Please Help

[jenjen_82]

I also went through the exact same thing ur going through. I've kept fish when i was younger and decided I fancied a tropical tank. Went to the LFS and said I wanted a small tank which was easy to look after and liked the look of a 21 litre tank they had. They told me this tank would hold about 15 small fish such as neons I was like Awww great I'll take that then they told me to leave it a week and then bring a sample in which I did. When I went back they didn't have any fish that I wanted which was neons and a betta so I went pets at home explined my tank etc and bought a betta and 6 neons and a zebra snail. They also told me they would be ok in my tank.

They failed to mention that the smaller the tank the harder to keep!

Within a day I had 2 neons left and my betta which was behaving very strangely not swimming or eating and constantly sitting on my heater. I went back to pets at home with another sample of water and explained what had happened and what my betta was doing and they told me my ammonia was too high and my betta was behaving normal and refunded me for the dead fish

Went home did a water change (used dechlorintor) and my betta was still acting unusually went back the day after to look at the bigger tank I'd seen there that i liked to see what make it was to see if i could find it cheaper online and they had it reduced so I bought my new 64ltr litre tank.

Asked her in shop if i could transfer some gravel from old tank to new 1 n she said Yeh will be fine I said considering my betta is acting strange in my eyes was she sure which she relplied yes will definitely be fine. Did what she said set my new tank up and found my betta dead the morning after.

I now have 1 neon and my snail left from my 1st disaster tank. I left it to cycle for a full month using ammonia and bought half of my fish which was 6 harlequins, 2 otos and 2 guppies. Had no problems so far and plan on adding another 5 neons, another oto and maybe 3 female bettas then I will be fully stocked. I'd love a male betta but my 2 guppies are nippy (had to re-home 1 as his tail kept getting nibbled) so don't think I'd dare risk it

 

[Jimbo1984]

Man that's annoying! I hate the way shops do that. "Bring me some tank water from your tank with no fish in it, that has nothing producing waste so we can't test it for the things that matter and we will persuade you to buy something else that you don't need to temporarily solve a minor issue and potentially create more issues. Also we can then sell you some fish that you will take home, and they will probably die because we don't know what we are talking about, and get paid for it. Then you will come back and buy more and it will happen again."

My advice, say you've gone on the internet and found lots of information on fish keeping and think what they've told you is utter rubbish. Don't buy anything else that's alive, fish, snails anything. If you must keep the guppies and don't want a bigger tank, buy a test kit to test the water yourself and test it daily. If you do want a bigger tank, take everything back and buy it elsewhere! The guppies are giving off ammonia from waste which is highly toxic to them and WILL kill them. As your tank is new there's nothing in place to break down this ammonia to make the tank safe for them. Your tanks filter needs to get full of bacteria to break down the waste. In the meantime, I'd get some Seachem Prime which will detoxify the ammonia and still allow the tank to cycle without harming the fish. Then lots of water changes, re-dosing for a good few weeks. If that seems too much, take them back and do it without fish. There's lots on fishless cycling on here.

 

[FishBlast]

My neons survived about a year until summer came. Then problems after problems including adding too cold food to the tank, unfiltered tank not retaining enough oxygen, waaaaaaaaaay too many fish for a 50L tank along with them. Well, at least I didn't pay any money for them. I got them from a friend who no longer could take care of them, along with the following: baby angelfish, some gold tetras (unknown species), black widow tetras, giant betta, 4 normal bettas, a lot of zebra danios, few pairs of guppies, few pairs of swordtails, one black molly, and a dark-red platty with black tail.

And later on after a huge portion of them died during another summer, I was left with the guppies and swordtails and dad added a pair of Hoplo babies (at most points I always had a pair and they survived between 6 and 8 years, now I'm stuck with my 9 year old one).
My dad kept buying fish he liked and adding them, including all kinds of goldfish and a fossilis. They didn't last long (maybe the fossilis would if I hadn't got mad at her and fed her to the cat for stinging me)since I was a kid and didn't know better.

Oh, and my latest 3 purchases were swordtails. Bought them 41 days ago, only lost one after one week from purchase, after bullying issues between the fish and probably an internal parasite on that female.
Now I have a pair of swordtails left, I've learned about filter and water changes, feeding and I'm going to upgrade my tank to a proper size one as I have a 23L due to the 50L one being cracked and risking to spill.
The female swordtail might have babies in like 2 weeks, if I can get a big tank earlier, I'll keep the babies in the 23L till they grow big enough, but no more than 4 of them. If I don't get more females than males, I'll have to give the males away or exchange for a female if anyone can exchange.

 

[Rummynose]

It may have something to do with the oxygen level in your water. Do you see water rippling at the water surface, do you see bubbles where the water enters back into the tank?

Is your heater working?

Do you have any decorations in your tank for them to hide in? You could just add a coffee mug or a small terra cotta pot. It would make them feel more secure!

Coffee mug decoration. Hmm....

I should have been more clear: until the stores are open!

 

[FishBlast]

It may have something to do with the oxygen level in your water. Do you see water rippling at the water surface, do you see bubbles where the water enters back into the tank?

Is your heater working?

Do you have any decorations in your tank for them to hide in? You could just add a coffee mug or a small terra cotta pot. It would make them feel more secure!

Coffee mug decoration. Hmm....

I should have been more clear: until the stores are open!

Dang lol. I was wondering how that would look like, especially with some plants growing on them or from inside them

 

[mrshunt90]

Just wanted to update you all as you were all so helpful. I went back to pets at home with another water sample. He said everything was fine exept PH was High. He said to add PHDown... I have ignored him and bought a plant, nt sure what one but apparently its good for oxegenating (sp?) and some oxegenating tablets. I left it about an hour and then did my own water check (the test tube kind) and Ammonia is ok and PH is normal. Fish seem to be swimming alot more now and seem happier. I will do a small water change before bed.

x

 

[FishBlast]

Just wanted to update you all as you were all so helpful. I went back to pets at home with another water sample. He said everything was fine exept PH was High. He said to add PHDown... I have ignored him and bought a plant, nt sure what one but apparently its good for oxegenating (sp?) and some oxegenating tablets. I left it about an hour and then did my own water check (the test tube kind) and Ammonia is ok and PH is normal. Fish seem to be swimming alot more now and seem happier. I will do a small water change before bed.

x

The plant may be a double edged sword so keep an eye on it. Remove any pieces of it that fall on the tank floor as they will produce ammonia too.
It does consume some ammonia but to be efficient at this you'd need a lot of them. Like... covering pretty much all the tank. It will also help with removing the nitrates.

Idk about the oxygenating tablets though.

 

[Rummynose]

I am not sure about those oxygenation tablets either! Yes, plants are great, but like Fishblast already pointed out, remove dying parts of the plant so it does not add to the ammonia. Some plants don't do well in cycling tanks, and may fall apart on you.

Good for you to have gotten your own Ammonia and Ph test kit! There are two more that are vital for you. One being a NitrIte test, the other being a NitrAte test.
Once you see Nitrites you are well on your way to have your tank cycled, and once you have 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites, and readings of Nitrate then you have successfully cycled your tank.

The most important things you need for a tank to have healthy fish are a cycled filter, dechlorinator, a heater and a test kit. Any other chemicals and gimmicks are only necessary in extreme situations, and I would recommend placing a question about those here on this forum.

Nice for the fish is substrate, plants and decorations!

If you know your tap water's ph and alkinity (water hardness) you can stock according to that since fish do best in water that they are found in, in their natural habitat. But since a lot of fish are bred in captivity most can adjust to a broad range of parameters.

 

[mrshunt90]

Thank you, im going back to get the other tests tuesday, ive checked my PH about an hour after I put the tablets and plant in and it is now normal (7) so they seem to have worked, going to do a 10% water change before i go to bed but now my fish seem happier and look like they are playing

 

[FishBlast]

Thank you, im going back to get the other tests tuesday, ive checked my PH about an hour after I put the tablets and plant in and it is now normal (7) so they seem to have worked, going to do a 10% water change before i go to bed but now my fish seem happier and look like they are playing

As long as they don't peck each other. Because that isn't playing, they'd be fighting each other if they are all males. Though I never had guppies fighting, they're usually calm fish.

 

[mrshunt90]

no, they are playing with the filter (swimming in the current) and swimming with each other through the plants and arches x

 

[FishBlast]

no, they are playing with the filter (swimming in the current) and swimming with each other through the plants and arches x

That's good. My swordies seem to enjoy the current of the filter too.

 

[Rummynose]

Excellent!