Worst Petstore Fish Advice Ever?

[Qu1nter]

Ok all i am new to this website and would just like to start off by saying hello!

I recently bought a 29 GAL tank at a pet shop that was going out of business ( everything was 99% off!!!!, awesome!!)

Once everything was setup i decided it was time to add some fish.. I went to a different pet store and on the advice of the "knowledgeable" staff we got the following
Which we were told would be a good fit for a tank this size and as a community tank...

5 tiger barbs
2 kissing gouramis
1 rainbow shark

Not knowing much myself and listening to the explanation of the fish section employee he said
the tiger barbs need to be in a school so they dont torment eachother to death
The kissing gouramis should come as a pair.
All other fish should be fast swimming to get away from the semi aggressive gouramis
No fish with long flowing fins aloud..


All of this info made me very confident about this persons understanding of these fish....

Once everything settled down i started to research the fish myself..

From what im reading this guy was really really wrong to recommend these fish for a 29 gal tank..


The smaller of the two gouramis has Died , i think from bbeing tormented by the barbs.. The two gouramis were suprisingly good with eachother so it is a shame.
The barbs do pick on eachother and the one remaining gourami sometimes..

I need some professional opinions on this matter

Am i in big trouble when these fish get to adult size??
Any other info you can give would be great

Thank you for your time and assistance in advance

 

[FishBlast]

Ok all i am new to this website and would just like to start off by saying hello!

I recently bought a 29 GAL tank at a pet shop that was going out of business ( everything was 99% off!!!!, awesome!!)

Once everything was setup i decided it was time to add some fish.. I went to a different pet store and on the advice of the "knowledgeable" staff we got the following
Which we were told would be a good fit for a tank this size and as a community tank...

5 tiger barbs
2 kissing gouramis
1 rainbow shark

Not knowing much myself and listening to the explanation of the fish section employee he said
the tiger barbs need to be in a school so they dont torment eachother to death
The kissing gouramis should come as a pair.
All other fish should be fast swimming to get away from the semi aggressive gouramis
No fish with long flowing fins aloud..


All of this info made me very confident about this persons understanding of these fish....

Once everything settled down i started to research the fish myself..

From what im reading this guy was really really wrong to recommend these fish for a 29 gal tank..


The smaller of the two gouramis has Died , i think from bbeing tormented by the barbs.. The two gouramis were suprisingly good with eachother so it is a shame.
The barbs do pick on eachother and the one remaining gourami sometimes..

I need some professional opinions on this matter

Am i in big trouble when these fish get to adult size??
Any other info you can give would be great

Thank you for your time and assistance in advance

Rainbow shark's what seems pretty big for that tank. Also uncycled tank?

 

[Flubberlump]

Welcome to the forum! Personally, I wouldn't keep tiger barbs in anything other than a species only tank, purely because my parents had some years ago and they bullied every other fish in the tank (they were in a group of 8.) They also bought them on the recommendation of the staff at the LFS. Most people new to the hobby take advice from the store, so don't feel bad, you'd expect them to know what they're talking about, but unfortunately it's not always so. It pays to do plenty of research into fish you plan on getting before buying them, as there's a huge variation in acceptable water parameters and stocking depending on what fish you want.

Did you cycle the tank before you added the fish?

Also, what are the dimensions of your tank? This will help to determine whether it's big enough for your rainbow shark. Even if it is big enough (they max out at around 6 inches), it will limit your choice of stock as they can be very aggressive when mature.

 

[KittyKat]

Am i in big trouble when these fish get to adult size??

Yep! But you're going to have some worse trouble first, if your filter was not fish-less cycled with household ammonia/seeding from an established filter/cycled the filter in some other way. So, go read about fish-in cycling, get yourself a decent liquid test kit and come back with results.

What are the dimensions of the tank? It is probably too small for the gouramis and the shark.

By the way, a "school" should *really* have at least 10-15 fish in it, and I consder 6 to be the absolute minimum for calmer species (i.e. not tiger barbs). Think about it this way: these fish live in groups of 100s to 10000s in the wild, so the more company, the better!

 

[phoenix2081]

Kissing gouramis get big! like 10-12 Inches big. I would rehome it especially if it is getting bullied too.

From what you typed I would guess your uncycled and suggest reading the fish IN cycle and get water changing. Ammonia poisoning could of been an involvement to the death of the gourami.

Read up in here http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

then come back with may questions. That is what I did.

Good luck, welcome and don't feel bad we have all at some point fell victim to bad advice.

Mitch

 

[KittyKat]

Good luck, welcome and don't feel bad we have all at some point fell victim to bad advice.

lack of research. Admittedly, someone new to the hobby might not know to research first, but most find out quickly that it is *their own* responsibility to know things as "bad advice" can come from anyone, given that most advice is based on experience (or lack of on the part of the LFS, in the case of our new member). In the very worst cases, some retailers may even give bad advice on purpose, not even out of ignorance… "Got a dead fish? Just happens, replace it" sort of thing.

 

[BETTY BOO]

i doubt its the worst advise ever but you have experienced what many others have experienced too.your at the right place now tho

 

[Qu1nter]

No no no the tank was cycled. I just thought everyone knows that.
Actually what we did was use some established gravel and the filter media from an established tank waited a few days then added fish. Does that count?

Nitrate (NO3)
20 PPM

Nitrite (NO2)
0 PPM

Ammonia ammonium ( NH3 NH4)
1.0 ppm or a bit less.. Possibly 0.80 ppm

The tank is 30" x 12" x 16"

 

[FishBlast]

Worst advice would be when my dad was given 4 different types of goldfish to keep in a 50L or so tank. Maybe bad advice on keeping a pair of hoplos in said tank too.

 

[Qu1nter]

Worst advice would be when my dad was given 4 different types of goldfish to keep in a 50L or so tank. Maybe bad advice on keeping a pair of hoplos in said tank too.

Hehe i was just actually reading your post about the fish you have for many years now. Tzuppy was the name i believe. I hope everything works out for you!!

Good luck, welcome and don't feel bad we have all at some point fell victim to bad advice.

lack of research. Admittedly, someone new to the hobby might not know to research first, but most find out quickly that it is *their own* responsibility to know things as "bad advice" can come from anyone, given that most advice is based on experience (or lack of on the part of the LFS, in the case of our new member). In the very worst cases, some retailers may even give bad advice on purpose, not even out of ignorance… "Got a dead fish? Just happens, replace it" sort of thing.

You know its funny i always research things 100% before i jump in. Im the type of person that will read books on said subject for months before doing anything else. I just assumed that the guy at the pet store could give me good advice on the fish in THEIR STORE... Terrible decision that was. Lesson learned from this, do ALL of your own research

 

[Qu1nter]

Read above. Didnt mean to post here

 

[Prime Ordeal]

Is an nh3 and nh4 level of 1.0 ppm alot in an established tank? I think that is like the maximum? Wouldnt hurt to do maybe a quarter or so change?

If your tank is cycled then the readings will always be zero for ammonia and nitrite and you'll get steadily increasing nitrate.

 

[Qu1nter]

Is an nh3 and nh4 level of 1.0 ppm alot in an established tank? I think that is like the maximum? Wouldnt hurt to do maybe a quarter or so change?

If your tank is cycled then the readings will always be zero for ammonia and nitrite and you'll get steadily increasing nitrate.

Hey sorry i added details to the post above about the levels and what i did to "cycle"

I guess i didnt wait long enough to add the fish if the levels should be zero. Is 1.0 or more like .080 ppm a dangerious level? I guess i should do a quarter change ASAP? More? Are my fish gonna make it through this?

 

[KittyKat]

Actually what we did was use some established gravel and the filter media from an established tank waited a few days then added fish. Does that count?

No, not really. You introduced a *very small* amount of bacteria with the gravel (unless the tank it came from and yours both have UG filters, in which case it's an ok amount of bacteria) and did not give the bacteria any "food". The filter bacteria "feed" on ammonia and nitrite, which is why it is important to "feed" them ammonia (simplest source is household ammonia) to make them multiply. Of course, ammonia harms fish, so it is only possible to "feed" the bacteria while there are NO fish in the tank.

Ammonia ammonium ( NH3 NH4)
1.0 ppm or a bit less.. Possibly 0.80 ppm

You are in a fish-in cycle situation and unless you are very careful, more of your fish will die. Please do read about fish-in cycles. In the mean time, keep the ammonia as close to 0 ppm as possible and never let it reach 0.25 ppm. The best way to keep ammonia low is to do 90-95+% water changes using warm, dechlorinated water at least once per day. I suggest that you do a 50% water change immediately, and another one later. I also recommend that you test your tap water for ammonia after dechlorinating: some tap water contains chloramine which dechlorinators turn into ammonia. I also recommend that you use a dechlorinator which claims to deal with ammonia, such as Prime or Stress Coat.

Remember: ammonia can and will harm fish in the long term, potentially causing increased susceptibility to disease and an unnaturally short life span.

The tank is 30" x 12" x 16"

Not big enough for shark or gouramis, so both should go back to the shop now if possible… if not possible, lets sort out your filter problem first, then we'll talk about stocking.

 

[FishBlast]

Worst advice would be when my dad was given 4 different types of goldfish to keep in a 50L or so tank. Maybe bad advice on keeping a pair of hoplos in said tank too.

Hehe i was just actually reading your post about the fish you have for many years now. Tzuppy was the name i believe. I hope everything works out for you!!

Good luck, welcome and don't feel bad we have all at some point fell victim to bad advice.

lack of research. Admittedly, someone new to the hobby might not know to research first, but most find out quickly that it is *their own* responsibility to know things as "bad advice" can come from anyone, given that most advice is based on experience (or lack of on the part of the LFS, in the case of our new member). In the very worst cases, some retailers may even give bad advice on purpose, not even out of ignorance… "Got a dead fish? Just happens, replace it" sort of thing.

You know its funny i always research things 100% before i jump in. Im the type of person that will read books on said subject for months before doing anything else. I just assumed that the guy at the pet store could give me good advice on the fish in THEIR STORE... Terrible decision that was. Lesson learned from this, do ALL of your own research

Yeah, Tzuppy's that part of my childhood that remained with me. He may be old, but he still has a lot of energy to act like a puppy wagging his tail when it's feeding time and also to check out everything that happens in the room.
I hope tomorrow I can give him a bigger "house". Though I should check out different stores. I might miss out on a deal. The better the deal, the more stuff I can get for the tank.

And yeah I'm sorry for not doing research on them before, but I had school and such. Being taught wrong by my mother about fish keeping since I was a kid, I trusted her back then so that's why I didn't bother to do research back then even when I got internet (I was around 15 when I finally got internet). Quite stupid that barely now when I'm 21 I learn how to keep fish properly. The sad part is that poor Tzup didn't get to spend his youth in a tank that would give him more to do, at least he'll get to live his last years better.