the store last week, and there was nothing
well everything was on track
he said as long as i clean my tank weekly we would be fine
so i did a cleaning sunday, and the water turn murky
so i checked the internet, and did it agin today and its clear

friday
i am getting another molly and a nother zebra
how many mollys do you half to have in your tank if you got a male

i would like to know how much salt is needed
what to feed them right
how to clean it right

heres some pics i took today

 

[fry_lover]

Hi Welcome to the forum!

Did your fish shop tell you its okay to put Goldfish in a tropical tank?

Goldfish are cold-water fish by the way, i would advise you to have a think about what fish you want to keep, tropical or coldwater and take it from there, no point giving your fish uneccessary stress!!!

The platy looks nice

 

[5teady_2012]

Im no goldfish expert but, should they be in a heated tank? i thought they was cold water fish...

Having guppies your temp should be around 26 deg, i dont think goldfish should be in there personally

ps, welcome to the forum

 

[st24rsap]

id clean the tank at least once a week. vacum the gravel, clean the glass and do a 25% ish water change.

The goldfish and plec make a lot of mess so you need to keep ontop of water changes and cleaning to keep good water quality.

one thing i will say is that your plec looks like a common, which will get very big and is probably too big for your tank.

i would also recomend buying your own liquid test kit for checking the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels

 

[5teady_2012]

A quick comment about the salt, it should be 1 rounded tablespoon per 19ltrs (5 U.S gallons)..

You dont really need salt though...


1 male to every 2-3 females... is another thing u asked

How did you cycle your tank...

If you just added water and waited a week and then took your water to be tested in to the petstore, they would be no readings of ammonia and nitrite as the cycle would not have even started (this is a common error petshops make) they tell you to leave your tank a week but forget to tell you that you have to cycle the bloody thing lol.

 

[aidas_fish_tank]

i was told it was ok to add the goldfish

i am adding two mollys to the the tank soon
and getting a bigger tank asap

the bio wheel, helps out alot
keeps the nitrates out

(or did i read that wrong)

i do two 50% water changes a week
add stress coat and somthing esle to the water

ive never drained the tank dry and cleaned it

as far as i know my gold fish love it in there..they eat oranges and flakes

so i dont really need salt then?

 

[5teady_2012]

i was told it was ok to add the goldfish

I think this was bad info

i am adding two mollys to the the tank soon
and getting a bigger tank asap

the bio wheel, helps out alot
keeps the nitrates out

(or did i read that wrong)

i do two 50% water changes a week
add stress coat and somthing esle to the water

You only really need to do 20-30% once a week

ive never drained the tank dry and cleaned it

as far as i know my gold fish love it in there..they eat oranges and flakes

so i dont really need salt then?

Mollies do like salt but i dont think its worth using it for two or three mollies (plecos dont like salt)

Please anyone correct me if my info is a bit off

 

[fry_lover]

i dont necessarily disagree with you Steady, but its actually nice to see the guy doing so much water changes, if he conditions it which it sounds like he does for chlorine etc, then i think its okay what he's doing (maybe lower it to 30% rather than 50% if doing twice weekly). If once a week, if water is treated, 50% if fine in my opinion and experience. With those fish in there, it's probably a good thing he's doing quite a few water changes.



i imagine the goldfish will eat the smaller tropicals when it gets bigger anyway and eventally it'll be a cold water tank + a pleco.

 

[5teady_2012]

i dont necessarily disagree with you Steady, but its actually nice to see the guy doing so much water changes, if he conditions it which it sounds like he does for chlorine etc, then i think its okay what he's doing (maybe lower it to 30% rather than 50% if doing twice weekly). If once a week, if water is treated, 50% if fine in my opinion and experience. With those fish in there, it's probably a good thing he's doing quite a few water changes.

Yeah i agree wtih you... i actually do 2 waterchanges on one of my tanks every week as its slightly overstocked...

2 50% changes though is just wasting conditioner and probably unecessary work being done.. i dont really think its wrong, just not really needed

 

[fry_lover]

agreed on the salt issue 5teady, no point adding salt just to suit one type of fish in a tank

aidas_fish_tank, why dont you have a think about just starting again with your stocking and doing some research, or keeping some and re-homing others?

i dont mean to come down on you, i just think your chances of really enjoying the hobby might (but i cant say for sure) be reduced with the choices you have ended up making here with your fish stock.

 

[aidas_fish_tank]

i imagine the goldfish will eat the smaller tropicals when it gets bigger anyway and eventally it'll be a cold water tank + a pleco.

what!?

so is it bad for a gold fish to be in a heated tank

i bet when i get female molleys its gonna be infested
we hada molly born in the tank, and he was going on 4months till yesterday when he got nosy and got sucked in the filter

so everything i am doing, i am doing right so far right?

i was told by petsmart, that everything so far is right

so cut down on my water changes, check the water more

ive had the gold fish for 3weeks...doing great
the molly for 4weeks
the two zebras, guppy, and the alge eater for 6months plus
all bought from petsmart
so i thought i was told all the right information

 

[5teady_2012]

i imagine the goldfish will eat the smaller tropicals when it gets bigger anyway and eventally it'll be a cold water tank + a pleco.

what!?

so is it bad for a gold fish to be in a heated tank

i bet when i get female molleys its gonna be infested
we hada molly born in the tank, and he was going on 4months till yesterday when he got nosy and got sucked in the filter

so everything i am doing, i am doing right so far right?

i was told by petsmart, that everything so far is right

so cut down on my water changes, check the water more

ive had the gold fish for 3weeks...doing great
the molly for 4weeks
the two zebras, guppy, and the alge eater for 6months plus
all bought from petsmart
so i thought i was told all the right information

Petsmart are a dumb as they come.. (no offence to anyuone intended ) i really want o go on a petsmart ass kicking spree

The goldfish should not be in there at all..

Yeah you can cut down to 1 x 20-30% waterchange a week.

 

[aidas_fish_tank]

i dunno
they did recromend the right food
the right filter-bio wheel
and i havent had problems with 4 of my fish from them
mollys are bit of a pain fish
so im gonna keep it going, and prob get a 40-60 gal tank here soon
i am gonna add a live plant to this tank and see what that does

 

[aidas_fish_tank]

http/www.fishforums.net/content/Goldfish...-Moor-Goldfish/
says that goldfish can live in 72* water
about what my tank is

 

[LolaLouie]

1. Petsmart did not recommend the right food as fish do not like just having flake and suffer from it, they need a variety e.g. live and frozen food, veg and dried food.

2. Petsmart definitely did not recommend the right stocking since you have mixed coldwater and tropical fish and also that tank is way to small for a common pleco.

3. Petsmart are idiots and should be banned from stocking fish.

4. Well done for making sure you maintain the tank well by doing large water changes.

Maybe, as you said you were getting a bigger tank anyway, you should keep the one you have for the goldfish and then start a larger tank for tropical fish.

Anyway good luck with it all, just don't listen to a word petsmart say to you and do lots of research and you'll do fine

p.s do fish eat oranges?!?!?