Too Many Fish...

[nudenurd]

I've been instructed to start a post here to get a little advice.

Firstly - I screwed up. I'm only VERY new to keeping fish and I followed the advice of a fish salesman, which leaves me with the following problem...

I have a cubic tank, 30cm x 30cm x 30cm - about 25 litres. In this tank, I have the following:
- 2 Angel fish (one of whom is sick, which prompted me to join this forum)
- 2 neon tetras
- 4 silver fish (no idea what they are as the salesman gave me the wrong fish. They're about 3cm long)
- 3 algae eaters (2 are about 4-5cm long, the other's about 2cm)
- 5 guppies
- a shark, black with a red tail
- some stripy fish, bigger than the guppies with orange and brown stripes and whiskers (doesn't like the algae eaters much.. heh)

Now before you flame me on the amount of fish I have in such a small tank, understand that:
a) My mother bought the shark, orange&brown stripy thing and another algae eater for me yesterday as a surprise. I've told her not to buy any more
b) I saved the guppies from being flushed by my old flatmate as he was moving interstate
c) I've owned a fish tank for a whole of about 3 months. I know very little about fish, tanks, water, heating...

_____________________________________________________________________
Obviously this small tank is unable to sustain this amount of fish (all of which are apparently a woeful choice for such a tank). I will be getting a larger tank in about a month (a friend's moving his aquarium shop and is giving me a tank or two) probably between 200 and 400 litres.
In the mean time, I can get another tank about the same size as the one I have now off my flatmate, although I don't have a heater for it. I'm going to need to get a heater for the big tank, so if I can buy one now that'll also work in the smaller, that'd be fine.

I can't take the fish back - most I didn't buy and the others I've had for 3 months or so.

A point worth noting - these fish, except the newest three (shark, srtipy thing and algae eater) have been living quite fine in this tank for a good 3 months. The only thing that's changed, apart from the new fish, is that my heater is no longer able to keep the tank above 25 degrees.
Personally, I'd consider this to be the immediate problem. See this post for more information on this...



Oh and for the record, I've learnt my lesson; research fish before buying!

 

[Mikaila31]

Well, I would say best thing to do would be take all the fish back to the fish store. As none of them will live long in such a small tank. You said you can't take them back is this because you don't have a receipt? Cuz the store might still take them, but you won't get any money back. At lest the fish won't die this way. If the store still won't take the fish for free, bag them up, go to the store, put them on the counter, say you don't want them anymore, and walk out of the store. They do take them this way. Also try to find a different fish store to go to since that one gave you such bad advice.

Good luck,
Mikaila31

 

[Kiwigirl]

Ok I know for a fact that not all Lfs/Lps take fish stock back.

Other options open, find out if there is an Aqaurium club in your area (members are bound to help).
Advertise them in your local paper.

At the end of the day you have no option but to rehome them.

Your stocking density is 5" of fish (theoretically). You are a novis and it is best to stick with in these guide lines.

When we look at stocking density of our tanks we look at the fish adult size.

You can have a betta in your tank.

Or a couple of guppies (I think)

 

[dwarfgourami]

Rest assured, you're not getting flamed, that tends to be reserved for people who do not come on and humbly state that they've screwed up- yours is an honest mistake and you want to sort it out. So the question is how to keep your fish alive in the short term.
The problem is that the tank could crash anytime and you could wake up to a tankful of dead fish, so you really can't afford to wait a month. Though obviously it helps here that the fish are nowhere near adult sizes- and once you had that bigger tank you would be ok.
Off-loading on the shop, as described above, is one option- they will take them and re-sell them, they just don't want to give you any money. Advertising them is another: aquarist club, aquabid, don't forget this forum's sell and swap section, there are other forums too you could try if you don't get takers. Or you might be able to find a friend who would take some of your fish for a short period.
In the meantime, for the day or two that it takes to sort this out, you will need to freshen them up by changing part of the water every day (don;t forget to dechlorinate) .

 

[nudenurd]

Thank you all for your help and for being supportive!

I've called the guy I was going to buy the tank off and told him my situation. He's arranging something and with a bit of luck I should have a nice big fishtank in my livingroom by the end of the day!
Unfortunately I have no gear appropriate for a larger tank, therefore I'm taking tomorrow morning off work to stock up on bits and pieces.

I don't want to give away, kill, flush, trade, dump or sell my fish - I like them all too much

Rest assured that I'll be back on here with plenty of questions re the new tank. I'm not sure I'll fill it up straight away as I think I'm going to have to build a stand for it first. If anyone's got any suggestions or links they think I should know, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks again, I'll keep you posted on the outcome.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Ah, a happy ending Keep us updated! Afraid I'm completely useless when it comes to DIY, but we have a special forum for this sort of thing.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

How large is the new tank you are getting?
Basically with the current fish stocking, here are some pointers;

"- 2 Angel fish (one of whom is sick, which prompted me to join this forum)
- 2 neon tetras
- 4 silver fish (no idea what they are as the salesman gave me the wrong fish. They're about 3cm long)
- 3 algae eaters (2 are about 4-5cm long, the other's about 2cm)
- 5 guppies
- a shark, black with a red tail
- some stripy fish, bigger than the guppies with orange and brown stripes and whiskers (doesn't like the algae eaters much.. heh)"

a. Angel fish do best in "tall" tanks i.e. a tank 18inches tall or taller as these fish are rather tall in comparison to most tropical fish- your average 18inch high tank will probably be 30-40gals, and as long as its got the height, 30-40gals is the advised minimum for angel fish.

b. Neon tetras are shoaling fish and do best in tanks of at least 10gals and in groups of 6+. They can be very fragile fish and in small groups usually don't last very long as they find it very stressful being in too smaller groups.

c. The silver fish could posibly be something like bala sharks or silver dollars (these are often regually sold at many lfs's (local fish store's),

silver dollar;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=34593

Bala shark;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=123786

Look anything like these?

d. With the algae eaters, the most likely suspects are either chinese algae eaters, oto's, some type of pleco like a sailfin or common plec or even perhaps a hillsteam loach, do yours look anything like these;

Chinese algae eater;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=98998

Oto;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=35094

Hillstream loach (also sometimes known as hong kong or butterfly pleco, even though the fish is not actually a pleco but rather instead a sub tropical loach);

http/www.loaches.com/species_pages/beauf...ichowensis.html

Common pleco;

http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/compleco.htm

Look anything like these fish?

e. Guppys are fine in tanks 10gals or above, however getting the right ratio of each gender is very important with these fish for them to thrive properly- if yours is a mixed gender group, you should aim to hve 2-3females per male.


f. The shark is most likely a red tail black shark (RTBS);

http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/redshark.htm

They need at least 30gals (preferably a long tank rather than a tall one).

g. The orange but stripey whiskered fish could either be clown loaches;

http/www.loaches.com/species_pages/botia_macracanthus.html

or even something like a 5 banded barb (although these fish don't have barbels/whiskers, so probably not);

http/www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cl...;articleid=2582

Look anything like these fish?

Edit: oh one last thing, angels do eat neon tetras in the wild, and although some people have had some success with keeping these fish together when the angels are jueveniles, most of the time angels will chow down neons once they get large enough.

 

[Kiwigirl]

Cool a bigger tank on the way.

I'm very pleased for you.

Happy fishkeeping

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Good to hear your getting a bigger tank, until you have it set up then test your water daily and do water changes daily to make sure conditions don't deteriorate.

I'd also just like to back up what Tokis-Pheonix has said, very good post, check out all the links and try to identify the fish you have. Post pic's of them if you can and we'll ID them for you. Yes a bigger tank is going to be an improvement and will buy you some time but until you get a positive ID on every fish you don't know if it's really a suitable long term home.

good luck

 

[nudenurd]

Thank you Tokis-Phoenix - you got them all! I'm impressed

I've updated my situation in this thread:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=162372

Please have a look - thanks!