Uh-oh!

[Siamesefish]

After reading these forums, after buying 5 harlequin fish and one male betta i have realised that i have just been ingnorant of the whole "fish world"

basically here is what i have done.

I bought the fish, the tank,the filter and heater. filled with water, got tank to approriate temp and and put fish in.


I never done any fishless cycling or cleaning, testing etc etc. Now i am afraid my little fish may die after reading quite a few things on here. Can someone help in plaing english for me?

I never done any reading up or anything , i realise now that it is not all that simple! What should i do?

 

[PaulEbs]

If you ask your LFS to hold your fish for you while you do a fishless cycle, I'm sure they wouldn't mind. Might ask for a fee though..

Read up as much as you can on cycling the tank before adding fish, do it, then get your fish back from the LFS and everything will be right as rain.


Alternativaly, buy yourself some water testing kits and see whether the water is sustainable or not. I never used to do cycling before i became a member on this forum, and also never had any problems either.

 

[samyboy]

the betta should survive in an adaquate sized basin with regular water changes for the time being

 

[dwarfgourami]

Well, you're not the only one who's done this; I reckon at least 50% of our members have been in the same situation when they've first got to the forum.

What you need to do is to get a test kit from the lfs (liquid ones are best) and start testing the water every day for ammonia and nitrites. If you detect either, do a partial water change, even if you end up doing them every day for the first few weeks. Don't forget to dechlorinate the water. What size is your tank btw?

Feed sparingly until the cycle is finished (= when you get no detectable amounts of nitrites or ammonia). Once a day is plenty.

 

[KyleJ]

Ill hold my hand up to doing this...... lost a few fish and decided to look it up

Anyway all mine died but werent very hardy fish for example I had an Angel fish that died within 12 hours! Some of yours might survive though but if I was you I would take them back untill your tank is cycled, mines been up for 4 weeks now and is just getting there!