Sailfin Molly

[Twitchyfish]

Hey guys, I'm new to this whole fish keeping business. I got an aquarium for Christmas, and am very interested in the whole thing. Anyways, I set up my tank and let it run for 7days before putting in our first fish. He's a Pleco named Reggie. After a couple of days once he was stable we went out and got a male Dalmatian sailfin Molly.

So my problem is that I think my little Molly may have the shimmies. It's weird cause he seems to swim around and eat and stuff, but very once in a while he goes down into one of the corners and starts swimming in place. At first I thought he MIT just be swimming against whatever current might be caused by the filter but his twitches seem to be worsening.

What should I do? Also my tank is a little 6 gallon with a small heater keeping it at 78degrees. Let me know. Thanks.

 

[fluttermoth]

Welcome to the forum, twitchyfish.

Your problem will be that your tank (well, technically your filter) isn't 'cycled'.

That means it doesn't have any of the good bacteria living in it that eat the fish's wastes and stop the water becoming toxic.

Because your tank isn't cycled, those wastes are building up in the water and making your fish feel sick. You need to change as much water as you can, as soon as you can. Drain the tank right down, leaving just enough water for the fish to swim upright (don't forget to switch your heater and filter off first!) before refilling with temperature matched, dechlorinated water.

I'm afraid you're going to have to do that every day, until you can get some test kits to monitor the water quality yourself. Ammonia and nitrite are the things you need to be testing for at the moment.

I'm also afraid I have to tell you that you can't keep a plec in a 6 gallon tank; they grow far too big and make far too much mess; your filter won't be able to cope. You're going to have to take Reggie back to the shop, or get a bigger tank, but, depending on what species of plec he is, he might need something in the four/five foot long sort of size.

If you can post a pic of Reggie (you'll need to upload your pic to a hosting site, like Photobucket or Flickr and put the IMG code into your post) someone here will be able to identify him for you

We have a very good 'beginner's resource centre' on this site (the link is in my sig) which you might find useful to have a read through.

 

[the_lock_man]

I hate to say it, but a sailfin molly is too big for a 6gallon as well.

 

[fluttermoth]

I hate to say it, but a sailfin molly is too big for a 6gallon as well.

Gah, I forgot to mention that; thanks for picking it up, lock_man!

 

[the_lock_man]

Twitchy, have a read of this article, it explains why Flutters and I saying what we are saying. Whilst it is concentrating on seriously big fish in relatively sensibly-sized aquaria, the same principles apply for relatively sensibly-sized fish in tiny aquaria, such as yours.

I really think you have 3 choices

1) Recommended option. Take both your fish back to the shop, berate the manager for selling them to you in the first place, and point him in the direction of the Big Fish Campaign at www.bigfishcampaign.org. Then go to Homebase, buy some Household Ammonia, and do a fishless cycle on your filter, to grow those bacteria that Fluttermoth was talking about. Whilst doing this, you can discuss on here the various options you have for stocking a 6 gallon aquarium, with the warm and fuzzy feeling that no fish are suffering in ammonia-ridden water.

2) Take the plec back, berate the manager for selling it to you in the first place, and point him in the direction of the Big Fish Campaign at www.bigfishcampaign.org. Then come back, and have to do huge water changes on your tank every day for several weeks while the bacteria grow in your filter.

3) Take neither fish back, and have to do huge water changes on your tank every day. Your filter is almost certainly not capable of sustaining a plec of any size

 

[Twitchyfish]

Thanks for the info guys. When I bought the Pleco it said max size if four inches. Could this be false?

Read the article. Must admit I fell pretty bad about not doing more research before picking out my fish... I'll see what I can do to get these dudes into a good home.

 

[fluttermoth]

No; there are species of plec that grow to that size. They'd still be too big for a 6 gallon tank though; they're a very chunkily built fish, and produce a lot of waste for their size.

 

[Twitchyfish]

im thinking of going to get a bigger tank. petsmart has some good sales on right now. might be able to pick up a 36 gallon bow front for under $150. then i could use my 6 gallon for a hospital tank or eventually maybe a fry tank. whatta you guys think?

 

[fluttermoth]

Sounds good; bigger tanks are actually easier than very small ones, as the larger volume of water is more stable and won't get polluted quite so quickly.

You will, of course, have to continue with the water changes until the filter is cycled.