Help very new

F

fbabydoll1

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Nov 20, 2005
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St Augustine FL
Ok I am a very big newbie to fish keeping and have already made mistakes
I have a 10 g freshwater tank. Let me start at the beguining.
I took my 2 year old to the fair tuesday and wound up coming home with a goldfish. Went and got a 1 gallon tank wednesday, which is to small for a goldfish, and all the set up and put him in. He died the next day, which isnt too surprising since the goldfish came from a fair. So I went to Petco and bought 2 faintail goldfish, which still is way to much for a 1 g tank I know now. Well I really started to like the fish and wanted a bigger tank, so I went out and got a 10 g tank and all the set up Thursday. Well went back to petco and got a few more fish. Well the guy sold me 2 Serpae Tetras, 1 bumble bee goby, and one otocinclus catfish sucker. Shows you how much they really know about fish, and he was the specialist for the fishies. So the next day, friday, the catfish was dead. Still do not know why. Went to petco today and had my water tested, it was fine. Was talking to the girl about the goldfish and what happend to my catfish. She told me if I wanted I could bring the goldfish back, and I did. I brought the fantails back because I found out how much ammonia they produce and how big they get. I instead bought 2 mickey mouse platies, 2 marble molleys, 1 serpae tetra, and 2 bumble bee gobys. So I now have 3 serpae tetras, 2 mickey mouse platies, 2 marble molleys, and 3 bumble bee gobys. I still dont think the people at that store know anything about fish after doing some research on the net about all these fish. I need help. What do I need to do to make sure they all live? What different types of food do I need to have for all of them, and can they all live together? I still have the 1 g tank if I need to take some out for a little while.
 
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AVOID PETCO AT ALL COSTS.

Find a local fish store (LFS). We have one here that is dedicated to fish, and they have everything you could want and all the knowledge. You want somewhere where the employees and owners are fish enthusiasts themselves. Dont be afraid to ask whether they have tanks of their own.

You need a bigger tank. An inch of fish per gallon is a general rule of thumb. Your tank must cycle. During this time you may lose fish. Ideally this would be done with no fish or a nice hardy and cheap goldfish, before the other fish are introduced.
 
Unfortunatly, there are no local LFS's, I would have to drive probibly at least an hour or so, then find one. Also, what do I do to cycle? Like I said, I am brand spanking new to fishkeeping, but I already like it, I just need more info. Does anyone know of any really good websites that have all this info? I dont know where to look.
 
Its all here. Just search a little. Put in a goldfish, and test the water. Over a week or two the ammonia level will rise then fall. Do water changes to keep the level superficially down but DO NOT disturb the gravel. This will allow bacteria who take care of the ammoinia naturally to grow. I would get a 20 gallon tank. We seeded our tanks with Bio-Spira refrigerated bacteria to get the bacteria going faster. Also, for a filter I would recommend a bio-wheel type that helps culture good bacteria...
 
ok, I no longer have the goldfish. I have the 3 serpae tetras, 2 marble molleys, 2 mickey mouse platies (which I think one is pregnant), and 3 bumble bee gobys. Thats it. I do have a Aqua-Tech pwer filter that has a bio cartidge, and I had put in Stress Zyne to try and promote healthy bacteria when I set up the tank, along with a water conditioner for the tap water.
 
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Since you already have the fish, you can do a "fishy" cycle. Please go to the top of this forrum and read the sticky nammed "cycle". In a nutshell: your fish pee. Pee is ammonia and is toxic. little bugs(bacteria) eat ammonia and "pee" nitrIte(still toxic). Another bug(again a bacteria) eats nitrIte and "pees" NitrAte. Nitrate is the simplest form, is still toxic, but much less than Ammonia or nitrIte. The cycle involves culturing (growing) these bactera to process ths fish waste. Untill you have enough of these little guys, you will need to do DAILY water changes. Get test kits for ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte. Again read the sticky "cycle" for more details.

You gobys are brackish water fish (brackish is like where a river meets the ocean, not saltwater, but not freshwater) and needs to go back to the petstore, mach schnell.
 
Arent the mollys and platies brackish too? Or atleast thats what they were under at the pet store, but then again I dont think they know that much about what they are doing.
 
Mollies and platy's can be brackish, but also survive fine in freshwater (I think mollies can go full saltwater if you aclimate them slowly).
 
fbabydoll1 said:
Arent the mollys and platies brackish too? Or atleast thats what they were under at the pet store, but then again I dont think they know that much about what they are doing.
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Mollys can be kept brackish, but it's not necessary. Platies are usually kept in freshwater.

You're right, they don't know what they are doing.

Roan
 
OK, first, I'm a newbie, so if someone disagrees with me, they're probably right. (You can see under each person's name how many posts they've made - this can tell a lot.)

1. I suspect your tank is either fully stocked or over stocked based on the fish you have

2. Stress Zyme is junk (IMO). If you can find Bio-Spira, get it and add it to the tank (this will speed up your cycle - it's worth an hour's drive). IMO, if you can get some "easy" plants like Java Moss or Java Fern you should do that too to help with the ammonia and nitrite you're gonna have. You should do these as soon as possible.

3. Read this thread: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26051 and anything else you can find on "cycling" a tank (not the same as the product named "Cycle").

4. Get test kits for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, KH, GH and test your water (pH, KH and GH can be tested every few days until you're certain they're stable; ammonia, nitrite and nitrate should be tested daily).

5. What's gonna happen is that your fish are gonna poop ammonia, this is gonna build to toxic levels unless there's something to remove it (plants and Bio-Spira (bacteria)); the bacteria which eats ammonia poops nitrite (also toxic to fish), there's another bacteria (also in Bio-Spira) which eats the nitrite and poops nitrate; you get rid of nitrate by doing water changes.

6. Because you don't have the bacteria you need, ammonia and then nitrite will rise to toxic levels in the tank (it may take a day or three before you see these levels) - you'll have to do daily large water changes to keep the levels below deadly (until the bacteria are established).

There are other threads here about Bio-Spira and cycling - I recommend you read them.

That's probably enough for now...

Liz
 
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